Latest / Pastor John Piper's answers / Don’t Miss the Diamonds in the Chest of Salvation Titus 3:4–7, Part 3

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Don’t Miss the Diamonds in the Chest of Salvation Titus 3:4–7, Part 3 · Pastor John Piper's answers

• 0:06
  Speaker 1: This is our third session on Titus three four to seven.
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: But when the kindness and benevolence of God our Savior appeared,
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: he saved us. We spent the entire session last time
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: on the meaning of saved. He saved us not because
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: of works done by us in righteousness, but according to
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: richly through Jesus Christ, our Savior, so that having been
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: justified by His grace, we might become heirs according to
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: the hope of eternal life. So, Father, as we ponder
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: the these amazing details of salvation in this and the
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: coming sessions, would you show us the riches of what
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: it means to be saved by what God, that is you, yourself,
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: by your word, have chosen to reveal to us about
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: how we are saved. Lord, don't let us be indifferent
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: to these things or regard them lightly. I pray this
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: in Jesus' name. Amen. The first point that I think
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: needs to be made here is that saved is the
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: big idea, the big reality covering all of it, and
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: all of this is how how God saves and we
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: should just let that sink in. He might have just said,
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: when the goodness and benevolence of God our savior period,
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: he saved us period under the next point. And that's
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: the way many Christians treat salvation. Very few Christians devote
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: themselves to understanding how did I get saved? What happened
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: to me? And I just want to stress that this
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: is God's word here. God doesn't waste words. God doesn't
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: show us diamonds for us to ignore them. How many
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: diamonds are here in the chest of salvation. Let's circle
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: them not because of works done by us in righteousness,
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: according to his own mercy. Let's number them on two
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: by the washing, three of regeneration, four and renewal five
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: of the holy at six, whom He poured out on
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: us richly, the outpouring seven through Jesus Christ, our Savior.
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: I could have made that to Let's just leave it one,
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: so that having been justified nine by His grace, ten
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: we might become heirs eleven according to the Hope twelve
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: of Eternal Life thirteen. So many times Christians just talk
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: about salvation in broad general terms and failed to realize
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: God thought it important to reveal to us at least
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: thirteen diamonds diamonds in the chest of salvation. He wants
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: us to know how how we got saved. He wants
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: us to know. Evidently, this will be good for us
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: if we understand the negation of works, the exaltation of mercy,
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: the meaning of washing, regeneration, and on and on and so.
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: The great question is, if you're a pastor, or a
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: Sunday school teacher, or a small group leader, or a parent,
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: do you unpack salvation like this when it comes up
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: in the Bible and say to your children, your small group,
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: your class, your flock of people that you pester, Do
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: you say to them, it is a glorious thing to
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: be saved. Let me show you how many diamonds are
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: in the chest of salvation, and you might devote an
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: entire lesson or sermon on every one of these that
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: would be worth it. I remember sitting through a series
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: of messages in college at the Bible Church in Wheaton,
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: where Pastor Krunk unpacked for the first time in my life,
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: key word after keyword of salvation like salvation and propitiation
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: and redemption and justification and sanctification. I had never heard
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: concerted Bible saturated messages on those words. Isn't that tragic?
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: So I'm distressing. Don't miss what God is saying by
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: how he speaks here. He is saying the great overarching
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: thing is that Jesus came into the world as the
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: expression of God's kindness, God's benevolence to save, and he
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: saved us. And then, as if to scream at us,
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: move on to the next paragraph, pause, linger with me.
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: Over all these diamonds here, So that's that's my first point.
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: And when when you spot them, when you see them
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: like this, what do you do? You take them one
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: at a time and you make sure that you know
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: what reality they are referring to? What does works refer to?
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: What does mercy refer to? What is Washington washing refer to?
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: And notice I'm not using the words what the definition
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: of the word. That's too academic. I want to know reality, reality,
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: That's that's life right. Words are dumb things. They're just pointers.
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: They're like the finger on the hand pointing to the
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: Grand Canyon. And if you stare at the hand and
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: define the hand, what if you go But if you
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: turn your face and see the Grand Canyon you might
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: be changed. So that's the first thing. You try to
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: find the reality behind each of these. And the second
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: thing is you look for how do they relate to
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: each other? I mean, there's thirteen of them. How do
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: they relate to each other? That is, what's the sequence?
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  Speaker 1: Which came first? What comes last? Do they cause each other?
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  Speaker 1: Do they flow from each other? That's the other question.
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: So let's take the last couple of minutes that we
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: have here and just take the first negation. Isn't it
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: amazing significant that he says he saved us and the
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: first thing he does is negate something, not like he's
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: warning us don't go here, not because of works done
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: by us in righteousness. Even righteous works, not bad works,
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: not carnal works, not self reliant works, but any works
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: at all are not the way we got right with God.
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: And he just wants to shout at the very beginning
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: with a big no, don't go there. Now, why would
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: that be the case. It's the only negation in the
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: whole paragraph, right, And that's significant because you know how
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: many things there are that are not the way he
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: saved us, an infinite number. I mean, maybe that's an overstatement,
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: but you know, what I mean. I mean, there are
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: a thousand ways that God did not use to save us,
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: and he chooses one to mention, not because of works.
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: Why would that be? Why does works being so dangerous
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: that it merits mentioning as the one negation? Here's two suggestions.
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: One suggestion is that in that day, as Paul was
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: working with the churches, preaching in synagogues, and people from
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: the Jewish factions were following him around and insisting on
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: works of the law as the ground of salvation and
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: getting right with God, Paul had to battle this over
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: and over again. Here it is Ingalatians, where we know
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: that it was a party of Jews from James who
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: were causing the trouble in the church. We know that
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: a person is justified is not justified by works of
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: the law. There you see the Jewish background, but through
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: faith in Jesus Christ. So we also believe in Christ, Jesus,
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: believe believed in Christ, Jesus in order to be justified
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: by faith, not works in Christ and not by works.
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: And I put the Greek here just so you could
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: see it's exactly the same phrase as we have here,
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: not from works of the law, because by works of
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: the law, no flesh will be justified. So the first
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: reason I would suggest why Paul highlights this negation is
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: because it was a It was dogging him everywhere he went,
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: that people were trying to persuade new believers. No, you
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: can't get saved by faith. You have to get saved
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: by obeying the law. That's the only way God is
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: gonna set you right with him. And the second thing
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: is not anything particular about the Jewish claim, but it's
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: just human right. We we do not like being on welfare.
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: We do not like confessing ourselves to be utterly helpless.
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: So we are prone to say, Okay, if I need salvation,
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna get myself saved and I'm gonna do the
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: right things. Why is that characteristically human? And here's Ephesians,
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  Speaker 1: And I think it gives us the insight by grace,
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  Speaker 1: you have been saved, saved through faith. This is not
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: your own doing. It is the gift of God, not
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: the result of works. Very same phrase, not from works,
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  Speaker 1: not the result of works, So that no one may
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  Speaker 1: boast that's human. We love to be made much of
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  Speaker 1: We love to believe that we have been successful and
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  Speaker 1: we didn't and on anybody but ourselves, and so boasting
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  Speaker 1: is characteristically human and we need to be warned as
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  Speaker 1: the one negative in this text. Don't ever dream that
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  Speaker 1: you could be saved by your own works, even done
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  Speaker 1: in righteousness, but rather realize you are a mercy case.
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  Speaker 1: It will be according to His mercy on your undeserving,
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  Speaker 1: miserable soul, or it won't happen at all. And that's
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  Speaker 1: the reason so many people reject Christ at root, is
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  Speaker 1: because it is very hard to believe I'm as bad
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  Speaker 1: as all that so that I need mercy. We'll be
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  Speaker 1: back to that next time. O