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On Jul 27, 2008: Titus 2:11-15 · Teachings On This Day On FerventWord

• You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2008. This last passage here at the end of Titus chapter 2 is one of those passages that is just amazing. The way that God pronounces himself to us and reveals himself to us. The way that grace is laid out before us. I was getting ready for this study this week and I turned to the passage and in my Bible I have the whole thing highlighted a couple times. I mean, it's just one big block of highlight because it's astounding what is here. And Paul is really good at this. He packs so much information Now, The way that we read this verse, I think, is important because we often overlook some of the important words in a passage. It starts out with the word, "...for." Now, often when we pronounce the word for, when we're reading through, it's one of those words we kind of like skip over, but we pronounce it still, but we barely pronounce it for the grace. Like, that's not the emphasis. It's not for the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. We don't typically pronounce it that way unless we intend to. We often overlook this word as a result. The word for is an important word. It is a real word and it plays an important part in this passage and in every other passage that it is included. The word for means that there is a context that the following words are being attached to. It's connecting thoughts together. It's not a separate thought. This is not a, you know, okay, now change of subject onto a different matter. Now let's talk about the grace of God. But he's connecting the grace of God with all of the things that he's already been sharing. And it's important that we take note of that. We often overlook these kinds of words. For example, John 3, verse 16, a verse we all know. For God so loved the world. For God so loved the world. There's context there. What's the context? Do we know? Do we know? What is this? I mean, we read it just like, as if it's, you know, all by itself. For God so loved the world. Great, that's awesome. But there's a context there that is important. It could have been read, God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, and that would be perfectly fine. There's no grammatical reason why the word for has to be there for that verse to stand on its own. But it's there because it connects two thoughts together. Romans chapter 5 verse 8, another verse that we really like. It uses a connecting word that we often overlook. Romans 5 verse 8 says, "...but God demonstrates His own love towards us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." That word, but, it's a contrast word, connecting two thoughts together. What are those thoughts? What is the context of John 3.16? What is the context of Romans 5.8? Well, I'll leave that for you. You can check that out, and I think it would be good for you to do so. But here, as we're looking at Titus 2.11, for the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, what is the context? What is he attaching these things to? Well, last week, we looked at verses 1 through 10 of chapter 2, which... was all about the things that Titus was to teach to the different groups of people there in the churches of Crete. We looked at how the old men ought to be taught and the way that they ought to live, the older women, how they ought to be taught and how they ought to live, the younger women, the younger men, and also the employees. And then he also inserted the passage to Titus, and you, you know, wherever you fit, you be the pattern of how to live. We looked predominantly at sound doctrine and which meant the way that a believer in Jesus Christ was to live according to their age or according to their maturity in their relationship with Jesus Christ. And so that is the context to which the grace of God is being attached. In other words, we ought to live the way that Paul described. We ought to have those attitudes because the grace of God teaches us to live that way. Again, it's not a legalistic thing. These are the rules and you have to live this way and it's a law type of thing. But we live this way. We fulfill those things, those areas that we're called to do and those areas that we're called to not do. We fulfill those things because the grace of God teaches us to fulfill those things. We ought to stay away from those things that Paul mentioned, drunkenness, lack of self-control and those things that he mentioned because the grace of God teaches us to stay away from those things. We also looked at, as we looked at verses 1 through 10, there was a few phrases there that Paul used that showed we were to live this way so that we could be a witness to the world around us. So that no one would be able to defame or reject the gospel message because of what we have done. Or that by working well, by being good employees... that we could adorn the gospel of God or the doctrine of God, and we could make the gospel of God attractive. And this also attaches to this. We are to be good witnesses and adorn the gospel of God because His grace has appeared to all men, He is saying. So it's important that we connect these two thoughts together, that we are to live this way because of God's grace. And we are to be witnesses to all the world around us because they have seen God's grace. God's grace has appeared to them and we need to adorn it. We need to decorate His grace, His doctrine by the way that we live. For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. The word grace is one we've studied often. It simply means unearned and undeserved favor. Unearned means we cannot do anything to gain it or to obtain it. It's not based upon how good we are, our good works. It's not based upon if we do good or if we don't do good. It's unearned, but it's also undeserved. We don't deserve it. It's not rightfully ours. It's not something that's owed to us or due to us. God's grace is His favor, His blessings, His wonderful blessings, His grace. that we do not deserve and cannot earn. What kind of blessings are those? Well, there's really too many to count, but we could throw out a few like salvation, eternal life, forgiveness, joy, peace, the opportunity to serve and impact others with the gospel. There's great grace that has been extended to us and it's due to nothing that we have done. God desires to bless us abundantly based upon nothing of you. It's hard for us to really imagine because, you know, we're so wonderful. But God sees us for who we are. He knew our sinful nature. He knew the ways that we would rebel against Him. He knew the way that we would dishonor Him. He knew the way that we would deny Him. He knew the ways that we would reject Him. He knew the ways that we would fall short and fall into sin. He knew everything about us. Even the not so good things. Even the things that we're not so proud of. Even the things that we're ashamed of. And yet, He still loved us and still gave Himself for us. Not because we earned it. We fall way short. but because He is a gracious God. Because of His great love with which He hath loved us, He has bestowed upon us this opportunity of grace to receive from Him that which we cannot earn and do not deserve. Now Jesus, on the other hand, He did earn it. He lived the perfect life. He earned the grace of God, if you could put it that way, although grace is not able to be earned. But He earned grace what is due to us, even though we have not earned it. By living the perfect life, by sacrificing himself for you and I, he earned it. And his credit is now extended to our account. His earnings, what he earned, is now extended to your account and my account. Now imagine if you worked for Microsoft and you were not really anything important there, but you were just, you know, the janitor. And, uh, Payday comes around, you get direct deposit into your account, you look at your account and there is, you know, $4 billion. Now, wait a minute, I know janitors don't get paid this much. So you say, hey, what's up? And the CEO of the company says, well, yeah, I know you didn't deserve it, you didn't earn that much, but I just deposited my check into your account. Enjoy it. Have a good time. Wouldn't happen in the real life, but this is what happens to us spiritually. This is what Jesus Christ did. He earned it. righteousness, salvation, eternal life, joy, peace, all of these things Jesus Christ earned them because he lived a perfect life. But what he does when you and I place our faith in him is he now deposits those earnings into your account, into my account. He takes care of our, you know, with overdrafts and bounce checks and all the negative things that we've done to our account. He wipes them out. He cleans them out. And He gives us, well, really, eternity, infinity. More than we even understand how to process, how to really consider and think about. As the Scripture says, "...eye has not seen, nor has ear heard, nor has entered into the heart of man." What God has in store for those who love Him. There's more credited to our account than we can even know. God has great things in store for us. But again, what are we talking about here? We're talking about grace. We can't earn the things that God has in store for us. Those things that we can't imagine. It's not because we're so good or we do so much good stuff or anything of us. But it's all based upon what Jesus Christ did. He accomplished it. He earned it. And it's credited to our account when we put our faith in Jesus Christ. That's why Paul was able to say in Acts chapter 16, 31, sorry. So they said, How do I be saved? How do I experience the fullness of what God has for me? Paul says, Put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ and you will be saved. You receive the fullness of what God has for you by faith in Him. And our good works don't improve our standings with Him. It doesn't make Him love us more. It doesn't make Him give us longer time in heaven. It's fully received by faith in Him. It's the grace of God. And it's the grace of God, Paul says, that brings salvation. It's this grace by which we're saved. It's not of works. It's not about our good deeds. It's not about how religious we are. It's about His grace that brings salvation. Now, because it is by grace and not by works, it means that anyone can receive salvation. There's no limit to the grace of God. There's not one person who has ever lived who is excluded from God's grace, or at least from the opportunity to receive God's grace. We can exclude ourselves by not receiving it, by refusing to put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ. But the grace of God, which brings salvation, has appeared to all men. There's not one who is excluded, not one who is left out, no matter what a person has done in their life, no matter how many crimes they've committed, no matter how many times they've rebelled against God. I think the Apostle Paul is a great example of this, because he was an enemy of God, an enemy of Jesus Christ, causing people to blaspheme the name of Christ and renounce Him as their Savior and Lord. persecuting the church horrendously, and yet the grace of God extended even to him. Every person has the opportunity to be saved because it's the grace of God that brings salvation. There's some people that we would see in our lives and we would say, I just can't see it. I don't think it would happen. It doesn't seem possible. Sometimes we give up praying for people because they're just too hard. They're too opposed to the things of God. It just would never happen, we would think. But they are not beyond the limits of God's grace. It's the grace of God that brings salvation. It's not by our works, and our works can't take us out of His grace. He extends grace to every one of us, to every human being, that we might receive it and receive the fullness of what He desires for us. So it's not based upon our works. Now, We'll talk about this in just a moment, but God does want us to do good works, but only as a response to the grace that He has given to us. Not to earn that grace, because then it's not grace if it's earned. No, salvation is not earned by our good works, but because we are saved, because of what God has done in us, the evidence of that, the true response of that, is us living a life according to what He has called us to do, and eagerly desiring to do good works. We'll talk about that even more in just a few minutes. The grace of God that brings salvation, Paul says, has appeared to all men. Sorry ladies, grace of God hasn't appeared to you. No, I'm just kidding. This word men or man, it means simply a human being as opposed to an animal or a spiritual being. It's mankind what we are talking about here. So what Paul is saying is the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all mankind, to every human being, every person the grace of God has appeared to. Every person has the opportunity to be saved by grace. Now, often people bring up, you know, they're really concerned for that, you know, guy there in the middle of Africa that, you know, never heard the name of Jesus and how is he going to be saved? But the scripture teaches, we have it quite clearly here, the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. Well, how has it appeared? Well, I don't know exactly. But I trust God at his word, and the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. Now we have a clue in Romans chapter 1 verse 20 that tells us, "...since the creation of the world, his, that is God's, invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse." There Paul tells us in Romans chapter 1, creation itself proclaims God's eternal attributes are clearly seen by the things that are made, by creation itself. His eternal power and Godhead, Paul even goes on to say, so that they, those who do not believe, are without excuse. Every person on the face of the earth who has ever lived has or had an opportunity to receive the grace of God. He reveals himself to them In some way, creation itself being enough to know God. Now, there's some things that they probably would not know, some of the specifics of the gospel message, yet God can specially reveal those to them as well. But the bottom line is that God holds us accountable for what we do know. So rather than worrying about that person there in the middle of the jungles of Africa, you know the gospel message. You know what God has proclaimed. You know what the Bible has said. And God holds you accountable for that. He holds you accountable for the knowledge of the grace that he has extended to you and whether or not you receive it by faith in Jesus Christ. So the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. Again, Paul is connecting this with the way that we are to live and why we are to be good witnesses in this world around us. Because God's grace has appeared. Because He extends grace to every human being. Because even that person that really bugs you, God desires to bring to salvation. Even that person that cuts you off on the freeway, God desires for them to get saved. And even the person who backstabs you there in the workplace or comes against you, even those people that you don't like very much, God extends His grace to them. And so you're to live... as a Christian, the ways that was described there in the first 10 verses, so that God can use you to extend His grace, to adorn and decorate and make the gospel message attractive even to the people that you don't like in your life. God wants to use you. This is why. Because the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. Everyone around you. They know of the grace of God. And God wants to use you. to play a part that they might receive that grace, that they would come to the point that they would put their faith in Jesus Christ. It's why we need to live as Christians, not compromising, not living one way in the world and one way at church, but to really be sold out for Christ because there's a world around us that needs to turn to God and receive Him and the grace that He extends to them. Going on to verse 12. Starts out teaching us. What is it that is teaching us? We're going still to the grace of God. The grace of God brings salvation. It's appeared to all men, but it also teaches us. What? Well, verse 12 says, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age. What is it that the grace of God that brings salvation teaches us? It teaches us to deny the things of the world and ungodliness and to live the way that God has called us to. You cannot experience the grace of God in salvation and remain the same and be unchanged. God's grace in our life teaches us and changes us and transforms us that we become more like Him, that He would increase and that we would decrease. The grace of God teaches us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts. The word to deny there is to reject or to refuse. The grace of God is what teaches us to reject or refuse ungodliness and worldly lusts. We have a strange paradox within us. Although we've been born again, our spirit has been made alive, we've been regenerated, the work in us is not yet complete. Although our flesh has been crucified with Christ, Many times we revive it or we allow it to continue to live. And so there's this battle that goes on within us. And the flesh wars against the spirit and the spirit wars against the flesh. Paul dealt with this in great depth in Romans chapter 7. There's this battle that goes on. How do we refuse or reject the lust of our flesh, the desires of our sinful nature? The desires that are there that still try to come back and try to dominate our lives. It's by the grace of God that brings salvation. That we're taught. We're taught. It's an education. It's a process. We're taught as we grow in the grace of God, as we grow in our relationship with God, we're taught to reject, to refuse, to deny the desires of the flesh. When a person has received the grace of God that brings salvation, they will not continue to willingly choose to live in sin. They won't continue to willingly choose to live in sin. We'll all stumble. We all definitely, we will fall short. First John tells us that if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. Yet, 1 John also tells us in chapter 3 verse 9, Now when it is talking about sin there, he does not sin. It would be better translated, he does not continue in sin because it's in the present tense. The idea is that it's not a continual pattern. It's not the continual lifestyle. Yes, we sin. To say otherwise would be to deny God and reject the truth. But at the same time, he says whoever has been born of God does not continue to live in sin. We will all continue to struggle with sin. But if we continue to live in sin, something is wrong. If we continue to willfully choose to live in sin, something is wrong. In Romans chapter 6, Paul asks the question, how shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? He goes on to say, or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Don't you understand? You can't continue to live in sin, Paul says, because if we were baptized into Christ Jesus, not water baptism, but if we became a part of the body of Christ, if we've been born again, we were also included with Him in His death. Our flesh has been crucified at the cross. We cannot continue to live in sin. In verse 4, he goes on to say that we were buried with him through baptism into death and just as Christ was raised from the dead, so we also ought to walk in newness of life. We're walking in a transformed life. Not perfect, but it's new. There's a newness. There's a work that is going on. The grace of God is teaching us to deny, to reject ungodliness and worldly lusts. Scripture is quite clear. Those who live in sin, those who continue to sin, will not inherit the kingdom of God. In Galatians, Paul tells us, don't be deceived. God cannot be mocked. He who sows to the flesh will of the flesh reap corruption. But he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. The choice is ours. Don't be deceived. I think there is many people who are deceived because they've said a prayer, they've made a decision, they've gone to church and they're deceived because they think that that's enough. But that's works because I've done this and this and this and this, therefore I must be saved. We need to be careful. We need to not be deceived. God presents us these things that we would be able to analyze and have an objective view of ourselves and not be deceived by our hearts which are desperately wicked and eager to deceive us. If you continue to live in sin, something is wrong because whoever has been born of God does not continue to live in sin. There's a need for us to grow, to be taught, how to reject, how to deny, how to refuse ungodliness and worldly lusts. And yet we're not perfect, but there should be maturity taking place. There should be growth in our lives in the area of turning from sin, rejecting those desires of our flesh. But it's not just those things, what we shouldn't do and how to turn away from those things. The rest of verse 12 tells us, the grace of God also teaches us that we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present age. So not only does the grace of God teach us how we should not live or must not live, but the grace of God teaches us how we are to live. And we're to live soberly. This was a word that Paul used often. Several times there in verses 1 through 10 of chapter 2 that we looked at last week. The idea of having a sound mind or good judgment. Also carried along with that was the idea of being discreet or temperate. And that is one who voluntarily places limitations on his freedom. The grace of God that brings salvation teaches us to live soberly. To have clarity in our thoughts, clarity in our mind. Because the blindness has been removed. The blinders have been taken off. The fog has been cleared. The truth and the clarity of the truth is found in Jesus Christ and what His Word teaches. So we don't have to live blindly and live without discernment. We can have a sound mind by the grace of God that brings salvation. And it will teach us to voluntarily limit our freedom. We're free in Christ. We have great freedom in Christ. Yet the Apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 10.23, all things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful. All things are lawful for me, but not all things edify. We limit our freedoms in order to include in our lives the things that build us up because now we can think clearly. And why would we include in our lives the junk that messes us up and that takes us down roads that will bring destruction in our lives and make us miserable? Why would we do that? We can think clearly. We can choose better. And so we choose to include in our lives, although we're free to do whatever Whatever we desire in Christ, Paul says, all things are lawful for me. But I choose to do, because of what God has done for me and His grace in my life, because He's cleared up my thinking and shown me the truth, I choose to do the things that will build me up and edify me, the things that will help me in this life and in the life to come. We voluntarily limit our freedom that we would include in our lives the things that will edify and build up. We looked at this last week as well. We voluntarily limit our freedom so that we do not include in our lives the things that will bring us under bondage once again. The things that we used to be mastered by are the things that are threatening to master us. Remember what God said to Cain? He says, sin is at your door. It's right there. It's desiring to master you, but you must overcome it. But of course he didn't. He chose not to. That sin overcame him. He was brought under bondage by that sin. In the same way, Paul says, I can do all things. They're all lawful for me, but I don't want to include in my life something that is going to bring me under bondage and hold me captive that I would be mastered or controlled by something else. We also voluntarily limit our freedom so that we contribute something to other people, their growth and relationship with God, and we don't cause them to stumble or cause them to sin or reject God because of the way that we live. And so the grace of God that brings salvation teaches us that we should live soberly, that we should be clear-headed, that we should be thinking straight, having the eternal perspective and including in our lives the things that will build up and edify, and keeping out of our lives the things that will not. soberly, righteously, and godly in this present age. I like the way David Guzik puts it. He says, here, the grace of God teaches us how to live towards ourselves, that's soberly, voluntarily limiting our freedom, how to live towards others, that's righteously, doing what's right for the people around us, and then also how we are to live towards God. That's godly. Soberly, righteously, and godly. The grace of God teaches us how to live the life that God desires for us. It's not legalism. It's not, these are the laws, you must follow them. But it's the grace of God that teaches us these things. It's the grace of God that teaches us how to love our neighbor as ourself. It's the grace of God that teaches us how to live our lives as an act of worship to God. The idea of reverence that we looked at last week. It's the grace of God that teaches us these things. And so again, as we discussed last week, when we look at those areas that we're a part of and those things that are listed there that are to be characteristics of our lives and if we fall short, what do we do? Well, it's not a legalistic thing. Okay, this is the area I fall short. This is the area I got to work on. No, the issue is if that is out of line in your life, then it shows that there's an area that's out of line in your heart and you can't change your heart. You got to go back to God and you got to submit yourself to God and surrender to God and allow Him to do that work. See, it's the grace of God that teaches us. to live soberly, righteously, and godly. If you're out of line in those areas, if you're out of line in your life, then you need to go back and develop your relationship with God and grow in His grace and grow in relationship with Him that He can do those works in your life, that He can accomplish those things and overcome those barriers, that He can teach you how to deny and reject ungodliness, but how to live righteously. Not behave the way that you are towards your co-workers and neighbors, but to do what's righteous, to do what's right for them. He can teach you how to live godly, to represent Him well, to worship Him. We get frustrated many times when we fall short and when we blow it. It's not for us to be more determined or more disciplined or I'm going to do it better this time, but it's for us to go back to God, to sit at His feet. To put our faith and trust in Him fully and completely that we might receive His grace and the fullness of what He has for us. That He would teach us. Again, it's teaching. It takes time. Sometimes many years. But God wants to do that work. And it's by His grace that that work is accomplished. That we would live the way that God has called us to live. Going on to verse 13. He says, "...looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ." He tells us grace teaches us how we're to live, but also grace tells us or teaches us how to look for, how to be expecting, how to be anxiously awaiting the return of Jesus Christ. Now, if I have a works relationship with God, the coming of Jesus Christ could be quite a terror for me, depending on what state I'm in at the moment. If I'm in the middle of a worship service, great, yeah, come quickly, Lord Jesus. But if I'm in the middle of something I know I shouldn't be involved in, don't come yet, Jesus. Let me finish this first. Let me get things right first. Let me square away these areas in my life first. But the grace of God, because it's not of works, because it's not based upon what we do or how we perform, the grace of God teaches us to look forward to the blessed hope. It's something that's glorious, the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior. It's something to be excited about. The word to look for means to receive or to be expecting something. We're to be expecting, you know, like when you're expecting company. I don't know about you, but I'm kind of weird in that way. I like sit at the door when I'm expecting company. I stand at the window and I look out and I wait for them to drive up. I get excited like that. I don't know why, but I expect them to come. And when I'm expecting them to come, I'm standing at the door and waiting. And that's the idea here. Looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. To be expecting, to be just constantly there, waiting for Him to return, to be alert. The person who has received the grace of God is expecting and excited about the return of Jesus Christ. Grace teaches us to look for His return. And there's great reward for those who will do that. Remember, Paul tells us in 2 Timothy 4, He says that there awaits for him a crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give to him on that day. And he says, not to me only, but also to all who have loved his appearing, those who have been excited about and loved and been expecting his return. Jesus told his disciples many times there in those last few hours with them to watch. He told them parables so that they would learn the lesson to watch, to be ready, to be expecting his return. This is what the grace of God teaches us in our lives. And if we're not expecting the grace of God, I'm sorry, if we're not expecting His return, if we're not excited about His return, then we haven't been involved in the grace of God which teaches us to look for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. This should be a passion of every one of our lives and every one of our hearts that Jesus Christ is coming soon. Look up, your redemption draweth nigh, Jesus said at the end of the book of Revelation. These things that are happening around us are indications, the grace of God desires to teach us these things, that we would look up, that we would be prepared, that we would be expecting His return. Because it's our blessed hope. It's our blessed hope. It's not a terror. It's not something to be freaked out about. It's not something that would scare us. Why? Because of His grace. If it's based on my works, I'm terrified. But if it's based on what Jesus Christ did upon the cross, I believe it. I know it's true. I know it happened by faith in Jesus Christ. I know it's a glorious thing when He comes back because I'm going to be received up to Him in glory. And I'm going to spend with Him to be with Him forevermore. It's not a terror. It's not something that's terrifying, but it's a blessed hope. Remember, hope is a confident expectation. Not, I hope I make it to heaven, but I'm going. It's just a matter of time. It's going to happen. It's a confident expectation. And it's a glorious appearing. A glorious appearing. Jesus Christ is coming again. And He's coming in glory. In Acts chapter 1, you remember when Jesus ascended to the Father. The disciples are all there looking up. Where did he go? What's going on? Still thinking. Is he going to make the kingdom right now? Is he going up so he can bring down his big palace and establish it and lay it down? What's going on? And the angels appear in the clouds probably right where they're looking. Hey, what's that? And they say, hey, what are you doing standing there looking up? He's going to come again. It's not yet. They said, "This same Jesus who has taken up from you into heaven will so come in like manner as you saw him go into heaven." The disciples had a task at hand. They were to get to work, to go forth and make disciples. And the angels tell him, "Hey, he's coming back. Don't just stand there and look up. He's going to come back the same way in due time." It's a glorious appearing. Just as he ascended on that day, there is a day coming very soon that he's going to descend. The rapture of the church is going to take place. We're going to be caught up to be with Him in the clouds. And then we'll be with Him forevermore. It's a glorious appearing. He's coming back for His bride. He's coming back for the church. He's going to come back later on to establish His kingdom. But first, He's coming back for us, for His bride, to celebrate with us. It's going to be a joyous occasion, a glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. I love this passage as well because it's such a clear statement of the deity of Jesus Christ. He is God. He says the great appearing of our, the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. Now some people try to make a big deal out of the and in between and saying so that, you know, it's our great God and then in addition to our great God also our Savior Jesus Christ is going to appear. But there's a couple problems with that. Number one, it's not the natural reading of the text. It's clear here. Our Savior Jesus Christ is also our great God. Also, we never have in the Scriptures a reference to the appearing of the Father. But we have a reference, many references, to the appearing, the return of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is God. And yet He became man. He emptied Himself, Philippians tells us, that He could become man. Fully God, fully man, that He could be the perfect sacrifice for you and I. He's our great Savior. He's also our great God. Our blessed hope is His glorious appearing. Verse 14. Who is this Jesus Christ? He's the one who gave Himself for us. He gave Himself. His life was not taken from Him. He gave it. It was freely and willingly given. You remember when they're in the garden and the guards are there and they're about to arrest Jesus and Peter sees what's going on. He pulls out a sword. He whacks off an ear and he's ready to go to battle. Jesus says, don't do that. It's not what it's about. If I wanted to, I have legions of angels that could fight this battle if I wanted to fight the battle. John chapter 19 verse 30 tells us that when he was there on the cross and the moment he died that he gave up his spirit. He released it. He willingly, voluntarily offered himself. His life was not taken. Nobody killed Jesus. He voluntarily gave his life. Again, Romans 5.8, but God demonstrates his love towards us and that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. He willingly gave himself. Why? Because He loves us. He's demonstrated His great love for us by dying on the cross, by willingly offering Himself as a sacrifice for you and for me. He goes on to say there in verse 14 that He might redeem us from every lawless deed. The word redeem, it means to liberate by payment of ransom. We were in bondage to sin. We were indebted because of our sin. We could not pay. We could not get out of that debt. There was no amount of work that we could do to compensate for the debt that we had created by our sinful lives, by our sinful nature. But He gave Himself willingly, voluntarily, that He might redeem us, that He might buy us back, that, again, what He earned might be credited to our account, that we could be set free from every lawless deed. Every lawless deed. There's not one sin that's held against you by faith in Jesus Christ. That's the grace of God. Not one thing. Now, it would be kind of cool, you know, if God took care of most things. Like, whoo, thanks God, you took care of most things. But no, that wouldn't be enough and that isn't enough for God. He says, no, every lawless deed, everything you've ever done, everything you will do is covered by my blood, by faith in me alone. I've redeemed you from every lawless deed. Not only have I forgiven you, but I've paid the price for you. I've also set you free so that you don't have to be in bondage to those lawless deeds anymore. You have been bought. You've been purchased. You've been bought out of that bondage that you were in. He set us free so that we do not have to live in sin any longer or the fear of its punishment and its consequences. He set us free. He redeemed us. that we could spend eternity with him instead of well the consequences that are due for sin is eternity away from him and there was no way we could get out of that on our own but he gave himself that he might redeem us from that punishment from that consequence of eternity sure we still face consequences in this life we reap what we sow that's normal that's natural still there's mercy and i believe god withholds much of the consequences that are due us But when you look at the eternal perspective, he withholds all of it, all of the punishment that was due to us. He's redeemed us from every lawless deed. He goes on to say that he might purify for himself his own special people. To purify means to cleanse, to wash. So you kind of get the picture, right? There we are in the mud, the miry clay of our sin, our sinful nature, our lifestyle, all of our lawless deeds. And he pulls us out of it. But He doesn't just leave us all muddied and dirtied. Now He washes us off. It's like someone who sees an antique and it's all messed up and beaten up and broken down and they get it and then they begin to restore it and they clean it up and they take off the rust and they put new paint and so on. They bring for restoration and then it becomes their own special treasure. Oh, look at this thing. I brought it out of nothing. It was just in the junkyard but now it's a treasured possession. That's the idea here. He's purifying for himself his own special people. He saw us, you know, we're the piece of junk and He pulls us out, He washes us off, He cleans us up, He transforms us and restores us and now we're His special treasure. That word special people could also be treasured people. We're His treasured people. He loves us so dearly. He desires to do this in us, to cleanse us and purify us, to mold us and shape us and to restore us, to bring us into His image. All by His grace. Because of what He's done. And He gave Himself and He did this. And He desires to do this work in us. But He adds on our part of the end. He says His own special people, zealous for good works. He's creating for Himself this treasured people who are zealous for good works. Good works is a dominant theme in this letter. We've already seen it a couple times. chapter 1 verse 16 chapter 2 verse 7 here in 2 14 we'll see it again in 3 8 and 3 14 again works are not what save us good works don't improve our standing with god or make him love us more give us you know a longer time in heaven or anything like that we're saved by grace it's not works but But true faith and the work that God does in us produces works in our lives. And so the special people that he's purifying for himself are zealous for good works. That's to be eagerly desiring, most eagerly desirous. It's kind of an extreme word there. It's like the great intensity of desire to do good works. Christians are to be people who are eagerly excited about, intensely looking for chances to do good. It's His desire. It's what His grace is teaching us and working in us. Are you that way? Do you have that intensity, that desire to do good? We're not just talking about sharing the gospel. Of course, that would be part of it. But just doing good, doing what's right. Helping people out, serving. Helping bring in the groceries, right? For that lady that is older and weaker next door to you. Or taking care of the lawn of the neighbor that had the death in the family. Or ministering to this person or serving in this way or helping out in this area. It's just doing good works. Doing good things. Yes, it includes spiritual things, of course. But it's not only limited to that. It's like, you know, the story of the Good Samaritan and they're the priests and the Levite. They saw, they walk around, oh no, we're about our godly business. But then there was the Good Samaritan who went and what did he do? He did a good work. He ministered to that person who was in need. Very physically, just without, you know, you got to pay me back, you know, you got to, I spent this money on you, you know, where's my thank you? Without any of that. He just did a good work. This is the attitude, the heart of one who has been taught by the grace of God. Finally, verse 15. Speak these things. Exhort and rebuke with all authority. Let no one despise you. So these are the things that we're to be. These are the things that the grace of God teaches us. And he says to Titus, Titus, speak these things. For you and I this morning, we are disciples. Well, we're like Titus. We've been called into the ministry. We've been called to make disciples. And so not only are we to receive the grace of God and the grace of God is to be teaching us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present age, to be looking for and expecting His return, to be redeemed, to be purified, to be zealous for good works. Not only are all those things true in us, but also true of us is that we're to be speaking these things. Within our lives, within our realm of authority, within those that God has given to us, we're to be speaking these things. And I like this word to speak because it doesn't mean a whole lot. It's just random speaking. It's not saying a specific thing or giving a message or teaching a Bible study. It's just when you talk. When you talk randomly at any time in every place, speak these things. Be teaching these things. Be talking about these things. The idea here is for you, whenever you have a conversation, wherever you are at random times, to be talking about the grace of God and what He's done for us and the opportunities He gives to us and what He teaches us by His grace. It doesn't have to be a specific time or during a Bible study, but it can be there in the workplace or at the home or in the grocery store or in the neighborhood or wherever you go. You can be speaking these things. He goes on to say, exhort and rebuke with all authority. Exhort is to encourage, to build up. Rebuke is to correct, to show the biblical truth. For those who are in error, this is how you are to be. Speak. Talk about the grace of God. Talk about what God's done and wants to do in people's lives. Encourage them and build them up. Correct them when they're off base. Show them the biblical truth for what God has said. He says, let no one despise you. Let no one despise you. How do we let no one despise us? We point our finger and scold them. Hey, Rosie, don't you be despising me. I see you over there. I know what you're thinking. No. By following what Paul encouraged Timothy, 1 Timothy 4.12, let no one despise your youth, he says, but be an example. It goes back to us. Hey, if we're going to be speaking randomly about the wonderful grace of God, if we're going to be exhorting and rebuking, then we also need to be an example. We need to live it out. We need to let God do this work in us, that then we have the authority and credibility to proclaim these things. That others would not despise us because they see that this is the work that God is doing in us. This is the grace of God for us. Teaching us, transforming us, growing us, the opportunity to serve Him and be used by Him. So let's do it. How do you get grace? You work real hard for it, right? No. How do we grow in grace? We've got to try real hard and be real determined and wake up early every morning. How do you get grace? It's by faith. By faith. You want to grow in grace? By faith, ask God to do that work. You want to grow in these areas? You want to learn how to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts? You want to learn how to live soberly, righteously and godly? You want to learn how to be purified and do good works? You want to learn how to share with others and speak randomly and exhort and rebuke and live a life that backs up what you say? Ask God. By faith. Look at what Jesus Christ has done for us. And receive the grace of God. It takes time. He's teaching us. Don't give up. Don't lose sight. Don't grow faint in your faith and asking and seeking and knocking. But keep on asking, seeking and knocking. Keep on trusting God. Keep on putting your faith in Him. The promise is He will be faithful to complete the work that He began in you. Amen? Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank You, Lord, for Your work. Lord, we thank You that it's all about You and what You have done for us. And Lord, the only thing that is upon us that we have to be concerned with is whether or not we receive what you have done for us. Whether or not we receive your grace that you extend to us. And so God, right now, collectively, corporately, but also individually, we just confess to you, Lord, that we love you. We thank you for what you've done for us. Lord, we believe you at your word. We believe what you have said about what you've done for us and about what you desire to do in us. And so God, we ask that for your grace to be poured out upon us. Help us, Lord, to live the lives that you've called us to live. Help us, Lord, to turn away from sin. God, help us, Lord, to be expecting your return. Lord, pour out your grace upon us that we would be transformed into the people that you've called us to be and desire for us to be. Lord, we know it doesn't happen overnight. So, Lord, we ask that you would help us to have patience and to not lose heart, but to hold fast the hope of our confession. trusting in you to do the work that you promised to do. You're so good to us, God. We love you. I pray, Lord, that our lives would demonstrate this love that we have for you because of what you've done for us, even as your love is demonstrated by your death upon the cross for us. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. 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