back to that passage he just
read to us in the book of Titus. And I'm just going to look at
a few verses here in the second chapter. What is salvation? Well, it isn't changing your
life. It isn't changing your habits. It isn't beginning to do good
where you've been doing bad. It is that work of our God. Jonah set forth good sound doctrine
in his book when he was in the belly of the great fish. He had
no way out. There was nothing he could do
to force that fish to cause Jonah to make an exit from his belly. And Jonah, he just cried out,
salvation is of the Lord. And then when he came to that
conclusion, that's when he found out what salvation was, deliverance
was. from the imprisonment in which
he found himself in the belly of the great fish. Salvation is that work of God
whereby he lifts a hell-deserving sinner up to the heights of heaven
to dwell with him forevermore. It is a marvelous escape. It's an escape from the horrors
of being dominated by Satan. It's escape from the guilt of
all sin. It is the imputation of righteousness
established by our Lord Jesus Christ. In short, it is that work of
grace by which God saves a sinner from our sins and from all the
effects of sin right up until the time when we enter into heaven
and we finally lay aside the body of sin that is our nature
of sin. and then sin will trouble us
no more. We experience salvation due to
the rebirth of the Holy Spirit. He births us into the kingdom
of God. It's called regeneration. Re because we were in Adam. We were once alive, but we became
dead in Adam. And then God the Spirit regenerated
us. He gave us life in Christ Jesus. He formed the Son of God within
us, who is our life. And due to the work of the Spirit
of grace, bringing us to believe on the name of the Lord Jesus
Christ, we can say we're the children of God. We're saved
by the grace of God. And it's all to the praise of
the glory of His grace. Now from verses 11 through 14
in Titus the second chapter, I want to show you four things
as we consider the grace of our great God and Savior. The grace of our great God. and Savior. First of all, in
verse 11, here's the activity of grace. The activity of grace,
verse 11. For the grace of God that bringeth
salvation appeared to all men. The grace of God that bringeth,
it gives, it brings salvation to us. It fetches us unto Christ
is what the grace of God does. Grace, you see, is the origin
of the gospel. Every good thing that God gives
us is upon the premise of and upon the basis of grace. Grace. Somebody said grace is
God's riches at Christ's expense. I suppose that's a pretty good
definition of grace. It is God giving us that which
we do not deserve. Grace is the origin of our salvation. Grace is the origin of the gospel. The scripture says in Romans
chapter 11 and verse 5 that we're of the remnant according to the
election of grace. Grace. The election of grace,
the election unto salvation, was not that God looked down
through the halls of time, and He saw who would believe Him,
and upon the basis of that which He foresaw, then He chose a people
unto salvation. That is not grace. That is not
God's election of grace. God's election of grace is God
For his own purpose, he has chosen a people unto salvation in the
Lord Jesus Christ, and to those people, he gave grace in the
Savior before the world was ever established. In fact, look back
just a couple of pages, and Alan read this passage in the study
a little bit ago. 2 Timothy chapter one, look at
verse number nine. 2 Timothy chapter 1 in verse
9. God hath saved us and called
us with unholy calling, not according to our works, but according to
his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus
before the world began. And that's not the end of the
sentence. So we must keep reading. but
is now made manifest, that is, this grace of God, this grace
of God which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world
ever began, This grace is now made manifest by the appearing
of our Savior, Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death and
hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel,
he says, whereunto I am appointed a preacher and an apostle and
a teacher of the Gentiles. This is the origin of the gospel,
and the origin of the gospel, it originated in the grace of
God that is eternal. Grace, you see, like all of the
other attributes of God, are as old as God himself, if I may
phrase it that way. And the grace that God has for
his people, he has always had for his people. when He chose
us unto salvation, and that was an eternal decree. It was a choice
made in the eternity of God, way back when there was no one
but God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, the Holy
Trinity. God chose us in Christ, chose
a people in Christ unto salvation. That was all of grace. It had
nothing to do with God foreseeing what a people would do. It had
everything to do with the purpose of God and the grace of God.
Now let's not give man credit for what man has no part in. The only thing we had a part
in was in the sinning. That which God had the only part
in was the saving. And this salvation is all of
grace, and it was given us before the world began in the Lord Jesus
Christ. So grace is the origin of the
gospel, and then grace is given to us very freely through the
gospel. Romans 3.24 talks about being
justified, and he used the word freely, freely, without a cause,
by his grace. through the redemption that is
in Christ Jesus, whom God has set forth to be a propitiation
through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for
the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance
of God, to declare, I say it this time, his righteousness,
not yours, not mine, his righteousness, that he might be just and the
justifier of him that believeth on Jesus. Grace is the origin
of the gospel. It's the origin of our salvation. Grace is given to us very freely
through the gospel because it's not based upon anything we do. It's based upon what God himself
has already done and what he has already purposed to do. And
then this grace, remember I'm talking about the activity of
grace, this grace brings salvation home to the sinner. It says here
in our text, in chapter two, verse 11 of Titus, for the grace
of God that bringeth salvation. You see, grace doesn't offer
salvation. Grace doesn't say to you, it's
yours if you want it. If you don't want it, then don't
take it. The grace of God brings salvation
to us. It brings it effectually. It
fetches us. You well remember the story of
when David is sitting upon the throne of Israel and he gets
to thinking about his dear friend, his best friend, Jonathan. Jonathan
who was the son of King Saul. Jonathan who died in the war
in which David was going to be overthrown. And David thinking
about his beloved brother in Christ, Jonathan, he asked his
servant, he said, is there any left of the household of Saul?
Anybody living? Said, yeah. Young fella by the
name of Mephibosheth. But he's lame on both feet because
when his nurse who was carrying him, when Mephibosheth, just
a little fella, when his nurse was carrying him and found out
she heard the news that Saul had been killed in battle and
Jonathan had been killed in battle, she dropped him. Broke both of
his legs. And this servant said, David,
he's lame on both feet. He said, you go fetch him unto
me. See, that's what this grace of
God that bringeth salvation, it fetches us to salvation. God has to draw us. He has to
go get us. And so he sends forth the gospel
of redeeming grace. He sends forth the message of
accomplished redemption by the Lord Jesus Christ according to
his covenant engagements that he himself put himself under. that He would redeem the people
that God gave Him in eternal election. He would save them,
He would redeem them, He would put away their sins, and He would
bring in everlasting righteousness for them. And this gospel of
grace brings the sinner to the Savior. Grace brings, it says
here, it brings salvation. It doesn't ask you if you want
it. It makes you want it. It makes you desire it. And so
David said in Psalm 110 verse three, thy people shall be willing
in the day of thy power, willing to come to Christ, willing to
come upon the basis of somebody else's work, somebody else's
sacrifice, somebody else's righteousness, somebody else's blood, somebody
else's obedience, willing to come to God through Christ Jesus
only. It brings salvation. Grace does. Grace is active. Grace is not
passive. Grace doesn't wait on you to
act. Grace doesn't wait on you to
make your decision. Grace comes after you. And when God regenerates your
heart, I promise you this, grace won't take no for an answer.
Grace is on a mission to rescue, to draw to Christ in saving faith
all those that God gave Him in covenant love and mercy. The
grace of God bringeth salvation He says, the gospel is brought to us by
almighty grace and power. I know we do come to Christ,
there's no doubt about that. The Savior said there in John
chapter six, all that the Father giveth me, they shall come to
me. And him that cometh to me, I
will in no wise cast out. And we shall come to him because
he comes to us and makes us willing to come to him, makes us want
to come to him. He brings us to this point. I
must have this Savior. I must have this salvation that
is all of grace because I can make no contribution to the deliverance
of my soul from Satan. I can make no contribution to
my salvation from sins. You see, the gospel of the grace
of God, it's active. It's active. It shows us the way of salvation. Grace brings us, as it were,
to Christ Jesus and said, He's the way, that's what grace says.
He's the way, enter ye therein. And when grace says that, we
enter in. Grace says this is a narrow way.
But it's a way of life. And grace says, you're coming
in with me. and we come in. You see, the gospel of the grace
of God is the means by which God the Holy Spirit brings elect
sinners to the Lord Jesus Christ. There's no life without this
gospel, do you know that? There's no faith without this
gospel. There's no salvation without
this gospel. That's why we're told to go into
all the world and preach the gospel. What is the gospel? The gospel is the announcement
of, it is the report of a work that has been done. See, when you pick up the newspaper
in the morning, if you get the paper, which isn't much news
in our paper, but if you pick up the newspaper and you see
what has already happened, That's the news. They can't report the
news that hadn't happened. No newspaper worth anything can
report on something that hasn't happened, but they think it will.
You see, we have a newspaper bulletin. And it says, work is finished.
That's the headlines. The gospel is not a work that
will be done. It's not a work that you enter
into. It's the declaration that all
a holy God demanded of poor guilty sinners like you and me has been
absolutely thoroughly satisfied by the Lord Jesus Christ in his
doing and in his dying. It is an accurate report an accurate
report. That's why Isaiah, in Isaiah
53, begins that chapter. He says, Lord, who hath believed
our report? Because the gospel is a report
of that which has already happened. The gospel is not what you must
do with Jesus. The gospel is not, will you decide
for him? The gospel really isn't about
you at all, it's about him. It's about the work that he's
already accomplished. You see, the grace of God comes
to us through the proclamation of this gospel. That's why preaching
is so important. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. The gospel, as it is set forth,
is the means whereby the Holy Spirit brings salvation to elect
sinners. And the gospel of the grace of
God is for all kinds of people. Look again here in verse 11.
For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared, or literally
has given life and light to all men. Well, to all men, we know
it doesn't mean that grace is brought to all men. We're confident
that's not the case. Otherwise, everybody would be
saved. There are people all around us
who know nothing about the gospel. The grace of God hadn't brought
anything to them. So you cannot take that to all
men to mean universal redemption or universal salvation. The meaning is that the message
of redeeming grace, the message that Christ Jesus has redeemed
His people, has purchased His people from divine justice. He
has put away the sins of His elect. The message and the meaning
is that salvation has been accomplished for all kinds of people. You
see, in the Old Testament, the message of the gospel really
was directed to just a few people. Very rarely do you find the Gentile
in the Old Testament believing the gospel. But our Lord Jesus came. He lived
and died, secured our salvation, rose again from the grave, and
before he ascended up to heaven, he told his disciples, go ye
into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.
Then baptize those who believe. So, we preach the gospel to people
of every rank, race, and region. Wherever we can find anybody
who'll listen to us, we'll preach to them. Doesn't matter who they
are. Doesn't matter what nationality
they are. Doesn't matter what race they
are. Doesn't matter what the color of the skin is. If we can
find somebody who'll sit still and listen to us tell them about
the accomplished work of the Lord Jesus Christ and that we're
sinners and God's holy and the only way to come to a holy God
is through that mediator, the Lord Jesus Christ. If we can
find somebody who'll sit still and listen to us, we'll tell
them the report. Because you see, God has his
elect among all people. And it's our responsibility to
preach the gospel to as many as we can. That's why this morning
and tonight I'm preaching the gospel. That's why we're on the
internet. I'm thankful for this means God has given us to get
the truth out. I'm thankful for those who watch,
folks who are watching right now. As far as I know, if the
internet's working tonight, people across this country and maybe
even in foreign countries who are listening or maybe will listen
to this. But it's our responsibility to
tell them the good news. So that's the activity of grace.
Here's the second thing I want to show you. The instruction
of grace, look at verse 12. Teaching us that denying ungodliness
and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and
godly in this present world. Whenever the gospel of the grace
of God brings a sinner to the Lord Jesus Christ in life-giving,
regenerating power and grace, it effectually teaches that sinner
some vital things. Grace teaches us. Well, first
of all, it teaches us the one to whom we must look for eternal
life. We look to Christ only. We don't
look to the church. We don't look to the baptismal
waters. I'm thankful that we've had three
people today identify with Christ in believer's baptism. But none
of the three, none of the three believe that this washed away
their sins. What can wash away my sins? The
waters of baptism? No, that can't wash anything
away. Only the blood of the Lord Jesus
washes sins away, and it washed our sins away when he died on
the cross. The instruction of grace is not
only to whom we're to believe, not only whom we're to believe,
What to believe? We're to believe the true gospel,
because there are a lot of false gospels out there. Read Galatians
chapter one. See, you need to be careful who
you hear and what you hear and how you hear. Because every fellow
or woman, unfortunately, that comes along carrying a Bible,
that doesn't mean that they're telling the truth. You see, you have to try the
spirits. That's what John says in his
first epistle. And the gospel of the grace of
God is all of grace and none of us. That's the gospel to be
believed. It's the gospel of full redemption,
complete salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. And the instruction of grace
not only tells us to whom we're to go for salvation and the things
that we should be believing, but also how to live in this
world. You know, sometimes we're accused
of, and you may have heard this word being antinomians. Now, that's not a word you need
to know the definition of except right now at this moment. It
means when somebody says, oh, your preacher is an antinomian,
what they're saying is he didn't believe in the law. He's anti-law,
no law. Well, we believe in the law of
love, but we don't believe that we're
under the moral law, the code that God gave in the book of
Exodus. Because you see, all of the law
of God, I know there was a part of it that was the moral part,
and then there was the ceremonial part. The child of God is not
under the law in any way, shape, or form. The law, Paul says, was not made
for a righteous man. Let me ask you this, are we righteous? If you're not righteous, you're
in trouble. You see, our Lord Jesus Christ,
God made Him to be sin for us, that one who knew no sin, that
we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. We're righteous
in Him. And the law was not made for
righteous person. The law is finished with us because
it dealt with our substitute. He answered every demand of God's
law, living under the authority of it. He obeyed every jot and
tittle, and then he went to the cross of Calvary. Bearing the
sins of his people in his own body on the tree, he answered
the demands of the law that said, the soul that sinneth shall die. He took our sins upon Himself
and He paid the penalty. He died, and when He died, we
died. When He was put in that borrowed
tomb, we were put in that borrowed tomb in Him. When He came out
victorious over the grave and over hell and over death, we
came out too. We were in Him. When He ascended
back to heaven, we ascended with Him. Right now in the mind and
purpose of God, we're seated at the right hand of God in Christ
Jesus. The law of God has nothing on
us. It doesn't hold us accountable because we don't have any sins. We're in Christ. If we still have sin and Christ
bore our sins in his own body on the tree, then he's in trouble
too. But he's not in trouble and we're
not in trouble. Because like that scapegoat,
he bore our sins away into the land of forgetfulness. He buried
them in the depths of the deepest sea. It's what Paul said, the
law is our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. It's brought us
to Christ. Work's done. Work's done. It's the grace of God that teaches
us how to live. I would say this, and I know it's right, I'd say,
love Christ and seek the glory of God in all that you say, do,
and think, and live as you will. Really, that's true. Because
if you're seeking the glory of God, you're on the right track. And
the grace of God will teach you that. You see, grace doesn't
just arrest us and bring us to the Savior, quicken us, save
us, show us our sins are forgiven. Grace hangs around. It doesn't
leave us. And it teaches us how to live. And I know we all have our faults.
Some of us talked about that this morning. but our sins are
so real to us. But we have a new desire. We
desire to honor God. Grace instructs us. Grace gives
us practical direction for living. It effectually teaches saved
sinners to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts. The grace of God teaches us Say
no to unbelief. Believe God. That's what the
grace of God teaches us. The grace of God says don't neglect
the word of God. The grace of God says don't neglect
worship. It teaches us to say no to worldly
lusts, sensuality, covetousness, personal ambition, the desire
for recognition and praise. The grace of God says don't pursue
any of those things. Whatever you do, do all for the
glory of God. You want a rule to follow? There's
one. There's one. The grace of God
teaches people to live right. With respect to us, he says live
soberly, seriously. Hey, I love to laugh as much
as anybody. Probably I kid too much sometimes. But there's a time to be serious,
to be sober-minded, especially when it comes to ourselves and
our relationship with God. That's the time to be serious
now. So with respect to ourselves,
we're to live soberly. With respect to getting along
with others, we're to live righteously. Live in a right way. And with respect to God, we're
to live godly. Love what God loves. Hate what
God hates. And then there is verse 13, quickly,
the expectation of grace. The expectation of grace. Look
at verse 13, looking for that blessed hope and the glorious
appearing of the great God and our Savior, Jesus Christ. And
I like one of the translations that reads this way. Looking
for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great
God, even our Savior, Jesus Christ. Because he's talking about one
person. One person, the great God, even
our savior. Let me tell you something, to
be our savior, he had to be the great God. He had to be the great God that
obeyed God in every way and met God's every demand for salvation. What is the expectation of grace? Well, it isn't to speculate on
a time when Christ is coming back. You know, the Bible never
tells us to look for signs of his coming, or to even think
about when the end time is going to come. Grace teaches us, now
listen to me, grace teaches us to look for the Savior himself. And I'll tell you, ever since
our Lord left this world a couple of thousand years ago, the saints
of God have been looking for Him. I'm not looking to see what's
going on in Israel. I'm not looking to see what's
going on in China or Russia or the Ukraine. I'm not looking
for signs. I'm looking for Christ Jesus.
That's who I'm looking for. We have a hope in Him. We have
a blessed expectation of future glory because of the promises
of our Lord Jesus Christ. And we're to stand upon, as it
were, the tiptoes of faith looking for Him. That's what the saints
of God have been doing for 2,000 years. That's what the saints
of God were doing when our Lord Jesus was born in Bethlehem. Simeon and then Anna spoke to
all of those who looked for redemption. They were waiting for him. They
were waiting as it were on tiptoes of faith. He's coming, he's coming. That's what they said. And all
the prophets said that. And he didn't come until 2000
years ago he came. And I'll tell you, I'm looking
for him to come again. My daddy used to say, especially
when he had cancer, he said, how you doing, Earl? He said,
well, I'm not looking for the undertaker. I'm looking for the
upper taker. I'm looking for the upper taker.
That's who I'm looking for. And one of these days, he's going
to make a glorious appearance. I don't know when that'll be,
that's none of my business. Not for me to figure out. I'm
not looking for signs, I'm looking for him. And one of these days
he's coming for me, either he's gonna come for me in his second
coming, or he's gonna come for me in death. But either way,
I'm gonna be with him, and that won't matter. And it won't matter
what happens later on as far as if there's a tribulation period
or millennial kingdom or all of those things. What does that
matter? I'm gonna be with Him. Let come
what may. Doesn't matter. This is the expectation of grace. Because you see, this is the
very promise of the Father. Look at Titus chapter 1 and verse
2. Here's the promise of the Father. Titus 1 and verse 2. In hope of eternal life which
God that cannot lie promised before the world began. God promised this. And His promises are yea and
they're amen in Christ Jesus. It's gonna happen. And we're gonna be with Him forever
and ever. And I'm gonna give you one last
thing here. I gotta skip over a little bit. But of Christ Jesus,
He's the great God and our Savior. Even our Savior, Jesus Christ. And here's the fourth thing,
the announcement of grace. who gave Himself for us. What an announcement. Oh, what
an announcement. Who gave Himself for us that
He might redeem us. And the word might doesn't mean
maybe He will or maybe He won't. The word might means in order
that, in order that. who gave himself for us in order
to redeem us from all iniquity, all iniquity. When I read iniquity,
I think of the word inequity. We're not equal to the demands
of God. Christ took care of all that.
and purifying to himself a peculiar people, a special people. He's
purified us. You say, one of these days we're
gonna be pure. We are pure. We were purified by the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ 2,000 years ago. That's when our sins
were put away. That's when our righteousness
was established. And we're a peculiar people,
we're a special people to God. Not everybody's God's peculiar
people. That doesn't mean that we're
oddballs, although maybe we are in the eyes of many people. But
it means we're his special treasure. Can you believe that? You're
the Lord's treasure? A peculiar people, And here's
what grace does. The announcement of grace makes
us zealous of good works. We're zealous to honor God with
our lives. And then he gives a final word
to preachers, to Titus and to every preacher of the gospel.
Now these things speak. Don't hold back. Speak boldly,
speak clearly. Speak unashamedly. Declare the
gospel of the free grace of God. And exhort, exhort people to
believe this gospel. Admonish people. Encourage people. I call on you to believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ, to bow at the feet of the King of Kings
and the Lord of Lords. This is not an offer of salvation,
it's a declaration of who the Savior is, and may God enable
you to bow before him. Exhort and rebuke. If you don't
believe this gospel, I rebuke you. I rebuke you. Who do you think you are? You
think you can be righteous before God in and of yourself? You need
to be rebuked. And he says, do it with all authority. And he says, let no man despise
thee. Don't let the criticism of some
keep you from preaching the word. Because this final verse there
is an admonition to preachers. Don't fear what others say. Just
hold fast to the truth. Keep preaching the gospel. Well,
it's been a blessed day. The Lord has blessed us with
three people confessing faith in Christ.