Good works are the result of Salvation {antimonianism, legalism, or Saved By Grace}

Titus 1:10–3:8 and the Theme of Good Works as the Result of Salvation

We're going to read through verse 8 of the 3rd chapter, which sounds like a lot, but it's really not a lot. These are very short chapters in the book of Titus. And my intention today is not necessarily to pick out every single word from every single verse, but it's very important this morning that we understand and read the bulk of this passage of Scripture to understand what's being said so that I'm not tempted, nor are you tempted to assume that the Word of God is saying one thing, nor am I, again, tempted to say that the Word of God is saying one thing when it is saying what it is clearly saying and what we are going to learn about today from the text.

Every week we ask that you consider and that you think about some things. What is the theme of the message? And one of our responsibilities as we stand before you each week is to let you know what the theme of the passage of Scripture is that we're looking at.

And today the theme, if you're taking notes, is this, that good works are the result of salvation. Now, I was teasing Kyler and Caden earlier. Well, teasing, I say, that's more sarcasm. I was being sarcastic and truthful yet at the same time.

We ask the kids every week when they come out of class, what did you learn about in class? And every week when they come out of class, they typically are able to tell us somewhat, right Hannah? Typically able to tell somewhat what they learned about.

But I wonder how many of you adults would be able to do that as well? What if we challenged and encouraged one another by coming to each other after Sunday service, maybe giving each other a call or a text and saying, what was the Sunday school lesson about this morning?

What did you learn about? And then taking this a step beyond and saying this, what was the message that the preacher preached about? You know, the folks that you and I work with on a daily basis, they wonder, number one, is the salvation we profess to possess the real deal?

And is it so much so a real reality in our lives that we take in, that we comprehend, that we actually learn what we hear when we go to church on Sunday? If someone were to ask you tomorrow morning when you go to work, our aim and our goal, my aim, my goal, I'll be honest with you, is that you have somewhat of an inkling and an understanding of what the scripture has said, so much so that you can sit somebody down and say, this is what we learned about at church on Sunday.

And so the theme of the message is this, good works are the result of salvation. Now, this may not be anything new to most of you. It may be new to some of you. However, and whatever the case may be for you in your particular circumstance and situation, our hope is this, that you will know by the end of this message today, that good works are the result of salvation.

Now, on the flip side, I want you to know this, good works don't produce salvation. You are not saved by good works. Everybody knows that. Good works don't produce salvation. Good works are the direct result of salvation.

So today from the text, we'll see that salvation is of the Lord apart from any works that we do. However, we'll also see that works will follow, good works will follow as the result of salvation. Some might say, well, are you saying that we've got to have good works as an evidence of our salvation?

I'm telling you today that the Word of God teaches us that good works will be the result of salvation. They are not what produces salvation, but they are the result of salvation. So, let's read the text before we go any further.

Titus, Crete, and the Need for Sound Doctrine

Titus chapter 1 and verse 10, the Word of God says this, For there are many insubordinate, both idle talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision, whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole households, teaching things which they ought not, for the sake of dishonest gain.

One of them, a prophet of their own said, Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons. This testimony is true. Therefore, rebuke them sharply that they may be sound in the faith, not giving heed to Jewish fables and commandments of men who turn from the truth.

To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure. But even their mind and conscience are defiled. They profess to know God, but in works they deny Him, being abominable, disobedient, and disqualified for every good work.

Paul goes on to tell Titus, But as for you, speak the things which are proper for sound doctrine, that the older men be sober, reverent, temperate, sound in faith, in love, in patience, the older women likewise, that they be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things, that they admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed.

Likewise, exhort the young men to be sober-minded, in all things showing yourself to be a pattern of good works, in doctrine showing integrity, reverence, incorruptibility, sound speech that cannot be condemned, that one who is an opponent may be ashamed, having nothing evil to say of you.

Exhort bond servants to be obedient to their own masters, to be well-pleasing in all things, not answering back, not pilfering, but showing all good fidelity, that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things.

For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.

Speak these things, exhort and rebuke with all authority, let no one despise you. Remind them to be subject to rulers and authorities, to obey, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing all humility to all men, for we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, and living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another.

But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, 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, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace, we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

In verse 8 says this,. 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.

And so in our introduction there we gave you just a little bit, the theme of the message is this, that good works are the result of salvation, good works don't produce salvation, good works are the direct result of salvation.

The Question of Whether You Are Truly Saved

So my first question to you this morning is this, Are you saved? That is a question that only you can answer. That is a question truly that only you and God know today. There are many in this world, there are many who come to churches week in and week out, who sit in service, who sing the songs,.

Who raise their hands,.

Who shout and say amen, who go along and nod their heads at the preacher's preaching message that he says, but they go away from the house of God unchanged, and they go away from the house of God the same way that they came in, unsaved and unregenerate.

My friends, the question at hand today, and the most important question of this hour and of your life is this, Are you saved? And do you know that you're saved? Not that you're saved based upon the feelings that you have, but do you know that you're saved based upon what the Word of God says?

Are you a Christian? Have you been born again? And I want you to know this, if you are a Christian today, if you say that you are saved, if you know that you have been born again, you know that it was not by your own good works that you were saved, but it was by the work of Jesus Christ that you have been saved.

It is based upon the work that Jesus Christ did by living a perfectly sinless life in your stead, not so that you could be like Him, but because there's nobody that is like Him, and nobody able to accomplish the work that He accomplished.

If you are saved, you know this, you know it is because of His death and His suffering, suffering the wrath of Almighty God on your behalf for your sins. If you are saved today, it is simply because Jesus died and Jesus rose again for your justification.

In this passage of Scripture that we read to you, we see the doctrine of justification brought out, we see the doctrine of sanctification brought out. And it's important as we go through this, I want to go through this kind of slow, at least here in the introduction part of it, as we begin to look at the text itself, but I want you to know something.

Paul told Titus here, and just a little bit of context here before we go any further. Know this, what's being said and to whom it's being said. This book of Titus was a very personal letter. It was a personal letter written to a man named Titus who was a very dear friend and close associate of the Apostle Paul.

He was a man whom the Apostle Paul trusted greatly. If you want to look back at a little bit of history in your free time, look back in the book of Corinthians and you can read about Titus' impact and Titus' influence even at the church of Corinth and Paul's trust in him as a godly man.

Paul had a godly man that he trusted in and whom he depended upon. And the Bible says this, it goes on that we learn this, that as Paul writes this personal letter to Titus, when he's writing this personal letter to Titus, it's for this purpose, it's to instruct Titus on what he needs to do.

He says, Titus, earlier in this book, in this first chapter, you'll see Paul tell Titus, Titus, I want you to stay in Crete in order so that you might set up and establish elders in the churches. So he gives Titus instruction on who and what to do, who set up elders in the churches and the purpose of having godly leadership within the church.

It goes without saying that godly leadership is very important. The next section of scripture, Paul lays out the qualifications of that godly leadership that needs to be set up in the church. And then in verse 10 where we began reading, we see the reason why godly leadership was necessary, why sound doctrine is so important because within the church in Crete, as within the other churches that Paul wrote the letters to, there was the issue of those who were Judaizers in many of the churches, meaning this, there were many who held and clung steadfastly to the law, they held to keeping the law of God and to trusting in Jesus Christ.

You cannot be saved by keeping the law of God and trusting in Christ. It must be Christ alone. That's what the word of God teaches. For by grace are you saved through faith. And that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.

But Paul is using very strong language here in verse 10 through 16 there, he says there are many insubordinate, many idle talkers and deceivers, especially they, and he calls out the circumcision, those are the Judaizers.

And he says their mouths must be stopped because they subvert whole households, teaching things which they ought not for the sake of dishonest gain. Now, as things were then, so are things today. The truth is still the same.

The truth still needs to be proclaimed. So Paul goes on moving forward. In chapter two in verse one, Paul begins to define what sound doctrinal preaching is. Now, some might say, I wanna go to a church where they can teach me how to increase my bank account, how they can help me be a better manager, how they can help me be a better this and a better that.

My friend, we have in the word of God given to us here in Paul's instruction preserved by the Holy Spirit, what it is to be a good, sound, doctrinally sound Christian. And this is what he says. He says first to Titus, as for you, Titus, it's a direct address to Titus, as for you, speak the things which are proper for sound doctrine.

Sound Doctrine for Older Men, Older Women, Younger Women, and Younger Men

And then throughout this passage,.

This section of the scripture, we're gonna see very clearly here that Paul leaves no one out. Paul says, this is how the older men are to act, how to act, and this is how the older women are to act. How the older men are to act, how the older women are to act.

How the older women are to instruct and to teach and to show the younger women how it is they are to live as godly people in this world. And then he, last of all, addresses the young men. And so within that passage of scripture, he's very clear.

He says, older men, be sober. That means to be clear-headed. It means, and he said to be reverent. That means to be respectful, to be temperate. That means not to fly off the handle so quickly. Learn to be calm, cool, and collected.

Now, you cannot do that by willing it in your life. It must be the work of the Holy Spirit that does this in you. There are a lot of self-help and self-reform programs out there in the world, but I'm telling you, every single one of them will fail.

But salvation will not fail. God will not fail to achieve the purpose that he set out to glorify himself in his people. He said, be sound in faith, in love, in patience. The older women, likewise, that they be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things, and this, that they admonish the young women to love their husbands.

We live in a day and a time where people can do anything they want. Listen, husbands and wives ought to love one another. If you want a little bit further instruction on that, husbands, how you're to love your wives, read Ephesians chapter five.

Wives, if you want to know how to honor and respect your husband, read Ephesians chapter five. But here he goes on giving this sound teaching, sound doctrine. Young women love their husbands to love their children, to be discreet, to be chaste.

That means to be pure, to be homemakers, to be good, to be obedient to their own husbands so that the word of God may not be blasphemed. This is godly living. These are the good works that ought to be produced in the life of the Christian.

So going forward just a little bit before we, well, so he addresses older men, older men, older women, younger women, younger men, and then, so he addresses the family relationship, our relationship with those at home.

And then Paul moves beyond that family relationship and he begins to address and instruct Titus on how it is to teach his people to respond and to react to their employers. He says, exhort bond servants to be obedient to their own masters, to be well pleasing in all things.

It doesn't say necessarily to be a people pleaser in the sense we typically think of that, but it means by honoring God, we will honor those who are an authority over us in our workplaces. So not answering back, not pilfering, that means not stealing, but showing all good fidelity that they may adorn the doctrine of God, our savior in all things.

So as we read just a little bit further, for the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lush, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present age.

Now there's a comma there. I want to stop just for a moment to go back there. For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. That Greek word there, to all men, meaning all kinds of men.

That's why the Bible says later on in the book of the Revelation that there'll be folks from every tribe, every kindred, every tongue, every nation, and every race out of which God will save and call his redeemed out and make them be born again.

God, the grace of God has appeared to all men and the grace of God has appeared for this purpose, teaching us, instructing us, showing us that denying ungodliness, that we ought to deny ungodliness, that by denying ungodliness, we ought to live soberly and righteously in this present age.

So that those who see our good works, this is why good works are,.

They really do two things.

The production of good works.

By genuine biblical salvation in your life will do two things. It will give you assurance in God.

Amen?

No one, none of us like to operate and live uncertain or unsure of things in life. If good works will give you assurance of salvation and good works will be evidence of salvation to those who are lost.

Now everybody can get caught up on an emotional high and say, I made a decision at church today.

And I'm gonna live right for the rest of my life.

And then two weeks, they fall right back into the same things that they lived in before they professed to be saved. Friends, let me say this. When you get saved, you will never, ever be the same. Your heart will never be the same.

Your mind will never be the same. But I am not saying this, that you will be perfect because as long as you live and you breathe, you are fighting against sin. Let me go a step further and say, if you are fighting against sin, that is a good evidence of salvation in your life.

Because if you are not saved, you do not fight sin. You only want sin. You only want what you want. You only want to get your way. But when you have been saved by the grace of God, your heart and your mind has been changed.

Matter of fact, you do not have that stony heart in you anymore. God has done the operation in you that he's removed that stony heart and given you a heart of flesh so that you can respond appropriately to him.

Good works are the result of salvation. So if our good works are to glorify God, which by the way, if you look in Matthew 5, 16, you'll see where Jesus said, let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

My question to you is this this morning. If there are no good works to speak of in your life, then are you truly saved? This is maybe one of the harder messages that I've had to preach. Because some people would say, you're saying just because I don't have good works,.

I'm not saved?

I'm saying the Bible says, if you do not have good works, you are not saved. And you need to examine yourselves in light of the word of God and ask yourself, am I saved? The good news is, if there is life and breath in you and you can ask that question and that question is of importance to you, that is an indication that the Spirit of God has quickened you to life and brought you to an understanding that you can respond to God.

What is the correct response to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

When it's preached?

Repent and believe the gospel. It is not necessarily a question to you. Do you want to be saved? The question is not a question, it is a command. Repent and believe the gospel. It goes on in Matthew 7, 17 -19 and just as an evidence for that statement there because that's a big statement.

If there are no good works to speak of in your life, are you truly saved? Jesus said in Matthew 7, which is what we've been going through in Sunday school with Kenny. Kenny or the Word of God teaches us this, even so every good tree bears good fruit.

Now anybody can and is welcome to question and challenge the authority and the sufficiency of the scripture but just because you question and you challenge the authority of scripture does not make it a moot point.

It is the Word of God.

And Jesus said every tree bears good fruit but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree, Jesus said, that does not bear good fruit is cast down and thrown into the fire because there are a great many.

He goes on in that same passage, in that same text in verse 21 and 22 and he says for many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not done this? Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name?

In your name have we not cast out devils? And in your name have we not done many good works? But Jesus was saying to them, depart from me, you that work iniquity.

For I never knew you.

Are you saved today? He said good works are the direct result of salvation. Good works do not produce salvation but they go hand in hand. You cannot have one without the other. Some may say many teach nowadays.

You can have Jesus as Lord or you can have Jesus as Savior and not ever place Him as Lord of your life. Friend, that is a lie and that is unbiblical. That is unbiblical in its root and origin. Jesus is Savior and Lord or He is nothing to you.

He did not come just to save you. He came as Lord and King, Christ and King. So my question to you up to this point is what kind of fruit is being shown in your life? I'm not going to try to answer that for you.

You know what kind of fruit is being demonstrated and shown forth in your life. Is it good fruit or is it bad fruit? Now at this point, many might be challenged a little bit with the message so far and I want us to take just a moment to look at and to define two different views that is taught in the church because it's easy to go to one extreme or to go to the other extreme.

There's a group, two words we're going to define. Antinomianism, if you want to write that down Antinomianism and we're going to define legalism as well. Antinomianism and legalism because to the naked ear what's being preached to you so far sounds like legalism.

Some people would say, I don't want to go to a church where they tell me how I'm supposed to live. That's legalistic. And if you think that, it's because you might be leaning more toward the antinomian side of the fence which is wrong in and of itself just so much as legalism is wrong.

Antinomianism.

I want to give you two definitions, two opposite views. The first of these views is called antinomianism. Antinomianism simply means anti-law. It comes from the word, the anti part means against. The nomos is where the word nomian comes from.

It means the law, against the law. Those who hold to antinomianism believe that there is no need for good works to be demonstrated in the life of the Christian because that would be an imposition on the life of the believer.

Also closely related is the term hyper-grace. Now this is a more modern term right here,.

Hyper-grace.

But it, in antinomianism, it's like they hold hands and skip down the road to hell together. The hyper-grace, it has been used to describe a new wave of teaching that emphasizes the grace of God to the exclusion of other vital teachings such as repentance and confession of sin.

Hyper-grace teachers maintain that all sin, past, present, and future, has already been forgiven so there is no need for a believer to ever confess it. Now, if you, if you, I don't know if you lean that way, but just so that you're aware, that is not what the scriptures teach.

If you read the book of 1 John, you'll find that if we confess our sin, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sin. Hyper-grace, antinomianism,.

Being against the law,.

Kind of goes, in some strange way, teaches that once you get saved, that's all there is to it. You've got your ticket punched, you've got your get out of hell free card, and you're good to go in life.

But friends, people need to hear what the Bible says contrary to that teaching. That is not what the Bible teaches. Going on just a little bit further, know this, the conclusion of hyper-grace teaching, that is, that we are not bound by Jesus' teaching, even as we are not under the law, that believers are not responsible for their sin, and that anyone who disagrees is a pharisaical legalist.

In short, hyper-grace teachers pervert the grace of God into a license for immorality. Antinomianism basically teaches that once you're saved, that's all you need. The antinomian says, I prayed a prayer at one point in my life, and so now I'm done.

How many people are there that sit in churches every week who have based their salvation on a work that they have done? Notice this, and this has everything to do with the message today. Good works are the direct result of salvation, but good works do not produce salvation.

If your salvation is based on anything that you have done or are doing, you are lost, and you need to be born again. The Corinthians overemphasized their own spiritual accomplishments as a biblical example of antinomianism.

In other words, they assumed that they had believed in Jesus, that they no longer needed to do anything like be obedient to the Lord. Instead, they kind of assumed they would determine spirituality by what they were doing, and all the while, they lost sight of the fact that salvation, all of salvation,.

Is of the Lord.

Where does your faith lie today? Does your faith lie in Jesus Christ? Are you saved today? Is your life bearing good fruit? Young men today, are you being sound in the faith? Are you being, older men today, are you being sober-minded?

Are you being temperate? Are you being patient? Are you devoted to the Lord, our God? If not, examine yourselves to see whether you be in the faith or no. The next definition I want to give to you this morning is the opposite view of antinomianism, which is called legalism.

Legalism usually refers, as we studied in the Sunday school lesson this morning, legalism usually refers to a doctrinal position emphasizing a system of rules and regulations, often the Old Testament laws for achieving salvation and spiritual growth.

That was the issue that Paul was addressing here. The fact that those who were coming in and saying you had to be circumcised, you had to do this work in order to be saved, when the gospel of Jesus Christ taught that you're not saved by the works or the deeds of the flesh, or the works of the law, but you're saved by the grace of God and that alone.

So legalism is the opposite side of antinomianism. And the legalist says, because I strive to do my best to keep God's laws, then God will honor me because of that. I hate to be the bearer of bad news.

I hate to be the pooper of parties. But you will never be saved by your good works. God will never honor you because of anything that you have done. God will always honor His Son because it was His Son who died the death that no man could die.

It was His Son who suffered the wrath of Almighty God. It was His Son who was buried in the tomb and it was His Son who raised again on the third day. For our justification, it was His Son that ascended into the heavens and it is His Son that will one day come again for His church.

The legalist says, if you walk right, talk right, do right, and then you'll be saved. That just as antinomianism on the one end of the spectrum, the legalism on the opposite end of the spectrum is a works-based salvation.

The antinomian says, I prayed a prayer and that's all I need. I don't need to honor God. I can live how I want to live. The legalist said, I'm doing my best to serve the living God and to keep God's laws.

And therefore God will honor me because of that.

That is contrary to what the Word of God speaks. The grace of God that brings salvation has appeared in Jesus Christ. And that teaches us that we ought to deny our ungodliness. Jesus' command in the scriptures, Jesus' call to the lost in the gospels is not if you decide that you want to follow me, come on ahead and you can just keep doing what you want to do.

His command was this, deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me. Now, that's not an easy pill to swallow and it is not popular preaching to hear. R .C. Sproul said, God help the men of God who stand and preach and are always looking over their shoulders for the approval of the world or the approval of their church members.

I am not here today. Listen, I love you all with all of my heart. Let me take a minute and look at you. I love every one of you with all of my heart.

But my hope and my confidence.

Does not rest in your approval of what I'm preaching to you. It rests in the true and the living God. And what the true and the living God's word says is this, that you must be born again. And that as church people who are exposed to all kinds of teaching, you need to stay true to the word of God.

That means test what I'm telling you. Don't just trust me. Listen, my intention was to try to just talk this sermon through. I wish I could do that. I wish that I could speak calmly and teach clearly as some men of God do.

But I just can't seem to help it sometimes. I get excited over the word of God. So going on, the legalist on the opposite end of the spectrum thinks that his works will save him. Here again, it's important to note that legalism has been an issue just as long as antinomianism very quickly.

Turn to Galatians chapter 5 if you would. And this is a scriptural evidence of legalism within the church. So the Corinthian church was leaned heavily toward the antinomian side of teaching. And the Galatian church, Paul addresses, leans heavily toward the legalist side.

And this is what the apostle Paul told them in chapter 5, verse 1 through 6. He said this, That is a very clear statement there. Paul is reminding those who have been listening, who have had their ears tickled by those teaching Judaism, that they need to be circumcised in order to be right in the sight of God, in order to be considered good law keepers.

But Paul said,.

He said,.

That he is a debtor to keep the whole law. Paul was saying this, How many of you, God's moral law is the Ten Commandments. Is there anybody that would honestly say, I have gone more than half a day and I've never broken any of God's commandments in my life?

There's none of us.

I dare say many of us, half an hour. Maybe four or five hours, that's when we're sleeping. If I'm given the benefit of the doubt. I'm just speaking personally about myself. The Lord our God is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.

How many of you have kept that?

Uh-uh.

None of us.

We've all broken God's law. Paul was saying, If you try to keep part of the law, you need to understand that you must keep the whole of the law. And that's not possible.

He said,.

He's not, that's not a statement that is saying that you can be saved and then lost. It's a statement saying is that you were never were saved if you're leaning and holding to the works of the flesh. Because the work of the Spirit in the life of the believer causes us to understand and know that we are saved by grace alone.

Through faith alone and Christ alone. Based upon the word of God alone.

For the glory of God alone.

Sinners Saved by Grace, Justification, and Sanctification

So let's come back over and we'll try to finish up here. So both groups think that based upon their past works or current works, they will be saved. Remembering what we've read, Paul has sprinkled this teaching, this instruction to Titus, that is to teach works in the life of the believer as the evidence of their salvation.

That we have been made by God for the purpose of glorifying God with our lives. Are you glorifying God with your life? And that last, that eighth verse there, just to bring us to a close here. And we're going to define one more group.

This is a faithful saying. In these things I want you to affirm constantly. There are about one, two, three, four, five, six, primarily six verbs in that eighth verse there. The third chapter in the eighth verse.

I want, it means to intentionally will. To affirm constantly is one Greek word that's used in the Greek language. It means to affirm strongly.

To encourage strongly.

He said I want you to encourage strongly. Then the next verb that's used is the term those who have believed. Which really means those who have believed, are believing, and will be believing. When you are saved by the grace of God, the faith that God gives to you to believe in Him is a persevering faith that never quits.