Titus 2 verse 11, For the grace
of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching
us that denying ungodliness and worldly lust we should live soberly,
righteously, and godly in this present world. Looking for that
blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and
our Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us that he might
redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto himself a peculiar
people, zealous of good works. These things speak and exhort
and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise thee." The
title of my message is, I Need a Great Savior. And that's not
just the title. But that's my experience as well. That's my daily experience. I'm learning, learning more and
more the truth of that confession. I need a great savior. Someone would ask, well, you
mean when you were first saved? Well, yes, of course. Dead in
trespasses and sins, I was by nature a child of wrath like
all other men, just as dead, just as helpless, just as lost,
just as in need of God's grace. Certainly at that moment, I needed
a great savior. But I mean more than that. I
mean that but also since that time. Every day since I first
believed, I've never gotten over the need of a great God and Savior. Because I'm still, I hope this
doesn't shock anyone, because I'm still a great sinner. This man who stands before you
at this very moment trying to preach by God's grace is at this
moment still a great sinner. And you know what? That will
be true all the days of my life. I'll never get beyond that, not
in this world. There will never be a time that
I won't stand in need of God's great mercy God's great grace
and my great Savior, Jesus Christ, because there will never be a
time in this life that I cease to be a needy sinner. Never, never. There was an apostle,
a man who had been an apostle when he wrote these words, had
been an apostle for quite a few years, who said in another place
that on one occasion he was caught up to the third heaven, and saw
things that God wouldn't allow him to try to communicate to
anyone else. It wasn't lawful for him to utter. But that same man wrote that
this was his daily experience, something that he had never gotten
beyond since God had saved him. He said the things that he would
do, those things that in his heart he would do to please God,
to honor his Redeemer, there was always a struggle between
that and another tendency, another law. The word law there means
a principle, so certain, so fixed, struggling against the law, or
rather the law of the flesh, so that the things he would not
do, that he found himself doing, and the things he would, he did
not. And he cried out. Can you identify
with this? He cried out because of that
struggle of the old nature and the new. He uttered these words,
O wretched man that I used to be. That's not how it reads,
is it? That's not what Paul said in
Romans 7. I've heard people speak that
way, speak in this fashion. I had that conflict when I was
a sinner. I had that struggle, those temptations,
when I was a sinner. Paul didn't say that, did he?
Paul said, right now, right now, even as I write these words under
divine inspiration by God's Holy Spirit, even now, he said, O
wretched man that I am. not used to be, but I still am."
Old John Newton. I suppose he's better known for
the famous hymn he wrote, Amazing Grace, than perhaps anything
else. But he was an able preacher in his day. But in his old age,
when his sight was gone, he made this statement. He said, my memory
is nearly gone. I don't recall things like I
once did. But two things, he said, I still
remember. I'm a great sinner and Jesus Christ is a great Savior. That's worth remembering, isn't
it? How differently God's grace, God's salvation, that is our
need of it, the nature of it, how differently they're described
about modern-day religion than how they're described in God's
Word. How differently God himself is
described. than how he presents himself. For example, you've heard this,
we hear it on every hand. And when I hear this, I ask myself,
who are they talking about? Who is that imposter they're
talking about? They give him the name of God,
but as they describe him, he's not God. I hear preachers all
the time say, God is trying. God is trying. And I think to
myself, really? Where is that in God's Word?
I can't find it. I hear fellows say, God wants
to. God really wants to if men will
allow Him. Will you let God? Now, you've heard me say it before.
A God that needs to help of this weak sinner is in trouble. If he needs my help, we're both
in trouble. No, God doesn't describe himself
that way at all. Turn, if you will, to Isaiah
40. We could turn in any book, any chapter from Genesis to Revelation,
and we'll never hear an inkling, a hint, that God ever tries or
attempts anything. No, on the contrary. We read
that in the beginning, God created. We turn to the last book and
we read, the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. He reigneth. He saideth king forever. Isaiah chapter 40 verse 9, verse
9, O Zion that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the
high mountain. O Jerusalem that bringeth good
tidings, lift up thy voice with strength. Lift it up. Be not
afraid. And say unto the cities of Judah,
Behold your God. Behold your God. Would you be
encouraged? Behold your God. Would you be
brought to the footstool of true worship? Behold your God. God, would you have a good hope? Then behold your God, behold
the Lord God, verse 10, will come with strong hand. It doesn't
say he'll attempt to do it. It says he will. He will come
with strong hand and his arm shall rule for him. Behold, his reward is with him
and his work before him. He shall feed his flock like
a shepherd. He shall gather the lambs with
his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead
those that are with young. Who hath measured the waters
in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span,
and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed
the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance? Who hath
directed the Spirit of the Lord, or being his counselor, hath
taught him? With whom took he counsel? And
who instructed him, and taught him in the path of judgment,
and taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding?
Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted
as the small dust of the balance. Behold, he taketh up the owls
as a very little thing, and Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor
the beast thereof sufficient for a burnt offering. All the
nations before him are as nothing. And they are counted to him less
than nothing in vanity. And God asked, to whom then will
ye liken God? Or what likeness will ye compare
unto him? Look down at verse 21. Have ye
not known? Have ye not heard? Have it not
been told you from the beginning? Have ye not understood from the
foundations of the earth? It is I that setteth upon the
circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers. that stretcheth out the heavens
as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in." Verse
25, "'To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal?' saith
the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high, and
behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their
host by number. He calleth them all by names,
by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power,
not one faileth. Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and
speakest, O Israel, my way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment
is passed over from my God? Hast thou not known, hast thou
not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of
the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary. There
is no searching of his understanding. He giveth power to the faint,
and to them that have no might, he increaseth strength. There's a hymn in our hymnal
that says, I must tell Jesus. I think, if I remember correctly,
a while back I told you about how that came to be written.
Elisha Hoffman was visiting one of his sick members. She was
very troubled, very depressed. And he just looked at her and
said, Sister, all I can tell you is you must tell Jesus. You must tell Jesus. And then
there was a sparkle in her eye and she said, You're right, Pastor.
I must tell Jesus. And all the way home those words
kept rolling over in his mind and he wrote that hymn. I must
tell Jesus. Why must we tell Jesus? A part
of it says, because tempted and tried, I need a great Savior. I need a great Savior. Nothing
less than a great God and Savior will suffice for this sinner.
I need a great God and Savior, don't you? A great Savior with
great grace. The sort of grace that Paul spoke
about in Romans 5. He said, where sin abounded,
God's grace doth much more abound. That sort of grace. Where sin
reigned unto death, even so might grace reign in righteousness. How? Through our Lord Jesus Christ. I need grace greater And this
is indeed great grace. Grace that is greater than all
my sin. That's amazing grace, John. That's
amazing grace. And that's the only grace that
will help someone like me. Turn back, if you will, to 1
Corinthians chapter 6. 1 Corinthians 6. This is what grace does to everyone
who experiences it. Grace reigns, always, without
exception. 1 Corinthians 6, you know this
passage well. Verse 9. Know ye not that the
unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters,
nor adulterers, nor infeminate, nor abusers of themselves with
mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers,
nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such
were some of you. I read that list and I say, yes,
guilty, guilty, guilty, Larry, Chris, such were you. But don't fail to notice there
in verse 11, it speaks in the past tense, doesn't it? Such
were some of you. You're not that anymore. Why? Why? Why not? Who's made the
difference? But, but, you're washed. You're washed. God's grace and the blood of
Christ cleanseth you from all sin. You're washed. And you are
present tense, sanctified. and you are justified. In the
court of heaven, you are declared not guilty. Justified in the name of the
Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. Turn over a few chapters
in 1 Corinthians to chapter 15. Chapter 15. The apostle Paul in verse 9 says,
I am the least of the apostles that am not meet to be called
an apostle because I persecuted the church of God. In another
place he said he wasted it. He said he was exceedingly zealous
for the tradition, those religious traditions of his fathers. But there's that word again.
Something happened to Saul of Tarsus that until his dying day
he never got over it. He never got over it. That's
what grace does. Men make decisions and often
they soon get over it. Oh, but when Saul of Tarsus,
that religious rebel, met the Lord Jesus Christ on the Damascus
road, he never got over it because he experienced that grace. But by the grace of God, God's
reigning grace, God's abounding grace, God's amazing grace, but
by the grace of God, I am what I am. Well, did it matter, Paul? Did it make a difference? Well,
it sounds like it did. And his grace which was bestowed
upon me was not in vain, but I labored more abundantly than
they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. That's the grace of our great
God and Savior. You remember when Gabriel went
to Mary and told her she should have a son? Call his name Jesus. Remember what the angel said
to her? He shall be great. He shall be great. There'll never
be another like him. That holy thing that shall be
conceived in you shall be the Son of God. He shall be Great,
because he shall do what none other ever could. He shall, as
he afterwards would tell Joseph, he shall save his people from
their sins. Think about that. My soul, what
an accomplishment. What a wonder. He shall enter
into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. Indeed, he shall be great. And to every sinner who experiences
his grace, who's been stripped, because that's necessary. That's
necessary. who must be first brought down,
who must be lost before they'll ever realize they need to be
saved, who must be stripped before they're ever clothed. Must be. Who must be, again, as old Newton
said, taught to fear, taught to fear, made aware that there
is a God and that they themselves are sinners. But once they experience
this grace, they too will cry out, oh, how great thou art. What a great work of God's grace
that left sinners out of the depths. That's where we were.
That's where we were, in the depths. Out of the depths cried
I unto thee, O God. What grace! that left sinners
out of the depths and left them all the way up to glory. What a great salvation if we
are allowed to behold our great God and Savior today. And God enabled us to do that.
We'll leave here rejoicing and singing in our hearts, it is
well with my soul. All the bliss. It is well with
my soul. Obama can't touch that. He can't
ruin that. Look again at verse 11 of Titus
2. For the grace of God that bringeth
salvation. That bringeth salvation. How
does salvation come to sinners? On what grounds is it realized? Works? No, never. A soul has never been justified
by the deeds of the law. It's always grace. He stands
before God on the sure foundation of the grace of God that is in
Christ Jesus. Look what Paul says in chapter
3 of Titus at verse 3. We ourselves also were sometimes
foolish and disobedient, deceived, serving divers lust and pleasures,
living in malice and envy and hateful, and hating one another,
but, but after the kindness and love of God our Savior toward
man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done,
but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration
and renewing of the Holy Ghost, which he shed on us abundantly
through Jesus Christ our Savior, that being justified by his grace
we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. Paul said in Romans 11, if it
was of works, then it is no more grace. But if it's of grace,
then it's of no more works. Ephesians 2, that very familiar
passage, for by grace are ye saved through faith. Saved today, saved tomorrow,
saved through eternity. Saved by the great grace of our
great God and Savior. Sufficient enough, able enough,
to keep all those that the Father gave Him. Looky there. Oh, what omnipotence. What power. He says, they're in my hand.
I'm their shepherd. And they're my sheep. And they're
all in my hand. and no one, no one will ever
pluck them out. I give them eternal life and
they shall never, never perish. It was grace that taught my heart
to pray and made my eyes overflow. It is grace that's kept me to
this day and will not let me go. The grace of God. Again,
it says, that bringeth salvation. unsought, unasked, unmerited. That's the grace of God that's
in Christ. In Luke 15, our Lord again setting
himself forth as the great shepherd of the sheep. Remember what he
taught there as the Pharisees, Saul's sinners. What a beautiful
picture that is. It wasn't to the self-righteous
Pharisee. Oh, but it is the needy sinners.
There is our Lord. And as he is teaching, sinners
and publicans gather around. They form a circle around him.
And the Pharisees stand without and look down their noses and
say, look, ooh, isn't that disgusting? Look at that brother Pharisee.
Isn't that terrible? He associates with publicans
and sinners. And our Lord said, not only do
I receive publicans and sinners, I go out looking for them. Not
only do I desire their company and enjoy their company and invite
them to come to me, I go out and search for them. And he says,
I search for them until I find them. I will not quit searching
for my sheep until I find them. And when I find them, I say,
will you pretty please let me do something for you? No, no.
When I find them, I put them upon the broad shoulders of my
omnipotent grace and I bring them all the way home. all the way home, all the way
to glory, to be where He is. He brings salvation with Him. Not if certain conditions are
met, not if Lazarus takes the first step. Boy, I tell you,
if I ever heard a sorry, sorry piece of news, it was that, when
a preacher told me, if you'll take the first step. And I'm
sitting there, take the first step. Louis, I'm dead. I need a resurrection. I need spiritual life. How can
I take the first step? Oh no, the good news of the gospel
is not Lazarus take the first step. But the good news of the
gospel is to see He who is the resurrection and the life come
to the tomb of dead sinners and say, live! Live! And you know what will happen?
Each and every time, without exception, because He shall not
fail, when they hear the voice of the Son of God, they'll live. They'll live. They'll arise to
walk in newness of life. Look at verse 13 of Titus 2,
looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of
the great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. Oh, who is he? Who is he? Note, it doesn't say
a great God and Savior, but the great God and Savior. There is
only one. Do you hear me? There is only
one. In Isaiah 5, God says, why do
you pray unto a God that cannot save? Can you think of a more sad picture than
that? Multitudes praying to a God who
cannot save. But God in glorious, majestic
mercy says, look unto me. Look unto me. Look unto me and be ye saved. Don't look at those idols of
men's making. Don't look at those so-called
saviors, but look unto me. I'm a just God and Savior. If
you look to me, and every time, every time a
sinner whose eyes have been opened to
look unto the Son of God, they're saved. They're saved. Just like Moses. When the children
of Israel were being bitten and dying by the serpent's bite,
the Lord said, Moses, make a serpent. Put it on a pole. Can you visualize
that? And go throughout the camp and
hold it up high. and tell them to look and live. Look and live. And everyone that looked, everyone
that looked, lived, were made whole. Oh, yes, He's the only
Savior, the only Redeemer, the only Mediator, the only one. If the only mediator a man has
between him and God is Mary or the priest or the preacher, he
doesn't have a mediator. Our Lord said in that day when
all mankind are ushered into the presence of God and they stand before that thrice
holy God, the only hope they have are their
own works. He said, many will say to me
in that day, we've done many wonderful things in your name.
We've cast out devils. We did all these things in your
name. That's what they were trusting.
And he says, I never knew you. I don't know you. Depart from
me. but there'll be a multitude that no man can number to whom
God himself will say, enter in, welcome home. Welcome home. All this, all this
has been prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
You know why? The only difference between those
who hear him say, depart from me, and those who hear him say,
enter in, is the Lord Jesus Christ. He's that mediator. He's that
glorious substitute for sinners. He's that one, and he alone,
who was made sin for us, he who knew no sin, that we might be
made the righteousness of God in him. Our savior is also our
God, the text says. That one who is himself the mighty
God, the everlasting father, the prince of peace. When he
was on earth, the religious folks always challenged him, challenged
as to who he claimed to be. On one occasion he said, behold,
one greater than Abraham is here. How dare you? Abraham, you're
not even 50 yet. Have you seen Abraham? Remember
what our Lord said, replied to them? Before Abraham was, I am. The eternal I am. Before Abraham
was, I am. And he rejoiced to see my day
and he saw it. When did Abraham see the time
of Christ, the day of Christ? He certainly saw it in the sacrifice
of his son. when God stayed his hand and
saw that substitute for Isaac provided greater than the temple. Behold, he said, one greater
than Solomon is here. Is this your Savior? There's
not another. A second question. Do you need
such a Savior? Like that woman in Luke 7. Our
Lord sets in the house of Simon the Pharisee, and this woman,
this woman comes in. Simon didn't invite her. Simon
didn't like it at all that she would come into his house, because
everybody in town knew who she was. And Simon said, look at
that. Look at that sinner. My soul,
what is she doing? Would you look at that? She's
touching him. He who claims to be the Son of
God is allowing that sinner to touch him? Oh, yes, he does. Yes, he does. And more than that,
our Lord said of that woman, she has nothing to pay. She has
nothing to pay. She's a debtor with nothing to
pay. Oh, that's good news for such
a one has been brought to know that. This is good news that
he's mighty to save. Great sinners need a great Savior. And that's exactly what Jesus
Christ is. He's a great Savior for great
sinners, is he not? I find him more and more. to be exactly what this sinner
needs. More and more, I find that God
has made him to be unto me everything I need, today and for eternity. Remember what he said to that
woman? Thy sins are forgiven thee. Oh, what glorious words. Thy
sins are forgiven thee. Oh, what a great physician of
souls he is. Listen, listen. He says, if any
man thirst, any man thirst, come unto me and drink. Or any heavy
laden, he says, come to me and I will give thee light. Listen.
He's able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by Him. Do you need great grace? Grace
that can pardon and cleanse within? Grace that forgives and regenerates? Grace that gives a new heart?
Yes, I do. Yes, I do. I need such a Savior
as He is. And He is all I need. He is all
I need. Someone asked Brother Scott,
is Christ enough? Is Christ enough? And Scott said,
if He's all you've got, He's enough. He's enough. He's enough
for God Almighty. God said He's enough. I'm satisfied
with all He did. I'm well pleased in Him. And
so is this sinner. Last of all, the great God and
Savior. Is He your great God and Savior?
Your great Shepherd? Notice the little word Paul uses
there, our. Oh, that's a sweet word, isn't
it? As He called you out of darkness
into His marvelous light, looking for that blessed hope. Oh, what
a hope. What a day that will be. When
my Jesus I shall see. Jesus Christ himself is our hope. I have no other hope of salvation
but him. I trust him. My hope's built
on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. He said, come
to me. And I came. He said, look unto me. And I
looked, and I'm still looking. He's my blessed hope. I believe
him, and he's given me a good hope through grace. A good hope
through grace. Archibald Alexander, after he
had been a preacher for 60 years, preached Christ for 60 years,
and was a professor, a professor of theology in Princeton University
for 40 years, On his deathbed, he said to a friend standing
by, all my theology is reduced to this narrow compass. Jesus
Christ came into the world to save sinners. All by hope. Rest right there. He came into
the world to save sinners. Oh, if Christ is your hope, then
you have a good hope that cannot fail, that reaches within the
veil, the Christ himself that appears in the presence of God
for us. Looking for that blessed hope
and the glorious appearing. Oh, that will be glorious. When
we see him, As Job said, I'll see him for
myself, my own eyes, and not another's. See him who loved
me and gave himself for me. God bless you. Thank you for
your time.