Latest / Pastor John Piper's answers / Pardoned to Be Passionate for Good Deeds Titus 2:11–15, Part 5

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Pardoned to Be Passionate for Good Deeds Titus 2:11–15, Part 5 · Pastor John Piper's answers

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  Speaker 1: This is part five on Titus two eleven fifteen, and
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  Speaker 1: it is the center of the Christian faith. This is
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  Speaker 1: the most important part yet in this paragraph. It's profoundly beautiful, glorious,
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  Speaker 1: precious to all of God's people, for the grace of
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  Speaker 1: God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us
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  Speaker 1: in order that having renounced on godliness and worldly desires,
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  Speaker 1: we might live self controlled, upright and godly lives in
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  Speaker 1: the present age, eagerly waiting for our blessed hope, our
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  Speaker 1: gladsome hope, even the appearing of the glory of our
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  Speaker 1: great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. And now we start
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  Speaker 1: here today, who gave himself for us to redeem us
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  Speaker 1: from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people
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  Speaker 1: for his own possession who are zealous for good works.
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  Speaker 1: Now notice the correspondence between the positive redeem us or
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  Speaker 1: the negative redeem us from lawlessness or redeem us from
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  Speaker 1: corresponding to renouncing ungodliness and worldly desires. So that's the
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  Speaker 1: negative effect of the cross of the self giving of Christ.
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  Speaker 1: And then comes the positive and to purify for himself
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  Speaker 1: a people, to purify for himself a people for his
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  Speaker 1: own possession who are zealous for good works. And notice
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  Speaker 1: how that corresponds to that we might live self controlled,
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  Speaker 1: upright and godly lives in the present days. We call
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  Speaker 1: that the positive here and the positive here. I should
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  Speaker 1: have put that negative perhaps closer in, so he can
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  Speaker 1: make sure it doesn't get mixed up. So in his
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  Speaker 1: self giving Christ accomplished two things. He redeemed us from
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  Speaker 1: all lawlessness, which corresponds to enabling us to renounce on
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  Speaker 1: godliness and worldly desires. And he purified himself, purified for
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  Speaker 1: himself a people of his own possession who are zealous
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  Speaker 1: for good work. So purify for contrasts with redeem from.
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  Speaker 1: And so we call this this is a positive thing
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  Speaker 1: he was doing, which corresponds to now we live positively,
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  Speaker 1: self controlled, upright and godly lives in the present age. So, Father,
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  Speaker 1: as we ponder now how he did this, and thus
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  Speaker 1: how he did this open our eyes to the glorious
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  Speaker 1: meaning of gave himself and redeemed. I pray this in
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  Speaker 1: Jesus' name. Amen. How did he achieve both a redemption
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  Speaker 1: from and a purification for by this self giving? That's
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  Speaker 1: the question. So let's trace the way. Paul conceives of
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  Speaker 1: redemption and what happened on the cross, and then connect
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  Speaker 1: it as best we can with these two dimensions, this
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  Speaker 1: negative redeemed from and this positive purify for Take note first,
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  Speaker 1: just about the meaning of lawlessness. Here's first, John, everyone
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  Speaker 1: who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness. For
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  Speaker 1: sin is lawlessness. So when it speaks of lawlessness, here
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  Speaker 1: we can say, redeem us from sin. That is the
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  Speaker 1: root of all sin is I will bow to no
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  Speaker 1: one's law but my own. That's the root of all sin.
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  Speaker 1: I am the center of my universe. I write my
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  Speaker 1: own laws. Nobody can tell me what to do, and
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  Speaker 1: no God can hold me accountable. That's the essence of
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  Speaker 1: all sin. So we are being redeemed from all of
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  Speaker 1: that horrid corruption and guilt because of our rebellion against
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  Speaker 1: God's authority. How did he redeem us? Here's if he's
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  Speaker 1: ins one p. Seven. In him, we have redemption through
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  Speaker 1: his blood, his death, the forgiveness of our trespasses. Now
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  Speaker 1: that's a very clear definition of what happens in redemption.
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  Speaker 1: In Paul's mind, this word correlates at least, not only,
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  Speaker 1: but at least to the forgiveness of lawlessness, sin trespasses.
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  Speaker 1: There's several ways he describes that deliverance through blood redemption.
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  Speaker 1: That is, Christ offers himself, pays the price at the
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  Speaker 1: cost of his blood procures our forgiveness. It's described like
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  Speaker 1: this in Romans fib. Since therefore we have now been
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  Speaker 1: justified by His blood, so forgiveness of sins has this counterpart.
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  Speaker 1: We are declared just before God, because Christ has died
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  Speaker 1: for our sin and covered all our unrighteousness and completed
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  Speaker 1: in his own perfect life everything we failed to. And
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  Speaker 1: then we get this explanatory verse in Galatians IIE, how
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  Speaker 1: did he do that? How does that come about? Christ
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  Speaker 1: redeemed us from the curse of the law, in other words,
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  Speaker 1: condemnation hanging over every human because of our lawless rebellion
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  Speaker 1: against God. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the
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  Speaker 1: law by becoming a curse for us. For it has written,
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  Speaker 1: cursed is everyone who hangs on the tree. When He
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  Speaker 1: gave him himself up to bleed to death on the
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  Speaker 1: tree of curse and condemnation, there was a a substitution
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  Speaker 1: becoming a curse in our place. For us, we were
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  Speaker 1: under the curse of the law. He becomes the curse,
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  Speaker 1: and that's how the redemption works. Now, not only then
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  Speaker 1: are we redeemed by way of forgiveness and the guilt
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  Speaker 1: taken away and the curse taken away, so that we
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  Speaker 1: can stand accepted, loved, full of grace. This is how
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  Speaker 1: grace is training us, grace manifest in redemption forgiving all
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  Speaker 1: our sins. Not only that, but the power of lawlessness
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  Speaker 1: that makes us impure and unwilling to do good works
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  Speaker 1: is broken by the blood of redemption. We are redeemed
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  Speaker 1: not only from the guilt of lawlessness, but the power
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  Speaker 1: that this awful rebellion had over us. Let me show
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  Speaker 1: you that not only here purify, He gave himself on
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  Speaker 1: the cross to purify for himself a people zealous for
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  Speaker 1: good works. That means real change happens here. This is
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  Speaker 1: not just justification, This is not just declaration of acceptance.
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  Speaker 1: This is real change purchased by the self giving of Christ.
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  Speaker 1: So that the redemption is a redemption from the guilt
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  Speaker 1: of lawlessness and the power of lawlessness, because it produces
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  Speaker 1: people who are passionate for upright, godly, self god controlled
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  Speaker 1: good works lives. Here's the beautiful description of that in
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  Speaker 1: one Peter, you know that you were ransomed same idea
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  Speaker 1: as redeemed, ransomed from the futile ways, not just guilt,
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  Speaker 1: but ways inherited from your forefathers. Not with perishable things
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  Speaker 1: like silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ,
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  Speaker 1: like that of a lamb, without blemish or spot. We
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  Speaker 1: were ransomed by blood from a lifestyle inherited through the
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  Speaker 1: sinfulness of our fathers. Here it is again in One
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  Speaker 1: Peter two twenty four. He himself bore our sins in
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  Speaker 1: his body. That substitution, he bore our sins, he became
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  Speaker 1: a curse for us. He offered himself to die in
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  Speaker 1: our place on the that we might. Now by faith
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  Speaker 1: we're united with Him, and thus we die to sin
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  Speaker 1: and live to righteousness. So there's the connection between bearing
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  Speaker 1: our sins and thus removing our guilt and actually changing
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  Speaker 1: us so that we are dead to sin and we
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  Speaker 1: live to righteousness, which is what Paul meant back here
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  Speaker 1: when he said that we might live self control, upright,
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  Speaker 1: godly lives, or hear that he might purify for himself
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  Speaker 1: a people who are zealous for good deeds. What happens
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  Speaker 1: when you break the power, when you renounce ungodliness and
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  Speaker 1: especially worldly desires. What happens is that now you have
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  Speaker 1: a whole new set of desires. That's what disease means. Here,
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  Speaker 1: these desires that drove you to selfish lifestyles are now killed.
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  Speaker 1: We die to them because of the death of Christ
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  Speaker 1: and dying with him, and they are replaced with zeal
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  Speaker 1: for good works, to adorn the truth of the gospel
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  Speaker 1: and make Jesus look as great as he really is.
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  Speaker 1: Says in First Corinthians six point twenty. You were bought
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  Speaker 1: where the price, so glorify God in your body. That's
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  Speaker 1: with this zeal for good deeds. With your hands and
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  Speaker 1: your feet and your mouth, you do good in this
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  Speaker 1: world for others, not pad the riches of your own comforts.
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  Speaker 1: One more thing to draw attention to. He wants not
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  Speaker 1: just a people who are zealous for good deeds, but
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  Speaker 1: a people for his own possession. He wouldn't have had
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  Speaker 1: to say that. He could have just said to purify
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  Speaker 1: a people who are zealous for good works. But he
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  Speaker 1: said a people for himself. And then he underlines it
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  Speaker 1: with for his own possession. And here's probably the most
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  Speaker 1: moving description of the relationship between the cross, and that
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  Speaker 1: desire of Christ. Husbands, love your wives. As Christ loved
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  Speaker 1: the church, how did he love the church? He gave
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  Speaker 1: himself sound familiar, gave himself here in Titus. He gave
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  Speaker 1: himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, cleanse her,
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  Speaker 1: having cleansed her by the washing of water with the words.
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  Speaker 1: So that here's the aim of that self giving purification,
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  Speaker 1: that he might present the church to himself sound familiar
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  Speaker 1: a people for himself, to present the Church to himself
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  Speaker 1: in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing,
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  Speaker 1: that she might be holy and without blemish. That's why
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  Speaker 1: Jesus came into the world to purchase a bride, forgive
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  Speaker 1: a bride, cleanse a bride, and empower a bride who
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  Speaker 1: lives in this world zealous for good deeds. That's the
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  Speaker 1: description of how grace trains us. It trains us through
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  Speaker 1: the redeeming effect of forgiveness and the redeeming effect of
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  Speaker 1: empowering and beautifying a people for his own possession who
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  Speaker 1: are zealous for good works. Oh, may God cause us
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  Speaker 1: to enjoy our redemption so fully as Christ gave himself
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  Speaker 1: for us, that we would be absolutely passionate to live
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  Speaker 1: for others in his name, and not just for ourselves.