The sermon discusses the works done by unregenerate men and their inability to please God. It addresses the challenges of whether these works, although commanded and useful, can still be considered sinful. It emphasizes the importance of good works being done with a heart purified by faith, in a right manner according to God's word, and for the glory of God. Neglecting to do the commanded duties is considered even more sinful and displeasing to God. The sermon concludes by highlighting the necessity of good works in the lives of believers and the importance of being humble and patient in seeking to please God.

It's from the Second London Baptist Confession. Our final paragraph today of chapter 16 of Good Works, paragraph 7. Works done by unregenerate men, although for the matter of them they may be things which God commands and of good use both to themselves and others, yet because they proceed not from a heart purified by faith, nor are done in a right manner according to the word, nor to a right end the glory of God. They are therefore sinful and cannot please God, nor make a man meet to receive grace from God, and yet their neglect of them is more sinful and displeasing to God. Over the last few weeks, we spoke on the inability of our best works to merit pardon of sin or eternal life.

And despite this, God was pleased to accept and reward the good works of believers, even with their many weaknesses and imperfections when and only when looking upon them in His Son. The main point of our confession this week is that the works done by the unregenerate man are sinful and cannot please God. It first anticipates a couple of challenges that one would ask, well what if these works are things that God commands? What if they are of good use to themselves and others? The Confession then offers reasons why these works are not done from a heart purified by faith, nor they're done in a right manner, nor done for the glory of God.

And finally, we are given the consequences. These works are sinful. They cannot please God. They do not prepare us to receive grace from God. And in fact, the neglect of doing them is more sinful and displeasing.

I want to start today by making sure we understand clearly a few points here. First, what is sin? What is pleasing to God? What is not pleasing to God or displeasing? And what makes good works good?

Sinclair Ferguson commenting on sin states, they say that the more important something is, the more words you'll find in that culture for something. And there is an abundance of vocabulary in the Hebrew Old Testament for sin. There is also an abundance of words used for sin in the Greek New Testament. Theopedia lists six nouns and three verbs used for sin in the Hebrew, and five nouns, five adjectives, and three verbs used for sin in the Greek. And whether in the Hebrew or the Greek sin generally means to miss the mark, to fall short of the mark.

That mark is God's commands, His Word. Whether We willfully disobey or accidentally violate God's commands. We sin. Lack of access or awareness of God's written word cannot be used as an excuse since God has written on our hearts His moral code. They the Gentiles show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, from Romans 2.15.

For example, there was no Bible available to Cain, yet he knew in his heart the murder was wrong. God even warned him, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.'" In Genesis 4, 7. Looking at it from a different perspective, Barry Cooper from Ligonier Ministries describes sin in the following way. When we sin, we strive to substitute our own authority for God's.

Well, what about pleasing God or displeasing God? First of all, from Romans 8, 8, they who are in the flesh cannot please God. You must be in the spirit, not in the flesh, for without faith it is impossible to please God. Hebrews 11, 6. So how would a believer please God?

Is this a question you've ever asked yourself? How can I please God? On Monday morning when you wake up, do you ask yourself, how can I please God this week? You should. You should do this every day.

We should want to be pleasing to God. We should want to be pleasing God in everything that we do. When we stop asking ourselves that question, we start doing what is right in our own eyes. And that takes us down a dangerous path. So how do we please God?

We obey His commands. GotQuestions.org offers an answer to this question also. Pleasing God is a matter of living according to His precepts, His commandments, and doing so in love. We always want to please those we love. And the New Testament is full of exhortations to righteous living and loving Christ by obeying His commandments.

Jesus made this very plain in John 14, 15. If you love me, you will obey what I command. The epistles are God's plan for believers and are filled with exhortations to display throughout our lives the behavior that is pleasing to God. For the rest, then, my brothers, we beseech you and exhort you in the Lord Jesus that, as you have received from us, how you ought to walk and to please God, so you would abound more and more." 1 Thessalonians 4, 1. In contrast, when we sin, we disobey God's commands.

When we ignore God, when we live in the flesh, we do not please God. And then finally, what makes a good work good? We answered this previously, and it is God who decides what works are good, not us. For a good work to be good, it must be in obedience to God's commands. It must be done in a true and lively faith.

It must be done in a right manner according to God's word, and it must be done for the glory of God. So let's go back and look at the what if questions that I asked. What if an unbeliever does a good work that is something God commands? What if an unbeliever does a good work that is useful to themselves or to others? There are many things that occur in our daily lives that we see and could be considered good from our perspective.

Examples could include stopping to help a broken down car, feeding the poor, comforting a neighbor in a tragedy, paying it forward in a restaurant, teaching your children to follow the laws. There are endless more examples we could think of. Most of them will somehow fall under one of God's commands, like love your neighbor as yourself. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not murder, and so forth.

If we witnessed someone doing these things, we would think to ourselves, that's nice. He's doing a good deed. But from God's perspective, it's not just the outward action or appearance. It's also the intent of the heart. For the Lord sees not as man sees.

Man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart." 1 Samuel 16, 7. It goes back to what makes a good work good. The deeds of an unbeliever do not proceed from a heart that is purified by faith, nor done in a right manner according to God's word, nor done for the glory of God. For whatsoever is not of faith is sin." Romans 14, 23. They are sinful in God's eyes and are not pleasing to Him.

I want to next touch on the last two phrases of our paragraph. First, works done by unregenerate men cannot make a man meet to receive grace from God. A more recent rendering of this phrase states they cannot qualify anyone to receive grace from God. Works, whether done by a believer or an unbeliever, do not merit salvation. They do not merit grace.

Nor do they make the soul fit for the reception of grace or qualify anyone to receive grace. It is only from the merit of Christ's work that we are justified. The only way we can receive and appropriate those works is by faith. And God gives us that faith. It's a gift, not one that we have earned, not one that we deserve.

Our good works that we do are fruit of that faith. Because an unbeliever does not have faith, he's incapable of doing any works that God would deem good. Which leads us to the last phrase to discuss today, considering that the works done by unregenerate men are sinful, yet their neglect of them, their works, is more sinful and displeasing to God. If the works done by unregenerate men are sinful, especially those which align with God's commands and are profitable to themselves and others, why would not doing them be even more sinful or displeasing to God? They're already sin in sin.

A sin is sin, right? Well, in Jesus' conversation with Pilate In John 19.11, he indicates there are levels of sin. Jesus answered Pilate, thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above. Therefore, he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin. A.

A. Hodges comments, God is more displeased with their neglecting to do those commanded duties at all than He is with their doing them sinfully as sinners. These works done by unregenerate men are commanded by God, and hence are their bounded duties. And in their sin lies not in their doing them, but in their personal attitude of rebellion, and in the absence of the proper motives and objects. If they neglected to do them, the neglect would be added to the other grounds of condemnation.

The amiable acts of rebel must involve elements of rebellion, and yet he would be more to be condemned without them than with them. In conclusion, the works done by the unregenerate man are sinful and cannot please God. They're not done from a heart purified by faith, nor done in a right manner according to God's word, nor done to the right end. The glory of God. I'll close with a statement from Robert Shaw regarding our chapter on good works.

Though good works are excluded from bearing any meritorious influence in the matter of salvation. Yet, as we have seen, they are of indispensable necessity and serve many valuable purposes. Let it, therefore, be the study of all who name the name of Christ to be fruitful in good works, that so they may silence the adversaries of the truth, recommend religion to all within the sphere of their influence, glorify their Father who is in heaven, and promote their own comfort and happiness. One more comment on pleasing God. We must be humble.

We must be patient. If you think back on the Lord's Prayer, it says, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done. We please the Lord when we are in His will. It doesn't say our will, but Thy will. We need to be careful when we try to help God.

How sad it would be if we found ourselves opposing God's will from our good intentions, from our selfish desires, or from the impulse to take control. I'll close with a passage from Isaiah 8 and 9, 55, 8, 9. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as The heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. Amen.