If you wouldn't open your Bibles
with me, the Book of 1 Timothy. As you're turning, let me remind
you what's in the bulletin, our service schedule for Christmas
Day and New Year's Day. Each of those mornings, we'll
have one service only at 10.45 a.m. We'll plan to have our New
Year's Eve service at 7 p.m. And I'll put this in the bulletin
again, but also that week we will plan on having our regular
Wednesday service and then meet again on Saturday night for New
Year's. I'm sure that's as clear as mud,
but like I said, I'll put it in the bulletin again. All right,
I've titled our message this morning Four Faithful Sayings.
I began earlier this week to write an article on one of these
faithful sayings, and the article kind of started getting pretty
lengthy. So I thought, well, I'm just gonna preach from these
instead. So we'll take a break this morning from looking at
the book of Philippians and look at these four faithful sayings.
Now there's a few phrases that we typically associate with the
apostle Paul. One of those is God forbid. Paul
used that phrase often. He said, God forbid that I should
glory saving the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. What then? Shall we sin? because we're not
under the law, but under grace. Oh, he said, God forbid. That's
a phrase that we associate with the apostle Paul. And another
phrase is this is a faithful saying. Paul is the only one
that used that in the phrase in the new Testament and he used
it four times. Now these are faithful sayings
that tells me it's important that we know them, that we understand
them and that we believe these four faithful sayings. These
things are foundational truths that are to be preached. Paul
wrote each of these phrases, each time he uses this, this
is a faithful saying, he wrote it to a preacher. Three times
to Timothy, one time to Titus. These things, he's telling these
young preachers, are to be preached and they're to be believed. And
I wanted us to look at them this morning And one thing I want
us to see out of this is how each one of these sayings, these
four faithful sayings, teach us our dependence on Christ in
four different ways. So the first of these phrases
is found in 1 Timothy 1, verse 15. 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. Now the fact that
Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners who could not
save themselves, that is worthy to be believed by everybody who
hears it. Because no matter who hears this,
they're a sinner who needs a savior. Everybody should believe. I know they don't, but they should
believe this glorious truth, Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners. Now this glorious truth is not
to be questioned. It's not to be debated. It's to be believed. It's to
be believed because it's true. Christ Jesus coming to save sinners,
that glorifies God. It glorifies God because it makes
the salvation of a sinner dependent upon the Lord. So it's worthy
to be believed. It glorifies God. Anything glorifies
God is worthy to be believed in. But this saying, Christ Jesus
came into the world to save sinners, that also meets the need of sinners.
I need somebody to come do for me what I cannot do for myself.
And that's what Christ came to do. He came to save sinners who
could not save themselves. Now why wouldn't a sinner love
to hear that? Why wouldn't a sinner love to
believe that? I mean, I know the answer to that is because
we're born dead in sin. But boy, it's worthy to be believed.
I wanna break this verse down just a little bit. Paul says
Christ came to save sinners. And he came, that means he was
somewhere before he got here, wasn't he? He was somewhere before
he came to earth as a man. What was he? He was in glory
with his father. He's the son of God. That means
the Lord Jesus Christ, the man Christ Jesus who was born to
Mary in Bethlehem's manger, is God himself. He's the eternal
father. And since he's God, he has the
power, he has the righteousness, he has the holiness, and he has
the right to save sinners. See, all of our sin is against
God. So he's the one who has the right to save sinners. The
father has an eternal purpose of grace for his people, to save
his elect from their sins. And when Christ came to earth,
here's why he was coming, to do what his father purposed to
be done. He came to accomplish his father's
eternal purpose of the redemption of his people. That's what the
angel told his foster father, Joseph, you call his name Jesus,
for he shall save his people from their sin. Not he might,
not he's gonna try, he shall save his people from their sin. See, salvation was never meant
to be by our observance of the law, our observance of the ceremonies.
The law and the ceremonies were given to show us we can't keep
them and how much we need Christ. Salvation is always been in Christ
and he came to save, to save sinners. He didn't come to offer
salvation because many people might decide to accept it. He
didn't come trying to save somebody. He came to save his people to
the uttermost. And there's no doubt about it.
That's what he did. He came to save sinners. Now,
if there's anybody here this morning who's lost and knows
it, who knows? You don't have faith in Christ.
You're not resting in Christ. You don't believe him. If you're
lost and you know it. And you want to be saved. Tell
you what to do. come to Christ begging for mercy
because he came to save sinners. The gospel is so simple. The
Lord made this so simple. Christ Jesus came to save sinners.
He got the job done. The only question for you and
me is this, am I a sinner? It's the only question. If I'm
a sinner, Christ Jesus came to save me. So this saying is worthy
to be believed gladly by sinners. Not just grudgingly, like I have
to believe it because it's so, you know. I tell Janet often,
you know, I'm just not gonna, I'm gonna try not to worry so
much about things that are not in my control. The sun rises
on the side of the house where our bedroom is. Now I just assumed
that it didn't. But I can't change the sun comes
up in the east. So I just have to grudgingly
accept that. That's just the way it's going to be. That's
not the way this phrase, Christ came to save sinners, is believed
by sinners. They receive it gladly, joyfully. And I love the way Paul says
this. He says Christ came to save sinners. He didn't say Christ
came to save God's elect. Now, that would have been a true
statement if he said that, because that's who he came to save, isn't
it? He came to save God's elect. That's the only people he came
to save. It's the only people for whom he died. But the Holy
Spirit didn't move Paul to write it that way. He moved Paul to
write, Christ Jesus came to this world to save sinners. See, I
may not know if I'm one of God's elect, but Earl, I know I'm a
sinner. Then that gives me hope. Christ
came to save me. And I love this too. Paul also
didn't write, Christ came to save those who would believe
on him. Now, if he had said that, that'd have been a true statement.
Everybody that Christ came to save, ultimately they're going
to believe on him, aren't they? But the spirit didn't move Paul to
write it that way. The spirit moved Paul to say, Christ came
into this world to save sinners. I've learned this from years
of failure. I couldn't make myself believe. I couldn't give myself
faith in Christ. I couldn't generate that in myself. But I do know I'm a sinner. And that gives me hope. Christ
came to save me because he came to save sinners. And notice this too, because
this will give some comfort to your heart. I love how the Spirit
wrote Paul to write this purpose. Paul says, Christ Jesus came
to this world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. He didn't
say of whom I was chief. He said of whom I am. Now this
is a man who had maybe the most spectacular revelation of Christ
of anybody, certainly any of the apostles. He was alone with
the Savior for those three years, three and a half years, however
long it was, taught the gospel face-to-face from the Savior.
The things that Paul saw and the working of the Spirit, how
he just moved in blessing the gospel and establishing these
churches and saving God's people. He enabled Paul to write the
lion's share of the New Testament. I mean, the Lord used this man
mightily and he still says, I am. the chief of sinners. And the
Holy Spirit moved Paul to write this this way for our comfort. See, if Paul said, Christ Jesus
came into this world to save sinners, of whom I was chief,
well, that would tell me Paul had gotten better since the Lord's
18. He'd risen, he'd gotten better, he'd gotten less sinful, and
that would fill me with fear and doubt, because it's not my
experience that I got any better after I believed on Christ. Matter
of fact, I see myself as worse because only the new man can
see the sin of the old man. I didn't see the sin before like
it was. But once I was born again, God revealed his son to me and
in me. Really, I see myself as worse
than before. So this is not my experience.
I got any better. Have you? Has that been your
experience? Well, then we'd be filled with
doubt and fear if Paul said, I was the chief. See, I'm glad,
I'm so thankful that God's people, in order to be saved, don't have
to grow less sinful. In order to keep their salvation,
they don't have to grow less sinful. Because if that was the
case, we'd end up trusting ourselves, wouldn't we? We'd end up trusting
our experience rather than trusting Christ alone. So when Paul says,
I am the chief of sinners, that gives me hope, because brother,
I sure hadn't seen myself getting any better. Now let me say this
on this topic. A believer should grow in grace. We should grow in grace and the
knowledge of our Lord. Our conduct should be changed.
It won't be perfect now, but our conduct should be changed
if we know and believe Christ. If Christ dwells in our heart,
there's no sheriff in town. There should be some changed
conduct. But don't look to your conduct as an evidence of salvation. The only evidence of salvation
any of us will ever have is looking to Christ. He's the savior of
sinners. The very best day a believer
can ever get to in this life is being the chief of sinners.
Now a sinner's saved by grace. But still a sinner who's got
a past, who's got a present, and who's got a future. And you
know what it's full of, all three of them? Full of sin. Full of
sin. And that leaves me depending
on Christ alone to save me. Because he came into this world
to save sinners. And I like it that way. I like
that my salvation from its beginning to its ending is completely dependent
on Christ the Savior, not dependent on me in any way. And the way Paul says this also
lets us see how Christ Jesus saved sinners. He says Christ
Jesus came. Christ, that's the title of the
Messiah. This is the son of God. He's
holy, pure, he's eternal, he's omnipotent. He's God. But his name is also Jesus. That's
the human name for this man. The human name of our Savior.
Jesus Christ was born a real man. Born to a mother who was
a virgin. Born in Bethlehem in a cow barn. And it's important that we note
this. At this time of season, I guess
it's a good time to remind everybody of this. It's important that
Christ was born of a virgin. If he's born of a virgin, not
of man's seed, not of Adam's seed, then he wasn't in Adam
when Adam sinned. And he didn't take part in Adam's
transgression. The seed of woman is a righteous
man, not born of Adam's sinful seed. So Christ Jesus, he's both
God and man. Christ, he's God. Jesus, he's
a man. And the God man, That's the one
who can save sinners. The God man. He has to be God
so he has the righteousness, the power, the holiness, the
right to save, but he has to be a man so he can be our representative. And Jesus Christ came in the
flesh so that he could be the substitute for sinful men and
women like you and me. And take our sin and put it away
by the sacrifice of himself. Now this faithful saying, Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I'm chief.
That leaves us totally dependent on Christ to save us, doesn't
it? This just stands to reason. If
the Father sent his Son into this world to save sinners, the
Father's not wasting his time. He's not spinning his wheels.
He sent his Son into this world to save sinners because sinners
cannot save themselves. We need Christ to come and do
all the saving for us. And I like being dependent on
the Savior that way. See, depending on Christ, that
makes salvation sure. I got reason to worry if salvation's
dependent on even one thing that I do. But I don't have any reason
to worry if Christ saved me. And that's what he came to do,
to save sinners. And I'm telling you, this saying
ought to be believed by everybody that hears it. I can't think
of a better reason for me or for you to trust Christ, to trust
our souls to Him than this statement, He came to save sinners. So like
I said a minute ago, the only question is this. The question
is not is Christ able? The question is this, are you
a sinner? If God's made you a sinner, Christ
came to save you. All right, now look at 1 Timothy
chapter four. Here's the second faithful saying.
1 Timothy 4 verse 8. For bodily exercise profiteth
little, but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise
of the life that now is and of that which is to come. This is
a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation. Now Paul
is talking about bodily exercise here. He's not talking, he was
writing in the age of you know, the ancient Olympics and people
were just so given over to this physical, you know, strength
and beauty and things. But he's not saying anything
against bodily exercise, you know, aerobic exercise or running
or weightlifting or anything like that. That kind of exercise,
bodily motion, it has some merit, doesn't it? I mean, it does help
your body for a while. That word little there means
for a while. Just for a little while. I read
one time that the positive effects of a good, hard, physical workout,
they only last for 72 hours. That's just a little while. It
doesn't last for very long. Physical exercise, especially
consistent physical exercise, well that helps the body, doesn't
it? It does help the body. But only for a little while.
Only for a little while. I mean, if you can push this
body to be healthy and strong past 70 years, well, it's going
to fade quick after that. I mean, it's just the way these
bodies – so don't put too much stock in the flesh and thinking,
well, if I exercise right and I eat right, you know, that I
can make this body live longer. It might make you feel better
while you're here, but it won't last just a little while, and
then this flesh is going to die. Now, that's good advice. But
that's not what Paul's talking about here. What Paul's talking
about here is the physical outward motions of religion. Now, there's
no profit to your soul in that. Oh, it might benefit you in your
dead mind mentally for a little while. Oh, I feel so righteous. I went to the service. I went,
you know, all these things, you know. Well, it just lasts a little
while, doesn't it? But it's no, no profit to your
soul eternally. You know, what you wear or what
you don't wear, where you go, where you don't go, what you
do, what you don't do, what you eat or drink, what you don't
eat or drink, it's of no profit to your soul. You can have religion
that's full of ceremonies and smoke and candles and costumes
and singing and all that kind of thing. The kind of music,
not like what we have here, the kind of music they used to whip
people up into some sort of emotion. Well, I mean, maybe you think
that emotion benefits you for a little while. Boy, as soon
as you leave it, it's gone. That emotion's gone. It's of
no eternal value to your soul. All those things that we could
do with this body, either do or don't do, those things can't
make us righteous. They can't take our sin away.
Only Christ can do that for us. Now this is a faithful saying.
It's worthy to be believed by everybody. Don't exercise yourself. Don't waste your time exercising
yourself in the motions of outward religion. Instead, exercise yourself
unto godliness. And that word godliness, it doesn't
mean be like God. I mean, that's kind of like the
thing that we think of, imitate God. It means reverence toward
God. It means respect toward God.
Godliness, here's how you can exercise yourself in godliness.
Put God in his high and lofty place on the throne, just as
high as you can lift him, and put yourself in the lowest possible
place you can manage to put yourself. That's godliness. Putting God
and man in his place. Reverence toward God. You know
the best way that you can be reverent, reverent toward God,
is believing. believe his gospel, and trust
his son. That's reverence toward God.
It's not in the religious traditions of men, is it? It's believing
God. Reverence toward God is agreeing with God. Now, it's
just not very reverent to argue with God, is it? God says, I'm
lost in sin, that I'm dead and trespassing sins. I'm like, well,
now wait a minute, I can do this, or I could do this, or I'm better
than this fellow over here. No, we're both dead in trespasses
and sins. We're both dead maggots. Reverence
toward God is agreeing with God. Say, Lord, you're right. I'm
guilty. I'm lost. What I deserve is for
you to send me to hell. But I'm begging you for mercy.
I'm asking you to forgive my sin for Christ's sake, because
that's what you told me to do. Reverence toward God is agreeing
with God. Reverence toward God is not trying
to earn a righteousness. by all this bodily motions that
we can do, trying to earn a righteousness. Reverence toward God is saying
the only righteousness that I have, the way I can be righteous and
the only righteousness I want is the righteousness of Christ. See, godliness, agreeing with
God and believing God, that's profitable to your soul. It'll
never wear off. It gives you eternal life. Godliness,
agreeing with God and seeking Christ to be my righteousness
and being content to have only Christ as my righteousness. To
have only Christ as my only plea, my only hope. Oh, that's great
gain. Because if you trust Christ alone,
you have eternal life. That's profitable, isn't it?
But you know, believing Christ is good and profitable for me
in this life too, right now. What a blessing it is to know
right now, even while I'm in this body of sinful flesh, that
all God requires of me is His Son. Everything God requires
me to do, Christ already did for me as my representative. Now that will comfort me, in
every situation. Sunny days and dark days. So exercise yourself in godliness. Put some effort into this thing.
Put some effort into seeking Christ. Put some put some effort
into this thing. Just like you put effort into
your job. You put effort into how you dress and how you look.
I mean, y'all got up this morning before you came here, you brushed
your teeth, you washed your hair, you looked in the mirror to make
sure your clothes looked... I guess that's good. I'd rather
have my hair combed out in public than not, I reckon. Put some
effort into that thing. But put some effort into this,
too. Put some effort into not trusting your words. Your flesh
is going to constantly be whispering, you're constantly bringing up
If you do this, you'll be better and so-and-so. If you do this,
you'll be more likely God will accept you. Put some effort into
throwing that away. Put some effort into not trusting
your works and trusting Christ alone. That's exactly what the
writer to the Hebrews meant. Hebrews 4, verse 10. He said,
labor into entering into his rest. Put some effort into resting
in Christ, not in yourself. Put some effort into it. Now
salvation, by God's grace, is in Christ Jesus without any of
our works. That is a truth everybody should
believe. We don't have any religious works
that can make us acceptable with God. All of our religious works,
the best things we do, you know what God calls them? Filthy rags. Now they won't get the job done,
but their salvation, comfort for our souls in relying on Christ. And every believer should believe
that, gladly, shouldn't they? It's a faithful saying. All right,
now look at 2 Timothy 2. 2 Timothy 2, verse 11. It is a faithful saying, for
if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him. If we suffer,
we shall also reign with him. If we deny him, he will, he also
will deny us. I tell you what Paul's talking
about here. It's the gospel of representation. And this is the
way God saves sinners is by a representative. You and Paul talks about suffering
here. You're not talking about our suffering. He's talking about,
the vicarious substitutionary suffering of Christ for his people.
He's talking about Christ's suffering as the representative of his
people. He's talking about Christ's suffering, what it took for Christ
to suffer as our substitute to save his people from their sin.
Now this is a, it's a faithful saying. It's worthy to be believed
by everyone. Salvation is accomplished through
a representative. Just like we were made sinners
by representation in Adam. We weren't made sinners first
time we told a lie, or the first time we did something wrong.
First time, like Brother Henry used to say, we stole a watermelon.
That's not the first time I became a sinner. I became a sinner a
whole lot longer ago than that. I became a sinner and a representative
man in Adam because I was there. People say, if I was in the garden,
I wouldn't have done it. Oh yeah, you would have too, because you
were there. I was an Adam. When Adam sinned, so did I. When
Adam disobeyed God, so did I. That's how I was made a sinner.
Now God's people are made righteous by the act of another representative
man. The Lord Jesus Christ, the second Adam. Now this is a faithful
saying. We should all believe it. We
should all love it. Our hearts should be thrilled by this. The
way I'm made righteous is Christ obeyed the law for me. And when
he obeyed the law, I did too because I was in it as my representative. See, I'm not made righteous.
People take this, say, well, now you, you know, you gotta
be so vocal about, about your religion that you suffer in this
world because you claim to believe Christ and your people are so
mean to you cause cause you hate to believe Christ. And that's
how you got to suffer. You know, if you suffer like
that in this world, that's the evidence of your salvation. No, the evidence
of your salvation, the only evidence there is of it, is faith in Christ. Do you believe Christ? It's not how you make other people
treat you. Other people might be mean to you because you're
a horse's hind end. Maybe that's why they're mean
to you. I mean, you can't put any stock in that. The only evidence
that we have is this, faith. Do I believe Christ? The suffering
that Paul's talking about here is suffering in Christ our representative. When he suffered and died for
sin, I did too, because I was in him. When Christ died, so
did I. When he died to all the demands
of God's justice and all the demands of the law, so did I,
because I was in him. Isn't that the very simple way
that God's given us to confess faith in his son, to confess
salvation in his son? It all shows my only hope of
salvation is being in Christ. When he died, I died in him.
When he was raised from the dead, I was raised in him. He's my
life. Now here's the blessing for God's
people. If I died in Christ, he's my representative. When
he died, I died in him. Then God's justice demands I
have eternal life. because a just God can't punish
the same person for the same sin twice. It's already been
punished in Christ our representative. Then God's justice demands I
have eternal life. If I died in Christ my representative,
then I'm dead to the law's commands. I'm dead to the law and the law
is dead to me. The law can't hold anything over
my head anymore. The law can't threaten me anymore,
I'm dead to it. The law can't demand that I die a second time
for the same sin. I already died in Christ, so
I'm free from the law. I don't even have to look to
the law to see how to conduct myself. I'm free from it. Don't tangle yourself with the
law trying to see how to live. You already know how to live.
God put that in you. You already know not to lie,
not to cheat. You already know those things. You already know
to tell the truth. You already know to be kind to people. Look
to Christ, follow Christ. The law can't require one more
thing for me to do, because Christ did it all. And I'm free from
the condemnation of the law. It's impossible for the law to
condemn me again, because I already died in Christ. The law cannot
require any more of me than what Christ has already done. Now
that gives us freedom. Salvation is not earned by our
religious works, it's received through faith in Christ. And since salvation is received
by faith, do you know that leaves us completely dependent on Christ
too, doesn't it? He's got to give us faith. Look at verse
13. If we believe not, yet he abideth
faithful, he cannot deny himself. Now salvation is received by
faith in Christ. Is anybody here satisfied with
your faith? Is it strong enough? Is it consistent enough? Are
you always faithful? Have you always believed? Hope
not. Hope not. Oh, what about all
those years? Now if I'm one of God's elect,
but you know, all those years I just refused to believe. Refuse
to believe the gospel. What about that? Does that leave
us all in trouble? We can't produce faith and we
sure can't maintain perfect faith. How then can a sinner be saved?
How then can a sinner keep his salvation? Sinners are saved
because God's faithful. We're saved by the faith of Christ,
by the faithfulness of the Lord Jesus Christ to do everything
that God required for us. and we're kept saved by the faithfulness
of God. He will not let his people go.
He's going to keep his promise. He's going to keep his covenant.
Paul says here, God cannot deny himself. He can't deny his covenant
of grace. He cannot deny his son's sacrifice. He cannot deny his son's righteousness. He cannot deny the salvation
that Christ wrought for his people. He can't deny himself. then all
of God's sinful people will be saved. And they'll be kept saved. Now having our salvation dependent
on God's faithfulness, not on my faithfulness, that leaves
us completely dependent on God. But I sure do like it that way.
I'd a whole lot rather be dependent on God's faithfulness than mine
when you Depending on God's faithfulness makes salvation sure All right. Here's the last thing Titus chapter
3 Titus 3 verse 8 This is a faithful saying and
these things I will that thou affirm constantly that they have
which believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable
unto men. Now, if you want to see where
this faithful saying actually begins, you have to look up at
verse five. Not by works of righteousness,
which we've done, but according to his mercy, he saved us by
the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost, which
is shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ, our Savior. that
being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according
to the hope of eternal life. This is a faithful saying. The
scripture can't be more clear about this. Salvation is not
by our works. Salvation is by God's grace. So if we're going to be saved,
we're going to have to be completely passive in this thing of salvation. Now let me explain what I mean
by that. We're going to have to be completely passive. I didn't
say there's not anything you can do. Jonathan read there in
Psalm 34. You can pursue. You can pursue
God. You can seek God. You can pray.
You can ask God to save you. You can ask God to forgive you.
You can ask God to give you life. You can stay at His feet and
refuse to leave. Just make yourself a nuisance
like that woman knocking at the door to the unjust judge. You
can just keep begging for mercy. You can do that. We should seek
God, we should beg God for mercy. But in salvation, we're going
to be completely passive. And what I mean by that is this,
there's not one thing we can do to contribute to our salvation. There's not one thing that we
can do to get God to save us. If you beg God for mercy, you
beg him for forgiveness, and he forgives you, and he saves
your soul. He didn't forgive you because
you asked. He forgave you because he's gracious.
He forgave you because it was his eternal will to save you,
and he put it in your heart to ask for forgiveness. This is
all of God's grace. Paul says, according to his mercy,
he saved us. His mercy, not our merit, his
mercy. I can't stress that strongly
enough. Salvation is by mercy. Not because we do something to
deserve it. Now that's a faithful saying.
Salvation is by grace, not works. Our works don't contribute one
speck of a tiny iota to our righteousness or our salvation. But this is
also a faithful saying. That they who which believed
in God might be careful to maintain good works. Salvation is not
but works. But brother, A person who's been
born again is going to work. Now, we're not working to earn
a righteousness. We're not working to make God happy with us. We're
not working so God will bless me more than somebody else. We
don't work so other people say, oh, look what a fine, righteous
Christian he is, you know. A believer works by faith. A believer works in love for
Christ. God's people work because God
gives Life-giving faith always acts. Faith is living, so it
must act. Now, good works, these are not
works. Be careful not to maintain these
kind of works. A good work is not a work that
will do so that God will say, oh, look how good you are. Now, I only want God to see my
goodness as Christ, don't you? Not by something I do. Our righteousness
is only in Christ. Good works, this is a scriptural
definition of good works. You have to be careful to maintain
these. Good works are works that we
do to help others, to help other believers, to help the body of
Christ out of motive of love. Not for recognition, not for
reward, but out of a motive of love. You know, somebody could
say, well, isn't it so nice? Somebody did this. Somebody gave
this. Somebody went over somebody's
house and did this. Isn't that so good? Well, I don't
know. Maybe, maybe not. Did they do
it so you'd say that? If they did, it's not good work.
Here's how faith works. First of all, by believing Christ.
Faith works in resting in Christ. And faith works by doing what
I can do. to help take care of others by
serving God's people. That's a good word. And that,
Paul says, is good and profitable to men. I wrote, I think it's
in this week's, yeah, I wrote an article about how to be happy.
You wanna be happy? Serve God's people. Sacrificially,
do what you can do to help God's people. That's good and profitable
to you. And it's good and profitable
to somebody you help, too. Now, Paul tells Titus, you constantly
affirm this. You constantly preach this. You
constantly remind God's people of this truth, that salvation
is by grace, not our works, and we're to be careful to maintain
good works, to help one another. And you know the only way that
we could ever maintain these good works, be careful to maintain
these good works, to help others, to not think of myself first,
but to help others. The only way I can maintain good
works is by consistently hearing the preaching of salvation by
God's grace without works. It's the only way I'll be careful
to maintain good works. Just think about it. Some preacher's
trying to get you to do good works. He's telling you now,
you gotta do this, you gotta do this, you gotta do this. Well,
I may do it, but I'll do it out of the wrong motive. He said
I gotta. That's a legalistic motive. This
is a self-righteous attitude, trying to get something for myself.
That's the wrong attitude. That's not a good word. But if
God's preacher constantly preaches God's free and sovereign grace
in Christ Jesus, that Christ Jesus came into this world to
save sinners, and brother, he did it. I tell you, the hearts
of God's people will be softened, and their heart will be motivated
to serve and help one another, not for reward, but out of love
and out of thanksgiving. Now that's a faithful saying.
I'm telling you, we should all believe it. I pray God give us
the grace to act on it too. All right, let's bow together. Our Father, how we thank you
that you have made salvation so simple to understand, these
four faithful sayings. Father, your words are simple. Salvation in Christ alone is
so simple, but our nature can't understand it. Our nature can't
believe it. Father, I pray you'd give each one of us here this
morning a heart that would believe and rest in Christ our Savior,
that would love these four faithful sayings of salvation in Christ
and Christ alone. Cause us to rest, to believe
in, to hope in Christ, in Christ alone. It's in his name we pray,
and for his glory we pray. Amen. All right, Sean.