Beacon Sunday Service: May 25, 2025

If you guys can stand back up on your feet, and I'm gonna just read one verse for us, which is coming from Titus 3 8. We have been in Titus since October, and we're almost done. But this is just our one verse for today. It reads, this is a trustworthy saying, and concerning these things, I want you to speak confidently, so that those who have believed God will be intent to lead in good works. These things are good and profitable for men. Let's pray together. Lord, we're thankful for this Sunday morning, and we're very thankful that what you've begun in each and every one of our stories that you're continuing, and you will continue to perfection. Remind us afresh of our purpose and soften our hearts so that we will not just hear intellectually or academically, but that our hearts will be fertile, and as we hear your word, we will be quick to respond in worship and in practice.

Be glorified this morning, just in the proclamation of your word, and be magnified in the lives that your people live as we go into the world. We pray that as you are the center of this service and the center of our affection, Lord, that as you're honored, that you would pour out your joy, that we would leave here, rejoicing in Christ, our beloved Savior. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Go ahead and take a seat.

They see. All right. I turned it off for uh Alex's sake, because we didn't want him to be frostbit bitten. So there's an old proverb that says, if you see a turtle on a fence post, you know that it did not get there by itself. And that's hard to refute. Um it is and has been a very trustworthy saying. There is no way a turtle could get onto the top of a fence post by itself. So someone has to have put it there, and he had some help to get up there. And here's the meaning to this old proverb. The point is that every success or every achievement a person attains in this life is through the help of others. No one reaches the top of any mountain by himself. No self-made man is ever truly self-made.

Somewhere along the line, no matter how driven or diligent or ambitious somebody is, somebody else in his life was gracious and helpful to that man. He had help like the turtle on a fence post. Similarly, if you see a person just thriving in his faith, and you see a person growing in Christ-likeness, that godly person did not get there by himself or herself. First, it's primarily because God has been gracious to that person. God has poured out his affections on that person. God has saved that person. Amen. No one is naturally or innately good, loving, or Christlike. Believers of Jesus Christ are saved by his grace alone through no merit of our own. And we learned last week that salvation begins completely with God.

He wills it, he initiates it, and man is saved by the kindness of God alone. But a profound and a humbling mystery is that God chooses to use sin tainted and previously depraved men in the saving of sin tainted and depraved men. And to what extent are believers involved in this process of salvation? God's saints are actually called God's co-workers, God's co-laborers. First Corinthians 3 9. So omnipotent God works in and through people to bring people to saving faith. So God puts his saints in both this giant baton pass and in a community, so that our faith is interdependent and contingent on the good works of other saints. So again, we are saved by faith alone, through grace alone, in Christ alone, and we are also saved, built up, nurtured, and equipped by man, and by the good works of men.

So God, who does not need men, chooses to make man necessary in the salvation process. And that's profound and humbling. Romans 10, 13 to 15. Whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? How will they preach unless they are sent? And just as that is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who proclaim good news of good things. So this is a mystery. God doesn't need man for any salvific work, but God chooses and delights to save man through the agency of man's good works. God chooses to bring the hope of eternal life through those who are heirs according to that same hope.

So God saves man to use man to save man. That's not hard to track, right? God saves man to use man to save man. So in context, Titus 3 7, just as a way of review, it reads, so that having been justified by his grace, we would become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. And that was last week. And so for this present age, what is the one task that's entrusted to the heirs of eternity? It's basically to gather other heirs into God's kingdom. Amen.

And this saving of other men is what we often see in the scriptures call as called God's desired fruit. So God saves people, so that his saved people will bear fruit, and so that his saved people will equip other people to save people, so that they can bear good fruit. So do you understand the giant patampas? God has saved men for good works. We've been in the epistle to Titus since October, and I've been repeatedly sharing with you that in the Titus, it's like a dense, compact instructional blueprint for every church. And in this blueprint, the mention of good works and the theme of the church is good works, it's the vertebrae that holds the entire letter together. So the word good works, it's been repeated multiple times in every chapter of Titus.

And for the most of you guys who have been here, you've seen it happen a lot, right? So this dense and compact blueprint closes with the priority of the good works for all Christ-centered churches and for all Christ-centered people. So we're almost done with Titus. Verse 14 ends with this, okay? The letter almost ends with this. Our people must also learn to lead in good works to meet pressing needs, so that they will not be unfruitful. So today we're going to be focusing in on the priority of good works. And we're going to be launching off of just one verse, Titus 3.8. And so here's the outline of the rest of the sermon. First, we're looking at this verse, and there is a highlight of a good message.

So there's a good message, a good gospel that Paul exhorts Titus to speak with absolute confidence. Okay? There's a confidently supposed to speak confidently. Second, the saints are to have good intentions and good obsessions. So the saints are called actually to be at front and center doing good works. And third, good works for God's glory and for man's profit. Okay? So the good works of the saints, it's never intended for the attaining of salvation or for the exaltation or the celebration of men. Our good works are never to be done on display for our glory. They're never to be done for our acclaim and our applause. And nor are we, again, saved by our good works. But we are saved for good works.

Because our good works leads to the praise and the glorification of our heavenly Father. And that's what we've been learning. And that's all over the Bible. People who say otherwise aren't reading the Bible. God saves man to use man to save man. So God uses reconciled and restored men to reconcile and restore others to himself. All to God's glory and a man's prophet. Okay, so that's the passage in a nutshell. So I'm gonna read Titus 3.8 one more time. And so just track with me with your eyes why we've we're outlining it this way. This is a trustworthy saying, and concerning these things, I want you, Titus, to speak confidently so that those who have believed God will be intent to lead in good works.

These things are good and profitable for men. So first, pistos ha lagos, there is a trustworthy saying. So the combination of these three Greek words, it's found at least once in every pastoral epistle. Okay? Literally it reads, faithful or believable is this word. Okay, that's what this is a trustworthy saying is.

Okay? And that was Paul's dense presentation of the gospel. And that's what we covered last week. And these things include all of the applications that Paul had laid out for every group in the church, older men, older women, to younger men, to younger uh women, church leaders, slaves, etc. And so these things, which is mentioned twice here, it refers to everything Titus was supposed to pass on that was fitting for sound doctrine, and everything that he's gonna preach with all authority. So Titus chapter 2, verse 1. Speak the things which are proper for sound doctrine. Titus 2 15, these things speak, exhort, reprove with all authority, let no one disregard you. So the these things refers to behaviors and actions and the good works which adorn and beautify the already amazing and beautiful gospel truths.

So every church, every preacher, every pastor, every discipler was to speak and is to speak on the importance of good works with all authority, chapter 2, verse 15. Do you guys see that in the text? And we're supposed to speak this with all confidence, absolute confidence, Titus 3:8. Good works, not for salvation, but because of it. Amen. When the pastor is not leading in good works, and when the people want to just have a justification out of hell, and they want to feel good about themselves, good works is not emphasized. But if you look through just short just parts of the scripture, good works is important to preach. Now, we can't preach the necessity of good works to unsaved people because they're incapable of doing good works.

And we never preach the priority of good works to the unsaved. But we do preach and we must preach good works to the saved, because that's the very purpose for which we have been saved through grace. So Ephesians 2.8.9, you might have this memorized in your head. It reads, for by grace, nod your heads if you've seen these verses before, you've been saved. This not of yourselves, it's the gift of God, not of works, so that no one may boast. Amen. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, so that we would walk in them. So he elected you for this. Okay? So Ephesians 2.8.9 can be found in almost every gospel tract. But we don't stop sharing the gospel proper at verse 9.

We have to preach the entire context through verse 10. So the preaching of the gospel continues in the exhorting of believers to walk in newness of life under the lordship of Jesus. So we preach good works to every believer, not for salvation, but what? Because of it. Okay? And that's what we call lordship salvation. Secondly, believers are expected to have good intentions. Hopefully you see this in the text. Okay? Intent, right? You may have heard the modern saying, the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Nod your heads if you've heard that before. Okay. The earliest sight of this dates back to Saint Bernard, 12th century, and he was the abbot of a city called Clairvo of France. What he says is not necessarily untrue.

And those on the road to heaven, though, are not devoid of good intentions. In fact, an intention to lead in good works was to be the hallmark of every saint. God not only expected the saints to have good intentions, he converted, enabled, empowered them. And then he sanctified their intentions to make them truly good. He changes your heart. And if your heart is changed, your intentions are going to be changed. You can't have a heart that beats for God and wants evil for man. That makes no sense. Okay. This is a trustworthy saying, and concerning these things, I want you to speak confidently so that, Hinah, those are important words. Why? So that those who have believed God, past tense, will be intent to lead in good works.

And these things are good and profitable for men. So the love of Jesus controls the saint. The love of Christ compels the saint to lay down his life on behalf of other people. 2 Corinthians 5, 14 to 15. That love is in the very Christian DNA. 2 Corinthians 2.16 says that we have the mind of Christ. So we're thinking like Christ. We are the mind readers of Christ. The strategizing of the saint in the direction and the aim of his life is dictated by Christ. So Hebrews 4 12, it says that the word of God, which is living and active, just starts to cut deep and shape the intentions of the believer's heart. So here in Titus chapter 3, verse 8, Titus was to speak to those who would hear the shepherd's voice, John 10, to those who have believed God.

Goats cannot hear the shepherd's voice, only the sheep can. And Titus was to exhort those who have believed God, not just theologically or academically, but in genuine surrender to his lordship to be at the very front and center to lead in good works. So this is going to be mentioned again, okay? So to learn to lead in good works in chapter 3, verse 14. So it's a process. Now here the word for intent and to lead are very rich words. How many of you guys have the ESV? In the ESV, it's re it's read, careful to devote. Different, right? So when we see the different translations say very different things, you know that there's a richness in the original wording that's unique. Okay. So other translations of the combination of intent to lead, it says, careful to engage, careful to maintain, concentrate on doing.

So basically, he is saying every person who's believed in God is to have an obsession to do good works for the glory of God and for the salvation of men. God saves man to use man to save man. So what are these good works? First, they include humanitarian aid for all the good of men. Make sense. So included in this is the meeting of pressing physical needs. And that's Titus 3.14, which you're gonna get to uh in two weeks. Even if your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat. If your enemy is thirsty, Proverbs 25, 21, give him water to drink. And Paul quotes that Romans 12 20 do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. So this wasn't supposed to be only the priority of the Old Testament people of God pre Jesus.

This was supposed to be a priority of the people of God after they've been saved by Jesus, who have the Holy Spirit indwelling within them. The Christian is to lead in meeting the needs of all men, even if they're a mortal enemy. But the priority first is always for other believers. So you should be fine to show favoritism to other Christians first. Okay? And Galatians chapter 6, 9 to 10, let us not lose heart in doing good. And in this season, where everyone's a skeptic, losing heart and doing good, it's kind of starting to grow, right? For in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary. So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are in the household of the faith.

Make sense? James 2, 15 to 17. If a Christian is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, go in peace, be warmed, and be filled, and yet you do not give them what is necessary for the body, what use is that? Even so, faith, if it has no works, is dead by itself. So good works to meet the needs of people, especially the needs of believers, are absolutely essential to the life of the church. And it's an appropriate response of worship for God's saints. Amen? So we're not saved by good works, we are saved for good works to the glory of God. Good works are actually considered evidence. Okay? It's a proving by the outside the change that has happened on the inside.

It's the putting of the money where the mouth is. It's the meeting of the rubber on the road. So it's the good intentions of the inner man being made visible on the outer man. So the apostle John emphasizes this truth by first asking it in rhetorical question form. Okay? And then he explicitly lays it out that this is evidence for every believer that knows the truth. John, first John 3, 17 and 19. Pay attention. Whoever has the world's goods, sees his brother in need, closes his heart against him. How does the love of God abide in him? Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and in truth. And by this, we will all know that we are of the truth, and we will assure our hearts before him.

So as Christians, as imperfect as we have been, have always historically led the charge in meeting needs and correcting injustices. I hope you guys know this. Some people who say religion is like the bane of man's existence. No, no, no. If you look through history, the fact that Christianity has helped the world is irrefutable. All the leaders of the early church helped the poor. In fact, Galatians chapter 2, verse 10 shows us that all the church leaders, especially Peter, James, and John, the pillars, and especially the Apostle Paul, they were spudazzo, obsessed with helping the poor. They only asked us to do one thing to help the poor, which was the very thing I was spudazzo to do, Galatians 2 10.

So helping the poor was very part, much part of Pastor Paul, Apostle Paul's ministry. Notable Christians like William Wilberforce and John Newton. Are they familiar names? Famous hymn writer. They were abolitionists who fought to end slavery. You guys know this, right? American reformers like Samuel Joseph May, they're the ones who first push for women's rights because women could not. So many charity organizations all over the world have been saved or started by Christians. Food for the Hungry, Compassion International, Save the Children, all started by Christians. Even today, most of the real and genuine aid that is going into impoverished nations is from Christians. It's estimated that about 90% of the aid right now today that's going into help the poor of North Korea, they're from missionaries and churches and Christian organizations.

So Christians have always and must always lead the charge in meeting physical and social needs. Amen.

So the priority of the church was never in getting the for the poor fed and the poor housed than it was in getting the lost saved and restored. Are you guys tracking that? We're always to prioritize the saving of the soul over the helping of the body. We're always to prioritize the conversion of the heart over the changing of the circumstance. There is a danger in prioritizing the meeting of physical needs over the meeting of spiritual needs. I'm gonna repeat this. There is a danger in prioritizing the meeting of the physical needs over the meeting of the spiritual needs. Meeting physical needs, good or bad? Is good.

Meeting physical needs is actually the easier work. There is an overwhelmingly positive response and appreciation when we meet physical needs. The world applauds. Right. Even those who are living in darkness will cheer. They'll donate money, and they'll get behind a noble cause. The world will join with Christians to get behind noble causes. But when we're trying to meet spiritual needs, that's when we're met with hostility. Why? The darkness hates the light. So it's easy to hide behind a ministry that endeavors to meet physical and social needs. Because it shows up good on pictures in Facebook and Instagram too. Right? It's easier to stop at the meeting of physical needs because it feels good.

But meeting physical needs is not the same thing as meeting the most pressing of needs.

And we have to be careful because a lot of times the meeting of physical needs only leads to self-righteousness. And it deceives a person into thinking that the goal of the church is to make this world a better place. That is not the goal of the church. The world is doomed. Right? We don't paint over a burning house. Sure, paint is good, makes the house pretty, but if it is burning, that's a waste. The goal is to get people out rather than to paint over a house. Right. But most importantly, the meeting of physical and social needs, it can be done in the flesh. And it can be done through human effort. And it can be done by non-Christians. The meeting of spiritual needs, however, cannot be done in the flesh.

It has to be done in the spirit. An unsaved person will not be useful in the saving of souls. God still saves. But that unsaved person cannot minister in the spirit because he is limited to the flesh. So remember, the goal is always spiritual before it is physical. We see this in Jesus' healing of the paralyzed man. Do you guys know that story where his homies friends like just rip the roof apart, drop him down? You guys know that story? It's Mark chapter 2, but what's interesting is the man's friend's faith is what heals that man. Okay, so I'm gonna read this section for you. Mark chapter 2, verse 3 to 5. They came bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men. Being able to unable to bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, they removed the roof over where he was, and when they had dug an opening, they let down the mat where the paralytic was lying.

Get some friends like this. Okay. Jesus, seeing their faith, said to the paralytic, child, your sins are forgiven. Notice that the priority, even in Jesus' ministry, is spiritual. Yes, Jesus heals him, but the paralyzed man's greater need was spiritual. You know who's offended by all of this? The Pharisees and the teachers of the law who regularly sacrificed for, who regularly met the physical needs of the poor. And they pride themselves in this. Verse 10. So that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins, he said to the paralytic, I get, I say to you, get up, pick up your mat, which is the harder task, go home. Those who have believed God must be intent to lead in good works.

Amen. Spiritual first. Lastly, good works for God's glory and for man's profit. Titus 3:8, one more time. This is a trustworthy saying, and concerning these things, I want you to speak confidently so that those who have believed God will be intent to lead in good works. These things are good, and they're profitable for men. A believer's good works are profitable for men, and that's clear from the syntax. But there's a subtle difference in the meaning depending on where you attribute the word good. Okay. These things, yes, they are both good and profitable for men, but if you actually look at the syntax carefully, these are two separate thoughts. These things are good to God's glory, and these things are profitable for men also.

You guys see it? Okay? So it's it is it incorrect to understand these things as being both good and profitable for men? No, of course not. But the good is in pleasing the God the Father. God is pleased by the fruit that is produced, and that is good. Titus 3:14, we're gonna be looking at again in a few weeks reads. Our people must also learn to lead in good works to meet pressing needs. Why? So that fruit will be born for the glory of God. So what happens when believers prove themselves as disciples through the bearing of much fruit? God is glorified. John 15. And the Lord's ownership of his saints is proven. John 15, 16. So the bearing of our fruit is good because it results in the praise and glory of God.

Secondly, how do the redeems man's good works benefit man? The message of the gospel is preached through man, adorned by his good works, and mysteriously the Holy Spirit uses man's good works to draw other people into saving faith. Now you and I have no real power over someone's reception of the gospel. You guys are aware of this, right? You can't logically argue someone into belief. But though we have no control over someone's reception of the gospel, God puts us in a community, spiritual as well as physical and geographical. So whatever gospel ministry we are doing in the name of good works to the glory of God, it's never in vain. Titus chapter 3, here in John 15. God desires that his people, his disciples, bear fruit.

Only Christians can bear good fruit. Make sense? Non-Christians cannot. How does a believer then bear good fruit? Here it is, John 15, 4 to 6, abide in me and I and you, as the branch cannot bear fruit from itself unless it abides in the vine. So neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, the Christian, and I in him, the Christian, he bears much fruit. It's a statement, it's not a try to bear. Okay. For apart from me, you can do nothing. Let me repeat that with me. For apart from me, you can do nothing. Oh, our first world church is arrogant. We think that we can strategize salvation on many people without Jesus. If anyone does not abide in me, and abiding in Christ doesn't mean you've grown up in the church, right?

He is thrown away as a branch and dries up, and they gather them, cast them into the fire, and they are burned. So we cannot, okay? So you might be thinking, okay, great, I understand. Good works is good. And what do I do? Good news and bad news. You can't strategize good works. The only thing that we strategize is how to stay rooted in Christ. That's it. Whatever we know that God is pleased by, we do. Whatever we know that God is doing, we pursue. Whatever things we know God hates, we stay away from. Whatever things we know will entangle us and rob us of our joy, distract us and cause us to be self-centered, we put to death, we abstain. So how do we work on being intent to lead in good works?

As we've seen in Titus 3.8. We surrender our lives and let the Spirit lead. Amen.

What does that look like? So let me continue. Okay. We die to ourselves in the flesh, we pursue life in the spirit, we let him dictate the circumstances, we let God orchestrate the situations, and we simply let him grow us, bear fruit in us. And as he's doing stuff in our lives circumstantially, physically, socially, relationally, we worship in every situation. We make decisions that honor him, and we let him do the ministry. Philippians 2, 12 to 13. We work out our salvation with fear and trembling because it's he who does a work for his good pleasure. So it's a mystery, but his work does a work. His word does a work. God's Spirit moves as he pleases, but the fascinating thing is by God's process and by his grace, he chooses to involve us.

So what does this process look like? First, God's work through us is very perceivable. You know when it's God. Okay. But it's not discernible and it's unpredictable. Like the wind. How many guys know what wind is? Nod your heads. Okay, I don't know. You don't need to be all. You know what wind is. Have you seen it? You've seen what it does. Do you hear it? Can you control it? Can you predict it? Kind of, right? You follow the pattern. But you can't. John 3 7, 9. Okay. Do not marvel that I said to you, you must be born again. The wind blows where it wishes. You hear its sound. You do not know where it comes from. You do not know where it's going. So is everyone who has been born of the Spirit.

Like our brother Alex. Nicodemus answered and said to him, Ha, how can this be? So we probably will share in Nicodemus' confusion and amazement. And we're we're gonna likely ask the same questions. We know God is working. We know what the like it's like how the wind is blowing. We just don't know how he's doing it. So this giant baton pass of the faith, I don't know how it works. I know it's working. Amen. I came to Christ at the age of 15 in 1993. I was lost, searching hope desperately for hope. I was really desperate for Christ to save me out of the mire. And he worked through a faithful youth teacher named Lois, who knew me since I was a toddler. When I was in high school, she was assigned to the four of us as our 10th grade teacher, always kind, always telling us that she was praying for us, always encouraging us.

And one day she took me out to dinner at my favorite restaurant at the time, Green Burrito, and she asked me the simple question. Peter, do you have a relationship with Jesus? I was eating super nachos at the time, like super nachos beef, right? With extra jalapeno. I was eating that. I couldn't answer the question. And I believe that that simple asking of that simple question changed the trajectory of my life. She doesn't remember this because I've talked to her about it. Over the next five weeks, that simple question, Peter, do you have a relationship with Jesus hung over me like a heavy weight? Lois, who was my 10th grade teacher, youth group teacher, decided to also take me to a praise night at a friend's church, and that evening I finally fully surrendered my life to Christ.

There was nothing that she did that was planned or strategized. There was nothing that she said that was prepared. She simply prayed for me and then just availed herself to be used to let God do his work on my heart. That was 1993. So the next 30 years or so, we kind of like lost touch but kept in touch. It's kind of like on Facebook. You're like friends, but you don't see each other for decades, right? That was that was our relationship. Fast forward to the fall of 2021. I was speaking at my previous churches, uh, just on campus midweek Bible study. I was at UCI or UCR Vine. Afterward, a young freshman guy comes up to me. His name is Nathan, he introduces himself, and he goes, Hi, I'm Nathan.

You know my mom. And I was so confused. Like, that's such a weird way to introduce yourself. So it was Lois' son. Okay. Apparently, she had told him to check out our church and to keep an eye out for me because I was one of the pastors. And though this young man had grown up in the church, he was a professing unbeliever going to church simply to appease his parents. So our college ministry and our college pastor really did a number on him through the power of the Holy Spirit. Following Passion Week in the spring, he gave his life to Christ. And he hasn't since looked back. Two months after Nathan came to Christ, I was scheduled to preach in the main service. And in that church, it's a big church.

Whoever is preaching that day does a baptisms. And at that season in the church, we were doing two baptisms a week. Okay, so it was every week was a bunch of Alex's. So I was doing the baptizing that day. Nathan just happened to be scheduled in to be baptized on the day I was one of the days I was supposed to preach. And I was Lois is here. So Lois was there with her family to witness Nathan's baptism, and it hit me hard.

This is full circle.

You can't plan that.

That's full circle. After Nathan's baptism, Lois tearfully shared with me that they had been so worried about their son. And the fact that I was I was the pastor baptizing her son was again confirmation to her that God was and had always been in full control. God is at work.

Like I said, the move of God is truly like the mood of the wind, like John 3.8 says, but he is bearing fruit and doing good work in us. Amen. So no ministry that we're ever doing is in vain. So first, God works in us and through us in his way and in his time. But secondly, God works in and through us primarily in our weakness and in our brokenness. This is the part that's hard. It would be great to plan great things for God, to move mountains for God and do great things in the community and amongst our friends. Oh, that'd be awesome. But he doesn't use those things first. 12 Corinthians 12, 9, he said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, my power is perfected in weakness. Most gladly, therefore, I rather boast in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.

The funny thing is, I've been a pastor now for 34 years. I've discovered that my weaknesses are 24 years and my failures have done more effective ministry over the years than my strengths and my successes. Nothing good that has ever happened in or through me was because of me. Actually, most of the best ministry that I've always done was despite me.

Does nothing. And I'm fumbling through my words, and I'm like, I'm like, how does that happen? The Lord has not stopped working in my heart to cleanse me and purge me of my old self, and over the years, I've discovered that process to be a very painful and excruciating one. But in that process, as Christ is being made more of, and I'm decreasing, he is ministering in me. There have been many seasons where just bathed in discouragement and brokenness, but in hindsight, those were the seasons that were the most fruitful. The best of fruits in our lives comes, the best good works come when we are enamored with Christ first and not conscious of ourselves. The best of fruits and the good works are most readily present when we make much of Christ, and he increases and we decrease.

John 3 30. That sounds great. But in reality, the process is painful. So if you want to bear good works for God's glory, God will be glorified, and you will be forgotten. That's a little bit bothersome in my flesh.

We can't strategize that. Because in our flesh, we will just wallow in self-loathing. This week I happened upon just a very old hymn written by John Newton in 1779. John Newton was known for his good works.

He was a, like I mentioned, an outspoken abolitionist. He was a preacher of the gospel. He was a man committed to good works. He even went to pastor a bunch of uneducated farmers in rural church. They were all poor and uneducated. And this is the man that wrote Amazing Grace, which is the most probably well-known Christian hymn. Right? But in a lesser hymn, he titled it, I asked the Lord that I might grow. And we're gonna sing that later.

And there are seven stanzas that he writes almost like a testimony and a dialogue. And I want to read these seven for you to kind of describe to you the process by which God produces good works in the Christian. I asked the Lord that I might grow in faith and in love and every grace. Might more of his salvation know, and seek more earnestly his face. Amen. Sexy stuff. Sounds great. Okay, verse two.

And he, I trust, has answered prayer. But it has been in such a way as almost drove me to despair. I hope that in some favored hour, at once, immediately he'd answer my request, and by his love's constraining power, subdue my sin and give me rest. Verse 4 is awesome. Instead of this, he made me feel the hidden evils of my heart, and let the angry powers of hell assault my soul in every part. And yea, more.

Crossed all the good works, fair designs I schemed, humbled my heart, and laid me low. Lord, why is this? I trembling, cried. Wilt thou pursue my thy worm to death? Tis in this way, the Lord replied, I answer prayer for grace and faith. Verse 7. These inward trials I employ from self and pride to set thee free. And break thy schemes of earthly joy that thou mayst find thine all in me.

The Christian life and our fruit bearing process often feels like this. Amen. It's like, God. I thought I was better than this. Nope. Here's more of your sin. If you feel this way, take heart. He is perhaps doing a mighty and soul-saving work in and through you. And you might be the lowest to many people in your life. Who knows how that baton will carry, right? Let's press on and continue in our intention to lead in good works and bear fruit for the glory of God and for our joy. Amen. Let's pray together. Father, help us to glory in our weakness because we don't like to feel weak. We don't like to feel out of control.

And there's a lot of competition in our hearts where we want to be in the front, where we want to be useful for our glory. Thank you, Lord, by your grace, your continuing to work in us. Help us to exalt in our Savior Jesus Christ so much so that we ourselves are forgotten. But the lost souls around us are remembered and loved upon. We ask for your grace and your help to live how you would want us to live. In Jesus' name we pray.