Grace Unto Works

“This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men.” (Tit 3:8 AV)

The things that Titus is supposed to affirm constantly is the manner in which the sinner is saved.  He is saved by grace through faith.  There is nothing a sinner can do to save himself.  Christ went to Calvary’s cross, bore all our sins, and raised victoriously the third day that we might trust in that which He has done and be saved from our sins.  It is all of grace and none of us.  What we want to see this morning are two things.  First, that the truth of the manner in which we are saved is by grace.  The second is are the results that should follow.  What we need to see is the relationship between the constant affirmation of salvation by grace and the works it produces.  Conversely, if we forget that we have been saved by grace, it may just result in the lack of those same good works.

It is a wonder how some look forward to sharing their salvation experience while others dread it.  Or at the very least, find it an inconvenience.  If someone took me out an inescapable pit of my own making, I think it would be something I would always remember and frequently rehearse!  If something like that happened to me, I would think it would dramatically change my life.  I think I might avoid that pit like the plague.  Rehearsing, or remembering, a bad place we used to be and all those who made it possible to escape that place is a good thing.  We learn to appreciate life in a whole new way.  It changes the choices we make.  We learn what is important and what is not important.  Perhaps that is why we see so little by the way of evidence of salvation in so many.  Perhaps, just perhaps, salvation truly didn’t come as they might be assuming.

Grace changes things.  A reminder of that grace maintains that change.  Remembering what it was that Jesus Christ did for the soul gives proper motive to continue the escape from sin.  Remembrance of what happened maintains a safe distance between us and the ruin from which we came.  Keeping in the forefront of our minds the grace of God that rescued the most helpless of all sinners grows within the heart a striving towards the image of the one who did the saving.  The grace of God is more than we can ever understand.  We are saved to do was we please.  And if we are saved, what pleases us is to maintain those good works whereunto we were saved in the first place!