Good Works

                                   "God doesn't need your good works; your neighbor does."
                                                                                             Martin Luther

                                                         **********

          Good works are not the main thing God desires from His people.  Compared
     to his holiness, they are like dirty rags to Him.

    
                                  "All of us have become like one who is unclean,
                                   and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags."
                                                                               Isaiah 64:6   

          All our good deeds will not save us.        
          The Bible teaches that we are saved by grace through faith that comes from
     God and not from ourselves; it is a gift from God, and not by works so that no
     one can boast (Ephesians 2:8-9).

          At the same time James writes:

                                   " ... faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by
                                     action, is dead."
                                                                         James 2:17

          NIV commentary:

                                  "James is not saying that a person is saved by works and not
                                    by genuine faith.  Rather, he is saying, to use Martin Luther's
                                    words, that a man is justified (declared righteous before God)
                                    by faith alone, but not a faith that is alone.
                                  "Genuine faith will produce good deeds, but only faith in Christ
                                    saves."


          Our salvation depends on God's mercy.

                                  "It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or
                                   effort, but on God's mercy."
                                                                              Romans 9:16


          Though our salvation doesn't depend on our good works, God still wants
     us to do perform good deeds and help other people.


                                   "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and
                                    faultless is this:  to look after orphans and widows
                                    in their distress and to keep oneself from being
                                    polluted by the world.'
                                                                            James 1:27


          Ultimately, more than our good works, God wants us to be obedient.


                                  "To obey is better than sacrifice ..."
                                                                     1 Samuel 15:22b


                                  "Remind the people to be subject to rulers and
                                   authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do
                                   whatever is good ..."
                                                                        Titus 3:1


          We are to love others.


                                  "And this is love:  that we walk in obedience to
                                   His commands.  As you have heard from the be-
                                   ginning, His command is that you walk in love."
                                                                        2 John 6



          Good works do not save, but they are signs that a person IS saved!