Be subject unto the magistrates. How incredibly timely that is. Put them in mind to be subject
to principalities and powers. To obey magistrates. To be ready
to every good work. How relevant the word of God
always is. There's a real problem in our
country right now with many people disrespecting our country, disrespecting
authority, rebelling against authority, rioting and looting
in the streets of our cities. And mostly in the name of racism,
they say. It's in defiance of racism. But the very news reports defy
that. That's not the real reason for
it. when a black criminal is shot by a black police officer
serving under a black police chief and that police chief releases
a press statement saying that the criminal had a gun and the
black police officer had to shoot him or be shot. He was justified
in shooting him and still there's a race riot. Somebody's a hypocrite. And the truth of the matter is
all men are insubordinate and unruly and defiant of authority
by nature. We see it in our children when
they're tiny. You didn't have to teach them
to rebel and say, no daddy, they just do that. They just naturally
don't want to do what you tell them to do. And if they grow
up unrestrained, they're going to continue to naturally not
want to do what anybody tells them. And that's just the truth
of it. So what does all this tell us? We cry out this or that, racism
or prejudice or whatever, and many other things, but it's just
an excuse. The problem is not other people.
The problem is me. And you can say the same thing,
the problem is me. You say that to yourself. Man by nature is unruly and full
of hate. As Paul said in our text, we
at one time were hating one another. Man by nature despises God's
authority and that's what the scripture says that a police
officer and the civil authorities are. They are God's authority. They are necessary and they are
good. They are to be obeyed under God. Nothing could be clearer. Turn
to Romans chapter 13. Let's just remind ourselves this morning. People can say, well, this is
justified, you know, because of this, that, or the other.
Let's find out what God says about it, shall we? Romans 13, 1, let every soul
be subject unto the higher powers, for there is no authority, that
word power is authority, but of God. The powers that be are
ordained of God. Whosoever therefore resisteth
the authority, resisteth the ordinance of God. And they that
resist shall receive to themselves damnation. For rulers are not
a terror to good works, but to the evil Wilt thou then not be
afraid of the authority? Do that which is good, and thou
shalt not have praise, and thou shalt have praise of the same.
Do that which is right. If a police officer tells you
to stop, stop. If he tells you to get on the ground,
get on the dadgum ground. Listen to that now. For he is
a minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is
evil, be afraid. For he beareth not the sword
in vain. For he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute
wrath upon him that doeth evil. Now, this is a man that knew
what it was for power to be abusive. He knew what it was to have some
evil men in authority. But he also understood how God
uses that authority. How God has ordained it for the
good of his people. Wherefore ye must needs be subject,
not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake. Not just
because there are consequences if you don't, but just because
it's the right thing to do. And for this cause, pay you tribute
also, for they are God's ministers attending continually upon this
very thing. Render therefore to all their
dues tribute to whom tribute is due, custom to whom custom
is due, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor. But don't they
misuse the money that we send to Washington? Of course they
do. That's not you doing evil, that's them doing evil. You did
the right thing. You paid your taxes. But Chris, the government is
evil. I'm not going to argue with you about that, but that
has very little to do with you obeying the law. What do you
mean by that, Chris? Well, let's take abortion, for
example. Can you think of anything more evil regarding our government
than the fact that they condone? The government has ruled that
it's just fine to kill an unborn baby, and they even go so far
as to pay for it with your money when a mother wants to murder
her unborn baby. That's evil. I agree with you. But the government never made
anybody kill their baby. Not that I know of. See what I'm saying? It doesn't
affect your ability to do right. Do you know of a single law federal or local that forces
you by direct statute to disobey God. Can you think of one? I thought quite a bit about it.
I asked Vicki about it. Can you think of anything? We
thought of some gray areas maybe. Even though there are no laws
on the books that force certain things, there have been rulings
that have been questionable. Let me tell you this, if you
can think of one, then disobey it. You don't have to do it openly.
You don't have to let everybody know you disobeyed it. Just don't
disobey God. If it comes down to God or man,
that's an easy choice. But you know, you might have
a hard time thinking of one. Very, very rare. Submit to God's authority in
our country, in our city, in our schools, in our homes, in
the church. Do what God says. It's not complicated. It's not that you don't know
what he said. Our problem is we just don't want to do it. And notice what this says about
this. Put them in mind. to be obedient. And this is what
we're doing. We're not, as God's preachers,
enforcers of the law of God. We don't put people under a yoke
of bondage. We just remind you. There's a difference. Simon Peter
said in 2 Peter 1 12, Wherefore, I will not be negligent to put
you always in remembrance of these things, though you know
them, and be established in the present truth. Put them in mind.
Remind us. Let's remember. Now that doesn't
mean these things are optional. 2 Timothy 2.14, Paul said to
Timothy, of these things put them in remembrance, charging
them before the Lord that they obey them. In this example, that
they strive not about worse to no profit, but to the subverting
of the hearers. Put them in remembrance, but
also charge them before the Lord. Doesn't mean they're optional.
Well, that's not much different than a law though, Chris. That
just sounds like another law. Oh, it's very different. Those
who impose God's law upon sinners as the way to be saved, as a
means of righteousness before God, obey God's law and he'll
save you, they are demanding sinners to do what they cannot
do. And they have God sitting back and waiting on the sinner
to do something to merit eternal life. It is a hopeless scenario. It is a disastrous excuse for
a gospel. A gospel preacher exhorts, reminds,
and charges before God those who have been saved by God in
free grace to just act like it. Honor the one that saved you. Let his love for you in Christ
constrain you There's a big difference in there The one says do in order
to be saved The other says be ye doers of the word and not
hearers only because you're saved Big difference big difference
A gospel preacher is not going to hold you hostage to the law
of God or demand that you make bricks without straw. But we
say to you as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, the God who
saved you by his grace, the God who picked you out and set his
love upon you from eternity, Jacob have I loved and Esau have
I hated, the God who redeemed you with his precious blood on
Calvary and who upholds you and keeps you by his power every
moment unto salvation, is a God of order, That God is a God of
order. He has established authority
in his world, and that authority is to be obeyed. And the believer's
response to this is, the law of God is not grievous. That's
what Paul said, it's not grievous. He said, I love the law of God
after the inward man. We know that we can never measure
up to God's holy standard. We quit doing that when we met
Christ. We quit trying because we see that he is our righteousness,
all of our righteousness. And so if he is to save me, he
must save me by his free grace. But having saved me by that grace, I believe I'll do what my mom
and dad tell me to do. If God has saved me and he says,
children obey your parents in the Lord. I believe I might do
that. if he'll give me grace to do
it. By the grace of God, maybe I
can drive 55. By his grace, if a police officer
tells me to freeze, you're going to think I'm a statue. Now I know You believe the doctrine,
all of the doctrine that I just mentioned. God picks out. He
chooses. That's what the word election
means. He made a choice. Religion is trying to get you
to make a choice. God's already chosen. You making a choice, we're past
that. What you need to do is bow and lay hold of the Lord
Jesus Christ. I know you believe the doctrine.
Most of you in here believe the doctrine that I just mentioned.
God chooses. He loves from eternity His people. He redeems them by His grace.
He doesn't try to. He doesn't make it available
to them. He just flat redeems them. He said you are bought
with a price. And we know that that price is
not silver or gold, but the precious blood of His Son. He regenerated
us. He gave us life. The Son of God
said, I give life to whomsoever I will. And we're okay with that
by His grace. I know you believe that. Now
what Paul is saying here is, now adorn it, put it on, wear
it, live it, do it. Be ye doers of the word and not
just agreeers only. We saw that in chapter 2 verse
10. Adorn the doctrine of God our Savior. Walk around in it. Live it. Express it. Bear the
fruit of the Spirit. And then verse 2 of our text. To speak evil of no man. Put
them in mind. Put them in remembrance now.
To speak evil of no man. To be no brawlers, but gentle,
showing all meekness unto all men. There are a million ways
that this would apply to our everyday lives, and so I won't
try to even give any examples of this, but I just want to say
that even evil men are not to be spoken evil of. They are to be pointed out. We
can acknowledge it. Paul did a little bit of that,
didn't he? And people can be warned. But let that be the end
of it. Let's not make a lifelong you
know, mission, out of just tearing other people down. Let's maybe
just not be them. That's what our Lord taught us.
He just said, don't be like them. The word meekness there in that
text means gentle, and the word gentle primarily means equitable
and fair. Verse three, for we ourselves
also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving
diverse lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful,
and hating one another. It doesn't take long to see that,
does it? It's easier to see it in other
people. Even little children, by nature they're hateful, aren't
they? Spiteful, selfish. That's us now, and God teaches
us to restrain that in them, to teach them better, to discipline
them and teach them to raise them in the fear and admonition
of the Lord. Not to provoke them to wrath,
but to teach them with authority. Now the word sometimes, we also
ourselves word sometimes, that means once, formerly. This is
an important word, because it's not to be that way anymore. Formerly, aforetime, that's what
it means. In other words, we're not like
that anymore if we're His. We're not to be like that. I
know it shows through sometimes, doesn't it? That that old nature
is still in us. Does that mean that believers
are never foolish or hateful? We know better than that. We
are at times. But it means that it is not any
longer, it doesn't define us anymore. It's not what characterizes
our lives. Believers are kind. If you are a new creation created
in Christ Jesus unto good works, you will still sin. You will
never not sin. You will sometimes be hateful.
But you're not going to live in malice. Did you notice those
words in the text? Living in malice and envy. That's not where we live anymore.
We live in Him. And sometimes we're envious and
malicious, but we live in Him. And there's a huge difference.
You know, it's easier to see sin in other people than it is
to see it in yourself? Oh man, you know, this is an
age of social media. Can you see the hatred in people?
Can you see the spitefulness? The selfishness? How petty people are and stupid. Let's just be honest. Not hard to see in other people,
is it? But as a believer, It's hard to see the change in ourselves. It's easier to see that in other
people too as a believer. I see the change in you. I've
seen some of you before you knew the Lord and seeing you after,
there's a big difference. I don't see that so much in myself.
I still seem like the same old rotten idiot. But I sure do want to be like
Him, don't you? I want to be like Him. And I'll tell you another big difference.
When you are hateful, you're not going to relish it. You're
not going to be happy about it. It's going to flash out of
you. But God gives repentance to His
people, and that's not a one-time thing. That's not a one-time thing.
That's me being sorry for what I've been since I got here this
morning. That's me always seeing the wretchedness
of my own heart and despising it. Job said, I've seen the Lord
and I abhor myself. That's repentance. I used to
abhor him and love myself, and now I love him by his grace,
and I hate myself. That's a big change, my friends. It's not a one-time thing. It's
a lifetime thing. Believers, when they do find
themselves unable to do what they would, and that's the way
Paul worded it, the things that I would, I can't find how to
do them. And the things that I would not,
that I do. Believers all believers have
to say that at times, but when they do they'll also say this
Oh wretched man that I am who shall save me from this You won't hear that from an unbeliever This is the work of God in us You can't just wallow in it anymore,
can you We're going to sin. We don't do anything that's not
full of sin. But you just can't delight in
it like you used to, can you? If you're His. That is God working in you both
to will and to do of His good pleasure. A lot more willing than doing
in my case. Verse 4 but after that You see
that key word after very key word because in verse 3 we saw
the word sometimes which we saw mean meant formerly a four-time
There's a before and an after Thank God there's a before and
there's an after Here we have the after We are still sinners,
but there's an after. Therefore, if any man be in Christ,
he is a new creation. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become
new. There's a then and there's a now. And the difference, and
this is key, The difference see it in our text in verse four
the difference between before And after is the kindness and
love of god our savior It's not you turning over a new leaf.
It's not you deciding anything. It's god having mercy on you.
That's what it is You didn't turn over a new leaf
god saved you if you're changed You were newly created by God
Almighty. That's what it takes. You must
be born again. You deciding something ain't
gonna cut it. You've got to be born again.
Just like you were born the first time, only better. But just like
it in the sense that it was God that caused it. The miracle of
it is the miracle of God's grace. You didn't have a whole lot to
do with it. And you don't have anything to do with the new one
either. It's the mercy God before the children were born and that
nor had done any good or evil God said I love Jacob and I hate
Esau it's the kindness and what love of God our Savior that makes
the difference and he doesn't perform that different we don't
experience that change until at some point in our lives but
he made the difference a long time ago Newly created by God Almighty. What does God's kindness and
love look like? It says here it hath appeared
You see that the kindness and love of God our Savior toward
man has appeared Then what does it look like? Verse 5 not by
works of righteousness which we have done but according to
his mercy he saved us and by the washing of regeneration and
the renewing of the Holy Ghost which he shed on us abundantly
through Jesus Christ our Savior. That's what God's kindness and
love looks like. First of all it looks like not something you did. Here's what it doesn't look like.
It doesn't look like you doing something. You see that? Not
by works of righteous it has appeared what when something
appears you can see it. Well, what do you see then? Well,
I'll tell you what it looks like first Let me tell you what it
doesn't look like it doesn't look like you walking down an
aisle It doesn't look like you making a decision It doesn't
look like you turn it over a new leaf. It doesn't like look like
you at all Not by works of righteousness
which we have done I It's not a profession. It's not an equality
in you by nature. It is not of him that willeth
nor of him that runneth. It's of God who showeth mercy. Secondly, three things about
the mercy of God. Look at the second phrase, but
according to his mercy, he saved us. Let me tell you three things
about God's mercy. First of all, he is plenteous
in mercy. So no matter how bad you are,
He's got plenty of mercy for you. Psalm 103, eight, the Lord
is merciful and gracious and slow to anger and plenteous in
mercy. The word means he abounds in
it. Romans 5, 20, moreover, the law entered that the offense
might abound, but where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. Grace
and mercy go together. God abounds in both. Are you
abundant in sin? Do you abound in sin? God's mercy
is more abundant. And the second thing about God's
mercy is revealed in Psalm 85 10. Listen to it. Mercy and truth
are met together. Mercy has a friend. An intimate
acquaintance called truth. Righteousness and peace have
kissed. Each other. And this simply means
that God's mercy is in agreement with, to say the least, they're
kissing one another. They're together. They're joined. Mercy is in agreement with truth.
And this is important. The last part of the verse reveals
what's meant by the first part. Righteousness and peace have
kissed each other. God can still be righteous. and
have peace with you, with the sinner, only in Christ. You see,
that's what he's fixing to say, through Christ Jesus. Where we
read, you saw that in our text, Titus 3. That's where mercy and
truth kiss one another, in Christ. That's where righteousness and
peace meet together, in Christ. Because of our sin, Natural man. Man is enmity against God. We're not just at enmity. It's
what we are. We are enmity against God. The
opposite of peace. But Christ made peace by the
blood of his cross. And so mercy and truth have joined
together. They are friends. God can still
be righteous and yet at peace with the sinner only in him.
This is a peace with God that is consistent with his justice.
Since God's righteous justice is satisfied with the blood of
his son on my behalf. That's what the publican was
saying. God be merciful to me the sinner. God be propitious
unto me. You know what propitiation is?
It's a sin offering. God received the sin offering
on my behalf, in my case. That's how God is merciful. That's
how mercy and truth come together right there in Christ at the
mercy seat where the blood is applied. God can be true to himself and
have mercy on a wretch like me. The third thing about mercy is
this, it endureth forever. God don't ever get tired of showing
you mercy. you that hath begun that good
work in you he's gonna finish it for if when we were enemies
we were reconciled to God by the death of his son reconciliation
is peace much more being reconciled being at peace we shall be saved
by his life much more now the third phrase in verse five is
what the washing of regeneration what is that? Well, regeneration,
it has to do with life. Re-life. Life again. New life. The new birth. Recreation. God created an earth. And one of these days he's going
to destroy that earth and make a new one. And he created man. He created me. He created the
body of this death. And one of these days he's going
to destroy it. And he's made a new one. new creature in Christ, a new
creation in Christ Jesus. And one of these days, if you're
His, all you're going to see when you look at me is the new
Chris. You know what I'm going to look
like? Exactly like Him. But this is regeneration. It's
birth from above. You must be born again, Nicodemus.
This is the giving of life our Savior spoke of in John 5, 21
through 27. If you'd like to Read that. He said, I give life
to whom I will. God, the Father, has made me
judge. And here's what he says in that
text, and this is very important. I probably, for time's sake,
we won't read it, but listen. What he says in John 5, 21 through
27, here's what Christ says, two things. Life is his to give, and he has the authority from
his Father to decide who gets it. You read that passage and you
report back to me whether that's not right. Life is his to give. And he decides who gets it. John 5, 21 through 27. Now this thing called the washing
of regeneration. It's called that because this
new life is a holy life. It's a clean life. We still have
the flesh. We still have the filth of our
fleshly nature in us. We still live in the body of
this death, and we cry, who's gonna save us from it? We still
have our old nature, but there's also the new. Look at Ephesians
4, we need to read this. I wanna be brief this morning,
but we really need to read this, and I'll be as brief as I can.
Ephesians 4, 19. Ephesians 4 verse 19 There's the new I Have to start in verse 19 So
we kind of get to the train of thought here who being past feeling
have given themselves over unto lasciviousness This is the natural
man the man as we're born into this world apart from God's grace
the experience of his grace to work all uncleanness with greediness. But ye have not so learned Christ.
If so, be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by
him, as the truth is in Jesus, that ye put off concerning the former conversation
the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lust,
and be renewed. There's the regeneration, renewed. There's the same idea. In the
spirit of your mind, in that you put on the new man, put off
the old man, put on the new man, which after God is created in
righteousness and true holiness. Wherefore, putting away lying,
speak every man truth with his neighbor. For we are members
one of another. Be ye angry and sin not. Let not the sun go down
on your wrath, neither give place to the devil, and so on. The
word renewed in verse 23, there is a derivative of a word that
means newly born. So if we have the new birth,
if we are born again, there is a renewing, new life. And so this new birth here is
associated in Ephesians 4 again with a holy nature, a new nature. The new man is washed in the
blood of Christ from all sin. This is why our Lord said to
his disciples, you're clean every whit, every whit. And then notice
this phrase, and renewing of the Holy Ghost. This renewing
of us, this creating of a new creature involves the Holy Spirit,
just as in the old creation. Do you remember what happened
when God created the world? It was new then and that was
performed by the Spirit of God moving upon the face of the deep.
Listen to the language of it and see the clear spiritual teaching
in it as I read it. Listen to it. In the beginning
God created the heaven and the earth and the earth was without
form and void and darkness was upon the face of the deep. That's
us by nature. Some say that the word there
is that the earth became without form and that this had to do
with the fall of Satan, that God created a perfect world and
that when God cast Satan and the third of the angels out of
heaven with him, he cast them down to earth and the earth was
destroyed and became defiled by the sin. and became a dark
and horrible place. I don't know if that was the
timing of it or not or if that had anything to do with it. But
I know this, the earth was a wasteland. No life. It was a dark chunk
of death floating through space. And what happened then? And the
Spirit of God moved. You see what we're talking about?
The renewing of the Holy Ghost. This is an act of God. You can
make all the decisions you want to. But until God says, let there
be light, there's not going to be any light until his Holy Spirit
moves. You must be born again, Nicodemus.
How does that happen? The Spirit blows where it pleases.
And you can hear the sound of it, you can see the effects of
it, but you can't tell where he came from or where he'll go
next. And you can't dictate it. He goes where he pleases. That's
how it is with everyone that's born of the Spirit. The Spirit
of God must move upon the face of the dark, deep, lifeless creation. And God said, let me read it
all again because I've interrupted myself so many times trying to
explain it, but listen to the language. This is beautiful now.
This is how God saves a sinner. In the beginning God created
the heaven and the earth and the earth was without form and
void and darkness was upon the face of the deep and the spirit
of God moved upon the face of the waters and God said let there
be light and there was light. And you know I've got to say
it I say it to you a lot but Paul applied that in salvation
and said that the same God who said let there be light In the
beginning and there was light he shined in my heart And the
result of him shining in my heart is that I can see his glory now
in the face of his son The darkness is gone I can see the glory of
god and it's in the person of his son the lord jesus christ
and him crucified There's life there's life in his blood It's
Christ crucified. It's Christ bearing the guilt
and the punishment of the sins of his people on Calvary. And
because he died, now I live. Just like this earth had a beginning,
so did I as a new creature in Christ. And in both cases, the
Spirit of God moved. And as our Lord described the
new birth to Nicodemus as the Holy Spirit going where he pleases
to go and giving life to dead sinners. So he did for me. And that's what Paul describes
when he says the renewing of the Holy Ghost. No more darkness. No more death. Verse six, which he shed on us
abundantly. Through Jesus Christ, our Savior. Oh, this is how much and who? How much? Abundantly. Who? Jesus Christ. He is the abundant blessing,
grace, life, righteousness, everything good. the abundant blessing of
God upon the sinner when God saves him. Every blessing that
we have from God, every gift he shed on us abundantly, including
the Holy Spirit and all of his influence and power as the context
dictates there. In the life that we have, we
have life more abundant. Isn't that what the scripture
said? He came to give life and that you might have it more abundantly. There's our same word. The mercy
of God that we just spoke of. He's abundant in it. The kindness
and love of God mentioned in verse 4. All of these are shed
on us abundantly and they are ours through Jesus Christ, our
Savior. God doesn't do anything halfway.
Or unenthusiastically, you know. He doesn't do things the way
we do. He sheds his blessings upon his
people abundantly. Are you saved? Then God says
you're saved to the uttermost. Has God's grace come to you?
Then as Paul said, it has abounded over all of your sin. Does God
love you? Then Paul prayed that he might
that God might show you something of the depth and width and breadth
and height of that love Has he given you his peace? Has he made
peace for you by the blood of his cross? Then that peace is
so perfect and beautiful that it passes all understanding.
You see how God does things Everything he gives he gives abundantly. You can't even describe it These blessings are shed so abundantly
because of Him through whom they come. His grace is abundant because
Christ's blood is powerful to save. That peace is beyond all
human understanding because it was made by the precious blood
of His cross. God forbid that I should glory
save in that cross of my Lord Jesus Christ. God has done all
that he has done in the salvation of his people so that Christ
might have the preeminence. And Christ is to have the preeminence
because he deserves it. Let's pray together.