May it please God to bless us
together as we meditate in his word this morning. Let us turn
to the epistle of Paul to Titus and the second chapter and we'll
read verses 11 to 14. That's just one sentence. The epistle of Paul to Titus
and the second chapter reading verses 11 to 14. For the grace
of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching
us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, 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 Saviour, 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. This letter that the Apostle
Paul wrote to Titus is a short letter by comparison with some
of the other epistles, but it has a great deal of instruction
for us as individuals and also as a church. It speaks to old
men, it speaks to young men, it speaks to old women, it speaks
to young women. And therefore there is instruction
for all of us in this account the two chapters that we've read
together this morning and it will be a great blessing as if
we read the Word of God and read it as the Word of God and not
just another account in history but the great truth of God because
the Apostle tells us and to the acknowledging of the truth which
is after godliness in hope of eternal life which God that cannot
lie, and what a blessing that is. We have a God who does not
lie. We live in a world, don't we, where we can't believe the
media, we can't believe what is told us really, we don't know
really what is truth, but we know the Word of God is truth,
and you and I can rely upon it. 100% what a blessing that is
and so here we have this statement In hope of eternal life which
God that cannot lie promised before the world began and that
speaks as isn't it very clearly of the eternity of God God didn't
just appear he promised these things before the world began
but hath in due times manifested his word through preaching and
And again, we're told, the Apostle tells us in another place, it's
through the foolishness of preaching that God brings the blessing. And so we should never underestimate
the favour it is to hear the preaching of the Word, which
is committed unto me according to the commandment of God our
Saviour. And so here was the Saviour,
the Lord Jesus, commanding that preaching should be the way should
be the vessel that is used for the most part in the blessing
of souls. And it's good, therefore, to
look into our own hearts, our own lives. And we've all sat
here, haven't we? We've all heard the preaching
of the Gospel for many years, perhaps. And even those of you
who are young, you've heard it for several years. And just think
of the hours of sermons, hours of preaching that you've heard.
Well, what do you remember? What do you remember from the
preaching you've heard? If I was to ask you this morning,
well now, we're going to have a little exercise. You're all
going to write down what you've heard in your life, the things
you've heard preached, the things which have really touched your
heart. Well, perhaps there might be
a few blank pages. It would be good if there's many
pages that you can write of God's blessing and God's favour. Remember,
this is the ordained way of blessing. And so, never think lightly. If you can't gather to hear the
Gospel preached, never think, well, I've just done that which
is my duty and I've ticked that box and I'm just going to carry
on. No, it's a great privilege. to hear the preaching of the
Gospel. And there are many, many people in the world who have
never heard the Gospel preached. Many. And many have not heard
the true Gospel preached. And so what a favour it is for
us today to be able to come and hear the Gospel preached. And therefore, thank God that
it is our favour so to do. Well, I don't intend to go through
these chapters, There's much instruction for young and old
in these words, and as we've read them, may we desire to follow
out the gracious exhortation. The last verse in this second
chapter, which we don't intend to comment on apart from this,
these things speak and exhort and rebuke with all authority,
because this is the Word of God. Now then, turning to the 11th
verse, where we read, for the grace of God that bringeth salvation
hath appeared to all men. Now first of all, let's be clear
that this, of course, is not to all men throughout the world. For the grace of God that bringeth
salvation That means the truth of God, which is preached, and
it was not therefore confined to the Jewish people, which it
had been, apart from a few exceptions, like Ruth in Old Testament times. But generally speaking, the great
and glorious gospel was confined to the Jewish nation. They were
wonderfully blessed. They didn't appreciate it. They
were wonderfully blessed. But nonetheless, that was now
extended in the New Testament times to the Gentiles, which
refer, of course, to all those who are not Jews. And that means,
therefore, that the grace of God was preached to all nations. But of course, there were many
who never heard the preaching of the gospel, and still today,
there are many that never hear the preaching of the gospel.
So be very, very thankful this morning. Indeed, be humbled that
God should have given you the privilege of being born into
a location, into a country, where the gospel is preached. And perhaps,
in greater detail, to think what a wonderful favour it is if you've
been been born into a family that desires to follow the way
of God traced out in the Word of God. This is a tremendous
blessing, a wonderful favor. We know it does not bestow grace,
the free unmerited favor of God. Grace is God's prerogative to
give. It's his sovereign will and purpose.
But nonetheless, it's a great favor to be born under the sound
of the gospel and don't despise it, value it, bless God for it
and pray that as your lot has been brought about in such a
situation that through this avenue you may come to the knowledge
of the truth of God that may penetrate into your heart and
prove to be an eternal blessing. That's what you and I should
be seeking after, eternal blessings. We are to pray for all things,
we are to pray for things in our lives, we are to pray for
guidance and direction in our natural life, but the great blessing
is to be blessed with a spiritual knowledge that we are an undone
sinner and Christ is the only hope we have of salvation and
to be directed to him as our hope and to have the confirmation
that he is our hope. And our hope is in Him and in
Him alone. Well, the Apostle goes on and
he tells us, for the grace of God that bringeth salvation has
appeared to all men. And then he tells us what it
is, what this grace of God does. teaching us. Now it's good to
be found again with a heart to receive teaching. You go to school,
don't you? We've been to school, those of
us who are older, and to college and university. And what do we
go there for? We go to be taught, don't we?
We go to be taught. What do you come to chapel for?
You come to be taught. You come to hear the truth of
God. And therefore, in essence, it's
no difference, but in truth it is, because you come to hear
the teaching of the Word of God, which is, and brings by His Spirit
an eternal blessing. Whereas the things that you and
I learn at school and college, etc., are generally for our temporal
blessing. And so here we have this statement. given by the Apostle to Titus
and to the Church of God, teaching us. And what does it teach? Well, it teaches us tremendous
things. And what a blessing for all of
us this morning if the Holy Spirit presents these to us as very
important and things that we do need and things that we should
seek after and that we should desire to walk in a right way. And so the Apostle tells us here
that we should deny ungodliness and we should deny worldly lusts. You may ask the question, well
why is that? I'll tell you why it is. Because
our nature Our old man, as it's referred to, that which we were
born with, seeks after the things of the world. And it enjoys worldly
lusts. But here we have what the Word
of God does. It tells us to deny ourselves
these things. You may say, That's all right,
but how does it come about? Well, it comes about by a number
of ways. First of all, the devil comes and brings worldly and
lustful thoughts into our minds. No one else knows about it. No
one else knows what goes on in your mind or my mind, do they?
Only God knows. But it's a good thing if when
you and I are plagued, and I use that word, and I think it's a
good word to use, plagued or pestered by the devil with worldly
and ungodliness and worldly lusts, what are we to do? We are to
pray for grace to turn our hearts, turn our minds away from these
things because what do such things do? What do such things do? Do
they produce good things? They produce sin. They produce
sin. And all those sins have to be
pardoned. And all those sins have to be
removed. And all those sins have to be
paid for. So it's easy to let our minds
run riot, that means run freely into worldly and lustful things. And don't forget, the devil will
encourage you in these things. He won't say, hold on a minute,
don't listen, don't think about these things. He'll encourage
you more and more. That's why we have the blessed
word of God to alert us to the dangerous situation that Satan
brings into our hearts and minds. And you see, sometimes those
things which commence in our mind lead to outward things. that is the performance of words
that we may speak perhaps actions that we may do and these things
are not for God's glory and they're not for the benefit of our souls
and they are all sinful and need to be pardoned and that's the
state by nature which we find ourselves in how needful it is then to have
a word like this and my friends It's not easy. True Christianity
never has been and is not and never will be easy to deny ourselves
because our old nature likes these things. And therefore we
find ourselves facing and having this warfare. There's a warfare
within us between the the flesh and the spirit. And that's why
we're told, aren't we, the Apostle tells us to take the whole armour
of God. Yes, there it is. Let's lay hold
of it. Now we're thankful, aren't we,
that James has been able to address you young people in our Bible
studies on this whole armour of God, and he hopes to do so
again very soon. And we pray that you may listen
and you've got notes of what that refers to and look again
at the notes and refer to them and see what they really mean.
To take the whole armour of God. It is so important. The Word
of God explains what it is. It tells us what it is. And it
is there. And often you see we just leave
it on the side, don't we? We don't take it up. We leave
it there and we let our old nature, our heart, indulge in these worldly
lusts and ungodly thoughts. My friends, may we be blessed
with much grace to turn away from them, so that we may be
truly lively and healthy in the things that God is seeking after
eternal things. We're coming on to that. Teaching
us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts. Well, is there
a vacuum then? Is there anything that we should
be doing or are we just to sit down? No, there is. There's a
very positive side. You see, we have here the negative
side, but there is a positive side. And you and I should be
concerned in our religion to have the positive evidence of
the work of grace in our hearts. And so here we have this statement. Teaching us, we should live. How should we live? Soberly,
righteously, and godly. That's how you and I are to live. This is the testimony of God's
Word. Isn't it wonderful? That we have
very clear direction, very clear guidance for our lives. Teaching us. This is what the
Word of God teaches us. And this is what is to be taught
in the preaching of the Word. It's not to be left on one side. The teaching of God's Word is
this, how we should live soberly, righteously and godly. Well, let us look into our lives,
look into our hearts and see first of all whether there is
a desire to do this, whether we are concerned to follow the
testimony of God's Word. It's easy to say, well of course
I don't believe that and I don't think that's right. My friends,
it's a blessing when the powerful influence of God, and it comes
down to this, the grace of God and the favour of God, so comes
into our hearts that we are concerned and we have a desire to do that
which is in accordance with the Word of God. So this may be,
the hymn writer has it perhaps in
another context, but nonetheless it's right, it is an unctuous
light to all that's right and a bar to all that's wrong. To have the evidence of God's
light shining into our heart directing us to that which is
right and pointing us to that which is wrong and producing
in our hearts a desire to deny ourselves that which is wrong
and to seek after that which is right and good. And so we
have this great testimony here, teaching us that we should, that
we should. It's so easy, isn't it, to just
make excuses. Well, of course, I'm a bit weak,
and this is my besetting sin. People hide under such terrible,
tragic views of things. And they say, well, that's my
besetting sin, and I can't do anything about it. Well, with
such an attitude, it's clear they're not very concerned about
it. They have no desire, really, to hear this teaching, that they
might indeed be found living soberly and righteously and godly. We perhaps pray fairly glibly
sometimes that we might grow in grace and in the knowledge
of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and yet continue in our
life just as we are. It's a blessing if such a prayer
comes from our heart because of our desire to be found walking
in this way, soberly, righteously and godly. Now, they're good
words, aren't they? To be sober in the things of
God. Sober in the world. in the world
in which you and I live. We might just think of that because
we live today in a very evil world. A very evil world. It
always has been evil, but it just appears to be becoming more
and more evil. And therefore, as you and I have
to live in the world, we're not to go and live in a monastery
and be a monk or a nun in a nunnery. We are to live in the world.
The Word of God tells us very clearly that. But what we are
not to do is to be part of the world. We are to live in the
world. And as you and I live in the
world, we are to live in the world in a sober way. In a sober way. And I suppose
we can describe that as not living in the world in a way which indicates
lightness and frivolity and just involving ourselves in all the
jokes and all the things which the world involves itself with,
but to have grace to turn away when jokes are told, aren't they? There are lots of jokes told
today, aren't there? And most of them, of course, are not very
nice at all. But it's good to turn away from
them. Before you hear the end, get
away. Because otherwise, you know,
I remember in my life when I was a student, some of the things
I remember, jokes, they weren't any good at all. In actual fact,
they still stick with me. I forget all the good things,
but the bad things like that, they stick in your mind. So,
if people start telling you jokes, turn away from them, so you don't
hear the end, and then it won't stick with you. So that's one
little evidence of living soberly, not being involved in worldly
conversation. Again, you know, it's very easy
to be involved in worldly conversation, and it's very difficult to stand
against it. Because if you turn away, people
will probably say, what's up with you? Well, there's an opportunity
to speak why. Why you've turned away. Not make
an excuse, but to speak. Sometimes the ability to speak
in this way can have a surprising effect. We think that we're going
to be ridiculed for it. Well, we may be. But don't forget
the Saviour was really called, so don't be afraid of that and
don't worry about that. But it's good for you and me,
in the day and age in which we live, to turn away from things
which are not in accordance with the Word of God. You may say,
well that cuts out nearly everything in my life. Well it will cut
across many things in your life. But you see, never forget and
always have, as I said last week, eternity before you. Because
that puts things in a right perspective. And so here we have this teaching
to live soberly. And not only soberly, but righteously. That means doing the things which
are right in accordance with the Word of God. The gracious
example we have in the Word of God. And that is to be honest,
to have a good conversation, so that people may be able to
say, he's an honest man, or she's an honest woman. An example,
you see, you and I are witnesses in this world. Isaiah tells us, ye are my witnesses. Sadly, we're often the devil's
witnesses. But bless God if we are his witnesses. And if we
are, that means living our life in a godly way. Not an ungodly
way, in a godly way. And that means living it in a
righteous, soberly, righteously, and godly way. And the apostle says, in this
present world. That means for you and me today. Don't think, well, perhaps when
I get a bit older I'll try and do these things. The Word of God tells us, today,
if you will hear His Word, harden not your hearts. Receive the
gracious Word of God. Wonderful blessing to have the
Word of God. Wonderful blessing if you and I have grace and pray
for grace that we may be able to follow the exhortations that
we have in the Word of God. Now just to confirm what I've
said earlier in this chapter, you may have noted, it says,
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,
that he which is of the contrary part may be ashamed, having no
evil thing to say of you. What a wonderful blessing, isn't
it? If you and I, by the grace of God, can live our life in
the world so that people have no reason to speak anything evil
of us. Anything evil of us. May you
and I take these things to heart. Because we live in a difficult
world and the devil will always try and convince us that it's
not necessary, well it doesn't really matter, well you can just
do this. Follow the Word of God. And so he says, in this present
world, and again then we have a wonderful positive statement,
a wonderful positive statement, that you and I then are to be
found. What are we to be found doing?
Here we have it. Looking for that blessed hope
and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour
Jesus Christ. What does this show us? It shows us that this world is
not our rest. It shows us that this world is
not our home. But what are we? The Church of
God are pilgrims. That means they're a foreigner
in a strange land. Yes, they're pilgrims and foreigners. And that's what you and I, if
we are the children of God, we're not at home here. If you're at
home in the world, you've got to question the reality of your
religion. If you enjoy the worldly company
in all that they do and say, okay, now forget you do have
to live in the world. But if you recognize that you're
a stranger, you don't speak their conversation. You say, well,
what am I to speak? I'll tell you what you're to
speak. You're to speak the language of Zion. What is that? It's the
language of the church of God. It's a heavenly conversation.
It doesn't mean to say you can't speak about the things of time,
of course you can. But you see, given the opportunity and in
a right way, when the opportunity presents itself to speak truthfully
of the things of God and to evidence that you are looking forward
and you're looking upward, You're not looking down to worldly and
earthly things. You're looking upward to heavenly
things. To eternal blessings. Looking
for. Are you looking vainly? Are you
looking vainly? Or has God given you faith to
look forward? Looking for that blessed hope. Where is your hope today? Perhaps
we ought to ask the question, do you have a hope? Do you have
a hope? A hope that one day, by God's
grace, you will be found in glory. Do you have a hope? Because if you have a hope, it's
a blessed hope, a true hope, not a false hope. looking for
that blessed hope. Your hope is fixed on what Christ
has done. There's our hope, not what you
and I have done. Because the Word of God tells
us all that we have, all that we've accumulated, are worthless. The Bible gives us a very clear
word. It is They're classified as filthy
rags. Filthy rags don't have any value,
do they, really? Looking for that blessed hope. Oh, are you and I, my friends,
today looking for it? What is that hope? The Lord Jesus
Christ. You see, Paul knew. Paul was looking forward. in
his life and he tells us, when he wrote to the Philippians,
he said, for me to live is Christ and to die is gain. There was the testimony of a
man of God, a child of God, one who'd been called, one who'd
come and made spiritually alive, would have been drawn to the
Saviour. For me to live is Christ and to die is gain." And that's
why he's able to write such a grand statement as we have here, looking
for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great
God and our Saviour Jesus Christ. We need to have the wonderful
evidence in our hearts that the Lord Jesus Christ is our Saviour. Here was the Apostle drawing
our attention to this statement, looking for that blessed hope
and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour. And he is, of course, the great
God. The great God, and my friends,
He will appear. He will appear. Do you know when that blessed
Saviour appears? And if He should appear while
you and I are still alive on the earth? We don't know, but
it may be. And the Lord will appear. If
we're looking for that, you see, the great God is a glorious appearing. We shall be in one of two camps. one or two people, there's only
two people described in the Word of God. Those who believe and
those who believe not. Those who are saved and those
who are lost. And you and I are in one of those
categories. We can't be in both. And if we
are amongst those who are described here, who are looking for that
blessed hope, then should it occur while we are upon the earth,
it will be truly to us a blessed day, because it will be the beginning
of eternal glory for us. Yes, those who are alive and
remain shall be caught up together with those who are raised from
the dead. Thus shall we be forever with
the Lord. But if we are not amongst those
who believe, if we are not amongst those who are saved, we shall
be crying out for the rocks and the mountains to cover us. Because we are seeing the great
God and we have no covering. We have no righteousness. We're
undone. We're lost. And we are eternally. Therefore, see the relevance,
the importance, that by the grace of God, we are found today in
this blessed place. And it is a blessed place that
you and I are looking forward. We're looking for that blessed
hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour,
Jesus Christ. You know, the apostle gives us
a little view of this, and so does the apostle Peter. And in
the epistle to the Hebrews in the ninth chapter, right at the
end of this chapter, he says, And as it is appointed unto men
once to die, but after this the judgment, and don't think you
and I can avoid that. So Christ was once offered to
bear the sins of many, and unto them that look for Him. Shall He appear the second time
without sin unto salvation? So one thing is clear, is it
not? The living Church of God are looking for Him. They are
looking for Him. That means their hearts and their affections are set
upon things above and not on things on the earth. And then
the Apostle Peter reminds us of the same situation when he
tells us, but the day of the Lord will come as a thief in
the night in which the heavens shall pass away with a great
noise and the elements shall melt with fervent heat the earth
also and the works of the earth in shall be burned up seeing
then that all these things shall be dissolved and it's sure and
it's certain what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation
and godliness looking for and hasting unto the coming of the
day of God wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved
and the elements shall melt with a fervent heat." Well, are we
found? Are we looking? If we're not, my friends, may
the Spirit of God give us that grace to be found looking for
this blessed hope and the glorious appearing. It will be a most
glorious day to the Church of God. It'll be a most terrible
day to those who are lost. Because it will be the end of
time. The day of salvation will have
passed. Will have passed. Well, who gave
himself for us? That's what you and I need to
know. The Lord Jesus Christ, he gave himself for us. It means
that he stood in our place. He bore the punishment instead. Yes, what a blessed Saviour we
have. And again, just ponder in our
hearts the compassion and the greatness of Almighty God to
come and do this. Who gave Himself for us, totally
unworthy, sinner of the earth, deserving eternal damnation. What a Saviour! What a gracious
and glorious God who gave Himself for us that He might redeem us. No one else can redeem our souls. No one else can pay the price
for our sin. There's only one, the Lord Jesus
Christ, who gave Himself for us that he might redeem us from
all iniquity, all our sin, all our sin, forever washed away. And of course, the price of that
redemption, as I so often remind you, was the price of blood. His blood, the shed blood, cleanseth
from all sin. Nothing less than that, and you
and I If we are to be found amongst those who are truly looking,
we must be found under the gracious blessing of the shed blood of
the Saviour, to redeem us from all iniquity
and purify unto Himself. We are only purified by the blood
of Christ. Purify unto Himself. He gives
us this description, a peculiar people. Church of God are a peculiar
people. They are peculiar because they're
not looking to themselves for salvation. They're not looking
to their own works. They're not looking to their
own ability. They're looking to the Lord Jesus Christ. A peculiar people. And my friends,
the effect Let us not forget this, the effect of God's grace
is not to make us curl up in a ball and hide from everything. Zealous of good works. That means to be a true follower
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Zealous of good works. Those that honour me I will,
I shall honour, will honour. And those that despise me shall
be lightly esteemed. My friends today, are we despising
the Lord? You have to answer before God,
I can't. You can, but may we all find ourselves on the right
side of these words, directed by his Holy Spirit, that we are
indeed numbered amongst those who are classified as a peculiar people, and yet
are zealous of good works, so that his name may be honoured
and glorified, that we may find ourselves eternally blessed. Amen.