Now let us take our Psalter hymnals and turn in the back to page 44, Heidelberg Catechism, Lord's Day 32, question and answers 86 and 87, page 44. You can see there part three, man's gratitude. We begin that section. We have been delivered from our misery by God's grace alone through Christ and not because we have earned it 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 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. Can those be saved who do not turn to God from their ungrateful and impenitent ways? By no means. 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. Let us take our Bibles and turn in them to 1 Corinthians 6, beginning at verse 9. It's found on page 1,214, the Bibles that are there in the pews. 1 Corinthians 6, beginning at verse 9. People of God, hear now God's holy word. Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. In verse 19, Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own. For you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. Let us turn over to Philippians 2, beginning at verse 12, page 1,248. Philippians 2. Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 12 through 16. Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now not only as in my presence, but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. Do all things without grumbling or disputing that you may be blameless and innocent. children of God, without blemish, in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the Word of Life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain." Thus far, the reading of the Word of God. Congregation, this evening we begin a new section in our series through biblical teaching, through sound Christian doctrine as summarized in the Catechism, the third section. And it brings up, what place does doing good have in the gospel of grace? This section on Christian gratitude, Christian service, on doing good. What place does it have? Good works. God's grace. leads to our doing good. That is what I proclaim to you this evening. God's grace leads to our doing good. And first, we want to consider the need for good works. The need for good works. Now, we rejoice that salvation is of the Lord. God chose us before the foundation of the world. He set his love upon us to save us. Then in time, He sent his son, out of his love, he sent his son who paid for our sins once for all when he offered himself in our place on Golgotha's cross as the sacrifice for our sins. Then on the third day, Jesus rose from the dead. Nothing more is needed. Nothing more can be done to add to our redemption. Jesus accomplished it. He himself said, it is finished. And we are accounted righteous only through faith, not through our works at all. It is to believers in Jesus that God credits Christ's righteousness and whose sins he fully forgives forever for the sake of Jesus. We have the sure hope of our own resurrection. The Bible teaches this. This is what we confess. This is what is preached. So what about our doing good? If redemption is secure, if we have eternal life and a right to glory because of what Christ did, what He alone did, which we receive only through faith, what role do good works have in the Christian life? Certainly, they do not earn heaven for us. That's clear. We need to be clear. And certainly, they do not earn anything for us, not even rewards in heaven. Every reward God gives to Christians comes from His grace and is of grace alone also. So what about our doing good? Well, it is needed. Someone is not a Christian if he or she lacks good works. The Bible is very clear. We read it from 1 Corinthians 6 this evening. will not inherit the kingdom of God. The wicked, that includes those who are sexually immoral. The wicked includes idolaters. The wicked includes adulterers. The wicked includes those who practice homosexuality. The wicked includes thieves and the greedy. Drunkards and revilers, swindlers also. Those who embrace these sins, someone who embraces any sin, identifies with it, clings to it, will not inherit the kingdom of God. They are not righteous in God's sight. They do not have a right to heaven. We need to hear that very clearly. Those who live in sin are under God's anger and condemnation. Do not be deceived, people of God. You can read through this list of sins again. There are other lists in the Bible, in the New Testament even. The wicked have God's anger and wrath upon them in this life and after this life they will be tormented eternally in the lake of fire for their wickedness. That message is clear from all the Bible. God will not allow someone to inherit His kingdom, His kingdom of righteousness, who embraces sin, any sin, even if that sin is respectable to the world around us, even if that sin is promoted, fashionable by the world around us, even if that sin seems to bring pleasure or success in this life to make someone happy, or so they think. Do not be deceived, people of God. Because of sin, God's wrath is coming upon this world, and if someone embraces sin, they are under God's wrath, excluded from the kingdom of heaven. And so there is a great need for doing good. Good works are needed if one is to inherit the kingdom of God. Why? As we said, it's not because our good works merit something from God, not because they supplement Jesus' works. Not because they themselves bring something spiritual to pass, some spiritual reality. Our good works in themselves do nothing of the sort. Instead, good works are the result of something God has done and God is doing. They are the result of being transferred out of the kingdom of Satan and darkness, being transferred into the kingdom of light, the kingdom of heaven. But those who embrace sin, they show they have not been regenerated, have not been born again, have not been made new by the Holy Spirit. The absence of good works testifies against them that they do not share in the new creation that is the kingdom of heaven. So they will not inherit it. When Christ comes again in His glory with the angels to judge the living and the dead, His judgment will be according to works. The Bible is clear about that. The one who has good works will enter into eternal life because her works testify that she is united to Christ, already has new life in Christ because of Christ. The one who embraced sin will have eternal torment and death because his works testify he is separate from Christ. Therefore, he is already condemned. He is already dead because of his sin. The final judgment is according to works, not based on the works, but according to works. One's works reveal, show forth either the invisible work of Christ for one, the invisible work of the Spirit within one, or the absence of Christ's work for, the absence of the Spirit's work within. And they stand on their own. The baptism that we witnessed this evening. It shows us God's intense interest in purifying, washing, purifying a people for Himself, purifying the people that are zealous for good works. God's grace leads to our doing good, and there is a great need for good works. But who then does good works? We move to that secondly, the doers of good works, the doers. On the surface level, it's obvious that we do good works. Believers do good. And throughout the Bible, we are exhorted, commanded to do good. The Apostle Paul wrote in Philippians 2, verse 12, that the saints obeyed. They always obeyed. They've always obeyed. But now they're to keep doing it. Much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. That is the salvation they possessed. possessed internally, invisibly, turned into something external, into their actions, revealed itself. But then notice in verse 13, it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. As the believer, you and I do good. But also the good we do is something that God Himself works within us. Salvation is all of the Lord. entering into salvation and living in salvation, as well as living out that salvation. It's not as though we are saved through faith, but now we take over. Salvation is of the Lord from beginning to end, from the first moment of our Christian walk until the last breath we take on earth and on into eternity. As we witness this evening, this is where baptism directs us. Christ washes us, both of the guilt as well as the stain of sin. As the apostle wrote in verse 13, it is God who works in you both to will and to work for his good pleasure. It is God, God the Father, through God the Son, by God the Holy Spirit, even as the catechism helpfully brings out by stating that Christ by his spirit is also renewing us to be like himself. You and I obey. We do good, but only because Christ by His Spirit is renewing us to be like Himself, only because God works in us both to will and to work for His good pleasure. Now certainly Christ accomplished redemption 2,000 years ago as He hung on Golgotha's cross. No more is needed in that sense. It has been accomplished. But now Christ by His Spirit applies that redemption to you, to me, to all His people. We cannot grab it. We cannot climb up to it and attain it. Certainly we have no good within us by nature. It is Christ, His resources. All that we receive is a gift of God. All our righteousness, all our goodness, our works of Christ by His Spirit, having accomplished redemption, Christ by His Spirit now applies to us what He accomplished, what He earned by His suffering and death. Now Jesus was able to obtain, to earn for us salvation in life because He's the Son of God. And He's able to restore salvation in life because He is God. It is God, God the Son, by the work of God the Spirit, who works in you to will and to work for His good pleasure. How do we know it's God the Son who works this work of sanctification by the Spirit? Several passages. We could have read them, but think of Ephesians 5. The Apostle Paul, in addressing husbands and wives, he teaches that Christ gave Himself up for the church. to make her holy, to cleanse her. Think, too, of Romans 8, where the Apostle Paul wrote, it is the Spirit of the Son who was given to us, who causes us to live a holy life. Think, too, of Jesus' own words in John 15, verse 26, where he says, he will send the Counselor, the Holy Spirit. And here, in our life of Christian gratitude, is a practical outworking of the doctrine of the Trinity. One God, three persons. God the Son renews us by the work of God the Spirit. And that relates to baptism. As the form rightly reminded us, we're baptized in the name of the triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Each person of the Godhead plays a part in our salvation. So when you and I do good, we do it. but only because Christ by His Spirit renews us. God's grace. God's grace leads to our doing good. His grace whereby He renews us, imparting to us Christ's righteousness, transforming us into Christ's likeness by His Spirit. These then are the doers of good works. What then are the purposes? for doing good, the purposes. Well, we move to that in our third point, the purposes for good works. Now, we already saw the need for doing good, that those who are wicked will not inherit the kingdom of heaven. Well, is that also their purpose? That is, does Christ, by His Spirit, renew us so that we would pass the judgment, so that we would have proof of our renewal on the last day? Well, Christ doesn't need proof for Himself. God doesn't need our good works. He doesn't need our good works to prove to Him that we are saved. As the catechism brings out, the purpose for good works is not ultimately so we would be delivered on the last day. Now, some people think Christianity is all about escaping hell. Certainly, that is a wonderful aspect of true religion. But heaven in and of itself is not the end goal. The goal is at the root of what makes heaven so wonderful. Glorifying God, union and communion with God, glorifying and thanking and praising the Lord as he created us to do and redeemed us to do. The catechism echoing scripture brings out these two purposes for our doing good, bringing glory to God and showing our gratitude to Him. As we read in 1 Corinthians 6, 19 through 20, we were saved to become a temple of God. We are that. God the Spirit. God dwells within us. So we are to glorify God in our body. That's what Paul wrote there in verse 20. So glorify God in your body. We think about even that. What does the world say our body is for? It's my choice, isn't it? It's however I want to treat my body and whatever things I want to do to my body, it's mine. No. It's not your body. It's not my body. We're bought at a price to glorify God, not only with our souls, but in our body, all of us. The purpose of our doing good is to honor God, to glorify God. That's why we were created. As the Westminster Catechism states it, man's chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. Children and young people, God did not make you for your own pleasure, your own success, your own fame, your own happiness. God does not owe you or me a wonderful life or good health or a high-paying job or a happy marriage and family. or long life. Your goal and my goal is to bring God glory. Now Satan, he lies and he wants to turn this around and he wants to make the goal our own glory, our own development. Beware of Satan's lies whispered and shouted to you. His lies that say, you are to do what you want to do. You are to be your own person. You are to develop yourself. That's what he whispered in a sense to Eve in the garden, claiming God's holding out on you, Eve, by forbidding the fruit. You could be like God. You can reach your potential. You, you, you. Satan lies. His lies have not changed. He still today whispers to us, and he shouts to us, The young and old hear this clearly, your happiness is not your end goal in life. God's glory is your goal and mine. It's a different perspective, isn't it? And it's nothing other than God the Holy Spirit who has to change our perspective, change our hearts away from ourselves to God. And so escaping the wrath to come, that is not the purpose you do good. Gaining rewards in heaven is not the purpose you do good. God's glory, that is. The reason you were created is the same reason God redeemed you and me. By the death of his son. God's glory, to glorify God. And anyone who tells you something contrary to that is echoing Satan's lies And young people, you hear those lies. You can hear them in the movies our society puts out. You can hear them in the television programs that are broadcast. You can hear that from politicians. You can read it in the best-selling books in our country. And it is that lie that drives the unbelieving world. It's that lie that comes through in the message of many who claim to be Christian preachers. Man's good. You're good. You're best life now. God's glory. Well, then are we simply slaves of God? Are we destined to bear a heavy burden in order to glorify God? That's what Satan wants you to think, that perspective. God's holding out, he's using you, as though God needed us. The wonderful thing is, because God created us and redeemed us to glorify him, as we, by his grace, fulfill that purpose, we find we are most satisfied and even most happy, ultimately. Satan's lies are just that. He proclaims your glory, your happiness, but when you follow that path, what do you find but your shame, grief, brokenness? What Adam and Eve found in history In that example of eating the forbidden fruit, that's the path of all sin. As the proverb says, there is a way that seems right to a man, but the end of that way is death. And children, your parents discipline you to make that clear. When you do something naughty, you did it in one sense because you thought it was good. It would bring you happiness, what you wanted. But your parents' discipline, you say, no, that way leads to death. Don't go that way. Don't do it. By God's grace, follow God's purpose for your life, for doing good, His glory. Oh, that the Lord would grant us a larger glimpse, a greater taste of His glory, and that joy that is ours as we strive to bring Him glory. Yet He has told us as we hear and meditate on, believe the good news of Jesus, He has told us that. And we need to remember and believe Jesus has revealed God's glory. And by His grace, aren't our hearts wonderfully warmed as we acknowledge God's love? Shown to wretched sinners that you and I, we are, as He gave His Son to rescue us. As we meditate upon Christ glorifying God by His suffering and death, we're amazed. And yet in our lives, aren't we often weighed down by our own experiences, by what we sense? We're challenged to live by sight rather than by faith. That God's glory is the reason for our existing. Our food and drink, our greatest end and purpose, God's glory. We need to hear that again. We need God to work that in our hearts. God's glory, but there's another purpose to our doing good which stems from glorifying God, it's tied to it, and that is that we are to show we're thankful to God for all He's done. Children, think your parents, if they give you a gift, say a toy, something you've wanted for a while, not only do you tell them thank you, but you show your gratitude, don't you, by how you treat that toy. You take that toy and you look at it. fuss about it and you smash it on the ground, you're not very grateful. But if you tell them that and you take care of it and you play with it, you delight in it, you show others about it, you're excited about it, that shows your attitude toward it, your gratitude. Well, it's similar to our doing good. As we read in 1 Corinthians 6.11, we were great sinners. workers of iniquity, outside the kingdom of heaven by nature but by God's grace. We were washed, we were sanctified, we were justified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. We were given a great gift. Righteousness, holiness, redemption. Children, as you think about that, when you're tempted to see something that your brother or sister or someone else got that you didn't, And you start to say, I want that. And that complaining wells up. Remember what God in Christ has done for you. Yes, you children. He's given you a great gift as baptism signifies and seals to us. A great gift. And now as we live with that gift, work out, as the apostle wrote in Philippians 2, work out that salvation. Use it. We show our gratitude to God. Living as a child of God is our delight. Doing good is living in joy. By God's grace, we realize what a wonderful gift God has given us. Righteousness. Eternal life. Himself. And our doing good is the living out of that righteousness. Living as one who has eternal life. One who is no longer dead in trespasses and sins. There's a little girl who was baptized this evening, this is for her too. She is to be raised to live out of gratitude, as all children of believing parents are. To live out of gratitude, not legalism. To live as a child of God, by God's grace, not as one who must labor to become God's child. Oh, she and all our children, all of us, are to be called to repent and believe all through our lives. But we trust God is at work. And so we don't delay training our children to live in gratitude, but have grace and gratitude as the environment right from the beginning. Parents, congregation, let me ask you, do you delight in glorifying God? What is it your children and others see? Or do they see a laboring, a burden? If you do not delight in walking according to God's commandments, if you do not find joy in living according to God's law, we're not saying perfectly, because none of us does, but if there is no delight, you need to ask yourself, are you saved? Have you been born again by the Spirit of God? That doesn't mean we don't go through downtimes, but confess unto God your sins. Even the sin that you don't realize, the need for salvation, that you aren't grateful for His many gifts to you, cry out to God for mercy. For the sake of the shed blood of Jesus, that greatest of all gifts, cry out for forgiveness and you will be forgiven. Gratitude will be there. Perfect? No. But there will be that gratitude. God's grace leads to our doing good. And by our doing good, we glorify God and we show we're thankful to God for all that He has done for us. It's the second purpose for our doing good. God's glory, show ourselves thankful, as the catechism brings up. Those are the purposes. But there's something else we want to consider briefly with regard to our doing good this evening. And that is what we move to in our fourth point. Not now the purposes, but the fruit of good works. The fruit of good works. The Bible teaches that the fruit of good works is twofold. As the Catechism summarizes, that we may be assured of our faith by its fruits, and that our neighbors may be won over to Christ. And we find both of these pointed to in our reading from Philippians 2. By God's grace, as you do good, you shine as lights in the world, verse 15. Living as a child of God in the midst of a crooked, a twisted generation, the difference between you, believer, and the world, it ought to be obvious. It's not because you and I are so good in and of ourselves. It's not that. It's because of what Christ by His Spirit is renewing you to be, who Christ is. Brothers and sisters, you know, there is a great spiritual darkness in our society. Turn on the television, if you own one, and if you watch for a few minutes, you'll see great spiritual darkness. Listen for a time at a meeting place on a college campus, you'll encounter spiritual darkness. Stand on a street corner in downtown Grand Rapids, you'll see with your eyes, with your ears, you'll hear spiritual darkness. In the midst of that darkness, God, though, shines a light. The child of God, you by His, by her doing good, shines like a light, like a star in the universe, bright and clear, reflecting the righteousness and holiness of our God in the midst of this darkness. As Christ, by His Spirit, renews you to do good, the difference, the antithesis, it's apparent, it's obvious, between the children of God and the children of the devil. If you cannot tell the difference between how you live and the unbelieving world around you lives, then again, you need to examine your heart. You need to repent. But even think practically how this shows up. Husbands, do you love your wife like Christ loved the church? That's reflecting, that's shining as a light. Wives, do you obey and submit to your husband as the church submits to Christ? Or husbands and wives, do you bicker like the world? Do you manipulate like the world? Do you demand like the world? And finally, like so much of the world, go your separate ways. Parents, are you nurturing your children in the Lord, tenderly raising them to fear the Lord, modeling it to them by your own Christian walk? Children, are you obeying your parents? as unto the Lord? Do you submit to their household rules and chores, or like the world, are you talking back to them? Are you doing your own thing? Are you ignoring them? Are you rebelling? The young people, how you talk, the books and magazines you read, the YouTube videos you watch, the jokes you laugh at, the jokes you tell, are they different than the world? All of this must be different for the Christian. As we read in verse 14, do all things without grumbling or disputing so that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation among whom you shine as lights in the world. The life of a Christian is different than the world's, the difference between light and darkness. If your life doesn't show the difference, then by God's grace, repent. And that too is a key, because we all fall short. And there is still darkness within each one of us. But that you acknowledge that, and people see there's that humility, that contriteness, that sorrow, that you admit you're wrong, that is God's grace. That is shining like a light. God's grace leads to our doing good. The fruit of good works is assurance of our faith. Now, linked to that, as we shine like lights in the spiritual darkness around us, is that the Lord is pleased to use this renewal of us by His Spirit, our doing good, to win our neighbors over to Christ. As the world sees the kingdom of heaven coming to expression in your life, righteousness, peace, joy, as they see your light shining like a star in the midst of their own spiritual darkness." The Lord uses that to demonstrate there is something better. By nature, they hate the light. For God's chosen ones, the Lord graciously uses that shining light of His children to win them over to Christ. you can be used by God to win others over to Christ. Children and young people, when you willingly, when you joyfully obey and respect your father and mother, that's a powerful witness to others. Now the world says, who would do that? The world can't even fathom that. An obedient, respectful child, it can't. But children, that's what God's working. That's what we pray for, for you. Wives, when you willingly, joyfully submit to your husband, that's a powerful witness. Husbands, it is a powerful witness when you love your wife as Christ loved the church, dealing tenderly with her and with your children, not as a ball and chain, but as a crown, as a joy. It can't be ignored. It can't be denied. Now, it's God who must draw people to himself, but he uses our godly living as a tool by which he does so. And then when others ask you why, why there's that difference, when they ask, do not point to yourself. Do not say, point to yourself at how good you are or how you were raised that way or even, well, that's what's right. No. Tell them about Jesus. God has given you a moment right then to evangelize. And as our culture descends more and more into paganism, outright paganism, spiritual darkness, that difference will grow all the more apparent and you will be given more opportunities to testify of what God has done in Jesus Christ. And how the reason for pain and sorrow and death in the world is sin. that God in Christ has conquered sin, and now by the Holy Spirit, he's bringing that victory to us. Yes, we struggle, but sin has been defeated. Christ renews us by his Spirit, so that as the Apostle Paul wrote, we shine as lights in the world. God is at work. What a wonderful opportunity we have, people of God, by doing good, of glorifying our God, showing thanks to Him, gaining assurance of our own faith by seeing the fruits, testifying to our neighbor of the salvation that's ours in Christ. All to the praise of God. God's grace leads to our doing good. May God so work in us that we would do good more and more for His praise. Amen. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, you are so kind and gracious to us. So many parts of salvation, so many ways we look at it and consider it, and it overwhelms us with your glory and goodness. Praise be to your name. And so, O Lord, continue to work in us to trust you more, to trust what Christ has done, to cast ourselves upon you that you would continue and increasingly renew us that we would glorify you, that we would show our gratitude to you. Assure us of our faith by seeing the fruits of it. Lord, win our neighbors over to you. Give us the courage to point to Jesus, not to ourselves. Oh Lord, would you be praised. In Jesus' name, amen.