First, then, we are about to answer the question, “What are good works?” Now, I dare say we shall offend many here when we tell them what good works are; for in our opinion good works are the rarest things in the world. We believe we might walk for many a mile before we should see a good work at all. We use the word good now in its proper sense. There are many works that are good enough between man and man, but we shall use the word good in a higher sense today as regards God. We think we shall be able to show you that there are very few good works anywhere and that there are none out of the pale of Christ’s church. We think, if we read Scripture rightly, that no work can be good unless it is commanded of God. How this cuts off a large portion of what men will do in order to win salvation! The Pharisee said he tithed mint, anise, and cummin; could he prove that God commanded him to tithe his mint, his anise, and his cummin? Perhaps not. He said he fasted so many times a week: could he prove that God told him to fast? If not, his fasting was no obedience. If I do a thing that I am not commanded to do, I do not obey in doing it. Vain then are all the pretenses of men, that by mortifying their bodies, by denying their flesh, by doing this, that, and the other, they shall therefore win the favor of God. No work is good unless God has commanded it. A man may build a long row of alms-houses, but if he build without reference to the commandment, he has performed no good work.

(From “Do You Think You Have Any Good Works?” sermon of C. H. Spurgeon, as printed in Free Grace Broadcaster, Issue 199, Spring 2007)