Well, good morning. If you care to open your Bibles
with me to the book of 1 Timothy chapter 4, 1 Timothy chapter
4. This week, Lord willing, on Wednesday,
we will not be having our service. Our midweek service will be on
Thursday this week, regular time, 7 p.m. We'll have the New Year's
Eve service and observe the Lord's table. Look forward to that service
each year. Glad to see Gary back with us
and others who've been out and very thankful. We have a lot
to be thankful for, don't we? Texting with Matt Basin yesterday,
they have found in his brother, they found cancer in his liver
and Matt's asked that we remember him in prayer. Well, we have
a lot to be thankful for. We have much need, don't we? Much need. And also let me give
this congregation a very heartfelt, deeply felt gratitude and thank
you for your generosity and love and care for me and Janet all
year long. I just, I cannot, I can't thank
you enough. I can't tell you what you mean
to me. Words cannot tell you how much
I desire to be enabled of our God to point you to Christ. I
can't think of another place I'd rather serve our Lord than
here with you, and I thank God for you. All right, 1 Timothy
chapter 4, we'll read the first 11 verses. Now the Spirit speaketh expressly.
that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith,
giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils, speaking
lies and hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with a hot
iron, forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats
which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of
them which believe and know the truth. For every creature of
God is good, and nothing to be refused if it be received with
thanksgiving, for it sanctified by the word of God and If thou
put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be
a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of
faith and of good doctrine, whereinto thou hast attained. But refuse
profane and old wise fables, and exercise thyself rather unto
godliness. 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. For therefore,
we both labor and suffer reproach because we trust in the living
God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of those that
believe. These things command and teach."
Thank God for his word. Let's bow together in prayer. Our God and our Father, oh, how
we thank you for this Another opportunity to meet together,
to have your word open to us, to hear the gospel of our Lord
Jesus Christ preached. Father, we're so thankful. What
an awesome, awesome privilege that you have given to us. And Father, I pray you would
deliver us from just going through the motions of religion, but
that you would speak to our hearts this morning through your word.
that you would enable me to rightly divide the word of truth, to
preach your gospel to your people with a heart of compassion and
care and concern for the souls of men and women. And Father,
give those of us here ears to hear and a heart that would believe
the gospel, to believe Christ as we hear him preached and cause
us to leave here this morning, each one, resting in Christ our
Savior. Father, we're thankful for the
many, many blessings of this life that you've given to us.
Thankful for this time of year that we've had the opportunity
to be together with our families and show our love one to another. Fathers, we prepare to end this
year and go into the next one. Father, we pray that you continue
to be with us. Oh, how we beg of thee that you'd
not leave us alone. but that you continue to bless
your word, reveal your mighty arm of power and your mercy and
grace to your people through the preaching of your gospel
here. Father, we're thankful for the good report we've had
on so many of our loved ones who have been sick and going
through difficult trials, and we're thankful. Father, I pray
that you would continue to be with those who are hurting, sick,
and need you especially. Our Father again, bless us. Bless
us in this hour with your presence. Don't let us meet in vain, but
Father, speak to us. Enable us to worship thee in
spirit and in truth. For it's in the precious name
of our Lord Jesus Christ we pray and give thanks. There will never be a sweeter
story Story of the Savior's love divine Love that brought him
from the realms of glory Just to save a sinful soul like mine
Isn't the love of Jesus something wonderful, wonderful, wonderful? Oh, isn't the love of Jesus something
wonderful? Wonderful it is to me Boundless
as the universe around me Reaching to the farthest soul away Saving,
keeping love, it was that found me That is why my heart can truly
say Isn't the love of Jesus something wonderful? Wonderful, wonderful
Oh, isn't the love of Jesus something wonderful? Wonderful it is to
me Love beyond our human comprehending Love of God in Christ, how can
it be? This will be my theme, a never-ending,
great redeeming love of Calvary. Isn't the love of Jesus something
wonderful, wonderful? Wonderful, oh, isn't the love
of Jesus something wonderful? Wonderful it is to me. Everybody's probably Singing
along with Isaac underneath your mask. Alec, we might not want to put
a new roof on this place after we get to sing again for the
first time. We might just bring it down. We might just bring
it down. All right. Open your Bibles with
me, if you would, to 1 Timothy chapter 1. I read some verses
from chapter 4. We'll get to those in a minute.
We're going to begin here in 1 Timothy chapter 1. The title
of the message this morning is Four Faithful Sayings. The scriptures,
you know this, are God-breathed. The Holy Spirit inspired men
to write the scriptures. Men were the ones that put pen
to paper, but they wrote what God said. It's not their thoughts
or their ideas. They wrote what God said. So
this that we study is the Word of God. You know, when the Lord
used men to write the scriptures, he didn't take their personality
out of their writings. You see Paul's personality in
his writings frequently. There are some phrases we associate
with the Apostle Paul because he used them so frequently. Other
people use this saying, but Paul used it so frequently. God forbid
he'd ask a question, you know, it's just ludicrous. Somebody
would think that he said, God forbid, he said, God forbid that
I should glory saving the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. If
you didn't already know that was Paul writing it, when you'd
read it, you'd think, that's Paul. Well, there's another saying,
as far as I can tell, only the Apostle Paul used it in all scripture.
The phrase, this is a faithful saying. The Apostle used that
four times. This is a faithful saying. And
I want to look at these four faithful sayings. These are sayings
that we are to believe, that we're to love, And I want us
to be able to see this morning that in each of these four statements,
these four times Paul uses it, this is a faithful saying. These
teach us in four different ways our complete and utter dependence
on Christ our Savior. So the first time Paul uses this
phrase, a faithful saying, is 1 Timothy 1 verse 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." Now, the fact that Christ came to save sinners, have you
read a more precious statement in all of God's Word? Christ
Jesus came to this world to save sinners. That precious, faithful
statement is worthy to be believed by everybody who hears it. This
cannot be questioned. It cannot be debated. It is to
be believed. is to be believed because this
is a true statement. This statement meets both the
need of God and the need of the sinner. This statement glorifies
God and it meets the need of every sinner. This statement
is to be believed because it puts God in his rightful place
as the savior, as the mercy giver. And it puts man in his rightful
place in the dust as a sinner, a dead sinner who has no hope
in himself. Paul says here, Christ came.
He came to save sinners. Now, if Christ came, that means
He was somewhere before He came, doesn't it? Well, where was He
before He came? Well, He was in glory with the
Father. That means that the Lord Jesus Christ is God. He is God. He's God in the flesh.
And since He's God, He's able to save sinners. He has the power,
He has the righteousness to save the worst of sinners. And he
came on purpose. He didn't just accidentally show
up. He came on purpose. And his purpose was to fulfill
God's eternal purpose to save his people from their sin. Salvation
was never to be had in the law and the ceremonies. The Jews,
they loved to observe the law and the ceremonies. But in thinking
that righteousness could come by the law, they missed God's
purpose in giving the law. Salvation was never in our obedience
to the law and the ceremony. Salvation has always been in
Christ. Christ came to save. He didn't come to fail like the
Jews did and like we would do if we tried to keep the law.
He came to save. He didn't come to offer salvation.
He didn't come to make salvation possible to as many people as
might believe Him. Christ came to save His people
from their sin. And since He is God, There's
no doubt He did what He came to do. Oh, that's good news.
There's no reason found for salvation in us. And that's where we're
always tempted to look. We're tempted to look for some
evidence of salvation, something we do or we think or we'd say.
We're tempted to look for a reason for salvation found in us, and
it's not there. All the reason for salvation
is found in the Lord Jesus Christ who came to save sinners. Notice Paul, the way Paul writes
this now, Christ came to save sinners. Paul didn't write, Christ
came to save the elect. He says he came to save sinners.
Now it's true, Christ came to save the elect. That's the only
people that ever will be saved. But I'm glad Paul wrote it the
way that he wrote it. I'm glad the Holy Spirit moved
him to write it that way. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners. I may not know right off, I'm
one of God's elect, but I tell you this, I know I'm a sinner.
Oh, that's good. Christ came to save me. Christ
came to save sinners. Paul didn't write that Christ
came to save those who would believe. Now that's true. Those
people that Christ came to save, they're going to believe. That
would have been a true statement, but I'm glad he didn't write
it that way. I'm glad he wrote, Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners. Because, you know, I spent years
trying to make myself believe Christ. I could not do it. But I know I'm a sinner. Christ
came to save me. And notice this, Paul says, Christ
came to save sinners of who I am, chief. Am. Not of whom I was
chief, but whom I am chief. Right now, as he's writing this
letter to Timothy, Paul is telling Timothy, I am, right now, the
chief of sinners. And again, I'm glad the Holy
Spirit moved Paul to write it this way. If Paul had written
this, Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of
whom I was chief, you know that'd give me reason to doubt and fear.
It doesn't take much, does it? It does not take much for us
to doubt and fear. We who believe are the most blessed
people in the face of God's decree on this planet. the most blessed
people. How little does it take to get
you depressed? To get you doubting, to get you
fearing? Well, I'm glad God didn't give
us reason to do that in his word. Paul said, of whom I am to you. If it was the apostle Paul's
experience that he got better and he got less sinful after
God saved him, I doubt and fear because that's not my experience.
Is that your experience? Have you gotten better? Less
sinful? Hope not. I'm glad God's people don't have
to become less sinful and grow better and better and better
after the Lord saves us. Because you know what that would
do? That would make us trust in ourselves. That would make
us look to our experience rather than trusting Christ. But when
Paul says, I am the chief of sinners, now that gives me hope
in Christ. Please don't misunderstand me.
A believer absolutely must grow in grace and knowledge of our
Lord Jesus Christ. Our conduct must be changed if
we know Christ. There's a new sheriff in town.
There's a new heart. We must have a changed conduct. But don't fall into the trap
of looking to your own conduct, looking to your own experience
to find evidence of salvation, because it's not there. But look
to Christ. Look to Him. The absolute best
state a believer can ever hope to come to in this life is being
a sinner saved by grace. The best we can ever hope for
in this life. We're all a sinner. We have a
past, a present, and a future. All of which is so sinful. Even
after we've been regenerated, even after we've come to know
Christ and given faith in Him, we have a past, a present, and
a future, all of which is so sinful The only option we have
is to depend on Christ alone. See, the way Paul writes this
makes us completely dependent on Christ. I'm completely dependent
on Christ to save me, and I'm completely dependent on Christ
to keep me. Christ Jesus came into this world
to save sinners. That must mean God knows I can't
save myself. That's why he sent his son to
do it. I'm dependent on him to save me. I cannot save myself,
but Christ sure can. And he asked if I'm a sinner.
See, none of us would ever be saved unless Christ came in our
flesh in order to save us. And when Paul says that Christ
came to save sinners of whom I am chief, that tells me I will
always be constantly dependent on Christ to save me, to save
me and to keep me. See, that keeps me depending
on Christ. Knowing that Christ came to save
sinners, that makes me dependent on him. And knowing He came to
save sinners of whom I am chief, that keeps me depending on Christ. And I have to tell you, I like
it that way. I like it that way. I like depending
on Christ because that's the only way my salvation can be
sure. I have no worries if Christ saved me. I have a lot to worry
about if I save myself. But if Christ saved me, I have
nothing to worry about. This is a faithful saying. that
everyone ought to believe Christ Jesus came into the world to
save sinners, of whom I'm chief. You know, I can't think of a
better reason for you and me to trust Christ than this statement.
He came to save sinners. Are you a sinner? Are you? Can
you say that about yourself that you're a sinner? Well, I hope
so, because this is a faithful saying that should be believed
by all. Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners. All
right, here's the second statement. Look at 1 Timothy chapter 4,
verse 8. For bodily exercise profiteth
little, but godliness is profitable in 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. When Paul
talks about bodily exercise here, he's not talking about weight
lifting or running or step aerobics or whatever. Certainly, that
kind of exercise has some merit. It is good for your body. But
it has little profit, very little. This past week, we were having
Bible school. Sam Simpson came in. Eric asked
him, what did you do today, Sam? Sam said, well, I got up early
this morning. He described this big, long run he took in Vesuvius,
up and down the hills, up and down the hills of Vesuvius. And
I'm telling you, I was so jealous. That sounded so good. I mean,
I can't even walk, you know. Here's Sam running up and down
these hills. Oh, when he got done, I'm sure he had that runner's
high. I mean, I was so jealous. But I tell you, and you tell
Sam this, you better keep it up. You better keep it up. I
read this this week, the positive effects of a hard workout Just
last 72 hours. Just a little time. Such a little
time. Don't put too much stock in this
flesh. No matter what you put into it,
it's going back to dust. It's going to happen soon. So
Paul could be saying something about bodily exercise, but almost
exclusively, this is what he's talking about. The physical motions
of religion. Stand up, sit down, wear your
phylacteries broad. taking the right number of steps
on the Sabbath day, all these things, you know, wearing the
right religious clothes and all these things. And this is what
Paul's telling us. There's no profit in those things.
There's no profit in them. You know, what you wear or what
you don't wear, that might make you feel religious. It might. It shouldn't, but it might. But
it had no profit for your soul. The same thing is true about
what you do or what you don't do, where you go or where you
don't go, going to the movies or dancing or drinking alcohol.
You're abstaining from those things. That might make you feel
better, might make you feel more religious and more pious, but
it's got no profit to your soul. No profit. There's no profit
to your soul in stopping these outward sins. Good brother, it's
in you. It's in you. The corruption's
in us. So don't exercise yourself in all these religious motions.
That's what Paul's telling us. Instead, exercise yourself to
godliness. I looked up that word godliness.
What does that mean? It means reverence and respect
toward God. That's not exactly what I thought
it would mean, but the word Paul used means reverence and respect
toward God. There is nothing more godly,
godliness. than putting God in his high
and lofty place, and putting me in my low place, down in the
dust. And exercise yourself in this. You know, when Sam went on that
big long run, he had to put some effort into that, didn't he? Exercise yourself in this. Put
some effort into this. Into reverence toward God. Reverence
toward God is simply believing God. It's believing the gospel. Believing what God's written
in his word, not the religious traditions of men, not the twisting
of God's word that men use, but what does God's word say? That's
what I'm going to believe. That's the only foundation of
faith. Reverence toward God is agreeing with God. Yes, I'm a
lost, guilty, hell-deserving sinner. And if I don't have Christ,
I'm going to perish. Christ must come to save me or
I'm going to perish. That's godliness. Reverence toward
God. Reverence toward God is saying
this, no matter what it is that I do or don't do with my body.
And certainly there are things we ought not do. We ought not
do those things. But not doing those things has
not earned me, gained me any righteousness. Godliness is this,
saying and believing the only righteousness I have, the only
righteousness I want is Christ. That's godliness. Godliness is
agreeing with God. And Paul says that's profitable
to my soul. It's profitable. Believing God
gives me possession of God's promise, the promise of eternal
life. And that effect will never wear
off. A good hard workout that lasts about three days, 72 hours.
Believing God, exercising yourself in godliness and reverence toward
God has an effect that never wears off. Look across the page
here, 1 Timothy 6, verse 6. Well, look at what he says in
verse 5. Perverse disputings of men, of corrupt minds, and
destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness. He says,
from such withdraw yourself. Just get away from people like
that. There's no gain there. But godliness with contentment
is great gain. Godliness, reverence toward God,
agreeing with God, and seeking Christ to be my righteousness,
and being content to have Christ as my righteousness. If I'm content
with Christ, I'm not looking for something else. I don't think
I've got to add something. Being content with Christ, my
only righteousness, is great gain. Because if you have that,
you've got eternal life. God's given you eternal life.
That's the only way you can have godliness with contentment, is
if God's already given you life and faith. And your believing
on Christ is good and it's profitable to me in this life. Paul says
it, in this life it's good and profitable for me. What a blessing
it is to know that right now in this life, all God requires
of me is the Lord Jesus Christ. Isn't that, that's good. How
many times have you said you're going through something and you
say, I don't know how people who don't know Christ get through
this. If you didn't know that God's
in control, that everything he does is good and it's right And
He sends you a trial, I mean a hard one. How do you get through
that if you just think this is an accident? Just a whim of Mother
Nature. Huh? Oh, it's good, it's profitable
to in this life know and trust the Lord Jesus Christ. And I'll
tell you in the next life, oh, believing Christ is good and
it's profitable. Because if I believe Christ right
now, I'm going to spend the next life with Him. Bobby may just
like it. That's good. That's profitable
for your soul, isn't it? So exercise yourself in this.
Put some effort into seeking Christ. Just like you put some
effort into physical exercise or keeping up your house and
your yard. Put some effort into it. Put
some effort into stopping your religious works. The religious
works that you do that you think is going to make God more happy
with you than somebody else, put some effort into quitting
that. Put some effort into not trusting those things and to
trusting Christ. The writer to the Hebrews said
this in Hebrews 4 verse 10, labor to enter into his rest. And that's
what he meant. Exercise. Put some effort into
this, into not trusting your works. Put some effort into constantly
turning away from them and turning to trust Christ. Put some effort
into that. Now this is a faithful saying. It's worthy to believe
by everyone. Everyone who ever hears it, it's
worthy. Oh, I wish we could believe this. But Paul says that bodily exercise,
the motions of religion, profit little. But godliness is profitable
unto all things. Having the promise of the life
that now is and of that which is to come. Knowing the things
that I do or that I don't do with my body cannot give me eternal
life. You know where that leaves me?
It leaves me completely dependent on Christ to be my life. He's
got not just give me life. He must be my life. The only
hope that I have of eternal life is the Lord Jesus Christ, that
he came and kept the law for me. That's how that's the only
obedience. The only righteousness I have is that Christ in the
flesh as my representative kept the law for me. And that at the
point in time when his hour finally came, he died the death that
I deserve. He took my sin, he died the death
that my sin deserves. The only hope I have is Christ. And by God's grace, I like it
that way. That's the way I want it, don't
you? It is if you know Christ. All right, now look at 2 Timothy
2. Here's the third time Paul uses this phrase, a faithful
saying. 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 also will
deny us. I'll tell you what Paul's talking
about here. He's talking about the gospel of representation. Now, the only way that I can
live is if Christ died as my representative. The only way
that I can live is if when Christ died, he died for me. I died
in him. That's the only way that I can
live. The only way I can be dead to the law's demand that there
must be death for sin, the only way I can be free from that is
if I already died to the law. If I died in Christ my representative,
the law cannot demand my damnation a second time. If I died in Christ,
I'm free from the law's demand. That's what Paul's talking about
here. And when he talks about suffering, he's talking about
the gospel of representation. He's talking about the vicarious,
substitutionary death of Christ for His people, that Christ died
as the representative of His people. Now this is a faithful
saying. It's worthy to believe by everyone.
Salvation is accomplished through a representative man. Not our
deeds, not our works. Salvation is accomplished by
the work of a representative man, the Lord Jesus Christ. Just
like you and I were made sinners by the one act of one representative
man, Adam. That's how all of us became sinners.
God's people are made righteous the exact same way by the act
of another representative man, the second Adam, the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now, this is a faithful saying that everyone ought to
believe. The only way I can be made righteous is in Christ,
that when he obeyed the law, I did what he did because I was
in him. I can't be made righteous by
suffering in this world. You know, Paul says, if we suffer
with him, we shall reign with him. And people, you know, take
that to mean, well, you know, I've got to suffer in this world.
You know, I've got to claim to believe Christ so that people
hate me and make me suffer. And people like that are usually
so obnoxious, they ought to suffer. People ought to dislike them,
you know. Oh, I got to suffer. And then they take such pride,
you know, in suffering in this world, people being mean to me.
That's not what Paul's talking about here. If I'm righteous,
I've been made righteous by suffering for my sin in the person of Christ,
my representative. That's what Paul's talking about
here. Look back at Galatians chapter two. Here's the believer's hope of
redemption, being free from the law. That when Christ died, when
Christ suffered, his people died in him. His people suffered in
him. Galatians two verse 20. I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless,
I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life which
I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God,
who loved me and gave himself for me. See, it's all in Christ.
Because Paul says, I don't frustrate the grace of God. For if righteousness
came by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. And you know,
that's not true. The only way I can be redeemed is I'm crucified
with Christ. When he died, I died in him. Now, salvation is not earned
by our religious works. Salvation is received by believing
Christ. It's earned by the faithfulness
of Christ, earned salvation for His people. And that leaves me
completely dependent on Christ to be saved and for God to keep
me saved. Look back here at 2 Timothy 2,
verse 13. Paul says if we deny Him, He'll
also deny us. If we believe not, yet He abideth
faithful. He cannot deny Himself. Now you read that statement,
if we deny Him, He will also deny us. If we believe, you know,
we'll be saved. If we don't, we'll be damned.
You know, that can make a person fearful. But now listen, salvation
is received by faith in Christ. It's received by faith. Everybody
who knows God has been given faith in Christ. But are you always faithful?
Are you always faithful? Have you always believed? If
that's so, we're all in trouble. I mean, does that mean we're
in trouble? How can a sinner ever be saved? We can't produce faith, can we?
We can't produce obedience, and we can't produce faith, and we
can't maintain perfect faith. Here's why sinners are saved.
Sinners are saved because God is faithful. Because God is faithful. When we're not, now we ought
to be, but when we're not faithful, He is. God is faithful to His
promise of salvation in Christ, and God cannot deny Himself.
He can't break his promise and he cannot deny himself. God cannot
deny his covenant of grace. The father cannot. I mean, not
only would he not want to, the father cannot deny the sacrifice
of his son. He can't do it. Then all of God's
sinful people shall be saved because God is faithful. We ought to be faithful, but
our salvation doesn't depend on how faithful we are. Our salvation
depends on this fact. God is faithful and he cannot
deny himself even when we're not faithful. Even when we're so ashamed of
ourselves, God cannot deny his people. He cannot. God can't
deny himself and his people are his body. God can't deny his
body. Christ will never deny his body.
Never ever. Now, God's people will confess
Christ and they won't deny Him. They trust Christ. But when that
confession is not perfect, we're not going to lose our salvation
because God is faithful. God's faithful. Peter sure was glad of that,
wasn't he? He did not even knew the man. I'm thankful for it
too, aren't you? If all we think about is poor
Peter, we're looking in the wrong spot. Now, Peter's an example
to us, we should be thankful too. And having our salvation
completely dependent on God's faithfulness, not our faithfulness,
that leaves us dependent on God, on His faithfulness. And I'm
telling you, I like it that way. I'd a whole lot rather depend
on God's faithfulness instead of my faithfulness, wouldn't
you? Aren't you thankful we can depend on His faithfulness? That's
a faithful saying. All right, now the last one,
the fourth one is in Titus chapter three. Titus chapter 3, verse 8. Now this is a faithful saying,
and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, preach
these things constantly, that they which have believed in God
might be careful to maintain good works. These things are
good and profitable unto men. Now, Scripture can't be more
plain about this. Salvation is not by our works.
Salvation is by grace. Everybody here knows that. Salvation
is by grace. If we're going to be saved, we're
going to be completely passive in this matter of putting our
sin away. Making ourselves righteous will be completely passive. Now,
we can and we should seek God. We should beg God for mercy,
for forgiveness. But in this matter of making
ourselves righteous, the salvation of our souls, we will be completely
passive. Look at verse five, just up at
the top of the page. 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
he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ, our Savior. Now, everybody knows what that
means. According to his mercy, He saved
us. Salvation is by mercy. Salvation
is by grace, not by merit. I cannot stress that strongly
enough. But Paul says, after he makes
sure now this is the foundation, he saved us. Salvation is by
his mercy, not by our works. Then Paul says, this is also
a faithful saying, that these things I will not constantly
affirm, that they which have believed in God might be careful
to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable
unto men. Now salvation is not by our works,
but every regenerated person will work. We work by faith,
by faith in and love for the Lord Jesus Christ. God's people
work because God has given his people a living faith and living
faith always acts. Faith works by publicly confessing
Christ, by publicly identifying with Christ, by living by a life
of faith is this. It's living, depending on Christ,
not depending on our religious works. Let me show you that in
the book of James. If you believe Christ, you believe
him. You're going to cast your all
upon him. James chapter 2 verse 20. But wilt thou know, O vain man,
that faith without works is dead. Any faith that you claim to have
that does not produce these good works is dead faith. It's the
faith that can't save anybody. Was not Abraham our father justified
by works when he offered Isaac his own son upon the altar? Now
he didn't gain justification for his soul, but he justified
his faith. He proved he really did believe
God. The only way he's willing to
offer his son on that altar, he believed God. Seest thou,
verse 22, how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith
made perfect. And the scripture was fulfilled
with saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto
him for righteousness, and he was called the friend of God.
You see then how that by works a man is justified and not by
faith only. And you know what Paul's saying.
It's not a dry, dead faith that doesn't produce works. That's
not saving faith. Saving faith is faith that produces
these works, evidence of faith in God. Likewise also, was not
Rahab the harlot justified by works when she received the messengers
and sent them out another way? For as the body without the spirit
is dead, so faith without works is dead also. Faith, God-given
faith. works by living a life that's
dependent upon Christ, by living, resting in Christ. And this faith
works by taking care of and serving God's people, serving the body
of Christ. Now that's good and profitable
to men. It's good for us. Do you know
why it's good for us not to be so selfish and think about somebody
else first every once in a while? That's good for us. And it's
good for somebody we help too, isn't it? It's good for people.
Philippians chapter 2. It's good and it's profitable
to us. Now I bet you already see how
this faithful saying leaves us completely dependent on Christ.
It's good and it's profitable for us to love one another and
to act with a self-sacrificing love to help one another. But you see how that leaves us
dependent on God? That kind of self-sacrifice Thinking
of somebody before I think about me, that doesn't come naturally
to the flesh, does it? No, it doesn't come naturally
to the flesh at all. That leaves us completely dependent
on God to work in and through us. Philippians 2 verse 12. Wherefore,
my beloved, as you've always obeyed, not as in my presence
only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation
with fear and trembling, for it's God which worketh in you,
both to will and to do, of His good pleasure. You see how we're
dependent, just completely dependent on God. We can't produce this
kind of self-sacrificing love. It's God that worketh in you,
both to will and to do it. And I tell you, I like it that
way. I'd a whole lot rather depend on God working in me to give
me this loving, helpful attitude than depending on myself to generate
that kind of love for you. I'd a whole lot rather depend
on God to work it in me and give it to you. Wouldn't you? That
leaves us dependent on God. And Paul tells Titus, now you
constantly affirm this to God's people. You constantly preach
this truth to God's people. And you know why he said that?
Because you know the only way a believer, I'm talking about
even somebody that knows God, the only way that you and I can
be careful to maintain good works is to be constantly sitting under
the sound of the gospel. That's the only way we can be
careful to maintain good works, sitting constantly under the
preaching of grace. You know, if some preacher is
constantly telling you to do good works, that you've got to
do this, and you've got to do this, and you've got to do this,
you're going to have the wrong attitude. You might do it, but
you're going to have the wrong attitude. You're going to have
a legalistic, self-righteous attitude and have the wrong motive.
But if God's preacher is constantly preaching Christ to you. He's
constantly preaching God's free and sovereign grace. The hearts
of God's people are going to be softened and they're going
to be motivated to help and serve others because God's been so
gracious and so forgiving to me. I can't think of a reason
to be more gracious to you than God was gracious to me. And that
preaching of God's grace, that will soften the hearts of God's
people and give them this attitude that they're careful to maintain
good works. Now that's a saying that's so faithful, every last
one of us should believe it. And I hope that when every time
we see one of those faithful sayings in the future, we're
reminded, oh, how dependent we are on Christ our Savior. And
I'm glad it's that way. Let's bow together. Our Father, how we thank you
for your word, how we thank you for these four faithful sayings
that leave us so dependent on the free, sovereign, eternal
grace of Almighty God in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ.
And Father, I pray you'd give each one of us a heart to believe,
to believe Christ, to believe these sayings because we believe
and know the Lord Jesus Christ and cause us to rest in Him. As we rest from our works, we
rest from trusting in our works, Father, also give us a heart
of love and care and concern for one another that we would
freely, willingly look for opportunities to serve and help one another
out of a grateful and thankful heart. Father, I thank you for
this congregation. As we return back to our homes,
I pray you'd watch over us, that you'd go with us, that you'd
give traveling mercies today, and you'd keep us safe all through
this week. Let us return Thursday to wrap
up this year and to begin a new year, worshiping Christ our Savior. First, in his precious name,
we pray and give thanks. Amen. All right, you're dismissed.