Open your Bibles to the book of Titus. The little
New Testament book of Titus. The second chapter. It doesn't matter whether it
was between the first two children born into this world, whether it was in the day of
the prophets, whether it was in the day of Christ and the
apostles, or whether it is in our day. Doesn't matter when, doesn't
matter who, doesn't matter where. But it will always be the charge and the accusation made by lost and very self-righteous
sinners, mostly religionists, that the gospel of God's grace
the message of His free and sovereign grace, which tells about salvation in
Christ alone, by grace alone. The charge is that such a message
and such a gospel, such a doctrine, would only lead men and women
to sin. They make a charge that we are
saying that since salvation is by grace, since we say it is
all of grace, that we could just sin as much as we want. And when I thought about that
this week, I remembered a story that I heard some long years
ago about two men, one who was a
believer in the free and sovereign grace of God in Christ, talking
to an unbelieving man, maybe even a religious man, And when he had told his gospel,
when he had told his doctrine, told the man what he believed,
he simply said, if I believed what you believed, I would just
go out and sin all I want. And the man thought about it
a minute, He said back to him, he said,
my problem is I sin more than I want. Grace works in all who truly
believe on Christ. And by the Spirit of God, a change
in our wants. And that is not to say that we
lack a wont to sin. That is not to say that we no
longer sin. But the Spirit of God through
the Word of God and because of the grace of God given to us
in Christ gives us a desire that we sin not against such marvelous
grace to us. We read there Paul's words in
Romans 6, shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid, he says. Shall we continue in sin because
we are no longer under the law but under grace? God forbid. And I can assure you that there
has never been a greater believer and preacher of the free grace
of God than this man, the apostle Paul." Look back over in chapter
1 in those first two verses. He says, Paul, a servant of God
and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's
elect and the acknowledging of the truth. The gospel and believing
the gospel has to do with a sinner being brought to acknowledge
the truth. He says, "...and the acknowledging
of the truth which is after godliness, in hope of eternal life, which
God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began." And
so believing that, and being the apostle of God, and speaking
not only the gospel of His grace, but also what men believe is
contrary to the Word of God. Look at what he says in the second
chapter and that first verse. He says, but speak thou the things
which become sound doctrine. We are to speak, we are to preach
sound doctrine. As a matter of fact, Paul's instruction
to Timothy and Titus has to do with him encouraging them and
instructing them to preach sound doctrine. But he also says here
that we are to speak thou the things which become sound doctrine. You see, God used this man Saul
of Tarsus after his conversion to be a teacher of the doctrine
of God. To be a preacher of the doctrine
of Christ, which is simply the doctrine of grace. And for preaching this message,
He suffered a great number of things. He was cast out of cities. He was beaten with many stripes
and left for dead. He was ostracized by his former
friends, especially his former religious colleagues. And he
went through all these things, shipwreck and much, much more. He went through all these things
in order that he might teach and preach the grace of God. Once when he was facing what
seemed to be imminent death by stoning or something like that,
He said, none of these things move me, neither count I my life
dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and
the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus to testify
the gospel of the grace of God. As a matter of fact, in another
place writing from prison, he said, I endear all things for
the elect's sake that they might be brought to know this hope
of God's grace in the Lord Jesus Christ. And what he has joined
with his teaching and preaching of grace is the fact that grace,
rather than being the enemy of good works, or being inconsistent
with good works, grace is the cause of all true good works. As a matter of fact. There are
no good works apart from grace. Paul, this same apostle, writing
to the Ephesians, he says, For by grace are ye saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. Salvation is the gift of God
and every part of it, even faith, is the gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should
boast. But notice what he follows that
with. He says also, "...for we are
His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which
God hath before ordained, that we should walk in them." The
first of those good works being faith, or believing on Christ,
and also repentance toward God. But flowing from God's grace,
and including all these things, the gifts of His grace, are all
these things that He has ordained that His people should work in
them. Because most works, and especially
religious works, they are not good works. As a matter of fact,
what men call good works are really in the sight of God, for
the most part, bad works or evil works. We ought to know that because
the scriptures tell us that Christ said that which is highly esteemed
by men in the sight of men is an abomination to God. Somebody says, well, I'll tell
you, this is what I believe, that if you live the best you
can, do the best you can, do the works of goodness and benevolence,
God will favor you. You see, he's saying to us just
the opposite of that. That which we by nature highly
esteem, applaud and reward. He said, is an abomination to
God. Why? Because it was done by sinners. Because we pollute everything
we touch. Because no good thing can come
out of an unclean thing. We cannot bring it out. It's
all defiled by our sinfulness. So deceived are men and women. that our Lord said, when they
stand before me in judgment, many will say to me in that day,
Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied or preached in thy name? And in thy name have cast out
devils? And in thy name done many wonderful
works? Don't you remember who we are? Don't you remember what we did? Have we not spoken in your name? Claimed your name? Have we not
preached in your name? Have we not done many wonderful
works? And our Lord says, and then will
I profess unto them, I never knew you. And the word knew and the knowledge
that's spoken of there is that knowledge of love such as when
it expresses it in this way of Adam and Eve. Adam knew his wife. He loved his wife and was in
an intimate relationship with his wife. Christ says, I never
knew you. Ye that work iniquity. Ye that work iniquity. And that word iniquity has to
do with that which is not equal. You compared yourselves with
yourselves. You compared what you do and
did with what you thought was right. But it was not equal to
what I require. All your imagined wonderful works. And not only that, he tells us
in Hebrews 6, as some seem to linger as professing believers,
concerning growth in the grace and knowledge of Christ. He said,
therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let
us go on unto perfection, that is, maturity. not laying again
the foundation of repentance from dead works." What were works
before faith? They were simply dead works. They were done by spiritually
dead sinners. They were done apart from Christ
who alone is life. And they were works, as Christ
said to us, end in spiritual and eternal death. They are dead
works. And then Paul says, writing to
the Romans in chapter 7, talking about the very law that so many
seek to stand before God and be accepted on the basis of their
obedience to it. They say things like this, well
I just believe in the golden rule. I just believe that if you do unto
others as you would have them do unto you, everything will
be alright. And I'd pause there just to say,
who could ever really say that they'd ever done that? We are more concerned with doing
unto ourselves than we ever are doing unto others. And if we
do unto others, we certainly don't do as we would have them
do unto us. Don't kid yourself. He says, for when we were in
the flesh, the motions of sin which were by the law." In other
words, given a rule, given a regulation, given a law, which men say that
is exactly what we need, all that does is stir the rebellion
in us. I don't know how in the world
we could miss this obvious truth in our society. Have we not ever
seen a child? Have we not ever raised a child
or looked at a child and found out maybe at some point that
the best way to get them to do something is to tell them not
to do something. Just keep repeating to them,
now don't you go near this, don't you touch this, don't you taste
this, don't you go in there. How do they respond? They respond
by that nature that is a natural nature of our sinfulness which
is to do exactly what you demand them not to do because like Eve, We have that curiosity that always ends in disaster. Paul said, those who follow such
things as touch not and taste not and handle not, they are
such as be lost and dead in trespasses and sins. For when we were in
the flesh, the motions of sin which were by the law did work
in our members to bring forth fruit unto death." In other words, men and women,
They stand, or rather sit before those who stand before them and
preach and tell them not to do this and not to do that or what
to do in order to be saved. They stand before men and women
and tell them that. They give them a sense of law. They move toward a spirit of
fear in their midst and they offer a promise of reward. What does it always result in? Fruit unto death. Fruit unto death. But rather than being what men
say that it is, the true grace of God, the free and sovereign
grace of God, is the grace, the only grace, the only thing that
is the true and mighty motivation in a sinner's heart to be obedient. Now listen to
what Paul says here. Verse 2. He has said, Speak thou
the things which become sound doctrine. What would that be?
that the aged men be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in
charity, in patience." You don't have to have 50 sermons on that
verse of Scripture to have some understanding as to what he's
talking about there. I don't have to give you week
by week rules and things and commandments and explain all
these things. You see, the truth is, most of
us know to do more than we do. Do we not? Do I have to stand before you
every week and tell you again and again, do not steal? Do not lie. Do not commit adultery. Do not do this and do not do
that. Paul sums it up in this very
practical sense in this way, he says, that the aged men be
sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, which is
love, in patience. And then he goes on, the aged
women likewise that they be in behavior as becomes holiness,
not false accusers, not given too much wine, teachers of good
things. that they may teach the young
women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children,
to be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their
own husbands. Why? That the Word of God be
not blasphemed. That is that no one looks at
us and says what they do is so contrary to what God's Word says. The young men likewise exhort
to be sober-minded, in all things showing thyself a pattern of
good works, in doctrine showing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity,
sound speech that cannot be condemned. All these things, he says, that
he that is of the contrary part That is, anybody who would be
against this truth, against Christ, against you for believing it,
that they may be ashamed having no evil thing to say of you. That's not to say that they won't
have evil to say. That's not to say that they will
not speak falsehoods against you and accuse you, whatever
it is, but that they have no real right to and no real basis
to. Exhort servants. to be obedient unto their own
masters, and to please them well in all things." Not answering
again. Do a good job. Don't fight against
the authority that your bosses have over you. All these things,
he says, not answering again. Don't respond in rebellion to
it. The powers that be, right down
to your boss, They are ordained of God. That's what the Scriptures
say. And if we cannot bow to the authorities
that have been ordained of God, that surely must reveal we've
never bowed our hearts to God. not purloining, but showing all
good fidelity, that they may adorn the doctrine of God our
Savior in all things." Now, did you notice how many times in
that one portion of Scripture Paul uses that word, sober or
soberly? That word in the original means
moderately. That all is to be done in moderation. It means temperately. It means
have self-restraint. Why? that you may adorn the doctrine
of God our Savior in all things." If we have been saved by grace,
if our hearts have been made to delight in the doctrine of
grace, if we have been brought from death unto life, Our conduct
of life, though it has absolutely nothing as a part of our standing
and the basis of our justification before God, is to be one of self-restraint,
temperance, moderation, submission, that we may adorn. You know what that word means? It's something like cosmeto,
I believe it is. And it's the word that we get
the word cosmetic from. I know you ladies know what that
word means. Cosmetic. And what Paul is saying
here is that our lives as we walk in this world, our lives
in this walk of faith, our lives in the light of God's grace to
us, are to adorn the very doctrine that we've been brought to believe,
adorn the doctrine of God in all things. If you notice here, Paul mentioned
every age group. Believers, whether they're young
or old. Both genders, whether you're
male or female. He covers everything, all these
who profess to believe that it's all in our walk, not only before
men, but in all our dealings with others. Family, friends, co-workers, That we live soberly, righteously
in this world. That means with self-restraint. That means justly in all our
dealings. That we might adorn the doctrine
of God in all things. I've often said, believers are not known altogether
by what they say, but maybe sometimes more by how they respond to what
is said to them. But look at what it says in verse
11. Paul says, for the grace of God, there really is just one kind
of grace. It's the grace of God, who is
absolutely free and the only one that is free, independent,
sovereign over all things, and almighty in power. People talk about a grace. that
is so contrary to the God of the Bible. But this is the grace
of God. And he says, for the grace of
God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men. Now it's obvious, if we just
have the teaching of God's Spirit, If he'd just give us a sane mind
for a minute. But it is obvious that saving
grace has not appeared to all men without exception. You see, God's grace brings salvation
in Christ. It does not offer it. It does
not make it available, it brings it. That's right. That's a big misconception in
our day. Men and women think of grace
or God's grace as God making something available to you. Or
God wanting to help you. Or God offering you something. No. Grace brings salvation. God in His free grace has brought
His people, before the world ever began, He brought His people,
that people that He loved and chose in Christ, He brought them
into the covenant of grace. He did all the work. He made
all the decisions, all the inclusions, all the rejections, And not only that, Christ brought
salvation to them when He brought in the everlasting righteousness. You read the book of Daniel,
when Daniel is given that vision and understanding of the Messiah.
One of the things that Messiah would do is this, He would bring
in everlasting righteousness. must have existed before He brought
it in, hadn't it? And since He is the Lord, our
righteousness, surely that is the case. But He brought in this
everlasting righteousness, and the Holy Spirit, in grace, brings
salvation to a sinner when He brings spiritual life and faith
to us. when He brings us to Christ,
when He brings us out of our spiritual state of death, when
He brings us from unbelief to belief, when He brings us from false
religions, when He brings us from trusting in ourselves when
he brings us to the Lord Jesus Christ. He brings salvation. So it is obvious that the gospel
of grace has not appeared to all men without exception, for
all have not even heard the gospel. You can believe what you want
to, but it won't change anything. You can try to make your God
more palatable, but it won't change the God of the Bible. He has not even sent the Gospel
to every person. You say, well, I'll tell you,
I just believe God gives everybody a chance. That is so far Not only from
being biblically true, that's so far from even being reasonable. This isn't about chance. Salvation is not about chance. God's not glorified by giving
men a chance. He's glorified by His grace,
and grace brings all His people to Christ. So what does it mean here? It
means all kinds of men. And most especially when you
read this kind of language in the New Testament, it is simply
the apostles reminding us that grace was not simply for people
called the Jews, grace was for Jew and Gentile. When Paul writes to Timothy in
chapter 2, he tells us that God is the God who will have all
men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. Does
that mean every single person in the world? No. Because He
just told us to pray for all men, giving this description,
definition, and illustration. Kings, whoever they are, Jew
or Gentile, male or female. So grace has gone past all natural
boundaries. Grace has gone past even the
boundaries and distinctions God made in the past, Jew or Gentile. Paul is saying that that middle
wall of partition has been brought down. You see, God did not send a prophet
to raise a prophet up by any of those Gentile people. He looked
with favor upon a national people called Israel. But that was just
to show that His people is a people from among men, from among Adam's
race, of every nation, kindred, tribe, and tongue. So the grace
of God has appeared to all kinds of people at all different times,
from all different backgrounds, Red or yellow, black or white. Because that's what grace is. Grace never looked at one of
his people and said, well, because you're this, I love you. Or because
you're from this country, I'm going to save you. Or because
you're this or that or the other, no. Grace is God's undeserved
favor. And it brings salvation to His
people. And rather than kicking against
such a good doctrine as that, rather than saying, I think that's
unfair. This hasn't got anything to do
with fairness. If God dealt with strict fairness
to you and I just in ourselves, everybody would perish. And rather
than kicking against such a precious doctrine and truth of God, we
ought to be praying and ask the Lord, grant that I might be found
among that people. I want to be saved by your grace. I've reformed my life so many
times it's not even funny. Reformation is not the way for
me. I've tried to do this. I've tried
to do that. I've taken all the prescriptions
that lost religious men have given me. I've tried most of
them. They didn't work. That's why grace is the only
way for me. Grace is the only hope of a real
sinner. God's unmerited love and favor. You see, the grace of God was
seen in the Apostle Paul. He was not always the Apostle
Paul. He was first Saul of Tarsus. self-righteous, religious teacher,
moral man, blameless by men and himself
as far as their view of the law. Grace was seen in that maniac
of Gadara. He wasn't looking for Christ. Christ was looking for him. I
wasn't looking for Christ. I thought I knew Him. I stood
in a pulpit. I occupied a place as a pastor. I thought I knew Him. One day
I found out, by grace, that God was not who I thought He was. And all those places I went in
Scripture and kind of slipped around them, preached around them, explained
them away, they were true. And that that was the true grace
of God. The grace of God is seen in men
and women first of all by what they believe. What distinguishes God's people?
You say, well, they live morally clean. There are a lot of people, a
lot of religious people in this world, they live morally clean. And that old expression, they're
cleaner than a houndstooth. They don't drink, they don't
chew, they don't run around with the folks that do. They don't do any of those things. That can't be the standard canon.
Well, they're zealous. Man, false religion is full of
zealous people. They'll strap a bomb on themselves
and go pull the trigger and blow themselves up. Can't be zeal,
can it? And you can just go by all these
things, dividing, separating. What is it? What is the one thing
different, first of all, about the Lord's people? That's what
they believe. They believe the truth of the
gospel. They believe salvation in its
entirety from A to Z and everything in between is by the grace of
God. And that grace is all together
in the person and performance of one, the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace doesn't excuse sin, it
condemns sin. And it shows God's just punishment
of it in Christ. And furthermore, it teaches the
objects of grace. Look at that twelfth verse. Teaching us. Now men can run
up and down this land all they want to. They can run up and
down this road out in front, say what they want to. But the
grace of God that we believe and preach does not teach men and women to sin. It's the only thing that makes
us see sin for what it is. It's the only thing that makes
us hate sin, especially in ourselves. Makes us say with the Apostle
Paul, I know that in me, that is in my flesh, dwells no good
thing. I see a lot of folks who seem
to be looking for a group they want to be associated with. All
good folks. Can't have any problems in their
life, can't have any problems with their children, can't have
any problems with this, that, and the other. Well, that's not the way the
Lord's church is. When Christ, the great Samaritan,
comes to us where we are, picks us up in our wounded, bruised,
and sinful state, He brings us back to His inn, which is the
church, which is simply a hospital for sinners. That's what this church is, just
a hospital for sinners. Where one beggar can tell another
beggar where he found bread. Or one who's had one trial or
another trial or whatever it is, he said that we might be
a comfort to others when they had the same trial. The word teaches here has to do with discipline. The
grace of God that appears to a sinner, whether it is to a
Jew or a Gentile, whether it's here or in Africa, whether it's
a learned person or an unlearned person, it brings them under
the discipline of grace. You remember Paul said, the love
of Christ constrains me. I'm not going to put shackles
on the Lord's people. Don't give me a key to your house
so I can slip in and see if you're watching TV or something like
that. Don't get me to threaten you
against leaving or promise you a reward if you stay. It teaches us. If the love of Christ does not
constrain you, no matter what your profession, you'll leave
the Lord Jesus. You'll show in the end what you
really were, and that is wanting of the grace of God. You see, grace, rather than excuse
sin, condemns it. Paul, when he writes in Romans
5, he says, for the law entered
that the offense might abound. No problem with the law. The problem is with us. But where sin abounded, grace
did much more abound. You see, it's not like God gave
me grace and converted me. And I'm on my own now. I can
make it the rest of the way. No, no, no, no. If anything,
it seems like I need more grace today than I did 35 years ago. Then I have to pray, Lord, on
a daily basis, Lord, give me more grace. Because that's the
only hope for a real sinner. Grace did much more about that
as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign in
righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. You see, when we behold the cross
of Christ and Him crucified for our sins, That's where we see the awfulness
of sin. The article I had in the bulletin
today, I believe it to be true. We only find ourselves sinners
by faith. Believing that we are what God
says that we are. And if we weren't, why would
He ever have sent His Son to do what was necessary to save
us? Not only believing what we are
in ourselves by faith, but believing what He says that we are in Christ. When it says in Ephesians 1 that
He hath made us accepted in the Beloved, in the original it's something
like this, He has graced us. You've been graced. And the liberty that God's people
have in Christ, The Son making them free is a liberty to serve
Him, and obey Him, and glorify Him, and to love the brethren. Paul in Galatians 5, For brethren,
ye have been called unto liberty, only use not liberty for an occasion
to the flesh, but by love serve one another. Only God's grace in us can produce
what men by the terrors of the law seek to produce. Only grace can restrain us and
keep us from being what we would be by nature. And grace humbles those who are
the objects of grace. And we see ourselves as so sinful
and so unworthy and so blessed of God, how can we not honor
and serve Him and obey Him? Grace causes us to esteem others
greater than ourselves. And only by grace do we ever
have an understanding of what righteousness is. and therefore
beg to be clothed with the imputed righteousness of the Lord Jesus
Christ." I've been on both sides of this
fence. I was raised up in religion. As a result, knew a lot of nice
people. I lived among religious people
who believed in free will and basically salvation by works
or decision or whatever, and people who denied and hated God's
electing and predestinating and redeeming and calling and keeping
grace. And I've seen the meanness of
spirit that pops out. I've seen the suspicious looks I've heard the innuendos, accusations,
seen the arguments, debates, the selfishness, the stinginess,
the criticism, the jealousy, the self-righteousness. All of it the fruit of graceless
religion. But by grace. I've seen grace. I've seen what
grace brings. A bowing in submission to all
the truth of God's Word. The giving of all glory in salvation
as well as all things to God alone. People obeying His plain instructions
by the apostles, by His own lips, simply out of love. That faith
that works by love. I've heard them called Antinomians. But people saved by grace are
not lawless antinomians, but they are those who have His law
written in their hearts. Peter, rather, when he wrote
in that first epistle in chapter 5, He said, by Silvanus, a faithful
brethren to you, as I suppose, I've written briefly exhorting
and testifying that this is the true grace of God wherein ye
stand. I call this message, The Students
of Grace. God help us to be the students
of grace. that grace not only reveals to
us the grace of God in salvation, but it teaches us how we're to
live in this world, how we're to deal with each other, and especially, as Paul says here, that we're to do so in this present
world as we look for that blessed hope and the
glorious appearing of our great God and our Savior, Jesus Christ. Maybe if it's the Lord's will,
I'll deal with that part next week. Lord, may we be students of grace. May grace teach us what we're
to believe and how we're to conduct ourselves. Father, this day we give you
honor and glory, thanks, praise, that you are all, and all in
all, in Christ. Bless your word to our hearts. Lord, we say what we say in the
knowledge that taking what is said, it would never be by our abilities,
but only by your grace that you would save any of your people. We thank you for omnipotent,
mighty, free, and sovereign grace. There is no rebellion. There
is no hardness of heart. There is no blindness that your
grace cannot invade, break into, and
change. Keep saving your people by your
grace. And may we be to the praise of
the glory of your grace forever. We pray and ask it in Christ's
name, Amen.