And I tell him he should have
lived with me. From sleepy sand he lifted me,
and tender hand he lifted me from shades of night Go back
to Titus chapter 3 now. Titus chapter 3. The subject this morning is the subject of
all of Scripture. The Gospel is found here in these
few verses, five verses. It's the theme of all Scripture.
The subject is the kindness and love of God our Savior through
the Lord Jesus Christ. It is abundant mercy. An amazing grace that we sang
about in saving, like John Newton wrote, a wretch like me. Can you say that? A wretch like
me. Abundant mercy. Exceedingly abundant. Kindness. Goodwill. That's what kindness means. And
love. Titus chapter 3, verses 3 and
following says, we ourselves were sometime foolish, disobedient,
deceived, serving different lusts and pleasures, living in malice
and envy, hateful, hating one another. After that, the kindness and
love of God our Savior toward man appeared. Oh, it's not by
works of righteousness, which we've done, but according to
His mercy. He saved us by the washing of
regeneration, 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. What we just read was Mephibosheth's
story. It's exactly what happened to
Mephibosheth. Heirs to a former enemy. He said we're foolish,
disobedient sinners he's talking about. The gospel is about the
love of God for the unloved. That's who the love of God is
for. The gospel is about the kindness of God for the unkind. The gospel is of the mercy of
God for the unmerciful, for the guilty. The gospel is about the
Lord washing filthy sinners, wicked sinners, in the blood
of His own Son. The gospel is about God justifying
out and out rebels, criminals, thieves and robbers, yet not
imputing their trespasses to them, but imputing them to His
Son and letting them go, demanding that they go scot-free. Made
sons and heirs even. Paul said one time, well, he
said here in this text, this is what all God has shed on us
abundantly through our Lord Jesus Christ, through Him, through
what Christ did, abundantly. Now, let me say this first. And this is all written when
he says, us, us, us. This is written to believers.
This is written to God's people. This is talking about the salvation
of God's elect, God's people, who were called by His grace,
predestinated, called, justified, glorified. He's talking to believers. I've got to say this first, okay?
I've got to, because of all the false religion, I've got to say
this, okay? Never heard this message before.
Listen to this. I've got to make it clear. I don't want to leave any impression
whatsoever that God loves every single person on earth. That's
not what this is saying. I don't want to leave any impression
whatsoever in anyone's mind that God desires to save all men. If He did, He would. When our
Lord Jesus Christ walked this earth, He could have saved every
single person He desired to. Couldn't it? Couldn't He have
just saved every single person that came in? And He did. He
saved whom He would. Why didn't He? If He desired
to save everyone, why didn't He? Because He didn't desire
to save everyone. I don't want to leave any impression
whatsoever in anybody's mind that God sent Christ to die for
everyone, that whoever will accept His offer will be saved. That's a lie. That's not the
truth. That's not God. That's not the
gospel. That's not Christ. What men are
saying about God loving everyone, that really means nothing at
all. That's the cause of all this corruption in our world
today. That's the cause of it. Because
there's no fear of God. Because men have told everyone
so long that God loves you. He will not punish sin. It's
okay. And so there's no fear of God. And people are going
to hell believing that. And universal redemption, that
Christ died for the sins of all men everywhere, and yet there's
people in hell, that means the blood of Jesus Christ didn't
pay for one sin. That is not the truth. No one
is saved by that message. That's blasphemy. That's dishonoring
to God. That's dishonoring to His Word.
That's dishonoring to God's Christ. That makes salvation in man's
hand. That makes salvation up to man's will, man's choice,
man's faith. That means it's by works, not
grace. It's by works. It's not mercy.
It's merit. That's what that means. And that's
all a lie. Salvation is by grace, not of
works, lest any man should boast. We're His workmanship. This is
His work. To God be the glory. Great things
He hath done. So loved He. Oh, herein is love,
not that we love God, but that He loved us. Who? Not everybody,
but some. Yea, many. Now, here's the gospel,
alright? Did I make it clear? Now, make
it clear that this is not for every single human being. Now,
the gospel is. The gospel is for every single
person. But the love of God is not. God
doesn't love everybody. Christ didn't die for everybody,
but He died for the Son. Who are they? I don't know. I do know this, though. It's
whoever believes on his Son. That's it. Now, here's the gospel. Here's the gospel of God's glory,
the gospel that gives God all the glory, gives Christ all the
glory. Two points. Am I right? Two points. Emma, this will be easy to write
and jot down. Two points. We can learn something from our
babes. I heard my preacher preaching
recently. He said, I've got two points. He said, you need to
jot this down. Guarantee you won't remember it. Guarantee
it. He said that. He said, jot it down. Two points. And it's just right here. What
we were. Here's the gospel. Here's the
gospel of God's glory throughout the Scriptures. What we were
and what God did for us in Christ. That's it. What we were. Very
simply. Verse 3 and 4. Again, it says,
We ourselves were sometimes foolish. Verse 4 says, but God. Does that
sound like Ephesians 2? That's because it is. That's because there's one gospel. It says, and you who were dead
in trespasses and sins, And in time past you walked according
to the course of this world, according to the prince of the
power of the air, the spirit that now works in the children
of disobedience, among whom also we all had our conversation in
time past, in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires
of the flesh and of the mind, were by nature the children of
wrath, even as others. But God, who is rich in mercy,
for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were
dead and sinned. Quicken us together with Christ,
by grace He saved. And listen to this, that in the
ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace
in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. Now, if this means
nothing to you, If you're getting nothing from this, as I read
it, either you don't know anything about salvation, or you've forgotten
the pit from which you were digging. Does this sound like Ephesians
2? That's because it is. Titus 3. Does this sound like
Colossians 1? That's because it is. This is
the theme of all of Scripture. Listen to Colossians 1. He made
peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all
things unto himself. By him, by Christ I say, whether
by things in earth or things in heaven, and you. that were
sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works,
yet now, but God hath reconciled." Does this sound like Colossians
2, verses 13 and 14? Because it is. And you being
dead in your sin and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath He quickened
together with Christ, having forgiven you All trespasses. Blotting out the handwriting
of ordinances that was against you, which was contrary to us.
Took it out of the way. How'd he do it? Nailed it on
his son. And made him chargable for it. What we were in our text
says was foolish. Some still are. There's some
still in this room that's still foolish. See, the fool has said,
no, God. The natural man is a fool. He
says, there's no Creator, no God in whose hands my breath
is. The Lord just takes it. Gone. Takes away our breath. Man's
a fool, says there's no Creator. How foolish when the heavens
declare His glory, when the firmament showeth His handiwork, when day
unto day others' speech, night after night knowledge showeth
knowledge. No language where His voice is not heard, where
this is not clearly said. How foolish. But that also saying,
the fool has said, no God. It's a fool that says, no God
for me. Say, I don't need a God. Oh my.
I don't want a God. I don't need a sovereign. How
foolish is that? You would rather for chaos, you'd
rather the world be in chaos? Would you rather your life be
up to chance? Would you rather your life and
everything in it be without order, without rule, without reign?
How foolish is that, huh? We better run for the hills if
that's it. How foolish. That was me. That's where some of you read
on, verse 3 says, disobedient. Disobedient. All of God's commandments,
you know, all that God has said. David said this. Thy commandments
are holy. They're just. They're good. They're
far good. Everything God says is good.
God is good. Everything He said, everything
He does is good. God is good. He cannot do evil. He only does good. His counsel is only good. His way
is good. Everything God says is good.
This is why people sin without cause, sin against goodness.
But no man says, oh, we have a better way. And the Lord says
it's destruction. Disobedient, verse 3, serving
divers lust and pleasure. That's some people in this room
right now. Deceived. You know, God of this world holds
captive the people of this world, some in this room right now,
held captive by Him at His will, deceiving and being deceived,
deceiving us by the deceitfulness of riches, deceiving us to think
that this world is all there is, deceiving us into thinking
that there's happiness in things, in people, in the things of this
world. If you go for it, you'll be happy. People right in this room right
now are deceived by that, thinking, if I just have this, if I just
have that, if I just get married, if I just have a house, if I
just have a car, if I just have more money, if I just have more
of this and more of that, I'll be happy and everything will
be just fine and God might kill you tonight. Drop dead right
now. Then what? Then who's to be saved? Only a fool says that. Only a
deceived person. And the only reason we're not
still deceived is God has chosen a people to enlighten
our darkness, to show us, deliver us from deceivers. Religion promises
you health and wealth. That's why it's full of people.
They're deceived and following deceivers. Blind leading the
blind with a health and wealth gospel. Nothing is further from
the truth. God doesn't want you to be healthy,
wealthy and wise. In fact, it's the will of God
for His people to be sick, to be afflicted, to be persecuted,
to be poor. It's the opposite. Satan's deceiving you. You're
deceiving yourself. You're deceiving yourself. The world deceives. Self deceives. Read on. Verse 3. Serving lust
and pleasure. That means whatever you desire,
whatever you want, that's what you're going for. Living in malice
and envy. Malice and envy. You know when
we get angry? You know who we're getting angry
at. And we're still. We're still. I still get mad,
I'm still full of, at times, just full of malice and envy. David was, remember Psalm 73,
wasn't it? He said, I was envious against
the workers of iniquity. And he said, I was a fool. He
said, I thought, look, we're all God's people who are suffering.
While the world, there's no bands in their death, they have everything,
their eyes stand out with fatness, they have more than their hearts
can wish, and here we are suffering, and persecuted, and maligned,
and the waters of a full cup of affliction are wrung out on
God's people. God's people die for the causes while the world
just goes on just so happy, and fat, and sassy, and no fear of
God. And David said, I was envious
of all that. He said, I went into the house
of God. Went in and Nathan stood up and preached the truth. He
said, I was a fool. He said, I was a beast. What's
wrong with me? What's my portion? He says, I'm
continually with thee. Thou art my portion. And then he went on to the very
last verse. He said, it's good for me to draw nigh unto God. Forget this. It's deceitful. Everything about it is deceitful. Deceiving us. The disciples, one time, it says
they served different lusts and pleasures. It means whatever
they desired, whatever they loved. The disciples, Peter, James,
John, Andrew, their life was fishing. That was their life. They'd rather do that than anything.
They sure didn't worship God. Didn't know God. Didn't know
Christ. Had no interest whatsoever. They loved fishing. That was
their life. That's the case with many today. It hasn't changed.
The other disciples, I don't know what they did. Some of them
probably loved to hunt. Recreation. Matthew, his was
money. All he cared about was earning
money for retirement. But God chose. And Andrew and Peter and
James and John, I was so glad in the loving kindness of our
God that He came by and chose me. If He hadn't chosen me, I'd
still be in that boat fishing. I'd drown in the big storm without
God and without Christ. Verse 3 says, living in malice
and hateful, full of hate. I started to say, you know who
we're angry at and who we get mad at when things don't go our
way, don't you? Everyone of us. You know who
we're mad at, don't you? God. That's right. God's first cause of all things.
Right? And us, as believers, more than
anybody should be, witness a good testimony. God
sent them. Old Job didn't sin with his lips,
did he? Or accuse God falsely, did he? Everything that happened to him,
Job said, the Lord did that. Eli said, it's the Lord. They
do what seems good. And Job said, oh, I love this.
I want to know this. I want to feel this. I want to
believe this with all my heart. I believe I can say it. No, he's
slaving. I trust him. He's too good. Too good. Hateful and hating
one another. Now that's what we were, and
that's what some people still are. But God. Was that you? All of those things
and more? Is that you? Here's what God
did in Christ. Verse 4, After that, the kindness
and love of God our Savior appeared. God so loved the world that He
gave His only begotten Son. that whosoever believeth on him,
just believeth, should not perish, but have everlasting life. God so loved a vast number chosen
out of every tribe, kindred, nation unto heaven, and in great
kindness and in great love, greater loveth no man than him, in great
kindness and love, sent His only begotten Son to this world to
die for those that hated Him. Not good people. Not righteous
people. Sinners hate Him. Let me ask you something. Let me ask you men that have
one son. You have one only begotten son. You have a daughter. You have
one son. You have, Ed, you have one son,
don't you? One only begotten son. Patrick,
you have one only begotten son. Would you lay down his life for
me? I'm supposed to be a good man.
I'm supposed to be a righteous man. You wouldn't lay down his
life for me? I wouldn't either. I have one daughter. I wouldn't
do it. I think I'd lay down my life,
but not my child. People, God... You love that boy, Stephen? With
all your heart, mind and soul? Yes, you do. I know you do. God had one son. He's infinitely
better than that boy. And He didn't lay down His life.
He didn't send Him for a good person. He didn't send Him for
a righteous person. He sent Him for somebody that
hated His guts. The one that killed Him. Now
get a hold of that, would you? I wish I could. This is what it means, God so
loves. The emphasis is not on will,
whoever will. The emphasis is not even on world.
The emphasis is God so loves in this way. He sent His only
begotten Son. The word kindness. I love the
word kindness. It doesn't even sound good, the
sound of it rolling off my tongue. It doesn't sound good. Kind.
After the kindness. Love is kind. Be kind one to
another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another. God, for Christ's
sake, I forgive you. Kind. Love is kind. Kindness
means goodwill. Kindness means... When angels
announced the birth of Christ, He said, peace on earth, goodwill. God is kind. God is kind. What kind of God do we have? He's kind, God. God is love. God is kind. The word kindness
means pity. Pity. We don't have any pity
compared to the pity of God. This is pity. So pitied is people. Kindness means desire toward. To have a desire to do good toward. Kindness. Here's what God said
about some. Many, like the stars of the sky
and the sands of the sea, here's what God said, they're going
to destroy themselves. I'm going to have to destroy
them. God gives no pleasure in the death of the wicked. No pleasure. It gives Him no pleasure to kill
His enemies. But he will, and he must. He's
just. He will by no means prove guilty.
He will. He doesn't take pleasure in that.
God is kind. Here's what he says about some.
He says, they're going to be destroyed, and I'm going to have
to destroy. But I'm going to show them kindness. I am determined
to do them good in spite of them. I'm going to save them in spite
of themselves. I'm going to keep them from destroying
themselves. If I don't do something, they
will destroy themselves. I'm going to keep them from destroying
themselves. Kindness. We are all as plucked
as brands from the burning. You know that? And if He doesn't
do that daily, Jennifer, He doesn't keep doing that daily, we're
goners. God's kind, determined, purpose
to do us good. To keep us from destroying ourselves. Kindness. And in love, oh my, no man's ever adequately preached
on that. Love means compassion. Love means
your innermost being is filled with feeling and yearning and
compassion and warmth and affection and desire toward the One you
love. Real love will lay down your
life, will give yourself the Person you love. Herein is love.
That's why John wrote this. Herein is love. Not that we love
God, but that He loved us. And He sent His Son, made His
Son to be Perpetuation. Now, that word is a big word.
It's a Bible word. What it means basically is, slew
and killed his son, laid him a bloody piece of meat on Calvary's
tree to take his own son's precious blood and cover your sins with
it. That's what that meant. Perpetuation.
Like tar, like pitch being put on that ark, pitch from a tree. Well, God took his own son's
blood Covered yourself so he can't see it. His own blood. Here in his love. And as I said, I quoted Romans
5, didn't do this for a good person, didn't do this for a
righteous person. Sinners. He died for the ungodly. This
is why Paul says in Titus, look at verse 5, it's not by works
of righteousness which we've done. See that? Scripture says, God looked down
from heaven to see if there were any that did understand, any
that did seek after God. He said, there's none that doeth
good. No, not one. He said, there's none righteous.
Not one. Nobody worth dying for. Nobody
worth choosing. Nobody worth saving. Nobody,
the Lord said. See if there were any. There's
none, He said. Not a just man on the earth that
doeth good and sinneth not. That's what God said. But God,
for His great love and His kindness, had to choose some of them. Had to. Had to set His love on
them. He didn't love them because they're
lovely. God doesn't love people for what He finds in us. He loves
because of what is found in Him. You see? Why does He love sinners? Because He's God. He doesn't
have to. It's amazing that He does. He says, it's not by works of
righteousness which we have done, but it's according to His mercy
He saved us. Salvation is by mercy, not by
righteousness, because there's none righteous. There's some
people in religion today that go about to establish their own
righteousness. That's self-righteousness. You
know that? You establish your own righteousness. Good works, morality, whatever
it is. Quit this, quit that. And try to make yourself acceptable
to God. That's self-righteousness. That's
not the righteousness of God. And our Lord said, that's filthy
rags, is what He said. The Lord said, that's fig leaves. It won't cover. God looks on
the heart. You're doing it to get favor
with God. You're doing it to get glory from God. You're doing
it Because you think God ought to save you for doing this. You
know, it's kind of like, I mean, they said something to our dog
the other day. They said, good dog. I said, there's no such
thing as a good dog. What she meant was, he's not
doing something bad. He's not doing something bad
at this point. Not destroying something or giving us grief.
So he's just not doing something bad, and so he's good. No, he's
not good. Good and dog don't go together.
And good and sinner don't go together. Nothing to do with
good. No, not one, by nature. God has
to save us to make something good out of us. Has to put a
new creature in us. That's good. That's in the image
of Christ. Because in our flesh there's no good thing. Non-righteous. Some people, religious
people, say, look what I'm doing, look what I'm doing. My niece
came home from school one day. She was about five years old.
She said to her mother, she was beaming, Elizabeth, she was so
proud of herself, she said, I didn't kick anybody or bite anybody
today. Well, good girl! Isn't that at us? I'm not on
the streets. I'm not doing this. I'm not doing
that. I'm not this. God looks on the heart. Here's
what you're not. You're not interested in God's
Son. You don't care if He came. This is what God holds this world
accountable for. You don't care that there's not
one worth dying for. And God did this with His Son? And you won't come and sit in
a pew for an hour? I don't need you. People don't think they need
saving, don't need a Savior. I was struck all the way through
this passage in Titus. Look all the way through, it
says, God our Savior, Christ our Savior, God our Savior. What
does that mean? We need saving. from sin, from
Satan, from ourselves, from this world. Listen to me now. Oh, that God would give us ears.
If God doesn't save you from yourself, you will die. And God
will cast you out of His presence forever. And He did this one
way. And if you don't see glory and
look to Christ, He did this through Christ making His Son a bloody,
Substitute, sacrifice for unworthy sinners. If you don't see your
need of Christ, God's going to say, I don't need you. Be out
of my sight forever. Take no pleasure in it. We've
got to do it. Heaven's going to be full of
people who are just thanking God forever for choosing them
and saving them from sin and from themselves. And giving them
an interest in His Son. And those who do believe, people,
the reason you're not listening to this, shouting with me, weeping
with me, is because God is so merciful, God is so gracious.
Because the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses us from all
sin, the sin of ingratitude, the sin of not praising Him like
we should, the sin of not singing these songs from the bottom of
our hearts. That's what the blood of Christ had to pay for, every
bit of that. I'm a sorry preacher. It's the
blood of Christ that keeps him from dropping me in the hell
right now. It's not of works lest any man
should boast. Salvation is according to mercy.
It's by the sovereign will of God, the purpose of God. Read
on and I close. It says in verse 5, He did this
according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration. Washing
in His blood, the blood of His Son. Washed. Cleansed. Filthy. Rebels. Lepers. Regeneration. That means give
new life. Renewing of the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost comes and
sets apart by the preaching of the gospel. This is how you know
who God loved, who Christ died for. They hear the gospel and
they believe. They confess Him. They're baptized. My, my, the least we could do,
isn't it? Christ was baptized in His own
blood. His own blood with fire. And He did all this. It's renewing.
It's a new creature created in Christ Jesus. He shed all this
abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior. I'm going to illustrate
all this in closing, okay? All of it. He said He did all
this by the washing of regeneration, renewing of the Holy Ghost, and
He shed on us abundantly, abundantly, richly through Jesus Christ our
Savior, justifying us by His grace. Scripture says, by His
blood. Made heirs according to the hope
of eternal life. Here's the illustration of all
this. You know, Scripture talks about abundantly pardon. Let
the unrighteous man forsake his way, he'll abundantly pardon. It doesn't matter. It doesn't
matter what anybody has done. It does not matter. The blood
of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses from all sin, covereth all. Love
covereth all sin. It doesn't matter. All manner of sin shall be forgiven.
Pardoned. Abundantly pardoned. Scripture
talks about an abundant entrance. We'll be given an abundant entrance.
A great, magnificent entrance into glory. You're not going
to get into glory by the skin of your teeth. Abundantly. The Lord himself is going to
meet you and tell everybody to start cheering. That poor fellow that died recently,
Boxer, the greatest. Boy, he knows who the greatest
is now. He said he had a dream. He told this dream. He said,
I had a dream that I was coming down the streets of Louisville,
Kentucky and said, everybody was cheering me. Everybody was
cheering me. Everybody was cheering me. Kind of prophetic, isn't
it? And he stood before the Lord,
didn't he? And they weren't cheering him. But you know, God said of His
people, it's going to be an abundant entrance. Heaven's going to be
cheering. Not for us. Not for what we've
done. We were great sinners. We're
going to be cheering their great Savior. Look! Look who's here! Would you look at that? And the greatest thing of all
we're all going to say is, I can't believe I'm here. There's a man
in glory right now with Abraham, Isaac, David, Solomon, Peter,
James, John, Paul, Joseph. There's a man in glory. If you
ask him his story, he'd tell you this. He said, I grew up a rotten boy. No good. I hated my parents. I hated a
world full of hatred, malice, envy, and I wanted money. I wanted
things. I wanted this world. And I set
about to get it. And I couldn't get it by honest
means, so I had to get it, I had to take it. So I became a thief and a robber
and a murderer. Me and my buddies got together
one day and we robbed this fellow, we killed him. And I didn't think
a thing about it. And I went my whole days like
that until finally they apprehended me. They came and got me and
put me in jail. And I was sentenced to die to
be crucified on a cross. And I was getting what I deserved. And they hung me on a cross one
day, me and my buddy. And they hung me on a cross. And I'd never done one good thing
all my life. Nothing but meanness. And they
hung me on a cross, but by the infinite wisdom and mercy and
grace and sovereign will and purpose and love of God my Savior,
He put me on a cross right beside His blessed Son Of all days I
was to be crucified. I was hanging on that cross.
And I heard His blessed word. I heard His blessed voice. I
heard Him speaking to God. I heard Him saying kindness,
such kindness I'd never heard in my life. He said, Father,
forgive them. They know not what they do. And
that struck my heart like a knife. And I looked at him and I didn't
see a bloody sacrifice. I saw my Lord, the King of glory,
the gates of heaven are about to open up for him, to receive
him. The substitute for sinner. And
I just looked. I'd never done nothing. No counts. And I just looked. And all I
said was, Lord, would you please, You're coming into your kingdom.
You're coming into your glory. You're leaving this God-forsaken
place. Would you please not forsake me? Would you please just have
mercy on this poor sinner? Would you please?" And I heard
his blessed voice say to me, look at me, with such kindness,
such love, and he was in more pain than any man I've ever seen.
More suffering? It was far deeper than his physical
suffering. He was going through something
I didn't understand. I was in pain, but not like him.
Yet he looked at me, and his carpets changed, and his eyes
were tender, like Bud's eyes. And he had a smile on his face
through his pain, through all that blood hanging down. He said,
Today, you'll be with me in paradise. And oh, such joy flooded my heart. Oh, such mercy, such grace, such
kindness. I've never in my life had someone
treat me with such kindness. I've never heard such wonderful
words in all my life. Yes, I'm here, not by works of
righteousness, which I have done. I'm here according to the infinite
mercy of God, because that man hanging on that tree was dying
for me. That God laid on him all my iniquity. And in doing that, He made me
the very righteousness of God in Him. He did this abundantly
through the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm here. You see Him on that
throne right there? I'm here because of Him. And
Abraham and Joseph and Jacob all said, Amen, brother. That's
us. That's all of us. That's all
of us. May God make it so for someone
else. Brother John, you come. We're
going to sing 222. There is a fountain. We'll sing the first, second,
and what, last verses. 222. First, second, and last verses. 222.
Stand with me.