Conversion and Delighting to Do Good Works

Minister:
Date: AM
Text: Romans 14; Lord's Day 33
Psalters: 14, 147, 299, 246
  1. Their right source.
    1. Good works must proceed out of faith. Biblical proof: Rom. 14:23 and Hebrews 11:6.
    2. Faith is God’s gift which binds us spiritually to Christ (John 15:1-8).
    3. God’s work of grace in us produces the life of new obedience.
      1. It is the ability to believe everything God’s Word says about Jesus, especially being the begotten Son of God.
      2. It may be only a small beginning, but it is a sincere desire to do what God commands.
      3. It is a conscious effort to render grateful returns of ardent love to Him Who first manifested so great a love toward us.
  2. The right standard for good works is God’s law.
    1. The law of God is the only objective standard for identifying good works. Biblical proof: I John 3:4; I Sam. 15:22; Heb.13:21.
    2. This excludes all other standards (Deut. 12:32).
    3. The principle behind this criterion is two-fold:
      1. One, God created all and controls all as the absolute monarch of the universe.
      2. Two, God gives instructions in order to establish a personal link between Himself and His subjects.
    4. In the law God commands the heart: His law is fulfilled only with love (Romans 13:10-12; Matt. 22:37-39).
  3. All good works must have the correct goal or purpose of the glory of God (Rom. 14:7-9; I Cor. 10:31).
    1. Man’s works all have a purpose or an end.
      1. We can distinguish between a near and an ultimate end.
      2. Every deed of every human is ultimately either unto man or unto God.
    2. To be good a work must have as its goal the glory of God (I Cor. 10:31; Rom. 14:6-8, and I Peter 2:12; Phil. 1:11; John 15:8).