Saving Grace Sends Us

The Power of Saving Grace

Titus 3:8

8 -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

Summary: In Titus 3:8,

Toward the end of his epistle to Titus, Paul emphasizes the importance of good works as a demonstration of faith. The source of these good works was the transforming power of God's saving grace.

Paul wrote this letter to Titus, instructing him how to appoint godly men into leadership roles in the church at Crete. At the time Paul wrote this letter, Crete was a Roman province marked by moral decay, fractured house churches, and a reputation for dishonesty. Paul was concerned that the new church in Crete be established with the right leadership.

In verse 8, Paul gives Titus things to affirm. Believers should be careful to maintain good works.

In verse 9, Paul gives Titus things to avoid. Foolish disputes about genealogies, contentions, and striving about the law.

Paul calls it a faithful saying that believers should be careful to maintain good works.

Paul is telling Titus that “those who believe in God should be careful to maintain good works” is a faithful saying.

“Faithful saying” means it is a trustworthy saying that should be repeated often. Paul uses the phrase “faithful saying” several times in his writings.

Two examples are found in 1 Timothy.

 1 Timothy 1:15 This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.

1 Timothy 2:11 This is a faithful saying: For if we died with Him, we shall also live with Him.

Saving grace is not just a one-time experience but is meant to produce ongoing good works in the life of the believer. It encourages the idea that faith should be active and visible through love and service to others.

Before we came to Christ, we didn’t desire godly good works. But because of the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit that takes place at salvation, we now desire to do good works. Before salvation, we were in spiritual darkness; since we have come to Christ, our spiritual eyes are open, and we have the Holy Spirit living in us.

2 Corinthians 5:17 NKJV - 17 Therefore, if anyone [is] in Christ, [he is] a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

The Story of John Newton

John Newton was born July 24, 1725, in London to a godly mother and an irreligious, seafaring father. His mother died when he was six. Left mainly to himself, Newton became a debauched sailor — pressed into naval service against his will when he was eighteen. Of himself, Newton wrote, “I was capable of anything; I had not the least fear of God before my eyes, nor (so far as I remember) the least sensibility of conscience” (Memoirs, 1:12).

When he was 20 years old, he was put off his ship on some small islands just southeast of Sierra Leone, West Africa, and for about a year and a half he lived as a virtual slave in almost destitute circumstances. The wife of his master despised him and treated him cruelly. He wrote that even the African slaves would try to smuggle him food from their own slim rations. Later in life, he marveled at the seemingly accidental way a ship put anchor on his island after seeing some smoke, and just happened to be a ship with a captain who knew Newton’s father and managed to free him from his bondage. That was February 1747. He was not quite 21, and God was about to close in.

The Precious Storm at Sea

The ship had business on the seas for over a year. Then on March 21, 1748, on the ship’s journey home to England in the North Atlantic, God acted to rescue the “African blasphemer.”

Newton awoke to a violent storm as his room began to fill with water. He was assigned to the pumps and heard himself say, “If this will not do, the Lord have mercy upon us” (Memoirs, 1:26). It was the first time he had expressed the need for mercy in many years. He worked the pumps from three in the morning until noon, slept for an hour, and then took the helm and steered the ship till midnight. At the wheel, he had time to think back over his life and his spiritual condition.

At about six o’clock the next evening it seemed as though there might be hope. “I thought I saw the hand of God displayed in our favor. I began to pray: I could not utter the prayer of faith; I could not draw near to a reconciled God, and call him Father. . . . The comfortless principles of infidelity were deeply riveted. . . . The great question now was, how to obtain faith” (Memoirs, 1:28).

Slave Trader Turned Preacher

For six years after this time, Newton said he had no “Christian friend or faithful minister to advise me.” He became the captain of a slave-trading ship and went to sea again until December 1749. In his mature years he came to feel intense remorse for his participation in the slave trade, and he joined William Wilberforce in opposing it. Thirty years after leaving the sea, he wrote an essay, Thoughts upon the African Slave Trade, which closed with a reference to “a commerce so iniquitous, so cruel, so oppressive, so destructive, as the African Slave Trade!” (Memoirs, 6:123).

In 1764 Newton accepted the call to be the pastor of the Church of England parish in Olney and served there for almost sixteen years. Then he accepted the call at age 54 to St. Mary’s Woolnoth in London, where he began his 27-year ministry on December 8, 1779. His eyes and ears were failing, and his good friend Richard Cecil suggested he cease preaching when he turned 80, to which Newton responded, “What! Shall the old African blasphemer stop while he can speak?” (Memoirs, 1:88).

John and Mary had no children of their own, but adopted two nieces. When Mary died seventeen years before John, he lived with the family of one of these nieces and was cared for by her as if he were her own father. Newton died on December 21, 1807, at the age of 82.

Newton comes back to his own salvation more than anything as the source of tenderness. Till the day he died, he never ceased to be amazed that, as he said at age 72, “such a wretch should not only be spared and pardoned, but reserved to the honor of preaching thy Gospel, which he had blasphemed and renounced . . . this is wonderful indeed! The more thou hast exalted me, the more I ought to abase myself” (Memoirs, 1:86).

Newton expressed this sentiment most famously in his hymn “Amazing Grace”:

Amazing grace! — how sweet the sound — That saved a wretch like me, I once was lost, but now am found, Was blind, but now I see.

The effect of this amazement is tenderness toward others. The “wretch” who has been saved by grace “believes and feels his own weakness and unworthiness, and lives upon the grace and pardoning love of his Lord. This gives him an habitual tenderness and gentleness of spirit. Humble under a sense of much forgiveness to himself, he finds it easy to forgive others” (Memoirs, 1:70).

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John Newton is an example of the power of God’s saving grace that resulted in him doing good works.

The apostle Paul is a biblical example of saving grace that resulted in good works. Before his Damascus Road experience, he was persecuting the chuch with zeal that he thought was from the Lord.

Act 9:1-20 NKJV - 1 Then Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest 2 and asked letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus, so that if he found any who were of the Way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. 3 As he journeyed he came near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven. 4 Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?" 5 And he said, "Who are You, Lord?" Then the Lord said, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It [is] hard for you to kick against the goads." 6 So he, trembling and astonished, said, "Lord, what do You want me to do?" Then the Lord [said] to him, "Arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do." 7 And the men who journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice but seeing no one. 8 Then Saul arose from the ground, and when his eyes were opened he saw no one. But they led him by the hand and brought [him] into Damascus. 9 And he was three days without sight, and neither ate nor drank. 10 Now there was a certain disciple at Damascus named Ananias; and to him the Lord said in a vision, "Ananias." And he said, "Here I am, Lord." 11 So the Lord [said] to him, "Arise and go to the street called Straight, and inquire at the house of Judas for [one] called Saul of Tarsus, for behold, he is praying. 12 "And in a vision he has seen a man named Ananias coming in and putting [his] hand on him, so that he might receive his sight." 13 Then Ananias answered, "Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much harm he has done to Your saints in Jerusalem. 14 "And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on Your name." 15 But the Lord said to him, "Go, for he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel. 16 "For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name's sake." 17 And Ananias went his way and entered the house; and laying his hands on him he said, "Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you came, has sent me that you may receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit." 18 Immediately there fell from his eyes [something] like scales, and he received his sight at once; and he arose and was baptized. 19 So when he had received food, he was strengthened. Then Saul spent some days with the disciples at Damascus. 20 Immediately he preached the Christ in the synagogues, that He is the Son of God.

And we can also testify to the saving grace in our lives and our desire to complete God’s works for the Lord.

The same Grace that saved you compels you to good works.

So what are “good works”

Good works benefit others and glorify God.

Good works are righteous behavior and acts of love.

Good works include both Christlike character ( the beatitudes) and practical care for others (food, shelter, etc.)

Jesus said in Mathew 5:16 - "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.

Good works are not the root of salvation but the fruit of salvation. We are not saved by works; we are saved by grace through faith alone.

Eph 2:8-9 NKJV - 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; [it is] the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.

Gal 2:16 NKJV - 16 "knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.

Tit 3:5 NKJV - 5 not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit,

Chuck Smith’s comments on Titus 3:5 – the Holy Spirit is in the process of transforming us from what we used to be into what God wants us to be. The process of renewal is underway to conform us into the image of Jesus Christ.  I’m not what I should be, but thank God I'm not what I used to be.  I know that since God has begun a good work in me, He will finish it (Phil 1:6)

Be careful to “maintain” good works. How do we “maintain” good works?

When we find the zeal for good works is fading, we need to go back to the source of our zeal for the Lord. The Holy Spirit. We have to be careful not to think that we just need to try harder. No, we need to go back to the source. We need to be refilled continually.

Ephesians 5:18- And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit,

Going through the Titus Ten study, we learned that we were created for a mission. As men, God put it in our DNA to want to be a part of something. To be part of a mission. Jesus gave us a mission in Mathew 28:18-20. Jesus said to go!

Mat 28:18-20 NKJV - 18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 "teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, [even] to the end of the age." Amen.

So we have a mission, and the way to complete the mission is through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Act 1:8 NKJV - 8 "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."