So consider that if you're able to make it to Camp Elim this fall, that would be a wonderful thing. All right, please turn in your Bibles if you haven't already to the book of Titus chapter three. We are concluding our series. Would you stand with me for the reading of God's word? We're looking at verses eight through the end. This is God's word. The saying is trustworthy, and I want you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works. These things are excellent and profitable for people, but avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about the law, for they are unprofitable and worthless. As for a person who stirs up division after warning him once and then twice have nothing more to do with them, knowing that such a person is warped and sinful, he is self-condemned. When I send Artemis and Tychicus to you, do your best to come to me at Nicopolis, for I've decided to spend the winter there. Do your best to speed Zenos the lawyer and Apollos on their way and see that they lack nothing. And let our people learn to devote themselves to good works, so as to help cases of urgent need and not be unfruitful. All who are with me send greetings to you. Greet those who love us in the faith. Grace be with you all. Father, we're thankful that your grace is indeed with us all. We are deeply thankful for the grace of God given to us through Jesus, that we can be reconciled to you, have a relationship with you, have fellowship with you, have complete and total forgiveness of our sins, indeed, even justified before you for these things We are grateful and we do as Paul has exhorted us. We do insist on these things. So we thank you for your grace. Help us to be ever mindful of the fact that the whole gospel is for the whole person. We pray this in Jesus name. Amen. Well, we're in our final passage. It's been a wonderful little letter to study and go through for me personally. As we're in the end, we'll see how Paul repeats some of his major themes and that he's been emphasizing throughout this letter. I just wanna remind you of the outline of the book of Titus. Of course, this grand theme is how the gospel leads to godliness. And the apostle is interested in chapter one and how godliness affects the church in terms of eldership and watching out for spiritual disease, the latter part of chapter one, how godliness affects the church. Chapter two, how godliness affects the home, relationships, interpersonal relationships. And then how the gospel affects our, or how the godliness affects our actions in the world. We're to be submissive to rulers and those in authority, be obedient and be courteous, as he says, to all people. And so you can see like in concentric circles, how the gospel moves out and applies to everything. It literally applies to everything. It is total and pervasive in its application. The gospel applies to every part of our lives. And Paul strives, as he does in other letters, but we see it, I think, maybe most clearly in Titus, he strives to show the connection between doctrine and duty, between sound teaching and sound living. He is interested, emphatically interested, in how the gospel plays out in our everyday lives. He doesn't just want it to affect us on an intellectual level, although he does. He doesn't just want it to affect us on an emotional level, although He does. And He doesn't just want it to affect us in our wills, although He does. And so Paul has a high view of two things we see in Titus, correct doctrine. In fact, he says it throughout, sound doctrine, the knowledge of the truth. Elders must know and defend sound doctrine. I would remind you of sound doctrine. He is taken up with sound doctrine, but also correct living. Elders are to be above reproach. Older women, younger women, older men, younger men, it affects our relationships. So doctrine and duty coalesce. They go together. Paul is saying it's possible for Christians to be lopsided or inconsistent. He wants to avoid against that. He's doing everything in his power to avoid that dichotomy. So, Paul preaches a whole gospel for the whole person. It affects not just our minds, but how we live it out. It affects good works. So let's look at just the outline of this message. You can follow along in the bullets that are behind me. Paul's logical conclusion, the gospel leads to godliness. That is, I think, the thesis of Titus. And then he gives us a warning about speech in verse 9, to avoid fruitless discussions. Then a warning about division. Don't be a divisive person, but if there are divisive people or false teachers, he even talks about really church discipline here in verses 10 and 11. Then he gives some final instructions and greetings. Let's look at point one. Paul's logical conclusion, the gospel leads to godliness. Look at verse eight. The saying is trustworthy. Now in the pastoral letters, 1st and 2nd Timothy and Titus, there are five trustworthy sayings. This is one of them. And normally what he'll do is he'll take a phrase from pop culture, like all Cretans are, you know, lazy, gluttons, evil beasts. And then he'll stamp his approval on it and say, this is a trustworthy saying. He sort of validates it. That is actually true. Well, what's interesting about this trustworthy saying is, is he's repeating the trustworthy saying is the gospel verses three through seven of chapter three, the fact that we were sinners separated from God. Well, then Paul says, insist on these things, insist on these things. Well, what are these things? Well, it is the gospel, the essential ingredients of salvation. Again, I just want to walk through this because it is so incredibly vital that we get verses 3 through 7 of Titus chapter 3. We were, as Tom looked at this last week, but we were sinners. We are sinners, separated from God. We were lost. We were wandering. But then the goodness of God, the loving kindness of God, our Savior, appeared. Paul is saying, this is a trustworthy saying. Insist on this. We were separated from God. Insist on it. It's a trustworthy saying. But then God intervened. His loving kindness came upon us. Insist on this, emphasize this. It's not according to our works, it's according to His work. And God generated a work in our hearts. It wasn't something that we generated. He regenerated us. Salvation is monergistic. It's not synergistic. We didn't work with God and cooperate with God. No, we were dead. And God intervened. Praise the Lord. Insist on these things. God has been kind to you. God has been rich or generous, depending on your translation, to you. Do you believe that? This is the gospel. Grace has been given to you. God is for you, not against you. Romans chapter 8. Insist on these things, Paul says. It's a trustworthy saying. Well, then he says, so that. Let me read it again, verse 8. The saying is trustworthy. I want you to insist on these things so that Those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works. Now, I just want to pause for a moment and emphasize these two little words we have in English, so that. Paul's gospel always has a so that with it. or a therefore. There must be a therefore in our lives. Paul isn't interested in just an intellectual grasp of things. Oh, great, you understand Titus 3-7. You understand the fact that you were lost and God's kindness intervened. That's great. No, no, no. It doesn't stop there. There is a so that. There is an action. Sure, you believe the gospel and then there's a therefore. There's an action. God has been kind to me. He's generated a work in my heart. He's been generous to me. And now there's a so that, and this is stated throughout this entire letter at the risk of sounding just overly repetitious. In chapter one, verse one, the knowledge of the truth What does it do? It accords with godliness. It results in godliness. It results in something. There's a lifestyle change. Remember we looked at a couple of weeks ago, good works that's used I think over 15 times in the pastoral letters. And a lot of times we think of good works as just isolated good works, individual good deeds. But that's not how the New Testament sees it. Paul sees it as a complete lifestyle change. Godliness, good works. It's a completely different lifestyle. And it's what Paul says here in Roman, or in Titus chapter one, verse one, the knowledge of the truth accords with godliness. In chapter two, 11, he says something similar. The grace of God's appeared. and it's brought salvation for all people, but it does something. There's a so that to this grace. It trains us to renounce ungodliness. It trains us to renounce worldly passions. It trains us also in a positive sense to be self-controlled and disciplined. So the grace of God has a therefore. when it's fully manifested, it has a so that. The grace of God trains us. Now, one thing that helped me as I was studying this is asking the question, how does the law train us? If the grace of God trains us and it results in good works and action, how does the law train us? Well, the law says, essentially, do this and live, don't do this and you die. And all of us, because we have a conscience and because we have the Word of God, we have the law, we are oftentimes ridden with guilt because we know, if we're honest with ourselves, that we don't in fact do the law. And so guilt comes into play. We feel bad about ourselves. We acknowledge that we are guilty before God. In fact, that's the very purpose of the law, Romans chapter three, that every mouth may be stopped and the whole world be accountable to God. We know and we understand that we are guilty. That's what the law teaches us. It's a spotlight on our sin and on ourselves. So the law trains us in that way to be guilty, but how does grace train us? I was thinking about this and I thought a great way to think about this is with a speeding ticket. Imagine getting pulled over. You've gone, let's say, 50 miles above and beyond the speed limit. A police officer pulls you over, and you're nervous. You know you've been speeding. You know you've broken the law. You have to pay the $150, $200, whatever the fee may be. And the police officer understands the law. He knows the law. He's here to execute the law. And you know that. You know you're guilty, but let's say, just for sake of illustration, he decides to let you go, okay? Mercy and kindness and grace have overridden the law. You're free to go. The law says you get a fine, but mercy and kindness override the law. Now, here's the question. How do you drive off? Do you squeal? Do you litter and then squeal? Do you slander, litter, then squeal and take off? No. I bet you wouldn't. I wouldn't. I've been in this situation before. Generally, I think what you would do, what I do is you very quietly and gently turn your blinker on And then very cautiously you merge. And then you generally go about five miles under the speed limit for the next 20 miles or so, at least. Grace has a way of teaching us and humbling us. It doesn't make us more arrogant. It doesn't make sin increase and abound. I was just thinking actually this morning of, I have a fear of what if a little kid ran out on the street while I was driving and I hit a kid? It's like just a phobia of mine. I think the reason is, and I can't think of a specific example off the top of my mind, but I know there have been instances where balls run out and there has been somewhat of a close call. And what that does is it trains me to be cautious. Grace and mercy has been given to me and now I am more cautious I live differently, it trains me. Well, we are to live in the goodness of the gospel. Have you ever heard that phrase? We're to live in the goodness of the gospel. It's a great phrase. We are to live, our minds are to just fasten itself to Titus chapter three, three through seven. Okay, last week's message. We are to live there. We are separated from God. God has been good to us. In the words of Jerry Bridges, we preach the gospel to ourselves every day. We fix our minds and our attention on that truth. And when we do, we can live there, it trains us. it trains us to be different kind of people. So when we get to chapter three, verse eight, the gospel is taken root. You've believed it. And it's so that those who have believed in God may devote themselves to good works. The gospel Paul says does not just affect the mind, although it does. And that is of essential importance, but it also affects the heart. It also affects the will. So he says, be careful then to devote themselves to good works. They are to be careful to devote themselves to good works. Now, what kind of good works does Paul have in mind? Again, I think I mentioned the expression good works appears here. I read 14 different times in the pastoral epistles. Gordon Fee, who's a brilliant New Testament scholar has said of Titus, good works is the dominant theme of Titus. The great John Stott who just passed away a couple of weeks ago has said, good works are not the ground of salvation, but they are it's necessary fruit and evidence. So what Paul's doing and what Stott is repeating is that it's foolish, it's ridiculous for a person to say, yeah, I believe all these things. I sign off, I sign the dotted line. I believe Titus chapter three through seven and then live their lives however they want. Paul says, that's ridiculous. That's nonsense. That can't be. That's his whole argument in Romans chapter six. Jonathan Edwards has a quote I think is helpful at this point. He says, if you ever truly come to Christ, you must come to him to make you better. You must come as a patient comes to his physician with his diseases and wounds to be cured. Spread all your wickedness before him and do not plead your goodness, plead your badness and your necessity on that account. But that first phrase catches me. If you ever truly come to Christ, you must come to him to make you better. You acknowledge that you haven't devoted yourselves to good works. More than that, you've sinned against Him, et cetera. But when we come to Christ, we come to Him, and He makes us better. He causes us to be people of good works. Now, again, I feel like I need to mention, whenever we talk about good works, a lot of times we default into almost this Roman Catholicism. We almost don't even like to talk about good works, because we're so trained, as we should be, to talk about the fact that we are saved by grace, not by works. But a lot of times there's a hiccup in there. And once we do understand we're saved by grace, stage two is sanctification and devoting ourselves to good works, not to get salvation, but because we have salvation. I repeat that quote from Abraham Lincoln when he went down to the South right after the Civil War was over, spoke to the slaves and said to the slaves, my poor friends, you are free, free as air. You can cast off the name of slave and trample upon it. Liberty is your birthright. But then he warns them, I love this. He says to them, let the world see that you merit your freedom. Do not let your joy carry you into excesses. Learn the laws and obey them. Well, that seems to be what Paul is saying in Titus. You have been set free. God has been good to you, kind to you, gracious to you. You are saved not on your own merit, but on his merit. But now we are to devote ourselves to good works. We're not to use our freedom to live however we want, but we are to use our freedom to really be slaves of Christ. So Christians who have understood the gospel are to be godly now and devote themselves to good works. Paul's guarding against hypocrisy. And this problem is so relevant. Many people, I think, have an intellectual understanding of the gospel, but have no emotional appreciation for the gospel. Their hearts are not affected. Other people have been emotionally moved, but have not understood the content of the gospel. Other people just use their wills. They've decided to just take up Christianity, but they've not understood it with their minds and been moved with their hearts. Let me explain this in more detail, because I think it's important. And this comes from, this really helped me. As my wife and I were driving back from Minnesota last week, we were listening to, I found a few free sermons of Martin Lloyd-Jones online. So we happened to be listening to Martin Lloyd-Jones as he was going through his series, which has become one of his most famous series on spiritual depression. It's like 24 series, did like a topical exposition of spiritual depression. And what he was interested in is why are there Christians who are legitimately born again, who are unhappy in the Christian life? They're spiritually depressed. That's what his theme is. Well, he is expositing Romans 16, chapter six, verse 17, which says this, allow me to read it. But thanks be to God that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient There's the will from the heart to the standard of teaching. There's the mind to which you were committed. And Lloyd-Jones made a great point that the whole gospel is for the whole person. It affects the mind, it affects the heart, and it affects the will. It's the whole gospel for the whole man. So let me just walk through this. The gospel affects our minds, the head, the intellect, our understanding. To use the words of Paul, the standard of teaching, or as he says in Titus, the sound doctrine or the knowledge of the truth. This is just another way of saying Titus 3, 3-7, or the gospel, or the content of the gospel. It affects our minds. Now here's some of the tendencies. People who are more bent this way are very interested in theology or philosophy. They like ideas. They like concepts. They like debates on various views. And again, they may, to be fair, be just naturally wired that way. And so the gospel interests them and fascinates them on an intellectual level. It's intriguing to them. It's clever. It's genius, frankly. So Christianity is a tremendous amount of interest on an intellectual level. However, the problem here is it's never been applied. It's never made a difference in that person's life. His or hers emotions have never been moved. The heart is dead. There's no obedience. There's no fruit. And so Christianity for them is just more of a truth to be defended, not so much a life to be lived. They like the gospel, but just on an intellectual level. I've had friends like this. They're intellectuals. And years ago, they would say they're committed Christians. They knew and understood the gospel with their minds, but it never affected their hearts. They were never gripped with the gospel on an emotive level. Furthermore, they were disobedient. Their wills were not involved. Christianity was just a clever belief system. And so when the trials came, their Christianity began to fail. It stopped working for them. They began to wonder if it was ever real. And so they eventually just gave it up. Well, the gospel also affects the heart, the emotions. I have another friend who said to me, I accepted Jesus when I was younger, my heart was moved, but then nothing ever happened. The feeling went away. You see, for this person, his heart was moved. His emotions were moved. The gospel touched his heart and maybe even made him cry, maybe made him weep. But his mind wasn't attached to any specific standard of teaching. Furthermore, he didn't act on it with his will. And so the gospel didn't conform his whole life. It was just an emotional experience for him. And a few months or a few years later, he gave it up. Sadly, this kind of preaching characterized the second great awakening by certain preachers. They would give an emotional appeal. People would come forward in droves with tears streaming down their faces. They were moved. They cried. Their hearts were touched. But that's all. Their minds weren't engaged. The content of the gospel wasn't emphasized. It was just an emotional experience. And so a few weeks or a few months, maybe even a few years later, they all or the vast majority of them gave it up. There was no lasting impact. There were a few real authentic conversions. Again, their emotions were touched. Maybe they were in a crisis. They had heard this message and they were moved and they felt a release. Ah, it's better now. but they didn't understand the content of the message of the gospel. And furthermore, they didn't act on it, but their hearts were touched. It's interesting, Paul says that Christians are to give a reasonable response for the hope they have. They're to understand it and be able to communicate it. Can you articulate the gospel? What is the good news? Maybe you're getting nervous right now. Just go to Titus chapter three, verses three through seven. It's a great description of the gospel. The gospel affects our minds, it affects our hearts, it also affects our wills. Notice Paul says in Romans 6, they're to obey. He says it here, they're to devote themselves to good works. Now here are the tendencies of the will. Those who are more bent this way usually get exhausted. Here's why. Christianity for them is more of a decision. They decide to follow Christ. It's their decision. Christianity seems like a good thing to them, so they do it. They take up religion and they choose Christianity. It's all an act of the will. Their hearts have not been moved. Their minds have not been engaged. And so, again, years down the road, they're frustrated and burnt out and depressed because it doesn't seem to be working for them. They strive and strive, and they're sick of striving. They're sick of trying to be obedient and failing. Well, Paul says no, this is an imbalance. And what he does marvelously and Titus is show the balance between the mind, the heart, and the will. It's not enough to just believe the right things and never act on them. It's not enough to act on the right things, but not understand why. And it's not enough to have the emotions, but not understand or act on the gospel. That's what Paul is guarding against. The knowledge of the truth accords with godliness. And that's what he does in verse eight. Those who have believed, there's the mind, They've understood and comprehended the content of the gospel. They were sinners. They were separated from God, but then God intervened. God's kindness appeared. Praise the Lord. God initiated their salvation. And they understand that. It's wonderful and it's true and they believe it. And then he says, may be careful to devote themselves to good works. There's the will. I'd be asking, Are we to do something right now? Are we to act? Are we to strive? Yes. You hear the message, you act on it. Maybe you've been sitting here for 60 plus years and you've been believing all these things and maybe even your heart has been stirred, but there hasn't been true repentance. There hasn't been a shift in behavior, stopping this and doing this. And I know we all struggle with besetting sins, but as a lifestyle, Now's the day, today's the day. Believe the gospel and act on it. In fact, a couple of weeks ago, we looked at cultivating godliness. This is all an act of the will. We're to apply the gospel to every aspect of our lives, in the church, in the home, in the world. We're to do something. We're to deal with sin. We're to be in the word and doers of the word. We're to find an outlet of ministry. Remember, these are just some practical suggestions. making fellowship with other believers a priority. This is an act of the will. You do it. Spend time around other godly people. One example was read a Christian biography. But let's not forget the heart. Look what Paul says, for at one time I was foolish, lost, separated from God. You can feel the emotion. He's felt it. I think of 2 Corinthians 5. I am compelled by the love of Christ, he says. He's moved by it. Surely it's affected his mind. Surely it's affected his will, but it has affected his heart. You look at some of the great men and women of church history. Even brainiacs like Jonathan Edwards, and they were moved to weeping at the gospel. They were moved in an emotive level. Their hearts were engaged. There was a passion. Paul is after the whole Christian, not a half Christian or a third of a Christian. He wants the whole gospel to affect the whole person. Let's look at verse nine. Paul gives now a warning about speech to avoid fruitless discussions. He said, avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions, quarrels about the law for they are unprofitable and worthless. First of all, foolish controversies. He's not saying avoid controversy in general, never be controversial. Obviously Jesus was a controversialist. Paul was a controversialist. He's saying to avoid foolish controversies and then genealogies. Quarrels about the law, obviously there was a Jewish flavor to this. Dissensions, arguments, conversations that don't produce anything. Paul is basically saying have priorities in your speech. Try to differentiate between secondary issues and primary issues. We need to understand the difference between needing to divide and loving to divide. In fact, back in chapter 1, we saw that the false teachers, one of their characteristics is that their message was off. They were focused on oddities like myths, focused on extra commands and conspiracy theories. Their focus was off. They were obsessed with these pet doctrines and side issues. They were lopsided. So, Paul is calling for priorities here. We're to guard our speech. Evangelist Leonard Ravenhill has said, we never pray for folks we gossip about, and we never gossip about the folk for whom we pray. It's true. You've heard the old adage, if you can't find anything nice to say about someone, then don't say anything at all. It's a recent article I read by a lady, Lauren Daisley, who tried to follow this advice for one month, and she wrote an article on it called, My Month of No Snark. Snark is a slang word that combines snide and remark, just basically refers to sarcastic comments. And she says, it started when my husband and baby and I drove away from a visit with my aunt, who has stage four breast cancer. I thought back in the 30 some years I've known her, I've never once in all that that time heard her say anything unkind, not even in the subject of her words. And that's one heck, or in this case, heaven of a legacy, she says. I began to wonder how would holding my tongue, or at least changing what came off it, alter my relationships. This is a secular article. And she says that's when she began her month-long campaign, and then she writes this at the end of it. It's so much cooler to be more sarcastic. It says I'm so above this scene, above other people even. And she noted how difficult it was to not have snark come out of her mouth, but to have uplifting speech. You know, this is no new teaching. Our speech is to be profitable. It's a great word to remember, profitable. Does it profit? Is your spouse profited by this? Is the group you're with profited by this? So here's the challenge. Take leadership and initiative in confronting abusive speech, even grumbling or complaining, especially gossip. Make it a practice to have your speech be profitable. Maybe try the next week. This next week, I wanna have everything I say be profitable. Ephesians 5.19, I think of addressing one another in Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. We're to address one another. This is to be the content. Obviously that's in the context of singing and the filling of the Holy Spirit, but our very conversation should have a level of godliness to it. The gospel even affects that. You've heard of different levels of conversation. Level one might be weather, sports, news, economy. Level two might be job, family, trials in your family, church. Level three might be personal problems, dreams, aspirations. And then level four, who is God and what has He done for you? Our conversation is to be, you know, that's what a hymn is. Who is God and what has He done? Our conversation is to be that kind of level four conversation. Aim towards that, Paul seems to be saying. Don't have unprofitable, worthless talk. The next point he makes is about division, to actually avoid false teachers. He says, as for a person who stirs up division, after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him. So here Paul allows for some repentance. There may be a person who just is an idiot who doesn't know what they're saying, and you just need to confront him, and hopefully they'll learn from that. But if this person doesn't repent and turn from behavior, then he suggests even some kind of a church discipline here. Well, we're not to be people who are to be divisive. We're not to be divisive people. Jim Simbala said about 20 years ago, I said something impromptu to the new members standing in a row across the front of the church. As we received them, the Holy Spirit prompted me to add, and now I charge you that if you ever hear another member speak an unkind word of criticism or slander against anyone, myself, an usher, a choir member, or anyone else, that you stop that person in mid-sentence and say, excuse me, who hurt you? Who ignored you? Who slighted you? Was it Pastor Simbala? Let's go to his office right now. He'll apologize to you and then we'll pray together so God can restore peace to this body. But we won't let you talk critically about people who aren't present to defend themselves. And he says, I'm serious about this. I want you to help resolve this kind of thing immediately. And know this, if you are ever the one doing the loose talking, we'll confront you. Then he says, to this day, every time we receive new members, I say much the same thing. That's because I know that what most easily destroys churches, it's not crack cocaine, it's not government oppression, or even lack of funds, rather it's gossip and slander that grieves the Holy Spirit. So watch out for divisive speech. Certainly don't propagate it, but let's be people who even confront it. I was convicted even in my own mind of situations where there's been rampant gossip, slanderous speech, where I've said really nothing. The Lord helped me in this. So let's not be divisive. Let's have our speech be profitable. Then Paul gives some final instructions. When I send Artemis and Tychicus to you, do your best to come to me at Nicopolis, for I have decided to spend the winter there. Do your best to spend, or to speed, Zenos the lawyer, Apollos on their way, see that they lack nothing. And then I just wanna make a comment on verse 14. It's almost hilarious, because Paul emphasizes this point again. And let our people, it's as if he just can't say enough about this. In closing, he says, and let our people learn to devote themselves to good works. so as to help cases of urgent need and not be unfruitful." My brothers and sisters, it's possible for us to be unfruitful, to be believers, to be regenerate, but to be unfruitful. Paul says, I don't want you to be unfruitful. I want you to bear much fruit. And you do that by letting the gospel affect your mind, your heart, and your will, and acting on it. And then he says, all who are with me send greetings to you. Greet those who love us in the faith. I love these final words as Paul begins and ends every letter with this. Grace be with you all. He ends with grace. Don't forget, in closing, just precious words to think about, that God has favored you. It's as if Paul signs off saying, don't forget God has favored you. Don't forget God has been kind to you. What a great statement to remember. As we close this out, Obviously, the conclusion of this message and of this series is that the gospel leads to godliness. But I think another big takeaway from Titus is that the gospel affects the whole person. It affects the mind. Have you understood the message? Have you heard and understood the content of the gospel? Have you understood that you are forgiven and ransomed? Have you understood that the grace of God has appeared to you? It's possible to not comprehend how great the gospel is. Again, Lloyd-Jones says, often spiritual depression or unhappiness in the Christian life is due to our failure to realize the greatness of the gospel. What's the solution to this? Here's the solution. Are you ready? Here's the answer. Two words. Believe God. Believe God. You will either believe yourself, you'll believe the devil. You'll believe God and what he said about you. Follow the example of Abraham and believe God. Believe what he has said about you is true. Believe what he has said about your past. Believe what he has said about your sins. Believe what God has said about your condemnation and your guilt. Believe that you are his son. Believe that you are his daughter. Believe that he loves you like you love your own kid. Believe that he's for you, not against you. I think our great trouble our great problem oftentimes lies in this very thing. We do not believe God. We suffer from the sin of unbelief. But also the heart has it gripped you. You believe the gospel has gripped you. It's been said the gateway to the emotions is through the mind. We feel because we believe certain things. Have you been moved by God's love? Emotions are not a bad thing. They're a good thing. Part of God's design. Joy is emotive. And joy comes from a cognitive understanding of the gospel. Has the gospel affected your heart? Lastly, the will. If you've understood the message, if you've understood verses three through seven, then you act upon it, Paul says. It's not enough to understand and be moved. It's not enough to comprehend it with your mind and with your heart. You must respond with the will. So this is just a basic call for repentance and for action. You must act, you must respond. You must do something now, not to merit, but because God has merited for you. And this entire letter is taken up from beginning to end with this subject of godliness, the gospel, how it affects our lives, how it works itself out in our everyday life. So is there secret sin in your life? Is there secret rebellion as God revealed things in your heart, areas where you need to change? And praise the Lord, He's gracious, He's merciful, But let's understand the law. Let's understand how far we've fallen and let us tremble, like getting off of a speeding ticket. Let us tremble and act accordingly. Let's act accordingly. It only makes sense that this kind of behavior follows what God has done. This is clearly what the Lord has called us to do. We wanna be men and women. who adorn the good news, who make the good news attractive, who make our Lord Jesus proud. And we do that by believing God, letting it affect our hearts and acting upon it. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for the gospel. We're humbled this morning because you did something for us we could never do for ourselves and help us not to forget that you've been kind to us. that you've been good to us, you've been generous with us, you've been rich towards us, that your heart is for us, not against us. Help us to believe that we're not under the law, we're under grace. And then Lord, help us to understand how that grace trains us. Help us Lord to be creative in how we live out our lives towards good works and godliness. Lord, for those who are here who may not be born again, who may not be regenerated. Lord, I pray that you would bring them to a deep understanding of their sin, of their rebellion, of their hearts, of their wickedness. I pray that they would sense it and feel it and know it and get it, that Lord, they would see how far they've fallen, that Lord, the gospel of grace would then heal them. And they would see how far you have reached down the depths of your love, the breadth of your love, the width of your love, the height of your love, that they would comprehend it. And you would cause them to be born again, as you say in your word. We thank you, Lord, for the salvific work you've done in our lives. We thank you for generating a work in our hearts. We pray that we would now believe you and act upon it in Jesus' name, amen.