CHAPTER 16 Of Good Works
(Parts Four and Five)

Here is a fantastic thought from the Confession regarding “good works”: Though our good works cannot save us, and cannot gain favor with God—beyond that which we have through faith in Christ and in what He has done to save us—yet God is pleased to reward His people for good works (Matthew 25:21).

That God would reward us for doing anything, since our best is less than He demands is fantastic enough. But in the same way that an earthly father might reward a child for doing a less-than-stellar job on a given task, God is pleased to reward His children for our less-than-perfect performance if we were motivated and directed by Him, empowered by the Holy Spirit, and do what we do for His glory (1 Corinthians 3:12-15).

But to bring the subject full circle—back to the glory of God, what are His children seen doing with our rewards [crowns] in Heaven? (Revelation 4:9-11) Casting them at His feet. What a picture! Once in Heaven, those who are rewarded will see God and will immediately think, “What is this crown doing on my head? All glory belongs to Him.” And at that moment the crowns on our heads will be placed rightly at His feet, since our best is still below even His feet.

What an incredible God!

(Part Five)

Most people have no difficulty with the concept that our bad deeds count against us. Of course most people also routinely believe that their bad deeds are not all that bad, that they are certainly not as bad as others (you know, the really bad people), and that their good deeds will outweigh their bad deeds.

The fact is, anything less than the infinite holiness of God is infinitely short of His required standard of sinless perfection (see Matthew 5:48). The fact is, God doesn’t grade on a curve. The fact is, all the good deeds in the world cannot outweigh our bad deeds. (How many good things can a person do for you to outweigh a bad deed against you if that one bad deed was murdering your son?)

As stated, most people have no difficulty with the concept that our bad deeds count against us, but try this one on: our good deeds count against us too. Isaiah 64:6 states: “We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.…” Not only does our worst condemn us, so does our best. Why? Because it is not equal to God’s best, and that is the standard by which we are judged.

Good news for the Christian: Jesus took all our deeds and gave us all His, so that those who are “in Him” stand before God as though we are as righteous as Jesus Christ Himself.

So then, we are saved by works—just not by our works, but by Christ’s!