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Good Works Works
that are truly good, and which are done in obedience to God's
commandments, are the fruits and evidences of a true and living faith. By means of them believers make known their thankfulness,
strengthen their assurance of salvation, edify their brethren, adorn their
Christian witness, and deprive their opponents of arguments against the
gospel. In sum, they glorify
God who has made them what they are, namely, new creatures in Christ; and
as such they yield fruit that evidences holiness, eternal life being the
outcome of all. We cannot, even by our best works, merit either the pardon of sin or the granting of eternal life at the hand of God, for those works are out of all proportion to the glory to come. And furthermore, there is infinite distance between us and God, and no works of ours can yield him profit or act as payment for the debt of our former sins. Indeed, when we have done all that we can, we have done but our duty and remain unprofitable servants. We are also to remember that, so far as our works are good, they are produced by his Spirit. As far as they are our work they are marred, and mixed with so much weakness and imperfection that they fail utterly to meet the searching requirements of God's standards.
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