Good morning, everyone. It's
good to see you here on this beautiful Easter morning. As
you can see, the title of today's message is Grace and Good Works. And I suspect some of you may
be wondering why would I direct your attention on this of all
Sundays, on an Easter Sunday morning, to a message that might
direct us toward good works. Surely, you would expect to hear
something about the resurrection today. Well, don't fear. We celebrate His resurrection
each and every time we gather around the gospel. As we just
sang, hallelujah, Christ arose. But regardless, I hope I've piqued
your interest with this title, Grace and Good Works. You know, you who are familiar
with the ministry of the gospel as we preach it here at Eager
Avenue Grace Church, you know that we believe that salvation
is totally by grace. That is, with no contribution
whatsoever from the sinner who God saves. That salvation is,
2 Kings 2 verse 9 puts it, not of works lest any man should
boast. As we often see in God's Word,
the truth of salvation by grace is set in very sharp contrast
to the presumption of salvation by work. So we know these opposing
doctrines, they cannot be mixed. They're mutually exclusive, and
your hope is even now based on one or the other. If there is
any element of works done by or through the sinner that is
presumed to play a causal role or be a determining factor so
as to form any part of the basis or the ground of your salvation,
then as Romans 11.6 teaches us, it's of works and therefore it
is no more grace. So don't be fooled by the title.
I'm not going to suggest today any mixing of these opposing
doctrines of grace and works. Instead, though, I hope to direct
your attention to Paul's letter to Titus, where there we'll consider
the gospel doctrine of salvation by grace and its inseparable
connection with the walk of a true believer, the walk of one who
has been made zealous of performing good works, as we'll see in chapter
two. All of that now in accord with not how we measure. the outward deeds of man to be
good or bad, but according to God's definition of good work. So we'll be considering that
as well. So I want you to just follow along with me as we go
through this passage in Titus 2 and 3. But before we do, I
want to share an advanced outline with you of some of the major
points that were impressed upon me in my own study. So as we
go through these verses, you can look for verification of
those same truths. There are three points I would
like to direct your attention toward. The first one being that
all believers are made zealous to perform good works. We'll
see that while a sinner's salvation is solely by grace and therefore
has nothing to do with his or her character and conduct, that
is, as it regards their standing before God, we'll see that character
and conduct do, in fact, matter. Well, what is a good work? That's
secondly. And why is it that only believers
can perform a good work as God describes it? And then finally,
we'll consider the motive for good works and how believers
are to motivate fellow believers, encourage them to perform good
work. So turn with me to Titus 2 and
we'll consider this entire chapter as well as the first eight verses
of chapter three. And in this passage we'll see
that while the gospel doctrine of salvation by grace cannot
be separated from, and it is vital to the proper encouragement,
a gospel encouragement to believers to perform good works, the main
theme of the passage is in fact Paul's admonition to Titus to
be diligent in encouraging believers to walk worthy of the doctrine. And so consequently, I believe
that's God's message for us as well. So beginning in verse 1
of Titus 2, we read, but speak thou the things which become
sound doctrine. Now notice that first instruction.
It's not the instruction to speak sound doctrine, although that
is certainly included, as we're going to see in a moment. But
the admonition here, as he begins, is to speak the things which
are becoming to sound doctrine. That is, he's referring to their
walk, their conduct, which becomes the gospel of God's grace, the
sound doctrine. He's speaking of things, see,
that are ornamental to, or adorn the doctrine, to use the language
of the verses that will follow. And so notice now the types of
things he's referring to. They have to do with our conduct.
He said, in verse 2, that the age men be sober, grave, temperate,
sound in faith, in charity, in patience. the age women likewise
that they be in behavior as becometh holiness, not false accusers,
not given to much wine, teachers of good things, that they may
teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love
their children, to be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good,
obedient to their own husbands." And look at this phrase, that
the word of God be not blaspheme. This is all directed that their
doctrine, their gospel that it would bring no reproach upon
it. And he continues, young men likewise exhort to be sober-minded. And again, look at verse seven.
In all things, showing thyself a pattern of good works, and
he says in doctrine, showing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity. So we see here he is including
doctrine. He continues saying they should
be a pattern of good works in doctrine by sound speech, that
cannot be condemned, that he that is of the contrary part
may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of you." In other
words, the enemies of the gospel. might have no ammunition. Believers
are to be careful as ambassadors of Christ. We who identify with
the gospel of God's grace are a reflection of that gospel to
the world. And so we're not to bring shame
and reproach on the gospel by giving the enemies of God a cause
to blaspheme or discount our message. And he continues in
verse 9 of Titus 2 saying, exhort servants to be obedient unto
their own masters. And that's, of course, speaking
in our day of an employer-employee type relationship. To please
them well in all things, not answering again, not purloining,
but showing all good fidelity, honest, an honest day's work.
That, again, look, that they may adorn the doctrine of God
our Savior in all things. Now, to adorn the doctrine, you
have to identify with it. So you first must believe the
doctrine. You must embrace it, profess
it, and hold fast or persevere in that profession, and you must
walk worthy of it if you are to adorn it. For you see, it
concerns the great gospel that believers look to for their salvation.
It concerns God, who he is, and Christ and his glory. And he
continues in verse 11, says, for the grace of God that bringeth
salvation hath appeared to all men. Now, this grace of God,
I believe, is referring to the doctrine of grace, the gospel
of grace. Some say here that it's actually
speaking of the personification of Christ as he's revealed in
that gospel, and certainly those two thoughts fit together, but
we know that all men not all men hear the gospel of God's
grace. So in the context here, we know
he's indicating that this gospel, this message of how God saves
sinners is no longer confined to the Jews as it was under the
terms of the old covenant before Christ came, but rather now that
it has gone out to appear to all sorts of men, Jew and Gentile
alike. And he says in verse 12, teaching
us, The us here is referring to believers to whom that gospel
came to, not only in word, but in power. He's teaching us that
denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly,
righteously, and godly. We all fall way short of those
things, but we're to strive toward those things, and we're to encourage
one another unto these things. He says to live godly. You know,
that means we're to live agreeable to and in submission to the revealed
will of God as it's revealed in his word. In submission to
the doctrine, to the very righteousness of God in Christ. And we're to
live this way, he says, in this present world. Looking for that
blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and
our Savior, Jesus Christ. That word and there is actually
better read even, the great God, even our Savior, Jesus Christ,
the God-man. Now I want you to pay close attention
to verse 14. He's speaking of the Savior and
he says, who gave himself for us, one, that he might redeem
us from all iniquity. And two, he says, he gave himself
for us that he might purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous
of good works. Now this verse, as I was studying
this, really struck a significant chord with me, and in regards
to that, I'm going to come back and talk a little bit more about
that in a few moments. But he goes forward as chapter
2 ends saying to Titus, these things, now what things is he
talking about as he began the chapter, that is these things
that become sound doctrine that he's been mentioning now as he's
gone through chapter 2. These things speak and exhort
and rebuke with all authority. And he says, let no man despise
thee. That last sentence is basically telling him, he's saying, Titus,
you deliver these exhortations so that no one could accuse you
of being negligent in your responsibilities in the ministry. Now, he continues
the exhortation as he goes into chapter three, saying, put them
in mind to be subject to principalities and powers. to obey magistrates,
to follow our government and the laws of this land, to be
ready to every good work, to speak evil of no man, to be no
brawlers, but gentle, showing all meekness unto all men. For,
or because, he says, we ourselves also were sometimes foolish.
Disobedient, deceived, serving diverse lusts and pleasures,
living in malice and envy, and hating one another. I want you
to think about that list. Now Paul is saying that let us
be meek because me and you, Titus. And he could just as easily have
said, and all of fallen humanity, because the scripture says all
have sinned and come short of the glory of God. There's none
righteous, no, not one. So he's saying me and you. were foolish. You see, we know
that as sinners, there's only two groups of sinners in the
world, there's sinners and there's sinners saved by grace. And so
we know that not only were we foolish, but we remain foolish
in many ways, we remain disobedient, all these things that he mentions
here. But in the context, as you'll see going forward, he's
speaking of being foolish in the sense of something that we
were before God gave us spiritual life. In other words, we come
into this world in darkness. The scripture's clear that we're
not wise unto salvation. It says the way that seems right
to a man, in Proverbs, is a way that ends in death. So we're
void, it says, a natural man cannot understand the things
of the spirit. We're void of a spiritual understanding
of things. We imagine that way that's right,
but is a broad way that leads to destruction. And so we were
and we are disobedient. Now, we're disobedient not only
in our outward sins, but we are disobedient in the sins of our
thoughts. But listen, in the context of
what's different between one who's been a sinner saved by
grace and a sinner who has yet to be saved by grace, is we before
were disobedient to the command to believe the gospel. And how
can they believe on that which they've not heard? A gospel message
that by nature is foreign to us, that we're ignorant of. And
we all are initially deceived. We're deceived by Satan. The
Bible speaks of that as the deceivableness of unrighteousness. Believing
that salvation, see, could be acquired at least in part by
some contribution I make, something I did or didn't do, something,
it's called the deceivableness of unrighteousness because it's
something other than or in addition to the one righteousness that
Christ established in his doing and dying and that God has imputed
or charged to those he saves In the same way, you see that
their sins were charged or imputed, put to his account so that he
could bear away their guilt by the payment that was due unto
them. So, as we continue now through
this list of verse 3, I won't go into each and every one of
those things, but you get the gist. What I want you to see
is Paul is basically saying, show meekness, be gentle unto
all men, because he's saying, who made you to differ? You are no different in your
very nature than one who has yet to be delivered from darkness
into light. So reminding Titus of the natural
state of all of us, he goes on in verse 4 saying, but after
that the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared. Let me pause there. That opening
phrase, but after that, is actually better translated, notwithstanding. In other words, notwithstanding
who we were by nature, all this foolishness, disobedience, undeserving
sinners, notwithstanding that, the kindness and love of God
appeared. I guess another way to put that would be, he's saying
when that was the case, In other words, when you had done nothing
in the way of qualifying yourself to be a recipient of the love
of God appearing unto you, when there was no distinction between
you and other sinners that might prompt God to be more disposed
to show you mercy versus someone else, the kindness and love of
God our Savior appeared to you, as it does to each one for whom
Christ lived and died in each generation, and that kindness
and love that appears, you see, comes to God's people by prescribed
means. God's a God of means. He says,
by what the world calls foolishness, the foolishness of preaching,
He's determined to save sinners. So it comes to us in the preaching
of God's gospel, and it's effectual to us if the Spirit applies that
very word of regeneration unto us. And you can see that this
is what he's speaking of as you look now at verse five, is he's
saying, he saved us. He says, not by works of righteousness,
which we have done, but according to his mercy, he saved us. By the washing of regeneration
and renewing of the Holy Ghost, which he shed on us abundantly
through Jesus Christ our Savior. Now, notice in verse five, he
says to Titus, and so indirectly on to other believers. He said
he saved us. And we know the scripture speaks
of salvation in its various aspects, beginning all the way from having
been chosen in Christ from before the world began to the believer's
final glory in heaven. But here in Titus 3.5 it's clear
in the context he's using this word saved to refer to the new
birth, the gift of spiritual life, regeneration as it's called,
and the renewing work of the Holy Spirit that takes place
in the conversion and life thereafter of the believer. The truth that
is set forth here, that it is not by works of righteousness
which we have done, that totally refutes those who imagine that
God did choose a people. You see, like all of us, we can
read the scripture and if you do a word search on the word
elect or election, you can't get away from it. God chose a
people unto salvation. And yet, because of our natural
tendency to cling to some notion that we can control our own eternal
destiny, many imagine that he chose a people based upon his
foreknowledge of how they would react or respond in adopting
or believing whatever their particular denomination or body of faith
set forth as gospel. Now that would describe those
who imagine, see that God saw something good in them, saw perhaps,
you see, that they would just be a little more pliable, not
quite as obstinate as someone else. But can't you see that's
work salvation as well? It too sets forth that the ultimate
determining factor of one's salvation is not Jesus Christ, but rather
the merit that God looked down through the tunnel of time and
saw in each individual sinner that he saved, that being so
contrary to the truth of salvation by grace, that is, that all of
the conditions and the requirements. were met by Christ, that it was
solely based on the merit of his person and work alone. So
the scripture here is clear. It's not by works of righteousness
which we have done, but it's according to his mercy that he
saved us. And he's saying it's according
to his mercy that he gave us life. All is a fruit and effect
of Christ's saving work for us. In my own study of this verse,
I saw various interpretations of what exactly some thought
these works of righteousness that we have done might refer
to. I lean toward the interpretation that it's referring to the works
of a believer after conversion. Independent of that, however
you interpret the phrase, what is unmistakable is that salvation
is in no sense attributed to any work of man. Listen, be it
the acceptable, pleasing, good works of a believer, are the
evil, dead work of a spiritually dead man. And listen, we're going
to examine just what a good work here is in a moment, but that
doesn't speak toward those works that we did before God gave us
light, before we were given spiritual life. You see, outwardly that
work may appear just as good. It may be the same work of charity
or kindness that we did before, and yet God's word teaches us
he calls it evil and fruit unto death. And that same work now,
from a whole new frame of reference, a different perspective, from
a different motive, he calls good. But whether, it matters
not which he's referring to here. Either way, salvation is not
a work of man, or not by a work of man. He says it's according
to his mercy. Now think about that. It's not
by works of righteousness that we've done, but it's according
to mercy. So it cannot be both. If you can save yourself, if
you'll just do your part, If you think Christ merely made
you savable, and now if you'll only believe, or if you'll only
walk an aisle, or if you'll only pray in the privacy of your own
home to invite him into your life, or if you'll get dunked
in the baptismal pool, or if you'll live like God's revealed
will says a believer should live, if you think that any of those
things recommend you unto God, then think about it. You don't
need mercy. It's at your disposal anytime you're ready to cut your
end of the bargain. You're not reduced to being a
mercy beggar. You just cut your end of the
deal. You sincerely go about doing whatever your prescribed
religion or denomination suggests to you as the condition you must
meet. But listen, Friends, that's not grace, and that is a denial
of the need for grace and mercy. And to persist in holding such
notions is to remain in the deception that's common to all of us by
nature. It's the road we all started
out on, and yet to remain there is devastating to one's eternal
well-being. Now he says that it is by the
washing of regeneration. And as some suggest, that is
not referring to water baptism. We're not saved by being baptized. Baptism, without going into all
the scriptures, is clearly set forth in scripture as a profession
of having already been saved. Instead, in John 3, 5, Jesus
spoke of the necessity for all who shall enter into the kingdom
of heaven, he said, of being born of water and of the Spirit. So we see here that the grace
of the Spirit is comparable to the purity and the cleaning virtue
of water. So the grace of the Spirit here
is, given those attributes, it's telling us that those he saves
in regeneration and conversion are said then to be washed and
cleansed. You see, they have their hearts
purified by the God-given gift of faith. And in keeping with
that purification, it says, Hebrews 9.14 says, their consciences
are purged from dead works to serve the living God. So that
very act of kindness I once may have done in my religion Now
my conscience sees that and everything else that was part of my system
of works that would have me think that that commended me to God
as dead works to be repented of. And that's part of that cleansing,
that washing of regeneration. In verse 5 we also read, he said,
it's according to his mercy he saved us by the washing of regeneration
and renewing of the Holy Ghost. and renewing of the Holy Ghost.
The Greek word that's translated there, renewing, it's a word
that means or implies by repetition or by reversal. It carries the
connotation, see, of something being made new or renovated. And so I believe he's referring
here both to the Holy Spirit's initial work in giving us spiritual
life, granting us faith, and bringing about a reversal, a
repentance from our dead works. is where our consciences are
purged. And repenting from ever having
imagined that salvation was in some way, to some degree, conditioned
on me, the sinner. And I believe this renewing also
refers to a repetitive influence of the Holy Spirit. And how does
he do that? How does that take place? As
I said, God is a God of means. And that's why we have all of
the admonitions of scriptures, to not forsake the assembling
of ourselves together and so forth. As we attend to the means
of worship and of Bible study and studying this word which
the Spirit speaks to us through, this is God's word and prayer,
and guided by the ongoing indwelling influence of the Holy Spirit
in the believer, it causes the believer though still a sinner,
but a sinner saved by grace, to at least in some degree to
be zealous to perform the good works we've been looking at.
And all of that now If you consider verse 6 now, all of that is a
fruit and effect, a result of what Christ has done for us.
He purchased that gift of the Spirit. That, it says, which
He shed on us abundantly through Christ Jesus our Savior. Continuing in verse 7, Paul writes
that being justified by His grace, we should be made heirs according
to the hope of eternal life. You know, when God convinces
a sinner of his sin, of that sin that would deceive us, of
the impossibility of being found in God's favor based on anything
that comes from me, the sinner, oh, he loves that word, error. and inheritance for he knows
that there's nothing that he could do or could refrain from
doing that would commend him unto God. He needs a free gift,
something we cannot earn but was indeed earned for us as we
are justified by his grace. Romans 3.24 gives us just a little
more commentary on how we're justified or declared not guilty
when it puts it this way. Being justified freely by His
grace, how? Through the redemption that is
in Christ Jesus. See, God does not save, to use
the word in the context of verse 5, He does not give spiritual
life to unjustified folks. Regeneration, being born again,
does not justify anyone, but rather it's the result of having
been justified. And then in each generation,
that miraculous life-giving work of the Spirit takes place. When
that takes place, the glorious truth of how we are justified
is made known to us under the sound of the gospel as it's applied
to our hearts by the quickening power of God's Spirit. Then in
verse 8, Paul wrote, this is a faithful saying, and these
things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have
believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These
things are good and profitable unto men. This phrase, this faithful
saying is the same phrase Paul uses in several other places
in the epistles. And he uses it to describe the
gospel. the good news of how God saves
sinners by Jesus Christ alone. And he describes it as a faithful,
a trustworthy saying, one that's worthy to be believed. As he
put it in 1 Timothy 1.15, he said, this is a faithful saying
and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners, of whom I am chief, Paul wrote. That's
about as simple a declaration of the gospel as you can get.
Not that Christ came into the world to make salvation possible
or to attempt to save anyone, but he came into the world to
save them. As the angel at the announcement of Christ's birth
said, his name shall be called Jesus, for he shall save his
people from their sins. Paul tells Titus here to constantly
affirm these things. Now what are these things he's
referring to here? It's that gospel, the doctrine
of salvation by grace that he's been setting forth in the three
verses prior to this one. And notice that this constant
affirmation of the gospel itself now what it's aimed toward. It's aimed toward believers in
order that they might be careful to maintain good work. So here
we see this inseparable connection. And I'm going to say just a few
more words about that in a moment as well. So first, though, I
want to review again those three main points that I mentioned
at the onset. The first one being that all
believers are made zealous to perform good works. So look back
again with me at verse 14 of chapter 2, where there it speaks
of the God-man, the Savior Jesus Christ, saying, who gave himself
for us, one, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and two,
who gave himself for us that he might purify unto himself
a peculiar people, zealous of good works." Now, clearly the
peculiar people, the us, here refers to those for whom Christ
gave himself. You know, if somebody says, boy,
he's kind of a peculiar person, you'd take it as an insult if
it was directed at you, but you want to be one of these peculiar
people. That original word that's translated peculiar means special,
beyond usual, and it means, listen, as in one's own. In other words,
he's speaking of a people who are his, who are the purchased
possession of Christ, him having given himself for them. And so
they're distinct from all others in that way, that he gave himself
for them to redeem them. and to purify them, uniquely
them, unto himself as a people zealous of good works." So, first
we see as a result of Christ having given himself for them,
they're redeemed. Now, redemption does not mean
some mere attempt was made to save them. are that some prerequisite
conditions were satisfied that then simply set the stage for
salvation, contingent perhaps upon some future action or response
in each individual sinner who is saved. Now, that's not what
redemption means. Redemption does not mean that
an attempt was made. It means a price was paid. a
price that was paid due unto their sins that were put to his
account, he who knew no sin. And that price was paid in full. These peculiar people, the ones
he saves, they are his possessions. And listen, just as sure as the
penalty due unto their sins has been fully remitted as evidenced
by his resurrection, notice that the sure result now of him having
given himself for them, is that he also might purify unto himself
a peculiar people who are distinguished by their zeal to perform good
works." See, we know that Christ being the God-man, he could not
fail, and he did not fail to redeem his people. And likewise,
Christ, the God-man, he could not and he did not fail to purify
them as a people zealous of good works. In 2 Corinthians 13, 5,
we have the exhortation to examine yourselves whether ye be in the
faith. Well, let's not kid ourselves.
Titus 2 is teaching us that all for whom Christ died, they're
going to be zealous, at least in some degree. The Scripture
speaks of different people having different measures of faith,
but there is going to be some zeal to perform good works. So
like true genuine faith and repentance as evidence is that every believer
must at least in some degree possess a desire to do good works. must also be present, and if
it's totally absent, we need to examine ourselves further
and pray that God would so bless our hearts. You see, true believers
are blessed with a regard for the honor and glory of God in
salvation, and as a result of that, they become zealous of
good works, not in order to be justified, not in order to be
saved, but as a result and an evidence of having been saved.
Their zeal is in obedience to God's revealed will in His Word.
And it's a testimony, you see, of a believer's submission to
the righteousness of God in Christ, of their subjection to Him, and
their gratitude toward Him. Now, if we're going to talk about
that as such an obvious direct result of Christ's work for those
he saves, then we need to talk about, secondly, what is a good
work. Why is it only believers can perform them? How is a good
work, as God judges something to be a good work, distinguished
from an evil work? As I said earlier, it can't be
measured by our observation of the deed or action outwardly
unless it's one that our natural consciences tell us is an evil
work. But God says that which man calls
good, he calls evil. He says that which is highly
esteemed by man is an abomination unto God, you see. Well, again,
keeping in mind that if it's a direct result of Christ having
given himself for us, we know it's something that the natural,
unregenerate mind cannot attain to, cannot understand by their
natural conscience. So what is a good work? Well,
in last week's bulletin, there was an excellent article by our
former pastor, Bill Parker, and I would recommend you read that
if you haven't already. It was titled, What is a Good
Work? In particular, it's worth reading
because not only did he set forth his conclusions, but he gave
numerous scriptures that prove those conclusions to be accurate.
Today, in the interest of time, I'm just going to share an abbreviated
version of that with you to help you, but it says a good work
is a work that God does in and through His people. In other
words, it's Christ living in and through us by His Spirit
and His Word, so it's not our work, but it's His. but it's
produced in us. And like every grace of the Spirit,
that's why we need to be encouraged to cultivate those graces. And
secondly, even though these works are the operation of God, the
fruit of the Spirit, and what God produces can be nothing less
than perfect, it's coming through sinners, through our minds, our
affections, our wills, and so it's contaminated by the flesh,
so it's not a good work based on its degree of perfection.
Our best works, the best prayer I ever pray is still tainted
with remaining sin that the scriptures clear will plague us throughout
this life until believers are delivered from this body of death. And even so, we know we cannot
be condemned for those sins because they've been totally put away
by the penalty paid by their substitute. But we are not yet
perfect in ourselves, we're far from it. That's why we're in
need of a continual cleansing by His blood. That's why that
renewing of the Holy Ghost is a repetitive thing. It's a living,
a life, a walk of faith. And you can read about that in
1 John 2. I won't go there, but he went on to say a good work
is aimed toward the glory of God in Christ. They always will
point sinners away from us. They're not that we might be
recognized or receive glory, but they always point sinners
away from self and to Christ. It's a work that's performed
with the desire that God will use it to bring lost sinners
to the truth and to edify His church. So a good work, see,
is a testimony as it's viewed in light of the gospel. And that's
what a good work is. It's one that's accompanied by
a testimony of the gospel, a testimony that our righteousness Our fitness
for heaven, our being blessed by God is not our works, but
it's Christ and Him crucified. As Paul said, God forbid that
I should glory, save, or accept in the cross of the Lord Jesus
Christ. I believe that's the meaning
of Christ's words in Matthew 5.16 when He said, Let your light
so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify
your Father which is in heaven. The light that we are to let
shine is not It's the light of the gospel. It's not our good
works that are to shine. It's the message of the gospel
that we share in the ministry of, which we identify with. So
then we see only believers of the gospel of God's grace can
manifest what God calls good works that will redound to his
glory. Remember that phrase there in
Titus 2.14? He said, he purified a people
unto himself. It was for himself. That's why
God saves any sinner. It's for his glory, that he might
be worshiped and praised as he is, as he's revealed in Christ
as both a just God and a Savior. And lastly, I ask you to consider
the motive for good works. Well, that article I just mentioned,
it also noted that a good work is one motivated by grace, gratitude,
and love for Christ. It's not motivated by legal threats
and mercenary promises of earned rewards. It's not you better
clean up your act or else. It's not, if you'll just do this,
God is going to bless you or you'll find some favor with Him.
No, it's motivated by grace and gratitude for having been fully
blessed by the person and work of Christ. Look back again now
at Titus 3.8. Notice Paul told Titus to affirm
constantly these things, this faithful saying, this gospel
message as it's set forth in the verses just prior to this
one. wherein we see that it's according to His mercy that God
saves, that is, by the person and work of Christ our Savior,
and justifying them by His grace, you see, they are made heirs. And so we're not to pervert the
gospel by trying to motivate fellow believers to live upright
lives in order to gain favor with God or avoid disfavor with
God. We are to constantly and consistently
preach the gospel to them, and as verse eight teaches us, we
do so that those which have believed in God, not in themselves for
salvation, but in God, that they might be careful to maintain
good works. You see, believers are still
sinners, and we're far, far from perfect. And we need to be continually
encouraged to adorn the gospel of God's grace by our walk of
faith. And that's accomplished as believers
are constantly reminded of the wonderful news of how God saved
them as objects of His mercy and grace. And knowing that He
first loved them, that we would then be motivated to please Him
out of love and gratitude for our great God and Savior. As
Paul implored fellow believers in Romans 12, 1 and following,
I beseech you, therefore, brethren, he said, by the mercies of God. on that basis, not a legal basis,
not a mercenary, but because as objects of mercy, knowing
what he's done for you, that you present your bodies a living
sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable
service. And be not conformed to this
world, but be you transformed, he says, what, by the renewing
of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable,
perfect will of God. Well, how does this renewing
of the Holy Spirit, and I believe that's the same thing that's
meant in Titus 3, 5, how does it take place? God's a God of
means. It takes place as we faithfully
attend to the means. We meet together to continually
feed on and hear anew this precious, wonderful news of the gospel
of God's grace as seen in the work of Jesus Christ. Well, I pray today that you too
can see this inseparable, connection between grace and good works.
Not good as we would measure it based on outward actions,
but according to God's judgment. Good works do include the efforts
of believers to conduct themselves, so as not to bring shame and
reproach on the gospel, to act in ways that are becoming to
adorn the gospel we profess, and their good works and that
they are accompanied by our identification with the gospel of grace. So
again, these things are inseparable. Well, on this Easter Sunday,
much will be said in pulpits across our land concerning the
resurrection of Christ. And tragically and sadly, many
listeners will be pointed to look to what they call a victory
over sin and over sin's consequence of death. But it'll also be presented
sadly in many places with a body of doctrine that actually suggests
that Christ merely made that victory possible. And instead
it will be suggested to sinners that they must fulfill the ultimate
determining role by doing some part to save themselves. That
they have right to glory for they are what makes the difference
in their eternal destiny, heaven or hell. To imagine that Christ
merely made salvation possible is to trust in a counterfeit
Christ, just as I and many of you once did. Like Paul and Titus,
like all men by nature, we too were once foolish and not wise
unto salvation, deceived until God put us under this gospel
message and drew us by his spirit to look to Christ and to his
finished work for all of our salvation. But to those of us
that God has saved by his mercy, as justified sinners, you know
we can take full assurance in the glorious truth of a risen
Savior. You see, to have repented of
our former notions concerning God and how he saved sinners
is in keeping with the command of Acts 17 31, where we read,
in the times of this ignorance, God winked at, but now commandeth
all men everywhere to repent. Why? because he hath appointed
a day in the which he will judge the world by what standard? In
righteousness." Whose righteousness? What righteousness? My righteousness
must equal this righteousness. Whose is it? By that man whom
he hath ordained whereof he hath given assurance unto all men
and that he hath raised him from the dead. As sin demands death,
even the death of our substitute when sins were imputed or charged
to him, even so righteousness, a righteousness established,
the perfect satisfaction to justice that he rendered, demanded he
come out of that grave. That's the truth of the resurrection.
And so, dear friend, if you must have that, if that imputed righteousness
is your only hope or ground of salvation, then you too can be
assured that just as surely as he came out of that grave, because
righteousness demanded life, if that's your righteousness,
it too demands life. And so you too shall live eternally
blessed in Christ Jesus our Savior. What a gospel. Well, in Ephesians
2.10, such objects of God's grace are said to be his workmanship
created in Christ Jesus unto good works. So as you see, these
things cannot be separated. Grace and good works. I hope
God's blessed you.