Works and Grace

We've been covering recently the subject of grace. There's so much in the Bible on this topic. In fact, last Sabbath, I was sitting in services in the East in the morning, and Victor Cubick spoke. Guess what he spoke on? He spoke on the subject of grace and gave a very good sermon on it. Well, you can say after a while you exhaust the topic, but that's really not true. I'm here today to tell you the rest of the story. There is more to it. As we have found out, the definition of grace includes the meaning of a gift, being acceptable, favored, a pleasure, thank-worthy, graciousness, kindness, beauty. All of these, being pleasant, all of these, when you look up the word grace, you'll find is the broader meaning. Try to simply be restrictive to the meaning of unmerited pardon is not what the word is meant to be. Certainly unmerited pardon or forgiveness are one of the main definitions of this. But it's certainly part of the definition, but it's not the only part. In fact, the first place in the Bible where you find grace is mentioned is Genesis 6-8. And you find that Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. What does that mean? Well, it means that Noah found favor with God. That Noah was on God's good side. Now, when it comes to being on God's good side or bad side, which side would you rather be on? But I'd rather be on God's good side because he was favored by God. He and his family were saved alive through the flood. Everybody else died. So you and I, as we will see, are also favored by God. In Luke 2.52, let's notice in the New Testament how the word is also used. This is a reference to Jesus Christ. Luke 2.52. This is where Christ had gone up to keep the Passover. He had stayed behind, and they went looking for him. In verse 51, it says, He went down with them and came to Nazareth and was subject to them. But His mother kept all these things in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man. The word favor here is charis, and it's the word for grace. And it means that He was favored by God, and God delighted in Him. God found pleasure in Christ until Christ started to preach. Most people liked Him. What was there not to like about Him? He had good personality. He was wise. He was a hard worker, and He was well-respected up to age 30. Then He started preaching, started teaching. And then, you know, that's where people hate the message. Hate the message that He taught. But He increased in favor with God and man. And I think you and I would want to increase in favor with God and also with man. That means that our ways would normally be pleasant and gracious around other people. That we're not like a piece of steel wool where we're rubbing them raw all the time, always in their face, but where people would enjoy being around us.

We also use the term that you are in good graces with your mate. I'd rather be in good graces with my mate and not in good graces with my mate, because we all know that is a threat with all kinds of problems and all kinds of difficulty. Grace also implies friendship. We are Jesus Christ friends. That means that we're on His good side. Why is it that somebody is a friend? If you have somebody who's a close friend of yours, there's a reason for that. You're not friends with somebody you don't know. First of all, you know them, and you like them, or you like their personality, or you like something about them that attracts you to that individual. And so, therefore, you're able to share things and your friends with them. You and I are to be friends of God. And that means that we're like God. Our character is like God. And so, consequently, we want to be with God. Too often in the world, theologians create a false argument when it comes to grace. If you ever notice how they always use an or word, it's grace. Which one do you want? You want grace or law? Or they say, do you want that angry God of the Old Testament or loving Jesus Christ? And so, what they do, they put you on the defensive, and most people become confused about it. Well, you know, which one do I want? It's not or, it's an. It's law and grace.

And the God of the Old Testament just so happens to be the God of the New Testament. So, you know, it's not a matter of contrasting the two, you know, one against another. In Psalm 84, verse 11, Psalm 84, verse 11, let's notice what the Psalmist says here about God.

It says, For the Lord God is a son and shield. The Lord will give grace and glory. So God is the one who gives grace. No good thing will he withhold from those who walk uprightly. So God wants to bless us with good things. He wants to be bountiful toward us. So God gives grace, or he gives favors, or he gives gifts to those who are upright. I think in the last sermon we discovered that God is the giver of every good and perfect gift, that they come from God. Now that means that forgiveness of sin is a gift from God. That's not something that you can earn. Physical blessings are gifts from God. The fact that God gives you the ability to work, that God gives you food, clothing, and shelter, these are all gifts that God gives. God has given the ministry as a blessing and a gift to the church, as Ephesians 4 brings out. And you find that there are spiritual gifts that God gives to his church of healings and knowledge and wisdom, understanding, all kinds of spiritual gifts. And then there's the fruit of the Spirit that God gives to us all. There are many physical blessings that God pours out upon us. The law of God is a gift from God, and that's something that most people don't realize. We'll come back to that a little later. The Sabbath and the Holy Days are a gift.

Think about when you didn't understand the Sabbath day. It may work seven days a week and we're killing yourself. You have to stop one day a week and rest, and fellowship with God's people and learn of his ways. Salvation is a free gift from God, and repentance is a gift from God. Actually, if you wanted to, you could go through the Bible. You could probably come up with a list of who knows hundreds of things that the Bible indicates that God gives to us because we are favored by him and that he gives to his people. Now, one thing that most people do not stop to understand is that works are a gift from God.

Works are a gift from God. We've learned that we're saved by grace.

We've all done good things in the past before we were converted. Nobody was totally depraved in the sense that they never did one good thing. Even if it was nothing more than you helped your mother across the street. You did something good in the past. Some people more than other people. But there are no works that you and I could point to that would indicate why God called us. Is there anything that you can point to in the past that you did? You can say, well, I went to church all my life and God would say, repent.

Because you were attending the wrong church. You were keeping wrong customs and wrong traditions. And we could point out all kinds of good things that we have done. And we could say, God, that's why you called me. I earned it. I was a good person. And God said, no, that's not why I called you. I can remember having counseled many people, and especially back in 1962, going on a nationwide baptizing tour. We met something like 350 people that summer. And we talked baptisms morning to night, sometimes to midnight or all night, sitting down and discussing and talking with people. And I can never get over the fact that so many people were trying to impress us with how good they were. And they thought if they could only tell us how good they were, that we'd baptize them. And when we explained to them we weren't concerned with how good they were, we wanted to hear how bad they had been. And did they see it, and were they sorry for it, and had they really repented? Were they changing? I remember one little old lady came up and she said, I have kept every one of the Ten Commandments except the Sabbath. And the only reason I didn't keep it, I didn't know any better. If I had known better, I would have kept it.

Well, we didn't baptize her that day. We counseled with her, gave her some instructions, and hopefully, maybe, if God were working with her, later on she came along to be baptized. What we have to realize is that God called us while we were still sinners. Not because of our goodness. There's nothing that you can point to and say, well, I was more righteous. You know, these people were out here. They were just in debauchery, and I was really trying to be good. So that's why God called me. No, that's not why God called any of us. We were called by God's grace.

Free, unmerited, undeserved favor and pardon. Not because of something we did. We remain in God's grace, and again, once again, it's not by our works. God adds us to His family. We are begotten children of God, and so therefore, we have His favor. If you rely on your works after your initial conversion, when you were you repentant and you were baptized, hands were laid on you. If you rely on your works after that initial conversion to keep you in God's grace, guess what?

We're all gone because we sin daily. We make mistakes. We think wrong things. We act in a wrong way. We still have problems we struggle with. We have habits, maybe for decades, that we've been trying to overcome. We think we're on top of it, and they slip back.

We wouldn't remain in God's grace if we were just due to our own righteousness. All of us have to rely on God's forgiveness, His mercy, His favor every day.

When our bodies are finally transformed into spirit bodies and the resurrection, that's done by God's grace. That's not something we earn. It's a gift from God. So we're called by grace. We stand by grace, and ultimately, eternal life is by grace. So that's what God does. Okay, where do works come in? Where do our works come in? Works do not justify you.

And again, this is sort of a review, but we have to remember, if your works justify you, what works can you do? You could keep the law. If God allowed you to live 900 years, and you kept the law perfect for 900 years, which is impossible, you would still not earn eternal life because it's God's free gift. Works do not make you righteous by themselves, as we will see. Works do not get you into the kingdom of God. Works do not keep you in God's grace. So where do our works come in? What's the purpose of them? Why should we do them? Remember, we stated that your works are a result of your receiving God's grace.

Now, I will explain that.

What works we have, brethren, are a result of God calling us, granting us repentance, giving us His Holy Spirit, and He gives us what? A calling, a blessing, He grants repentance, He gives us comprehension, He gives us all of those things, and we realize that when we're forgiven, it's not because of what we've done, it's because of what Christ did, because of His sacrifice that He had. Now, Christ said, if you love me, keep my commandments that He not. So we have to keep His commandments. Is that just the Ten Commandments? Well, when you look at it, it's much broader than that. It includes the Ten Commandments. You and I have to keep the Ten Commandments. It includes how Christ said, we should keep the Ten Commandments, what we call the Spirit of the Law. And if you'll remember, the Spirit of the Law has to do with the mind, what goes on in your thoughts. See, the Sabbath day. We're to keep the Sabbath, just to illustrate. Letter of the Law, you're sitting here. You're doing what God says you should do. That's to meet together, not to forsake the assembling of yourselves together. But your attitude in coming here, your attitude while you're here, you'd rather be somewhere else, you'd rather be watching a ballgame, you'd rather be fishing, whatever it might be. You see, that has to do with the Spirit of the Law. What's going on in your mind, your motives, your attitude, your approach? All of that involves the spiritual intent of God's Law. So both have to be there. If we're going to love God and keep His commandments, that includes following the example of Jesus Christ also. We walk as He walked. We live as He lived. It includes His new commandment. Christ did give a new commandment. He said, love one another as I have loved you. So you and I have to love as Christ loved. And how did He love us? He was willing to die for us. He gave His life for us. So are we willing to give our lives for others? Are we willing to serve others? Are we willing to give of our time for others? Or does the universe just revolve around us and we don't have time for anyone else?

It includes following the teachings of Jesus Christ. Remember, Christ, through the Gospels, gave all kinds of teaching. He said, if you have a dinner, don't always invite those who can invite you back. Invite the poor, the naked, the blind, maybe not the naked. Give them some clothes. Invite the poor, the lame, the blind, the maim. Because they cannot repay you. And the principle is, don't be doing good so that people will reciprocate. And that's generally what happens in society, isn't it? People do good things so that they can get something back. It can be prestige. It can be honor or whatever. This would also include the parables of Jesus Christ.

Like the parable of the Good Samaritan, how you treat your neighbor. All of this is included in our good works, keeping the commandments, doing what God says. Now again, where do the works come in? Well, Matthew 16, 27. Let's notice Matthew 16.

And verse 27.

The Son of Man will come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and then he will reward each according to his works. So our reward is according to our works. Revelation 22, verse 12. A parallel to this. Revelation 22, verse 12.

Behold, I am coming quickly, and my reward is with me to give everyone according to his works. So our reward is going to be based upon our works.

Now, a person's works, your works, my works, are only going to be as good as they are motivated by God's love. That's what motivates us. It is Christ in you who does the works. Now, I will explain that. How much we produce in God's service, how diligent we are, how zealous we are, what we produce, is dependent on the extent that we understand God's grace towards us and toward mankind. Your service toward God and toward your fellow man will amount to how well you recognize your need for God's free gift of grace. The more we recognize our need for God's grace, the more we will love him and what he's done for us. Now, you might say, well, that sounds like gobbledygook to me. How does that work? Well, let me show you. Luke 7, and verse 36. Luke 7, and verse 36.

Then one of the Pharisees asked him to eat with him.

And he went to the Pharisee's house, and he sat down to eat.

And behold a woman in the city who was a sinner. Okay, how do you know a woman in the city is a sinner?

Well, she had to be doing something that was pretty bad, probably a prostitute.

So she was known to be a sinner. And when she knew that Jesus sat at the table in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster's flask of fragrant oil, stood at his feet behind him weeping, and she began to wash his feet with her tears and wipe them with the hair of her head. And she kissed his feet and anointed them with the fragrant oil.

Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he spoke to himself, saying, this man, if he were a prophet, would know who and what man or woman this is who was touching him. That she is a sinner. What's the implication of what he said here?

I'm not a sinner. She's a sinner. I'm not a sinner. He should know better. You know, he's welling neat with me because look how righteous I am, how good I am. But how could he have someone like that even touch him? So, you know, that was his approach. Now, you might remember, just as a side note to this, that Jesus Christ had some very choice words to say about the religious leaders of his day. Matthew 23, why did he say about the Pharisees, the Sadducees? Did he not say that they were white-washing sepulchers, hypocrites? Well, we'll touch on that a little more later, but you know, this is what he's saying. Well, Jesus knew what was in his mind, and Jesus answered and said, "'Simon, I have something to say to you.' And he said, "'Teacher, say it.'" He opened the door. So he said, "'Say it.'" Well, he said there was a certain creditor who had two debtors, one owed 500 to Nari and the other 50. And when they had nothing with which to repay, he freely forgave them both. Tell me, therefore, which of them will love him the more?

Which going to love him the most? Simon answered and said, "'I suppose the one he forgave more.' And he said to him, "'You have rightly judged.'" Then he turned to the woman and said to Simon, "'You see this woman? I entered your house. You gave me no water for my feet. And she's washed my feet with her tears and wiped them with the hairs of her head. You gave me no kiss. But this woman has not ceased to kiss my feet since the time that I came in. You did not anoint my head with oil, but this woman anointed my feet with fragrant oil. Therefore, I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven. For she loved much, but to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little.' And he said to her, "'Your sins are forgiven.'" And then they began to argue, "'How can man forgive sin?' And I'm sure the lesson went right over their head." What is the lesson? Well, the lesson is this. The debt and the size of the debt is what we perceive to be our sins, what we perceive to be what we have done wrong.

If we think that we've only done a few things wrong, then we will love little. But if we perceive, rightly, that our sins are like the mountain over here, that they're huge, and that God forgave me, and He did away with my sins, you know, every despicable thing you can think of that we've done or we've thought wrong, then how grateful are we to God that me, such a sinner, that I've been forgiven, that God has taken away my sins in spite of the hugeness of those sins, their gargantuan sack of sins. God covered them. And so the principle is the same. If you think your sins, and when you repent, or have repented in the past, especially, that there was a huge pile of them, and you're so sorry, and you realize how much you have been forgiven, then you will love much. And when you love, then you will be motivated. You're not going to be walking around in the vanity and conceding to the mind how good I am, look at what I've done, but you're going to realize how good God is. Any sin brings on the death penalty. We humans tend to categorize sins, don't we? It took just as much suffering on Jesus Christ's part for a small sin as it did for a big sin. And we tend to categorize them. We say, well, you know, God is like this. Can we tell God this? I didn't sin very much, so you know, you don't have to do too much for me.

You know, some of these people out here, they've really sinned. And yeah, I know Christ had to really do, you know, suffer for them, but for me, you didn't have to do too much. Well, we can't say that because we've all sinned. The wages of sin is death. The problem is a lack of understanding of truly what our sins are and how far we have missed the mark, how much we have sinned. And so none of us can point to our good works that we're better than anybody else. If we do, that is a self-righteous approach. That was the approach of the Pharisees. They look down at everybody else. Hey, we fast twice in the week. You know, we pay ties of men coming and everything else. Look how good we are. We pray. You know, we do all of these things. Every person here is every bit as sinner as Hitler was.

We've all sinned. We've all fallen short. So, brethren, there's a very clear principle. And I think this is a set of scriptures here that we need to stop and reflect on and think about. Because the greater the debt that is removed, the greater the chance of showing love towards the person who forgave that debt. Now, let's notice Matthew 18 in verse 21. Same type of principle here. Matthew 18 and verse 21. Peter came to him and said, Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me? And I forgive him up to seven times. And Jesus said to him, I do not say to you up to seven times, but seventy times seven. Hey, that's 490. What he's saying, he's not counting here, he's just saying you should always forgive. Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. And when he had begun to settle accounts, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. Huge debt.

Hundreds of thousands of dollars here, you know, and money today. But as he was not able to pay, the master commanded he be sold, his wife, his children, all that he had and payment be made. And the servant, therefore, fell down before him saying, Master, have patience with me, and I will pay you all. And the master of that servant was moved with compassion, released him and forgave him his debt. Did he have to do that? No, but he did it. He forgave him this huge debt. And that servant went out and found one of his fellow servant who owed him a hundred denarii. That'd be like having a half million dollar debt compared to a hundred dollar.

And he laid hands on him, took him by the throat, saying, Pay me what you owe me. So his fellow servant fell down at his feet and begged, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay you all. Same thing. And he would not, but went and threw him in prison till he should pay the debt. So when his fellow servant saw what had been done, they were grieved and came and told the master all that had been done. Then the master, after he had called and said to him, You wicked servant, I forgave you all that debt because you baked me. Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you? And his master was angry and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due him. So here's the lesson. My Heavenly Father also will do to you, to me, if each of you from his heart does not forgive his brother his trespass.

So brethren, as a recipient of God's grace or forgiveness, we should learn to pass it on. If we realize that our debt, our sins, were so horrendous, and God was willing to forgive us, should we not be so grateful that we should be willing to forgive others? We can only pass on to other people what we experience. And if we don't think that we've been forgiven much or sinned much, and therefore you don't need that much, then we're not going to be very compassionate and very forgiving. So brethren, you and I have to experience the goodness of God, the forgiveness of God, the gifts of God, and then be able to share it with others. This is exactly what we read to start with, that Jesus Christ grew in grace.

He grew in favor with God and men. And you and I need to grow in grace. If God has extended His grace to us, we need to be able to extend grace to other people, to be able to forgive them. How often do we go around? We feel hurt, bitter, resentful. We carry all kinds of baggage with us over all kinds of problems, and we just never let go of it, never forgive the debt. And so, consequently, we have all of these feelings that we wrestle with. Well, if God has extended that much grace to us, surely we can learn to be gracious towards other people, to extend favor, to give gifts, to want to help, to want to serve in all of these ways. Anything you do, if it's the work of God, stems from the sacrifice of Christ and the life of Christ.

Remember Romans 5.8? I referred to it earlier. God demonstrated His love for us that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Not while we were good. Not anything we can point to that we did that was right. John 6 gives a very interesting scripture. John 6.28. Verse 28 here, He said to him, What shall we do that we may work the works of God?

Isn't this what we want to do? We would like the works of God do what God wants us to do? Verse 29. Jesus answered and said to him, This is the work of God that you believe in Him, whom He sent. So if we're going to do the works of God, we have to believe in Jesus Christ.

That means we have to have faith, we have to have trust, and we have to have obedience. Whatever works a person does is going to be as strong as His beliefs.

Going to be as strong as His beliefs. How effective we are going to be will be as good as our belief in Christ and our understanding of what He did for us and what God has done for us. Now Hebrews 6, verse 1. You might remember this is where the basic doctrines of the church are mentioned. Hebrews 6, verse 1. One of them is mentioned here.

It says, Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God. Notice we have to repent of dead works. What are dead works? They are works that lead a person to death as the end result of them.

Not all works that a person does helps them to reap a reward. Again, I cite the example of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

Did they keep the Sabbath? Did they keep the Holy Days? Did they tithe? I mean, they tithe like tea leaves. Coming and meant. Did they fast twice a week? Did they pray? Sure they did. They'd go out and blow trumpets and their body would see them. Did they do good works? Absolutely they did good works. They did all of these things. And what did Christ say? Oh, you're snakes. You're whitewash and sepulchers. You're hypocrites. Read Matthew 23. I mean, he took them up one side and down the other.

He also said, if our righteousness does not exceed the righteousness of the Pharisees, you will in no wise enter into the kingdom of God. So you and I won't be in God's kingdom unless our righteousness exceeds theirs. So they did things, but it was their own works, brethren. Our own works lead to death. Our own efforts lead to death. Our own righteousness is like filthy rags in God's sight. I think the example of the Apostle Paul very clearly explains this. The Apostle Paul, after he was converted, said that he was more zealous than all of the apostles. Is it possible that Paul, once God called him and he was converted, realized what a horrible life he had lived, that he'd actually put people in jail, had people killed who were true Christians, separated families, tried to destroy the church? Can you imagine having that on your conscience when you realize what you've done wrong and you go to God and you ask, God, please forgive me?

He understood how heinous his sins were, and yet it was translated in his life into his love for God and his zealous service for God. When he looked back at his past life, his past righteousness, you know how he summarized it? He said, it's like a pile of dumb, pile of manure. Philippians 3, verse 3. Philippians 3, verse 3.

Here you find that if anybody had a right to brag about who he was, what he had done, Paul did. He said, look here, he says, we are the circumcision who worshiped God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. Though I also might have confidence in the flesh, if anybody could brag about the flesh and their accomplishments and what they've done, he said, look, I could. If anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so. I would circumcise the eighth day of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrew concerning the law, a Pharisee, concerning zeal, why persecuted the church, concerning the righteousness, which is of the law, blameless. Now, you've got to look at Paul, and you couldn't find a thing that he was doing wrong. He wasn't beating his cat. He was honoring his parents. He was keeping the Sabbath and the Holy Days. I mean, you just couldn't find anything. He was blameless. But, verse 7, he says, but the things that were gained to me I have counted loss for Christ. Well, he could have bragged. He had the right pedigree. As he said, he was righteous and according to the law and zealous. But he counted all of that loss so he would know Christ.

And verse 8, but indeed I count all things lost for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish that I may gain Christ. Now, I happened to look this up in about 9 or 10 different translations just to get the feel of it. Notice some of the other translations like Darby. Count of them to be filth. Count of them as garbage. Count of them as rubbish.

Count of them as refuse. Consider them filth. Count it at worth less than nothing.

And then my message, I printed the whole verse here on this one because I thought it was interesting. Yet all the things I once thought were so important are gone from my life. Compared to the high privilege of knowing Christ Jesus as my Master firsthand, and everything I once thought I had going for me is insignificant. Dog-dumb. Now, that's pretty vivid. I dumped it all in the trash so that I could embrace Christ. So he said everything that I could look at in the past that I bragged about, all the goodness, the good deeds, the zeal, the righteousness that I had, he said was dog-dumb. And then finally, worthless trash. So you get Paul's perspective. When he looked back at what he had done, his own righteousness, his own vanity, his own ego, the fact that he was doing all of these things out of pride and vanity and ego to impress people, and he wasn't giving God the glory, but he was getting the glory. See, anything we do spiritually, brethren, always comes back that God gets the glory, not us. It is God working in us who is producing these things. And we don't get the glory. God does. Verse 9, he says, And be found in him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith. So you and I have the righteousness that comes by God through faith. Paul said, Christ is my life, the life I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of Man.

To live is Christ. He lives in us. Anything else we're doing for our own glory, our own vanity, our own egos. Philippians 1.11 says that we are to be filled with the fruits of righteousness.

We're to be filled with the fruits of righteousness, of doing what is right.

Okay, so what are the works of God? What is it that God wants us to work? He wants us to do? Well, let's take a look at several things. He wants us to be obedient to His law, His commandments, and to what Jesus Christ taught.

Now what this means is simply, it's not just being what we would say passive. A passive approach to Christianity is, I'm not doing anything to hurt my neighbor. I just stay here at home, I'm quiet, and don't bother anybody. That's a passive approach. The positive approach is you're trying to help your brother, trying to help your neighbor. You are a good neighbor, and as a result, when there are needs or people need things, you go out of your way to help and to serve. You're not a busybody, but you do it in a very positive way. You're willing to forgive your brother. You're willing to overlook faults. You're willing to take a loss. You're willing to say, I'm sorry. You love your enemies. Christ said, love your enemies. Do good to those who persecute you. Pray for those who despitefully use you. That is the hardest thing in the world to do. If somebody mistreats you to get down and pray for them, not against them, but for them, God, please bless them, help them. And we're to watch the use of our tongues in the right way. We have to take up our cross and follow Christ, whatever that cross, whatever that burden, whatever that trial or difficulty might be.

What are the works of God? Well, what you do by way of good works that are motivated by God. The Good Samaritan parable is a good example. He did good works. He was cited as being a good neighbor. How to be a good neighbor? If you see your brother's destitute of daily food and ramen, then you help your brother. And actually, in the church, over a period of time, I think we all come to realize that there are so many times that people have needs. That someone just to come along and to encourage you. How many times have you been down in the dumps and you just feel down and nobody really comes up and encourages you or tries to inspire you. We all need encouragement. We all need help from time to time. The Bible says, pure religion undefiled is to visit the orphans and widows in their troubles. Keep yourself unspotted from the world. Well, you don't find that in the Ten Commandments, although it's contained in the principle of the Ten Commandments. What it is, it's an application of the Ten Commandments. It's how to keep the Ten Commandments and to obey the Ten Commandments. Our good works involve what we do to help further the preaching of the Kingdom of God or further the Kingdom of God. We do it by our example. We do it by our service. We do it by our works. We do it by our answers. We do it by our obedience, tithing, our offerings, our prayers. All of these things show that we have our heart in the Kingdom of God. And if we do, then we will be actively involved in it. Brother, is Jesus Christ concerned about our works? Or do they not matter to Him? On Revelation 2 and 3, let's go back there, we have the letter to the seven churches.

One of the things that is mentioned about each one of these churches is their works. And you find that Jesus Christ points out to each one of them what they're doing good, what they're doing bad. In verse 2, I know your works, this is the church in Ephesus, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear with those who are evil, and you have tested those who say they are apostles, and are not and found them liars. So He always says, I know your works. That's not something we can hide from God. Verse 4, Nevertheless, I have this against you because you have left your first love. Remember, therefore, from where you have fallen, repent and do the first works. Brother, can you remember back when you first came into the church, the zeal, the enthusiasm, the hunger, the thirst? God says, get back to that. That's something that we should have. It's not something that we should lose. The zeal and the enthusiasm for God in His way. Verse 9, I know your works, your tribulation, you are rich. And I know the blaspheme of those who say they are Jews, and they are not, but are the synagogue of Satan. So He knew what they were going through. And in spite of all these trials and tests, they still had good works. Verse 13, the Pergamos Church, I know your works and where you dwell where Satan's throne is. And then He goes on to talk about how they had those there who were compromising with the doctrine of Balaam, sacrificing to idols, sexual immorality, the doctrine of the Nicolaiatans. And He told them, you better repent. You better change. So God looks and He sees, are we going to be willing to do what He tells us to do? Our good works basically involve our doing what God tells us to do. And the only way that we can do that is by the power of the Holy Spirit. You see, this is where we have to have God's grace and mercy. God forgives us, and then God gives us His Spirit, and God's Spirit works with our minds to convict us when we're not doing right, to help us to repent, to motivate us, to help us to want to do what is right. And if we're not, we need to pray and ask for more of that zeal. Revelation 3, 1-2, to the angel of the church in Sardis, write, these things says, He who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars, I know your works, that you have a name, that you are alive, but you are dead. When you're dead, you don't do too much work. You're not working at all. And this was one of the problems here. They were dead, and they didn't have any works.

Now, verse 8, I know your works. See, I've set before you an open door. No one can shut it. You have a little strength. They've kept my word and have not denied my name. Hopefully, this is talking about all of us, that this is the way we are.

But notice in verse 15, Leah to see you, I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I would that you were cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I'll spew you out of my mouth. See, see what happens to people when they don't see their own self, they don't see their sins, they don't see what their nature is truly like, they become self-righteous. And this is a group of people who were self-righteous.

Brethren, God says that He will not forget our works. Let's notice Hebrews 6 and verse 10. And God is cognizant of what we do, our attempts to obey. The more we yield to Him, the more we have His Spirit working in and flowing through us, the more works, the more things that we will do that are right. When we try to do things just under our own steam, our own power, we have our own righteousness to our own glory. And that's the way the world is set up. Here in verse 10, for God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love, which you have shown towards His name, and that you have ministered to the saints and do minister.

But verse 12, notice, but you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promise. The word sluggish there means lazy. We're not to be lazy, brethren. We're to be on fire.

So what have we learned when we come to the conclusion of the matter?

Well, we've learned that grace has to do with being gracious, with having favor, kindness, beauty of being pleasant, gifts of being acceptable, being thank worthy. This certainly describes the nature of God, does it not? His nature, His approach towards us, towards mankind, especially His family. The God has extended His favor to us, and so therefore, we have His favor. He wants to bless us. He wants to give us good gifts. Ultimately, the greatest gift He wants to give us is eternal life. And only God knows what we need to help us have eternal life, ultimately. And so He is visibly working with each one of us individually, and Christ is, so that we can develop that character and be in His family.

We are to grow in grace and knowledge. We read that scripture back in 2 Peter 3, 18, is it? The growing grace and knowledge, and we always put the emphasis on knowledge.

We grow in grace and knowledge, but we also need to grow in grace. We need to be gracious in how we deal with one another, not always biting, cutting, putting down, but we're gracious, uplifting, encouraging. We build up. We give. We serve. We help. We have kindness. We appreciate beauty. And so, just as God is this way, so we are slowly but surely becoming this way also, in our thoughts, in our actions, and how we are. God has given us every good and perfect gift. He's given us physical life. And as a result of that, we now have an opportunity for eternal life, for salvation.

God calls us. He forgives us. He gives us His Spirit. He gives us His power. And He gives us the fruitless Spirit. He gives us understanding and knowledge. The law of God is a part of His grace that He gives to us.

Because the law of God gives us direction, tells us the best way of life to live, the code to live by, standards, values. We know what to do. We know how to act. We know how to treat one another because God has revealed it to us. He gives to all mankind blessings. He gives us this good earth. He gives us rain and sun. He gives us the ability to produce crops. God has given us an abundance of animals and vegetation and a variety.

There's not just one color out there. If all you saw was brown out there, when you go outside, you know, that's the only color there is. It would indeed be a bland world. But I look out and I see ladies dressed in pink and purple and all kinds of shades. Purple seems to be dominant today. There are all kinds of shades of purple out there. We all have different colors. And God has blessed us with the ability to see here, smell, taste, touch, all of these things. And we can sense that. And we can come to know God. And we can come to know who He is. We have learned that we cannot earn salvation, but God still demands obedience.

Submission. See, our submitting to God, yielding to God, is what produces good works in us. Salvation is ultimately a gift from God. We learn that our works are done through God's grace. And as one last scripture here, Hebrews 13.9 tells us, Hebrews chapter 13.9, Do not be carried about with various and strange doctrines, for it is good that the heart be established by grace, not with foods which have not profited those who have been occupied with them. And sometimes we can become so occupied with the physical that we forget to spiritual.

So, brethren, you and I need to be established with grace. We need to understand grace. We need to understand how God's grace is going to lead us to salvation and the impact that it has in our life and what God has done for us. So, brethren, what we find is God has extended His favor to us. Here we are, a little group in Cleveland, Tennessee. And out of all of the thousand, seventy-five hundred thousand people around here, you know, in this county, and if you throw in Hamilton and go on down into Georgia, you know, we've got a million or more people around here.

God has called this handful. And you and I have been favored by God. And God has blessed us immensely. So, let's never forget God's graciousness and God's goodness to us.