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Good evening. It's time to get started tonight. I wanna begin with a passage that's familiar to most of us. Titus 3 beginning in verse 4. Titus 3, and we'll read verses 4-7.

But when the goodness and loving kindness of God, our savior appeared, he saved us not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our savior. So that being justified by his grace, we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. I think there's a temptation for us, especially maybe for those of us who grew up in the church, who all our lives have heard these passages that sometimes they become so familiar to us that we almost become callous to them and to the power that's found in these verses. They become stagnant pools that we simply gloss over because of familiarity, when we should be stopping to soak up as much as possible from them with such extreme joy that we can't help but shout them from the rooftops. I read this passage last week and there was one little phrase that jumped out at me.

Stop me in my tracks. One three word expression that is embarrassingly simple, but is bursting with meaning, with power, and should be plastered everywhere in our daily lives. Did you catch it? The phrase he saved us. That's it.

I told you it was simple. But think about it. He, that is God, saved us. He saved me. That's our text for our November singing night.

He saved us and then the best preacher impersonation I can come up with, we're gonna break it down. Three words, three points. So let's get it started. If you're visiting with us, thanks for being here. Normally, we have bible classes on Wednesday nights.

On the first Wednesday of the month, we typically do a song service, and we sing a lot. So that's what we're gonna do tonight. Before we do, I'm gonna ask Ty if he will to come lead us in prayer. Our God and our father in heaven, we are so thankful for the wonderful day that you blessed us with, for the beauty of your creation, for the opportunity that we have to come here together this evening and study from your word and worship you and reflect on our salvation. We thank you so much for the gift of Jesus, for the great sacrifice that he was, for the hope that gives us of an eternal home in heaven.

We pray, father, that in everything we do this evening, we'll honor our savior, we'll honor you for your plan, and that you'll be glorified. We're so thankful for all of our our members in this local congregation. We thank you for the various roles that all play. We're... We thank you for the unity that we enjoy.

We pray that you'll continue to be with and bless us with unity, and we pray that we'll serve you in the best way that we can, that we'll seek to expand the borders of kingdom. We have many of our number who are sick and suffering and saddened for various reasons and friends and acquaintances in the brotherhood, and we are mindful at this time for brother De Young and the Olinic family in their losses. Please give them the courage and the strength that they need in the days ahead. And we're mindful of our brothers and sisters who couldn't be with us this evening. We pray for our sister Jessica and their unborn child and for Nick.

We pray you give them patience and good health and that when the baby comes, all will be well. We're thankful that our brother Rodney is improving from his surgery. We pray for his quick recovery and strength through his physical therapy. We pray for Jimmy Burris. We pray that if it be your will, you might heal him from his cancer.

And we pray for Kenneth McDonald that you might heal him as well. We pray your will be done in all things. Thank you, father, for all you do for us, for your love, for your mercy, for your grace. Please continue to be with us and bless us. In Jesus' name, we pray.

Amen. So first things first, let's think about who we're talking about. He that is God saved us. He, the only true and living God. He, the God of heaven and earth, Lord of heaven and earth.

He, the creator and the sustainer of all that exists. He is omnipotent. That is all powerful. He is omniscient, that is all knowing, and he is omnipresent, all seeing. He's everywhere.

He is the one God and father of all who is overall and through all and in all. That's Paul's writings in Ephesians 4:6. If this is the one who saved us, if this God saved us, who can stand in his way? Who can prevent us from being saved? God is in control.

He is the one who saved us. Let's sing about him. The first song will be awesome god. It's in a small supplement. The next song will be on the overhead only.

Behold our God. You're letting the next song will be number five in your Lord's hymnal. How great thou art. We'll sing verse 1 and two and then the chorus and verse 3 and four then the chorus. So this is the God who saved us.

But saved us from what? Why did we need saving? How did he save us? And what does that mean for us? Once again, the passages are so familiar to us.

We can... We've heard them all our lives. We can quote them. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. And the wages of sin is death.

We can quote these passages, but do we ever really stop to think about what they're saying? I'm hoping to do a Lord's Supper talk or service to further develop this point at some point in the future. But have you thought much about what Jesus really went through in the crucifixion? What was he facing that was so terrible that on the night before, he went by himself with just his closest friends, went out to the garden and prayed, and in essence, begged God to find another way. Take this cup from me, he said.

I don't wanna do it. I don't wanna drink it. Was it the physical death and the pain of the crucifixion that he was so afraid of? Just a few chapters later, Stephen is murdered. He was stoned to death while he cried out, Lord, receive my spirit and do not charge them with this sin.

Was Stephen a better man than Jesus? Or was Jesus facing something different, something more? Jesus knew he was gonna die. That's why he came to this earth. He also knew that his death was temporary.

He foretold that after three days, he would be raised again. He knew that after he was raised, he would return to be with his father. As terrible as as the crucifixion was, it just doesn't seem to me that the physical pain of death is what Jesus was so distraught over. Instead, I believe it was the punishment for our sins, for my sins, the separation from God that caused his anxiety. Even knowing that his separation from God was temporary, Jesus was so torn up about it.

How can I possibly, as I so often am, how can I be so flippant about my sins knowing that my sins bring eternal separation from God? And if eternal separate from God is the death that I deserve for my sins, and he was willing to pay the price to save me from that punishment. How immensely grateful should I be knowing that I don't have to face that separation. I don't have to drink that cup. We should shout it from the rooftops.

Let's think about our salvation now. In the supplement number 45, there is a redeemer. Next song will be in the large hymnal number 686. Salvation has been brought down. Next song is in the supplement, number 44, give thanks.

So God, the creator of all, saved us. We are his creation, created for good works, created to glorify him through our service to him and to each other. That's why we're made, and we were made perfectly, fully capable of fulfilling that purpose. And yet here we are. All of us are miserable failures.

Not one of us has perfectly lived the life for which we were created. And we can talk about how unworthy we are, and it's true, but that's not what I wanna focus on in this last segment. Instead, let's look at it from this perspective. God saved us. We can talk about us in the collective sense as in all mankind, and that's true.

God gives all people the opportunity to be saved, but I wanna think about us as individuals. He saved us. He saved you. He saved me. Again, there's nothing new about any of this.

You know all this. But think about what that means. He, the one who in living God, saved me. In 2026, there's about 8,300,000,000 people in this world. And how many billions have lived throughout the history of this earth?

And the Lord of heaven and earth specifically chose to put my spirit in this body. He gave me everything I need to perfectly live the life he planned for me. And yet he loved me enough to give me a choice, a free will. And when I used that free will and I chose to serve me instead of him, it hurt him. How is that possible?

I'm one in eight point three billion people that he's got on this earth. And when I sinned, it hurt him. It hurt him because he loves me. It hurt him because he wanted me to be with him throughout all eternity. I caused an eternal separation from him, between me and him.

My sins caused that separation, but he cared so much about me that he took my sin, the punishment for my sins. He took my cup and he gave it to his son. He said, you've gotta drink this. He said, you take his sins and his punishment and you go through this crucifixion. You, Jesus, have to be separated from me for a little while so that I wouldn't have to be.

I don't have to be separated from God. So, yes, I'm far beyond unworthy, But that's not the same thing as without value or worthless. Oh, no. I have immense value. I know that because the god who is omnipotent and omniscient and omnipresent, he wants me and you with him for all eternity.

I know my life has purpose and meaning and value because he saved us. The love of God, number six zero eight. Love Divine, number three nine three. Love Divine. Goodness of God.

I'll be on the screen behind me. Goodness of God. Invitation song will be number two eighty one. Savior is waiting. Would you open up your Bibles again to Titus?

Titus 3. Titus 3. And we'll begin reading in verse 4 here in just a moment. It is the hope and goal of every preacher who has ever preached to make his points memorable. What were the points tonight?

He saved us. There is great simplicity in that. But if we are imitating preachers tonight, the other question that preachers ask is, so what? He saved us, and the implications of that are broad. The implications of that are deep.

The implications of that are many. And Josh has kind of implied some of those things, even stated some of those things that are the consequence that because he saved us, there are so many different things that that means for us in this life and the life to come. But if we're in the business of making applications, there are no greater or more important applications to be made than what the text makes itself. And so let's read beginning in verse 4. Again, those verses 4-7, and then we'll see the application that Paul makes to Titus in verse 8.

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 the 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. Now our tradition is to extend an invitation to those who have not yet named the name of Christ. In other words, if you've not yet been saved by him, know that he can save you and that he will save you through the washing of regeneration and through the renewing of the holy spirit. Washed in water, but not just in water. That God is at work to wash away your sins.

And so if you're not yet a Christian, you need to put Christ on in baptism so that your sins might be washed away and so that this statement might be true of you. He saved me. But what I really like to do is make the same application that Paul makes. And it's not to those who are not yet Christians, but it is like to most of us in the audience tonight, the application is to those who are Christians. In verse 8, he says this is a faithful saying in the context of his salvation, what he's done for us.

And these things I want you to affirm constantly. Keep reminding the brethren of this. Paul says to this young evangelist, Titus, that those who have believed in God, in this context, just another way of saying been saved by him, should be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable to men. Paul talks a lot about good works in this epistle.

He talks about being qualified for every good work, how Titus should be a pattern of good works, how the people of God should be zealous for good works and ready for every good work, how we have to learn. We have to learn good works, what they are so that we can do them. But here he says, careful to maintain good works. And I think the implication to that is if he has saved us, the first thing that we do as people sell us for good works is we start working for him and working for others. And yet over the course of time, as Josh began this evening, maybe doing those works and seeing those things, maybe it becomes commonplace to us, and we don't maintain those things like we should.

And a reminder, like what we've had tonight, should encourage us and motivate us, should make us zealous to maintain the good works that we're been... We've been doing to keep doing those works in our lives and in the lives of others. And I would say this, whatever else is happening in the world, whatever else is happening in the nation, whatever else is happening in the state or the region, whatever else is happening in the county or the city, whatever else is happening in the school or the workplace or the family, each and every individual Christian can go through those doors in the confidence that he saved us and in gratitude for the grace God has given us, I'm going to maintain good works. Come what may, I will do the works of God. In gratitude and appreciation for his grace, his goodness, and his kindness, and his love toward us.

He saved us. What are you gonna do about it? Well, I hope each and every one of us who are Christians tonight will do just that. And when we walk through those doors and we get up in the morning, we'll say to ourselves, I'm gonna do the works of God. I'm gonna maintain good works.

But as I said, if you're not yet a Christian, I hope you've seen what it is God... Just a small, small glimpse of what God did in order to bring about the possibility, the opportunity for your salvation. If we can help you to come and be regenerated tonight, made alive again, there's nothing that would please us more, and the angels in heaven will rejoice. If you're willing to make confession of Jesus Christ, repent of your sins, go down into a watery grave of baptism, and rise to walk in newness of life. Won't you let him save you tonight?

Come now while together we stand and while we sing.