We're in Titus chapter three. Just one verse tonight, verse eight. Verse eight reads this way. This is a faithful saying, and these things I want you to affirm constantly, that those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable to men. Well, this is the word of the living God and we say, thanks be to God, amen. Please be seated. Let's ask the Lord's blessing. Lord, we are thankful for the opportunity to gather at the end of this Lord's Day. We thank you for your design and continuously speaking of your goodness to your people. We thank you for the gospel we heard this morning. And we pray that we'll hear it again this evening and that we will relish it, that we will live according to it, we will celebrate it, and that we will be affected by it. Lord, I pray for those who are distracted that you would minister to them tonight. I pray that your word would be a balm to their soul. We pray, Lord, that for any who hear, who do not know Christ, that they may come to know Him, even here in the book of Titus. It's in Christ's name we pray, amen. I had a friend whom I attended seminary with. He had a tender conscience, a wonderful, genuine brother in the Lord, truly loves people. And one day, he felt a little bit guilty about attending class. Now most seminary students, they feel pretty good about going to class, so it was interesting. This brother, at least on this day, he wondered whether or not he should really be there, and he told me the reason for this. He told me on the way to class, he passed a homeless man. And instead of speaking to that man on the side of the road, he just kept driving, and he drove right on to class. Now, he knew, I think rightly, that to reach his long-term goals, attending class was the best thing for him to do that day. But at least this brother wrestled a bit, didn't he? He wrestled with whether he should go to class or not. And there's something in that impulse that I think is commendable. Christians should be a people who are quick to offer help to the needy, to the downcast. We should think and consider how we might do good in our world. And I suspect, I think, many of you, like my friend who drove to class that day, I suspect you too have days where you wonder whether you really are spending your time as you ought. Even if your days are filled with much that is good, I suspect you still wrestle with whether you're spending your time as you ought. Well, this evening our sermon text regards the doctrine of good works. I plan to spend a few weeks on this text. There are a number of matters I hope to convey. My hope is that a greater knowledge of this doctrine will assist you if you are seeking answers on some rather important questions. If you ask yourself, as all believers should do from time to time, questions like these. What are my priorities? How should I spend my money? How should I spend my talents? My gifts? Am I spending my time well? Could I be spending it better? All are good questions, and over the course of a few sermons, I hope to help you answer these. Good works, those things we do in service to God and people, those things that God commends in his word, are commanded. in our text, verse eight. There's three things I want you to see in verse eight this evening. Three observations about good works. The first observation is this. I want you to see what is the motive for good works. The motive for good works. Take note the phrase right there at the beginning of verse eight. This is a faithful saying. If you and I were chatting, perhaps over a meal, perhaps lingering out here in the foyer, as we often do, and if mid-conversation I stopped and I regrouped, I cleared my throat and looked you in the eyes, I think you would get the idea that what I'm about to say is rather important. And Paul is doing something similar here. Paul uses this device to make us lean in a little bit. This is a faithful saying. It's the apostle's way of drawing our attention to the matter. And the faithful saying he's referring to is that long sentence, verse three through seven, that we just walked through a couple weeks ago. Customarily, we think of a saying as something short and pithy. But here, it's four verses. The faithful saying is that glorious, triune, gospel proclamation. Father, Son, Spirit, saving a sinful remnant. Consider verse three through seven for a moment. We ourselves For once foolish, but the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared. According to His mercy, He saved us through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit. Through Jesus Christ our Savior, but having been justified by His grace, we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. Look, I skipped some lines in there, but that is still a long sentence. That's the faithful saying. Father, Son, Spirit, save his people. And Paul is drawing Titus' attention towards this message, the gospel message. Sometimes people tell us what they like, they give us little clues or perhaps we read their body language, they have their arms crossed or what have you. and pick up on what they really like indirectly over time, but here, verse eight, it's not like that. It's quite direct. It is direct, rather. This is a faithful saying, and even more, he says about the gospel, I want you to affirm these things, the gospel, Constantly. That's what Paul's saying to Titus. I want you to affirm the gospel message constantly. It's by the knowledge of this news that the church is made healthy. Remember, that's his aim. If you go back to chapter one, Paul wants healthy churches on this island that's full of pagans. Everything in this letter regards that goal that we learned about in chapter one. How do we get healthy churches? And it's this, Titus, repeat this, the gospel, for from the knowledge of this news flow all sorts of benefits. And here, verse eight, we have one of those gospel effects, those gospel benefits. Notice here what the gospel causes in particular. It causes good works. Affirm the gospel constantly that or so that. ESV says it that way. It's causation. One thing affects another. So emphasize the gospel message in your churches, Titus. Yes, that gospel, the gospel they've already heard about, the gospel they've already been saved by, repeat it again and again so that they will be careful to do good works. That's the flow of the text. Repeating the gospel constantly causes believers to abound in good works. There's something in the gospel water that when you drink it, it has an effect and you are energized by it to do good in the world. It's clear. It's unmistakable in the text. The gospel, verse three through seven, is the motivation for good works. I'm convinced every school teacher knows this. Early on in his or her career, teachers learn this. Students do not remember everything you teach them. They just don't remember it all. You might even say they don't remember most of what you teach them. But they do tend to remember something if you tell it to them constantly. And that's the word in this text. They tend to remember it if you're happy about it. They tend to remember it if you put it on repeat. So brothers and sisters, do you see Titus's pastoral charge here from the apostle? Your own elders have this same charge from the apostle, from the Holy Spirit. If the Lord ever sees fit to move you on from this place, your duty is to place yourself into another church where the elders put the gospel on repeat. Perhaps you yourself have read through the pages of the New Testament and you've recognized that one of the things emphasized is this gospel message. It's repeatedly proclaimed, it's examined, it's heralded even from city to city. relishing the gospel must happen. And in fact, it's actually the only way you will be properly motivated for good works. If you consider the false teachers in Jesus's day, they did a number of works, all sorts of works. Pharisees would go to great lengths They would do extra washings and cleansings before their ritual festivals. They would give large sums of money, sometimes doing so publicly. They would pray great prayers, even in the midst of crowded marketplaces. They would do these works. As Jesus points out, none of them were good. The Pharisees had no proper faith. We could say even all unbelievers, they're unable to do good works. Our confession says this really clearly. It's a chapter in our confession on good works. Paragraph three says this. Speaking of believers. Good works is not of yourselves, but it is holy from the Spirit of Christ. That is, the only way you are able to do good works is through the Spirit of Christ. So do you want to do good works? You have to have gospel motivation. All other motivations are counterfeit. You will not do good works unless you have the Spirit prompting you, pushing you, energizing you. You've got to drink the gospel water to get the effect. The second observation is the call to good works. The call to good works. Affirm the gospel constantly, next phrase, that those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works. We must be careful to maintain good works. This is similar to Ephesians chapter 2. There's a long, wonderful gospel presentation in that book also. If you read through that book, you're going to see this long, glorious presentation of the gospel, somewhat like what we have here in Titus 3. And what do you have at the end of Titus chapter two in that long gospel presentation, you have a call just like here towards good works. So both in this book and that book and elsewhere in scripture, the result of salvation is a call to good works. Ephesians 2, eight through 10, let me read this for you. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast, for we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works. That's the call. You're saved for something. In this case, you're saved for good works. Ephesians clarifies, God prepared beforehand that you should walk in them. You are predestined before the foundation of the world, not only to be saved, but to do good works. Notice the scripture says that believers are to be careful to maintain good works. I think a couple things are going on in the text here. You're to be careful regarding good works. You're to study good works, study yourself, study the needs that are out in the world. Consider, perhaps even like my friend did, should I go to class today or should I meet this need that's right in front of my face? What should I do? You should pray, you should consider, you should study. We should continuously be thinking to ourselves, Lord, how might you use me for good in the world? And that word, maintain good works. Do not grow weary of doing good works elsewhere in the New Testament. Here, maintain good works. Don't take your foot off the gas pedal. This is what your life is about. I know we go through different seasons, We're able to go a little bit faster in some seasons, a little slower in some seasons. Able to do more good in some seasons, less good in other seasons. The apostle's clear. You are to be careful to maintain good works. Consider the sort of works you must do and do not let your foot off the gas, but keep going in other words. John Gill, commenting on this verse, says believers are to engage in a studious concern for the performance of good works. A studious concern, that's just like the Puritans, to add a little adjective on top of that. Not only are you to be careful, not only are you to be concerned, have a studious concern. Don't just lightly go about it and just, oh, I think I'm just gonna do this today. There's something over there I can do, that's good. There's a time and a place for that. The scripture actually says be careful here. Think about it, consider it. Young folks listening, supplies to you as well. If you're in high school, for instance, where are you going to be in 10 years, 20 years? You can consider now how you might prepare for good works then. Have a studious concern for good works. There are many ways in which we might do good works. I hope to tackle this a little bit more in a future sermon, but For now, just consider, good works are those things that we do for God and for people to his glory. Some good works are quite simple. For the sermon, I didn't think of this as an illustration, but she brought me a cup of water. She did it quickly, happily. That was great. There's something about this good work, though. It took less than a minute. She brought it. It's good work. There are other good works that take considerable more effort. We have to consider whether we can do them that day. I had one of the deacons not long ago, air conditioning was acting up at my house, and he came over and climbed up in the attic on a very hot day, just sweating all over and tried to fix it. It's a good work. It took a lot of time to come out to my house from where he lived, and it took a lot of time and effort to climb up into the attic. He had to change his shirt afterwards. He gets sweaty doing that sort of work. It's a different sort of good work, but it's commendable, isn't it? And then there's good works that take a lifetime to see through. Consider those who adopt a child. When does that good work, when does it stop? That's gonna require your energy for the rest of your life. All of these are good works, and Christ tells us to excel in all sorts of good works. Some, less than a minute. Some, may take an afternoon. Others, a lifetime. We should have a studious concern and consider, how might the Lord be calling me or my family? What should we do? What should we not do? We should also help one another in the body understand what sort of works we should be doing. Hebrews says this, let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works. Part of our calling, as we mingle together with one another, is to consider, how might I do good in the world? You can ask people that. But also, just your example of doing good, it will stir others up to do more good in the world. They see you doing good, they're going to be encouraged, they're going to be energized to do good themselves. I think this too should be part of our basic discipleship, our basic Christian discipleship, should include this, just like Ephesians does, just like Titus does. As we disciple people in the faith, we tell them about Christ, we tell them about the gospel, and we tell them that as a Christian, you are to put on proper behaviors. You're to respect your authorities. You are to stop stealing, you are to work with your hands. You're to be gentle, be self-controlled. Let's not forget to tell new believers, do good works, this is part of your calling. Also in our parenting, I think it's our reflex in parenting often is to help our children develop a godly lifestyle. We want to help them to see the dangers of pop culture. We want to help them to see the dangers of the world, and that's all right and good. Do not stop doing that. But as part of our parenting, we should also help our children understand what sort of works they might be doing, even at a young age. Boys and girls, you can consider that yourselves. If you've professed Christ as Savior, you can pray, you can ask your mom and dad, what should I be doing as a Christian? What sort of works can I, as a child, do for the glory of God? For this is your calling too if you are in Christ. God wants you to do good and to consider how you might serve perhaps your parents, perhaps your church, perhaps your neighbors. This calling is for all of us. Thirdly, observe the recipients of good works. The last phrase of verse eight says this, these things are good and profitable to men. But a note here I think is necessary on the language. I think at first reading it's a little confusing. What are these things? I think the most natural way to read this is these things are good works. Good works are profitable to men. I think that's the plainest sense of it. A number of commentators agree. Be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable to men. That is, good works are profitable to all sorts of men. This doesn't specify that good works are only good for the church. It doesn't specify anything. Good works are good for everyone. That's what the word suggests there. All the world profits from the good works of Christians. So mankind is the beneficiary. It's not just the church. So now consider where this gospel presentation in chapter three leads us. We were once foolish, but we were saved out of the world for good works. that benefit all mankind. There's a missionary impulse here. That's the view of one commentator, and I think he's right. That at the end of this, the aim is the glory of God in the world. It goes back to Jesus. You are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world. As you do good, put your lamp on a table and let it shine. before men. So the good works here are meant to glorify God among the nations. I know, former missionary, I'm gonna find a missionary text everywhere, but this is true. Mankind is the word. And there's a reminder here, I think, from the apostle to Titus, There are many things I think as a church we could be concerned about, but do not forget to maintain good works. And sometimes good works seem futile when you do them. Have you ever gotten to a point in your life where you've done good for a neighbor, you've done good for this person, and you just don't seem to get any payback for it? They don't seem to see the light of Christ that you're shining. It can be discouraging, I think. But we are meant to continue to do good. Do not grow cold. Do not grow to be like Jonah. Remember Jonah? He just, he got so cold he didn't want God to bless the nations. And he turned his back. He tried to run away. And in God's grace, God turned him around. We're to be careful, we're to maintain good works. This is why, by the way, the scripture encourages us, encourages us, do not grow weary. We're so apt to grow weary. In fact, some will not benefit, that's true. You might do good in your job for years, perhaps even decades. and not see one person come to Christ for your labors. But this does not change the command here. You are to do good works. You are to leave it to God. If God is going to use your good works to draw people into the church, then so be it. If he doesn't, then those people will be judged for rejecting the very obvious light of the gospel that you shine. Let God be the judge. He will see to it. Our job is the same whether people come to Christ, whether they do not. Our job is to do good, even to those who cannot pay us back. Christ said, when you give a dinner or a supper, do not ask your friends, your brothers, your relatives, your rich neighbors, lest they also invite you back. You see, the person doing that, they're doing works, but they're not properly motivated, are they? They're doing works that they might get paid back. Jesus says, invite those to supper who cannot repay you. When you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed because they cannot repay you. And then he says, you shall be repaid at the resurrection of the just. So all those good works you do for years, even decades, Christ says, I will repay you at the resurrection of the just. Do not grow discouraged, believer. Do not grow discouraged. Continue raising your children in the fear of the Lord. Continue doing good in your neighborhood. Continue doing good to your unbelieving family. God will repay you. And perhaps, along the way, God will draw some of them into the church, because they see something different about you, and they wonder, what is it about that guy? He used to be a jerk. Now he's nice to me, what happened? Oh, may that happen all the more. May the gospel so change us that we become doers of good and that as doers of good, people turn their heads and they wonder what is going on with those Christians. That's happened a number of times throughout church history. In ancient Rome, epidemics would sweep through the city. Many people would get very, very sick, they'd be on their deathbeds, and people would flee the city. But how many Christians stayed behind and ministered to the sick and the dying? And on one hand, that seems futile, doesn't it? I don't really want to end my days just ministering to this sick person and then die myself from the disease that they give me. But they stayed behind, because the text says to stay behind. The text says, be careful, maintain good works. And so they did maintain good works. And what happened to the church in Rome? exploded in popularity. Scores of people got saved. We might not think it's strategic to minister to the sick and to the needy, but strategic it was. And God saved many through the good works in part of his church. Of course, Christ, to come in to their hearts, regenerating them, saving them from their sins, that how many saw the light of Christ through such good works. So brothers and sisters, my prayer for you this week is that you will more clearly understand what sort of good works you should abound in. May you more fully understand the call to good works. Take time to consider prayerfully your talents, your finances, may you consider the opportunities the Lord has put in front of you, and may each one of us, especially, even this week, grow in our gratitude for Christ, that we may be properly motivated to serve him. Let's pray together. Our Father, we thank you for the gospel of Christ, And we thank you for the way it purifies us, and it even purifies our motivations. May you work in us for the good of our communities, for the good of our families. May we be known by our love for you and for our neighbor, for you first loved us. It's in Christ's name we pray, amen.