In this sermon, the preacher focuses on the letter to the Galatians and the basics of the gospel of Jesus Christ. He emphasizes that the gospel is based on grace, not law, and that good works do not earn eternal life. The preacher also highlights the importance of personal surrender to Christ and how it should inspire a conduct aligned with that surrender. He uses the example of a servant who works all day and then serves his master before eating to illustrate the concept of surrender and the absence of merit in salvation.

Forgiving us Thine only begotten Son, He is most precious to us. O our Father, how we praise and thank Thee that in Him Thou hast blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies. O how we praise and thank Thee that all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Him bodily and we are complete in Him. Our Father, we do thank Thee for Thy marvelous love towards us. We thank Thee for the greatest gift that Thou hast given us. We thank Thee for the unsearchable riches that is in Christ and we thank Thee that Thou hast given all in Thy Son to us. So we want to offer our praise and thanks to Thee for Thy great gift, our Lord Jesus Christ. We want to declare that He is the first and He is the last and He is all and in all. Make it very real to every one of us. We ask in Thy precious name. Amen. Well, this is a study hour. Yesterday I mentioned that when you want to study something in the scripture the first thing is trying to find, say for instance we studied the word grace in Galatians then you find the word grace in that whole book. Of course, there are many many places where the word grace is not mentioned and yet we know it is talking about grace. But to start with, you can try to find the word the key word, say in that book and try to find all the places where that word occurs and then after that you try to group them together analyze them and put them in order and that will, in a sense, give you some idea of what that word, say grace, is. But as a matter of fact, before you can do such a thing there is something that you should do first. I remember once there were three sisters. They were at a certain place with our dear brother Watchman Lee and these three sisters came to our brother and said would you study the book of Revelation with us? And our brother said yes. If you will read the book of Revelation a hundred times then you come and we will study. So they did. They read the book of Revelation a hundred times and they came and studied that book with our brother. Now of course, if I should say you have to study Galatians a hundred times before we come to study then we would be home already. There wouldn't be time for that. But that should show us a very important principle in studying the Bible. The one way to study the Bible is to read it. You know, often times we try to understand the word of God without reading it. When I first came to this country I discovered one thing. I came to a so-called Christian country. And I thought that everyone in this country was a Christian who knew the Bible. And I do discover that you know a lot about the Bible. You know a lot of the teachings and the doctrines in the Bible. But most of that which you know came by hearing not by reading. You heard a lot. But I discover that oh I'm speaking to young Christians. I discover that they didn't read the word as they should. So the first thing to study the Bible is you have to read it. Read it, read it and read it. Now if not a hundred times I believe that if you read say a book twenty-five times you will get to know something. Why? Because the word of God is the sword of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit is not able to do something if there is not that sword there. So we need to be acquainted with the word. And I believe this is the first principle of studying the Bible. So I think I have to mention that. The first thing is to study it, to read it. And then after you have read it then the second thing as we have suggested you can try to find out the key word in that book and maybe if you are lazy with the help of a concordant. And then the third thing is probably you can go into a Bible dictionary or an encyclopedia or a word dictionary and try to find out what that word really means. Well that is just the beginning of studying the Bible. It doesn't mean that after you have done that then you know it all. Well that is just the beginning. In other words that gives you some kind of instrument some kind of grounds for future study. For the Holy Spirit to guide and lead you into His blessed word. Now we are studying the letter to the Galatians. And in the letter of Galatians we find that it tells us of the basics of the gospel of Jesus Christ. In the letter to the Galatians Paul as it were lays firmly the foundation of the gospel. So that we may not be distracted and move away from that firm foundation. And in the basics of the gospel of Jesus Christ there are three essential elements. Number one of course is grace. The gospel of Jesus Christ is called the gospel of grace. It is not the gospel of law. It is the gospel of grace. And the opposite of grace is law. Now that is what we have covered very briefly yesterday. Now this afternoon we would like to go into the second element in the gospel of Jesus Christ. And you will find it in this letter to the Galatians. It is faith versus works. Now the assignment. Have you gone through this book and find out how many times the word faith occurs in this letter? And find out how many times the word works occur in this letter? I hope you have done it. Those who have done that not copy from anybody else but who have done it yourself or if you have done together that's alright but not copy. Well please raise your hand. Thank God most of you. How many times is the word faith used in the letter to the Galatians? Anybody? 21? 22? 23? Anybody else? Alright. Let's not count the word faithful or believing in it. Let's not count the word believe in it. Just the noun faith. How many times? My, it is a short letter. Well I would suggest it is 22 times. Galatians chapter 1 verse 23 chapter 2 verse 16 twice chapter 2 20 chapter 3 2 I mean verse 2 verse 5 verse 7 verse 8 verse 9 verse 11 verse 12 verse 14 verse 22 verse 23 twice verse 24 verse 25 verse 26 chapter 5 verse 5 verse 6 verse 22 and chapter 6 verse 10. Want me to go over it again and check with your list? Alright. Chapter 1 verse 23 chapter 2 verse 16 twice chapter 2 verse 20 chapter 3 verse 2 verse 5 verse 7 verse 8 verse 9 verse 11 verse 12 verse 14 verse 22 verse 23 two times verse 24 verse 25 verse 26 chapter 5 5 6 22 and 6 10 Yeah, probably. Okay. Everybody is right then. But this is not only translation. This is according to the original Greek word. There are 22 times. So whatever translation it may be if you go back to the original Greek you will find there are 22 times when this word is used in this letter to the Galatians. First of all I would just like to give you a brief analysis of these verses. And I'll give it according to the order of thoughts. In other words I will not give it according to the order of when these verses occur. But according to the thoughts you will find out from these verses and group them in a kind of order. I think that is a very important thing when you study the word of God. You first find out where this word occurs in all these places and then you try to gather them together and put them into some kind of an order. And when you see that that will give you a better understanding of that matter of faith. One, the gospel is called the gospel of the faith. Since it is the gospel of grace of course it must be the gospel of faith. Number two we are justified by faith of Jesus Christ not by works of law. Justification is by faith. By believing in our Lord Jesus Christ. Not by doing keeping the law. Number three it is on the basis of the report. Now the word report probably in some version you may find the preaching. The report of faith that we receive the Holy Spirit and the works of miracles are done. In other words we are not only justified by faith but it is through the preaching of faith. It is not by the preaching of works that you receive the Holy Spirit. It is when faith is preached then the Holy Spirit is given. It is not by the preaching of works that God began to do wonders. It is by the preaching of faith that God works his works of miracles. Number four it is on the principle of faith that we become Abraham's son. Blessed with the believing Abraham. Now we are Abraham's sons. Why? Because Abraham is the believing Abraham. He is the father of faith. And we who believe we are all children of Abraham. And it is on the basis of faith only. Number five we are shut up to faith by law. Law shuts us up to faith as we mentioned yesterday. There is no other way. Number six promise is related to faith. Inheritance comes only by faith. God promised Abraham an inheritance. But this promise comes by faith. This inheritance comes by faith not by law. Number seven it is from faith to faith. For we by the Spirit on the principle of faith await the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus faith working through love works of faith as shown by James. In other words you find that as we believe in the Lord Jesus we are not only justified but on that same principle you find that the Holy Spirit is able to work within us a righteousness which is what James called the works of faith. And then finally we live by faith. We are not only justified by faith but we live by faith and it is the faith of the Son of God. In other words not your faith my faith is His faithfulness. Now this much is an analysis of these verses. Now we'll come to the second point. And the second point is this this word faith in Greek the transliteration is pistis P-I-S-T-I-S Now primarily this word means persuasion a conviction based upon hearing. I will not go into details but I will just suggest that this word faith in the Scripture as it is used in the Scripture it has within itself threefold meaning. Number one a firm conviction producing a full acknowledgement of God's revelation or truth. What is faith? Faith is a firm conviction. You are fully convicted. And because you are fully convicted it produces within you an acknowledgement a full acknowledgement of God's revelation of grace. You are fully convicted and you acknowledge it as such. Now that is faith. Second a personal surrender to Him. After you have acknowledged the revelation the truth of it then there must be a personal surrender to the truth or to Christ. Number three a conduct inspired by such surrender. After you have surrendered yourself to Him then it will produce within you a conduct inspired by such surrender. For instance it will inspire within you a trust in Him. You just trust Him. That's a conduct. So you find that in the original word pistis in that original word word faith all these three things are included. Not only there is a conviction and an acknowledgement now sometimes some people may have an acknowledgement may give a mental consent to something but it is not followed by a personal self-surrendering. Maybe you have heard there is a very famous doctor who is so skillful who is an expert on a certain disease and you are fully convicted that here is a doctor who is so skillful and he is an expert on that an authority on that kind of disease. But suppose you have that disease and you do not surrender yourself to the hands of that doctor that doesn't mean that you have faith in that doctor. Mentally you give a consent but you do not surrender yourself to that doctor. You do not have a concept of trusting him. For instance if he is a surgeon now do you dare to trust your body to that surgeon and let him cut you? If you don't you do not believe in that doctor at all. Now in Christianity today you find there are many many people who give a mental consent to Jesus Christ and yet they have never surrendered themselves to the Lord. They do not dare to trust themselves to the Lord. And can you say that they have faith in the Lord Jesus? That's the reason why you find some people profess to have faith and yet they are not saved because it is only a mental consent. There is not that full surrender and trust in the Lord. That's the reason why you find the word faith when it is a verb it means believe into. You have to believe and to believe into. I think probably some of you know that when John G. Peyton he went to the New Hebrides to preach the gospel and they did not have a language a written language. So in order to translate to give them the Bible he had to try to listen to these people the Hebrides and try to find the words and try to develop a written language for them. And the first book he tried to translate is the gospel according to John. So after he was with them for a while he collected quite a number of their expressions of their words, their sounds and he started to translate the gospel according to John. But when he came to John 3.16 he had a problem. Why? Because with these people they do not have the word believe. They don't have that word. And if you do not have that word believe how can you translate the Bible? God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever there is no word for it. But one day he was out hunting with the natives and they got a big deer. So he and the other his friend you know the one who helped him they pulled that deer you know they carried it and carried it home. And it was so heavy. So when they arrived at their home when they saw their home they threw that deer down and the native just rushed to the veranda when there was a couch and he just stretched himself on the couch and said I stretch myself on the couch. And immediately John J. Paton said that's the word. So his translation is God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever stretch on him shall not perish but have everlasting life. You have faith sitting on these chairs. That's faith. You are not doubting that suppose the chair were fell off then what will happen to you? No! You just get yourself into the chair. That's faith. That's faith. So dear brothers and sisters just remember one thing and faith is you are fully convicted you acknowledge it as truth and because of that on the basis of that you surrender yourself fully to it and of course to him and there is a corresponding conduct that comes out of it and that is trust in the Lord. You find faith in the scripture is always connected well especially in the book of Galatians. You will find that faith in the book of Galatians is especially connected with Revelation. You know Paul when he wrote the letter to the Galatians these Galatian believers they were disturbed and enticed by some Judaizers those so called Jewish Christians now of course there is no such thing as Jewish Christian a Christian is a Christian neither Jew nor Gentile but you find that at that time there were some so called Jewish Christians they came to Galatia and they began to teach these Galatian believers and said now if you want to be perfect you believe in the Lord Jesus yes it's alright but if you want to be perfect you have to keep the law you have to be circumcised you have to keep the days and the years and the seasons and the festivals then you will be perfect and at the same time they try to undermine the apostolic authority of Paul they say Paul who is he? We know Peter we know John we know James now these people were apostles they saw the Lord they travelled with the Lord from the very beginning until the Lord was taken away from them but who was that man? Paul and in undermining the apostolic authority of Paul they undermined the gospel that he preached so here you find in the letter to the Galatians Paul started out with that Paul apostle of Jesus Christ not by man nor from man where did Paul receive the gospel of Jesus Christ? he received the gospel by revelation of course the revelation began on the road to Damascus it was on the road to Damascus that the Lord appeared to him and the Lord commanded him to preach the gospel and that is to say to preach Him the Lord what is the gospel? the gospel is not a doctrine the gospel is not a teaching the gospel is not a system of theology the gospel is a person Jesus Christ go and preach Him and Paul received the gospel by revelation his faith came by revelation after he received the revelation he went to Arabia for about three years why? because he had to re-study the Bible you know Paul was a Pharisee he was trained from his youth in the Old Testament and his interpretation of the Old Testament was according to the school of the Pharisees through the years great rabbis interpreted the Old Testament the law of Moses through the years great teachers were raised up in Judaism trying to interpret the teaching of these former great rabbis so you find interpretation upon interpretation upon interpretation and finally you'll find Judaism was just a great system of the traditions of the fathers that was Judaism and Paul when he was young he was instructed in Judaism he was more advanced than his contemporaries he knew a great deal about the Old Testament according to the interpretations taught him by the fathers his understanding of Judaism was not by revelation but by traditions he did not receive any revelation concerning Judaism his whole understanding of Judaism was something taught by man and man so taught the law of Moses that the law of Moses was literally buried under a great mountain of the traditions of the fathers but on the road to Damascus for the first time he got a revelation and that's where his faith began so after he knew the Lord Jesus he met the Lord Jesus he had to go to Arabia he had to go to a place where he could be alone with the Lord and the Holy Spirit would teach him re-study the Bible you remember at this time it was the Old Testament he didn't have the New Testament yet so he had to re-study the Old Testament not by the teachings of the elders but by the teaching of the Holy Spirit he spent about three years under the feet of the Holy Spirit and after he came back you remember he came back to Damascus and there he proved to the people that Jesus is the Son of God the Christ, the Messiah yes he went to Jerusalem for the first time he went to Jerusalem after he came back from Arabia he was there only 14 days and he saw only Peter and James the brother of our Lord he had fellowship with them it was for confirmation not for instruction and 14 years later by revelation again he went to Jerusalem because of the controversy concerning whether the Gentile believers must be circumcised he went by revelation he went there so that the truth of the gospel might not be adulterated nothing was added but everything was confirmed and you remember the three pillars in the church in Jerusalem extended to him the right hand of fellowship so in other words you'll find with Paul faith is a matter of revelation and because his faith is based upon revelation therefore you'll find his faith is living and vibrant dear brothers and sisters how about us how does faith come well in Romans chapter 10 verse 17 we are told faith comes by the report and the report comes by the word of God that's how faith comes faith comes by the report by the preaching and the preaching by the word of God in other words here is the word of God and if you preach the word of God then it produces or it brings a faith from you now if you do not preach the word of God then there is no way to have faith but suppose you preach the word of God and according to Romans 10 17 faith comes by the report and the report by the word of God then you will say well if the word of God is preached then surely there will be faith alright you read on Romans 10 Romans 10 17 so faith then is by a report but the report by God's word 18 but I say have they not heard yea surely their voice has gone out into all the earth and their words to the extremities of the habitable world but I say has not Israel known first Moses said I will provoke you to jealousy for them that are not a nation for a nation without understanding and so on and so forth in other words you'll find the nation of Israel they have heard they have heard the word of God and yet they haven't heard they have no faith why so here brothers and sisters you see something faith comes by report report by the word of God but if there is no revelation even if there is the word of God the letter kills the spirit here is the word of God we must hear it but if you do not receive revelation you may hear it a hundred times it doesn't work it doesn't work but one day when you hear the word of God and the spirit of God gives you a revelation immediately that word becomes living and faith springs up is not that experience your experience when you are saved you may be brought up in Christian family you may be educated in Christian schools you live in a so called Christian country and from your childhood you are brought up to be a Christian to be taught to be educated to be a Christian but do you have a living experience of Jesus Christ as your savior you know the word but does it work is it real does it operate thank God one day you may hear the same word the same old gospel that you have been brought up with that you have been educated all these years but that day when you hear the same old word and the spirit of God begins to unveil the word to you now that's revelation by revelation I do not mean you receive a new revelation outside of the bible no never all the revelations of God are completed with the bible but by revelation it simply means an unveiling of the word that God has won God speaks again He speaks again by His already spoken word it is an unveiling of the word and when the word unveils you see Christ the living word and that's where faith comes immediately faith jumps up to receive the word receive Christ now that is your experience of your savior but remember this is not only true when you are first saved it is true throughout your life this principle is real throughout your life we live by faith in other words our whole life shall be governed by revelation Paul even his going to Jerusalem was governed by revelation now if you read the book of Acts you will find that in the book of Acts you know because there was a controversy over this matter of circumcision so the brethren decided to send Paul and Barnabas and some other brothers to Jerusalem to settle that matter so on the one hand you find it is the decision of the church in Acts chapter 15 but in Galatians chapter 2 you find that Paul said I go by revelation now is there any contradiction no there is no contradiction on the one hand the church decides that it should be done but on the other hand Paul does receive a revelation from the Lord every action every walk of Paul is governed by revelation that is to say God reveals his mind to him and he walks accordingly dear brothers and sisters our faith is based on revelation our faith is not based on tradition once upon a time Paul lived in tradition he could persecute Christians and thought he was serving but then when God opened his eyes by revelation then you find he had living faith and he was able to preach Christ to the nation brothers and sisters never walk by experience always walk by revelation Peter he had a revelation why because you remember in Matthew chapter 16 you remember he confessed the Lord Jesus as the Christ the son of the living God and the Lord Jesus said blessed are you son of Jonah because this is not something taught you by blood and flesh but it is the Father who is in heaven who reveals to you revelation Peter got the revelation of Jesus Christ but in Galatians chapter 2 you remember after the council in Jerusalem Peter visited Antioch and when he visited Antioch he freely mingled with the Gentile believers he ate with them you know it was not allowed by tradition a Jew should never eat with a Gentile because a Gentile eats unclean food and the Jews eat only clean food but here you will find Peter he was in Antioch he freely mixed with the Gentiles he ate with them but when some brothers came from Jerusalem and these brothers were very strict and they were followers of James a leading brother in Jerusalem so when they came you know Peter got frightened Peter always got frightened he got frightened and he began to keep himself away from eating with the Gentile believers and when he did that of course the other Jewish believers followed his manner and even Barnabas was affected he acted by experience not by revelation always remember this thing never do anything by experience but always by revelation and of course revelation is based on the word of God we have to remember that but anyway now how will faith come to us of course first of all we say faith comes by report and report by the word of God and in the reporting there must be the element of revelation now secondly we cannot work up faith you know sometimes some people try to work up a kind of manufacture faith and the way we try to manufacture faith is try to self-hypnotize ourselves have you tried that before I'm afraid that many have done that you try to tell yourself I do believe, I do believe I do believe, I do believe and if you think that you tell yourself I do believe then you will believe the more you try to believe the more try to feel within yourself the more try to look within yourself the more you find faith is not there, not where it is Hebrews chapter 12 verse 2 looking off unto Jesus the author and finisher of faith that's where faith comes from faith does not originate from you faith originates from Christ Jesus so when you look off everything and you look unto Jesus he is the author the beginner and he is the perfecter of faith so how can we grow in faith the secret is always look to the Lord Jesus the more you look to him naturally faith will rise within you, why because he is the author of faith, you remember that Peter once our Lord Jesus was in midnight and the disciples were rowing the boat and there was a great storm there you know and the wind there and Peter said now if it is you command that I can walk to you and the Lord said come so Peter stepped out of the boat and as he stepped out of the boat no doubt his eyes were upon the Lord he was looking at the Lord he was going to the Lord of course so his eyes were upon the Lord he stepped out of the boat and he walked on the way and then he suddenly remembered he wasn't in the boat he looked at the waves and he started to where is faith where is faith so brothers and sisters always remember, faith is not in you if you try to look within yourself you won't find it there there is only one place where you will find faith, it is in the Lord, look off unto Jesus the author and finisher of faith, oh thank God that's the secret that's the secret every time you look to the Lord faith is given faith is the gift of God it is not the word it is the gift of God and the gift is given whenever you look off unto Jesus we have to hurry on to works alright how many times is the word works used in the letter to the Galatians, now let me qualify it first both the noun and the pronoun no, both the noun and the verb both the noun and the verb, alright, how many times seven, eight nine who will say ten how about eleven no it is eleven times, you don't believe it, alright let's try it, Galatians 2 16 but knowing that a man is not justified on the principle of works of law nor but by faith of Jesus Christ we also have believed on Jesus Christ that we might be justified on the principle of the faith of Christ and not on the works of law because on the principle of works of law no flesh shall be justified, three times chapter 3 verse 2 this only I wish to learn of you, have you received the spirit on the principle of works of law or of the report of faith verse 5 he therefore who ministers to you the spirit and works works, that's a verb miracles among you, is it on the principle of works of law or of the report of faith twice, verse 10 for as many as are on the principle of works of law are under curse chapter 5 verse chapter 5 verse 6 for in Christ Jesus neither circumcision has any force nor uncircumcision but faith working through love 5.19 now the works of the flesh are manifest 6.4 but let each prove his own work and there is another one in chapter 2 verse 8 for he that wrought in Peter worked in Peter so if you add them up you will find 11 times 6.10 we mentioned already, do we? oh 6.10? yeah, it's a matter of translation, I think in original you don't have the word work there, so we have to leave it off 6.10, yeah I have to check with the Greek testament but if you check it properly you won't find it there now the word work in Greek is ergon e-r-g-o-n that's the transliteration first a brief analysis of the word works in Galatians and then we want to enlarge it and see the relationship or the contrast of works and faith so first of all in these verses you will find that works is connected with law it is called the works of law people try to justify themselves by keeping the law and we know it is futile because we are justified by faith not by works of the law number two works here is also connected with the flesh for it is the flesh that works the works of the flesh are manifest so on the one hand you will find works is related to the law and on the other hand it is related to the flesh works of the law will not bring in the spirit nor the mighty works of God instead it brings us under curse, number four works of the flesh will never enable us to enter into the kingdom of God now remember this works of the flesh will never enable us to enter into the kingdom of God I hope you are underlined that I do not have the time to explain it number five, however there is the work of God in us which is by grace and it is very effective, number six out of God's working there shall come forth works of faith from us now we go over this whole matter of works we find first of all that works here is in contrast with faith works of the law against faith of Jesus Christ faith anchors in Christ works anchors in the law faith is done work is do there is a contrast between works of the law and faith of Jesus Christ you find faith always is in Jesus Christ but works always anchors in the law whenever you come to faith you find it is done it is done there is nothing else for you to do but to believe but whenever you come to works it is to be done do it you do it, so that's the difference you find in the case of the Galatian believers Paul said oh foolish Galatians is not Christ crucified portrayed before you do you not see that Christ has died on the cross have you not heard he cries it is finished do you not realize that it is done why is it that you are doing this and doing that as if it is left to be done dear brothers and sisters there is nothing to be done whatever needs to be done is done the Lord Jesus on the cross the finished work of Christ on the cross it is finished it is done you cannot do anything God has done it all in Christ Jesus what is left for us is just trust and obey that's all if you try to do something you are trying to add something to that which is already done you spoil the work of God you spoil it the Galatians after they believe in the Lord Jesus in his finished work they are told they must do something over and above what is already done by Jesus Christ they must be circumcised they must keep days and seasons and festivals in order to be perfect brothers and sisters it is done not only initially our salvation is done it is finished but from the beginning to the end it is done if you want to be perfect it is done it is by the finished work of Christ that we are delivered from the world it is by the finished work of Christ that we are delivered from our flesh it is by the finished work of Christ on the cross that we overcome our enemy it is on the basis of the finished work of Christ that the Holy Spirit will perfect us everything is done it is done all that is left for us is to trust and obey that's all but works is always do, do this do that, do this, do that works before salvation are called dead works why? because they were done by dead people. Do you mean to say that our Lord Jesus does not appreciate good works, good deeds? You remember that rich young ruler he rang to the Lord he cut on his knee and he said, good teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? And you remember the Lord Jesus said have you kept the commandment? He said, what commandment? The Lord said honor your father and mother thou shalt not steal and this and that the second table of law and the young man looked up to the Lord and said, I have kept all these from my childhood what did the Bible say? The Lord looked at him and loved him and because the Lord loved him so much the Lord said go and sell all you have and give to the poor come and follow me if you want to be perfect and the young man ran away. Does not God appreciate good deeds? Suppose here is a very moral person suppose here is a person who does something good do you think God does not appreciate it? God loves it and yet these good deeds have no merits in them not because we have these good deeds therefore we have merits to be saved these are the things that we ought to do furthermore even the good deeds that we do our righteousness are as filthy rags before God look at this young man this ruler he had kept all these commandments from his childhood he had good deeds any merit? not only no merit but the Lord pointed out these are filthy rags why? because he had no compassion on the poor he was selfish self-centered all for himself and self is the root of all evils so dear brothers and sisters before a person believed in the Lord Jesus before salvation all our works are dead works and according to the book of Hebrews we must be delivered from dead works how many people depend on their dead works? we must be delivered from dead works we must be so delivered to see that these have no merits in themselves these are things we ought to do and even after we have done that they are full of filthy things within no merits no righteousness we have to come to the Lord Jesus and see the finished work of Christ so before we are saved our works were dead works we were under bondage but you know it is natural for people to do something trying to justify themselves by doing something why? because the flesh likes to boast of itself we like to do something that we may boast and say now look here I do it I did it and because I have done it therefore you know that's the flesh flesh always like to do something in order to be boastful but if you try to do you find yourself under the bondage of the law under curse under condemnation so number two knowing that our works before we were saved were dead works will not justify us then what should we do? the second thing is we accept by faith the work of God not our but God's work God did something God did something by sending his son into this world God did something by his son going to the cross by his son bearing our sins by his son crucified on the cross in our stead in other words this is the work of God God has done a work God does not command you to work but he has worked himself and whatever he has done it is for us to believe and to accept it so you see on the one hand our works are dead you cannot depend on it for justification on the other hand there is a work which is God's work you have to accept if you do not accept God's work then you cannot be saved you cannot be justified and this is the gospel of Jesus Christ number three but after we have accepted the work of God in Christ Jesus after we are saved then God does expect good works from us Ephesians chapter 2 verse 10 for we are his workmanship we are God's workmanship having been created in Christ Jesus for good works God created us in Christ Jesus for what? for good works which God has before prepared that we shall walk in them so dear brothers and sisters we have to be very clear on this point work before salvation is dead we have to receive by faith the work of God Christ Jesus and his finished work but after we have believed in the Lord Jesus then God has recreated in Christ Jesus for good works that God has prepared for us to do you know it is very interesting Martin Luther he considered the letter to the Galatians as his letter as his wife but once he said the letter of James is an epistle of straw he has no he he couldn't he couldn't understand the letter of James he is all out for the letter to the Galatians but as he read the letter of James well he couldn't find any use of it, he said it is the letter of straw, no use for it but if you read Martin Luther's commentary on the letter to the Galatians you will find in his letter he said before you are saved there is no place for work, your work but after you are saved there should be good work and that's what James teaches but how does it work and you will say why is it that before I was saved God does not want any work from me but after I'm saved God said I should work now why? remember one thing, the secret is before you were saved it was you who worked but after you are saved it is God who works in you both the willing and the doing you see the difference do nothing now I'm saved so I have to work you know and you work by your flesh again you made a great mistake if you work by your flesh after you are saved it is the same thing as your work before you were saved that which is of the flesh is flesh, it never changes dead work it is still dead work but remember it is God who works in you after you have accepted the Lord Jesus his life is in you, his spirit is in you and you'll find that it is God who works in you both the willing and the doing and after he has worked in you then you work out your salvation with fear and trembling now that is how it works so you may say it is I who works but really it is not you it is Christ in you it is only Christ in you who works out the good works for the glory of God James says faith without work is dead how can you prove your faith now we say we believe in the Lord Jesus and we do but how can we prove to the world that we have believed in the Lord Jesus by good works but the good works are the result of the working of God, his life, his spirit within us, it is called the works of faith not just any kind of work not just the work of the flesh, it is called the work of faith it is faith and we already say faith is Christ it is Christ who works in you and if you allow Christ to work in and through you then these are good works and God is glorified because of them alright, another point such works do not earn you eternal life, eternal life is the gift of God if it is a gift you cannot earn it if anything you can earn is your wages it is no longer a free gift so even after you have done all these things now just like that servant you remember well that's a parable people don't understand and I don't every time I read to that place well, I know a little bit now, every time I read to that place you remember a servant he worked all day in the field and after he came back you know what did the master say serve me, serve my food and after you have finished serving then you can eat oh we will say now after he worked all day certainly he should come back and be served, but no as a servant, he worked all day in the field and came back to serve the master at the table and after he served then he could eat, often times you think well I worked so hard for the Lord and certainly now I can enjoy it the Lord said no there is nothing to it, there is no merit, but remember works, good works do not earn you eternal life but it does do one thing and that is you will be rewarded because the Father is glorified, now I cannot get into this whole round because it is such a big thing in the Bible in other words, good works do not earn you eternal life but our place in the kingdom of God is governed by good works it's a reward I just quote a few scriptures Matthew 5 16 let your light thus shine before men so that they may see your upright works and glorify your Father who is in the heavens, if we have good works people will glorify God not you glorify God Matthew 7 21 not everyone who says to me Lord, Lord shall enter into the kingdom of the heavens but he that does the will of my Father who is in the heavens in other words, if we do the will of the Father, which is good works we shall enter into the kingdom of the heavens 1 Corinthians 3 13 14 the work of each shall be made manifest if the work of anyone which he has built upon the foundation shall abide he shall receive a reward 1 Corinthians 15 58 so then my beloved brother in being firm and immovable abounding always in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord, so dear brothers and sisters, just remember this that it has to do something with reward and that is a great theme in the Bible I think we have to stop here, anyway you find the works of faith is sometimes called the fruit of the Spirit shall we pray Our Heavenly Father how we praise and thank Thee that everything concerning us is done by our Lord Jesus all that is required of us is to believe and to obey, oh how we praise and thank Thee even the works that Thou does require of us are done by Thyself by the Spirit of life in us these are the fruits of the Spirit and they are for the sake of glorifying the Father and God how gracious Thou art Thou has done it all and yet Thou will reward us with a kingdom, oh how we praise and worship in Thy precious name Amen