Where Do Good Works Come From?

It is an old maxim that nature cannot rise above itself. Water coming from the top of a hill will rise only as high as its source; but unless some extraordinary pressure is exerted upon it, it will never rise any higher. The same is true of human nature.

Scripture informs us that it is extraordinarily depraved; we cannot expect good works to proceed from a perverted nature. Can sweet waters flow from a bitter well? Just as poison does not grow on healthy trees that bear healthy fruit, neither can healthy fruit grow on poisonous trees. Let us no more look for good works in depraved nature than we should look for grapes of Sorek on the vine of Gomorrah. We cannot expect to find good works proceeding from man’s nature; indeed, it is vain and futile to think that good works can originate in the natural man.

You will ask, “Where, then, do they come from?” Our answer is that good works come from a real conversion, produced by the Spirit of God. Until the moment of our conversion, there is not even the slightest shadow of goodness in us. In the eyes of the world we may have a good reputation and be respectable, but in the eyes of God we are nothing of the kind. If we could look into our hearts as we sometimes look at other people’s faces, we would see many things there that would drive from our souls the mere supposition of good works before our heart is changed. How many things there are in the world that we put on our tables and even eat, which, if placed under a microscope, we would be afraid to touch, for we would see all kinds of repulsive creatures climbing and crawling over them—unimaginable things! And the same is true of human nature. Once the human heart is placed under the microscope of Scripture and we see it with a spiritual eye, we see it to be so depraved and unclean that we become thoroughly convinced that until we have a new heart and a right spirit, it would be as impossible to find good works in an unconverted and unrighteous man as to see fire burning in the midst of the ocean. The two things would be equally incongruous.

Our good works, if indeed we have any, spring from a real conversion. Moreover, they flow from a constant spiritual influence exerted upon us from the time of conversion until the hour of death. Ah, Christian, you would have no good works if you did not receive a renewed influence day by day. You would discover that the grace given to you in the first hour is not sufficient to produce fruit today. It is not like planting a tree in our hearts that naturally produces fruit by itself; rather, the sap rises from the root, which is Jesus Christ. We are not independent trees, but branches grafted into the living vine. Good works, I know where you come from! You come floating upon the stream of grace, and if I did not always have that stream of grace flowing, I would never find good works springing from me. Good works from a creature? Impossible! Good works are gifts from God; they are His choice pearls, which He sends down with His grace.

Furthermore, we believe that good works spring from union with Christ. We believe that the more a man recognizes and feels himself to be one with Jesus, the holier he will be. The very fact that Christ and the Christian become one makes the Christian like Christ. Why is a Christian’s character like Christ’s character? For this reason alone: because he is grafted into and united with the Lord Jesus Christ. Why does that branch bear grapes?

Simply because it has been grafted into the vine and therefore partakes of the nature of the stock. So, Christian, the only way you can bear fruit for God is by being grafted into Christ and united with Him. You Christians who think that you can walk in holiness without maintaining perpetual communion with Christ have made a grave mistake. If you want to be holy, you must live close to Jesus. Good works spring only from there. From this we derive the most powerful reasons against anything resembling confidence in works; for since works are solely the gift of God, how utterly impossible it is for a man who is unrighteous, unconverted, and ungodly to produce any good work by himself. And if they are gifts from God, how little merit there can be in them.

Source: http://www.spurgeongems.org/schs70.pdf

Good Works (Sermon #70—preached March 16, 1856)