Conversion and Delighting to Do Good Works
Minister: |
Rev. Ronald Van Overloop |
Date: |
7/21/2019 AM
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Text:
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Romans 14;
Lord's Day 33
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Psalters: |
14, 147, 299, 246 |
- Their right source.
- Good works must proceed out of faith. Biblical proof: Rom. 14:23 and Hebrews 11:6.
- Faith is God’s gift which binds us spiritually to Christ (John 15:1-8).
- God’s work of grace in us produces the life of new obedience.
- It is the ability to believe everything God’s Word says about Jesus, especially being the begotten Son of God.
- It may be only a small beginning, but it is a sincere desire to do what God commands.
- It is a conscious effort to render grateful returns of ardent love to Him Who first manifested so great a love toward us.
- The right standard for good works is God’s law.
- 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.
- This excludes all other standards (Deut. 12:32).
- The principle behind this criterion is two-fold:
- One, God created all and controls all as the absolute monarch of the universe.
- Two, God gives instructions in order to establish a personal link between Himself and His subjects.
- In the law God commands the heart: His law is fulfilled only with love (Romans 13:10-12; Matt. 22:37-39).
- All good works must have the correct goal or purpose of the glory of God (Rom. 14:7-9; I Cor. 10:31).
- Man’s works all have a purpose or an end.
- We can distinguish between a near and an ultimate end.
- Every deed of every human is ultimately either unto man or unto God.
- 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).