My text today will be drawn from
Paul's letter to Titus. The focus text will be chapter
two, verse 11 through 14. For the grace of God has appeared,
bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness
and worldly passions and to live self-controlled, upright, and
godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope,
the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus
Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness
and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are
zealous for good works. Secondary text today will also
be from the book of Titus, and that will be, if you want to
note this for now, chapter one, verses one through three, and
chapter three, verses three through seven. Let's set the stage on
this discussion, first with a comment as to why I even chose this text
today. Over the course of any given
day, have the opportunity to speak to a lot of people in our
building at work and around. I ran into a friend and we were
talking and this friend was having some kind of hard times and told
me, he said, I'm trying to draw from the scripture. I'm trying
to remember things and I need some help. He said, Mike, what
is your favorite verse of scripture and why? And you know, we have a practice
ourselves sometimes of picking verses out and making them our
own. And there's nothing wrong with
that. That's very encouraging at times. But it got me to thinking,
what is my favorite verse and why? And I don't know that this
verse that I read from Titus today, chapter 2, verse 11 through
14, is my favorite. But if I have to claim one, that's
as good as any. It's been very meaningful to
me over the years and gives me great strength and encouragement
as I remember what Paul tells Titus and what God through the
scripture tells us. And I told my friend, this is
a scripture that means a lot to me. And we talked about why. That became the message today
because I've been thinking so much on this. Now let's get the
context. It's always important that we
understand the scripture in its time and in its place, and then
we can bring forth the meaning. This letter was written by the
Apostle Paul to a Gentile believer, one who was in his traveling
company, a close associate with Paul, a young man named Titus,
who was a Gentile believer who was converted under Paul's ministry
and became traveling partner, again a close associate with
Paul, a very trusted associate of Paul. The letter is written
to Titus, excuse me, as he's been left on the island of Crete. Paul stopped there, preached,
taught, established a church, but Paul has moved on and yet
the work of establishing the church there in that place was
incomplete. There were still some issues
in doctrine and practice and the setting up of the church
structure in that place so that it would be a freestanding, ongoing
body of believers. Paul has left this young man,
this young Gentile believer, Titus, there to take care of
the business of the church. And Paul sends this letter then
to help Titus focus on what needs to be done and why it needs to
be done. The island of Crete is a small
island south of Greece. It's in the Mediterranean. It
was a pagan place. And Paul tells us, and we can
take it from his letter, that it was a bad place. It had a
reputation, a reputation. Paul tells Titus, The people
there are liars, evil brutes. They're lazy and they're gluttons. We see that in the first chapter,
verses 12 and 13. It's a recognized fact. It's a reputation known around
the area. It was not a particularly positive
place. Again, it had some bad people
there. So Titus would have his work
set out ahead of him. The church there was made up
of Gentiles, people of the island, people of bad reputation, and
Jews. Scattered throughout the Roman
world in any place you go, there were bodies of Jews. They were
there taking care of business, doing whatever. There were Jews
on the island. There were Jews in the church.
There were problems in the church, twofold, Paul mentions. and notes that there are problems
in doctrine and there are problems in practice. And this goes hand
in hand because bad doctrine leads to bad practice. If you
don't understand the truth, then you can't practice the truth.
And in this church, This young church, this beginning church,
coming out of paganism, coming out of Judaism, and forging forward
into Christianity, there were problems in doctrine and practice. Paul identifies that some of
the major problems in doctrine is the preaching of the Jews. Everywhere that Paul went, he
had this body of Jewish believers. converts to Christianity, to
Christ, from out of the ranks of Judaism, who could not or
would not let go of their Jewish ritual. And they preached counter
to Paul that there was indeed a true application of the law
and that Christians must somehow be under the law. So there's
this doctrinal problem there. Paul came and taught grace, free
grace by the grace of God and that alone. He leaves and some
Jewish believers step up and say, well, we need to add a little
more to this. We need to talk a little more
about what the law is and what it means and how it applies.
There is this doctrinal problem creeping in. And then on the
other end, there are problems in practice in this church because
the pagans who did not ever know the law and did not ever understand
the law in any capacity are used to their wild paganistic living. And they are living the same
unrestrained lives that they lived as pagans. So there is
a problem in practice. And that is what Titus was left
behind to take care of. Again, Titus being a young man,
a convert under Paul's ministry, Paul has great confidence in
Titus. And Paul will tell Titus things
to look for, things to do, things to bring the church into order
on the island of Crete. His first instructions, that
being Paul's first instructions to Titus, have to do with leadership
in the church. And this is critical, because
there must be leaders in the church. There cannot be a body
given to anarchy, just all doing whatever they will. God is a
God of order, and the church is a body of order. There must
be leaders, but leaders must be carefully chosen. And Paul
addresses this. He states that the leadership
must be without fault or blame. Anybody that stands before the
church will be subject to close investigation. And unfortunately,
they will be attacked by those who do not like them. That's
within or without the church. So this person, whoever is put
in a leadership position, must be beyond assault. They must
be able to stand up to this close inspection because there will
be those who will pick apart their doctrine and their practice. Now Paul notes in chapter one,
verse 10, that the primary attackers will be the Jews in the congregation,
those of the circumcision. because the message of Christ
is a message of grace, salvation apart from the law, because the
law has been fulfilled in Christ. So those of a legalistic bent
will be closely scrutinizing any leadership. This is basically
a Gentile church, not coming from out of the ranks of Judaism,
And those who are from the ranks of Judaism will be looking closely
to find fault in the leadership. So the primary attackers will
be those of the circumcision, those Jews. But there will also
be attacks from Gentiles, make no mistake about it, because
there are those who will go to the other extreme as well. Paul stresses sound doctrine
because the truth must be stated in any and all circumstances.
This is a common thread through every letter that Paul wrote.
Sound doctrine, the truth clearly stated, clearly presented, never
hidden. He doesn't deviate from that
in this letter as well. Paul's answer to the problems
of the church is always sound doctrine first. Sound doctrine
first. The Jewish answer to any problem
in the church is ritual. It's practice. Ritual and practice. That's a big divide. It's a big
divide. Paul preaches sound doctrine
and that truth is centered in Jesus Christ. Now, the reason
that I said that we would go back to mention, uh, mentioned
and said, we'd go back to Titus chapter one, verse one through
three, that is the introduction to this letter. And it's a nice,
concise statement of sound doctrine. Paul, a servant of God and an
apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of God's
elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with
godliness in the hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies,
promised before the ages began, and at the proper time manifested
in his word through the preaching, which I have been entrusted by
the command of God our Savior. That is a concise statement of
faith right there. All encompassing, centered in
God and Jesus Christ for the sake of his elect, which brings
about or accords godliness now in a hope of eternal life. This
is, in a short statement, the gospel. And that's what is critical. That is what is important to
the church in Greece. This is what Titus must constantly
go back to. This is the truth. This is the truth. Stated then,
Paul addresses in the letter, who should hear this message?
Who is the gospel for? Well, we're told by Paul that
it is for older men. It is for younger men. It is
for older women. It is for younger women. It is
for slaves. In a nutshell, the gospel is
for everyone. Everyone. So the message, the truth, is
for everyone. And within this body of believers
in Crete, there are people that fit every one of those categories.
It's impossible to get away from that. There are those people
in the church. And it's interesting to note
that as he addresses the different people here in these things,
he doesn't necessarily make the distinction between Jew and Gentile. Although that's addressed in
dealing with issues of grace, and the doctrine being preached
by those of the circumcision. But he doesn't make that distinction
as he does in some of the other letters. And I think even that's
important because by stating the categories of people that
Paul does say that the gospel is for, he somewhat covers Jew
and Gentile too. It's impossible to be a man without
being a Jew or a Gentile. A woman, being a Jew or a Gentile. And after bringing that, that the gospel
is for everybody, then we get into our text. For the grace
of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training
us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions and to live
self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age,
waiting for our blessed hope the appearing of the glory of
our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for
us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people
for his own possession, who are zealous for good works. Grace of God has appeared, bringing
salvation for all people. Paul, in his letter, just told
us who all people were. This is not a Jewish thing. This
is not a Gentile thing. This is for all people. The distinctions
that we hold dear to our hearts, that we make as people, are not pertinent here. The gospel
is for all people. All people. And that is important. You cannot get away from any
writing that Paul did without understanding that distinction. Those who followed Paul, those
who sought to take away from his message constantly harped
and harped and harped that salvation is a Jewish thing. Paul over and over and over tells
us salvation is for all people. Christ came for all people. And he says that here. This grace, as we've seen from
Paul's statement in chapter one, was from before time. God's design for salvation in
Jesus Christ was from before time. And it is for now. It is made manifest now. That's a wonderful thing. God,
from before the foundation of the world, intended to save a
people, identified in chapter one as God's elect. And this grace has appeared,
bringing salvation, and we're told here through the text that
we've read this morning that salvation involves the hope of
eternal life, but it also involves godliness now, and that is a
necessary message in this church at this time in Crete because
there was a problem with bad practice, ungodly living. Salvation
is multifaceted. We heard Brother Bill this morning
mention that there are those concepts, those things taught
to us in the scripture that have many meanings. And the word salvation
is one of those, because there is in a sense a time when we
were saved. And even now, as we live and
breathe, we are being saved. And then on that great and glorious
day, we will be saved. So salvation has come. It has
appeared. And grace has come and appeared
and it brings salvation for all people. And that salvation is
indeed multifaceted. Paul mentions here first that it teaches us salvation. This grace, this salvation teaches
us. Now, this is a message for the
present age. This is for now. The people in
Crete will experience salvation now. Now. That's an important thing to
remember even for us. This salvation redeems us. Redeems us. Pays the price, the penalty.
of our sin. It redeems us and it works to
purify us. Oftentimes, as we hear salvation
preached, it's all aimed at a moment of salvation, a moment
of salvation, I'll call it that, where that Moment is focused. Everything that we hear and that
we're taught and we hear in our preaching is aimed at a moment
when you can walk forward and say that you accept Jesus. And
that is, as God has touched your heart, that is salvation. I won't
discount that. There is a moment when God touches
your heart and you are saved. But that is not the total picture.
Unfortunately, that is oftentimes what we do. Paul was not preaching
that at all. Paul was preaching a salvation
that reaches across our entire lives, even into eternity. And it has its result the moment
you are saved in your redemption. It has its result in every day
as you live and breathe and are brought into a greater knowledge
and understanding of Jesus Christ. And your life is changed more
and more by Christ. And it reaches its highest point. greatest point when we stand
before God purified as a people for His possession. That is quite a concept. That is, as presented here, our
hope in this present age. This morning, Brother Bill preached
from Romans chapter 7, and we saw the dirty side of
this argument. And I call it the dirty side
because there we are, we know what's right, and we want to
do what's right, and yet we don't do what's right. Sin wages war
within our flesh and we feel that and we see it. Here's the
clean side of that argument, if you will, that God is indeed
in us, teaching us, molding us, and shaping us to be that purified
people for Himself. This is indeed the hope we have
today. We have today. I remember on
that night before Jesus was taken prisoner ultimately to be taken
to his crucifixion. He was with those close to him
and he told them, I'm going away. But I will leave you with a comforter.
And when he comes, this comforter will lead you into truth. He
will tell you all that I say. This is the comforter in our
lives. This is God, Christ, the Holy Spirit, working in us as
His people. Salvation has come, and now we
learn, we are taught by God Himself to renounce ungodliness and worldly
passions, to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives. This is hope. This is real hope. This is real hope. And we do this while we're waiting
for our blessed hope. The appearing of the glory of
our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. Now this is a statement
which, I'll be honest with you, I struggle with and understand.
What does this mean? Some commentaries I read said
that this is what we hold to while we wait for Christ to come
again. We're looking for the, if you
will, the second coming of Christ in this, that we're waiting for
that great and glorious day. And I don't know that that's
what that's really talking about there. I will mention what What
I read into that and what I've read in some stuff trying to
put together this, and that is that the blessed hope, the appearing
of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ is the
building of the church. That as Christ is preached, and
as His people come forth, are called, converted, saved, and
churches are built and established, and as brothers and sisters hold
to Christ and hold to each other, and the kingdom of God is manifest
in any place at any time through that, that is the glory of our
great God and Savior Jesus Christ. Maybe that's a wrong interpretation.
I don't know. I tell you that's what I gained
from it. And I find that to be personally
hopeful for me. It is in no way binding on you. But I did tell you just so you'd
see where I was thinking on that. But I think this has, that statement
has more to do with the church being built up there in Crete. In this wicked place where the
people are known to be wicked, liars and horrible people, the
glory of God through the church there in its midst would be manifest. And that is a hopeful thing.
That is a hopeful thing. Paul wrote this Titus to tell to people in this
present age, that time and that place It has meaning for us today,
in this present age, in this time, in this place. Crete was a pagan place, full
of wicked people. Where are we? I wish I could
tell you that we were in a wonderfully Christian place, full of happy
and joyful people, but we're not. We're not. The world outside of this church
is ugly. It really is, and I don't think
that shocks any of you that I say that. Go home, watch the news
this evening. That'll slap you in the face
and remind you well that we live in a wicked place. Even so, our hope is every bit
as real and vital as it was to the people in Crete. Grace of God has appeared, bringing
salvation for all people. That grace is still as pertinent
today as it ever was. Christ promised the Comforter
to His people, and so much as He has called us, we are His
people. We are His people. We can count
on Christ teaching us as well. This is hope. This is hope. Paul has said in another place
that he has confidence that God, who began a good work in you,
will see it through to completion. Romans 8. 28 to 30 speaks of
a process that God has for his people, a process that begins
with his purpose before time and ends with the glorification
of his people after time. This text today addresses this
present age, where we are now, where we are now. We're not left
here to fend for ourselves. I heard once a preacher, he was
a very popular radio preacher, say that God's salvation is his
gift to you, and your sanctification is your gift to him. That's not what I'm reading in
this text. What I'm reading is that the grace of God was indeed
his gift to us, our salvation, and our sanctification is also
His gift to us. It doesn't say that we are teaching
ourselves to live godly lives. It doesn't say that at all. We are being taught to live godly
lives. This is the truth. This is the
divide that Paul was addressing. The Jews were willing to accept
that salvation was made known to us by Christ. But then by
application of the law, we needed to go that extra step to complete our salvation. It's
not what Paul is teaching us here. And Paul tells us in this
letter that any deviation from this truth that God has saved
us, that God is saving us, and that God will ultimately save
us in glorification. Any deviation from that truth
that would say that we do anything in it is unprofitable and worthless. Mankind, by nature, is legalistic. We are not infinite creatures. We are bound and limited by the
abilities of our flesh, both to understand and to do. We cannot, we cannot work our
way into salvation. And Paul tells us that any gospel
that says we can is wrong. It is worthless and unprofitable.
But in the flesh, in the flesh, we will, without question, degenerate
into ritual and works. It is natural to the flesh to
work. And the very text we read says
that God is making us into a people who are zealous for good works.
So some might could misinterpret that to think that works are
a big part of salvation. And that's not what Paul is saying.
Some things we do in the name of religion may be good. I will
not deny that. There are people who in the name
of religion, whether they were saved or not, did great things
for people. But the Bible is plain that even
a good work done without faith in God is filthy rags. That's not to discourage good
works because clearly by this text, we understand that as God
teaches us, we will come to good works, but they're done from
a right heart. We can look back over human history
and we can see the wreckage of works religion. We can look at all the pogroms,
the purges, the inquisitions that have happened over the years.
All of these were done in the name of religion. They were not concerned with
conversion. They were concerned with outward
conformity. And there is a difference. There
is a difference. Look to the many arguments within
the church today, and we can see that 2,000 years removed
from this message that Paul wrote to Titus, we're still arguing
over the same principles. Go to the various churches and
ask them, what do you think about drinking alcohol? Got a wide diversity in belief and practice.
Ask them, what do you think about smoking cigarettes? Again, a
wide diversity of practice. Manners of dress, use of technology. These kind of things, to this
day, split churches. None of them, none of these arguments
address the issue of part conversion to Jesus Christ. They all address
outward conformity. Paul's message to Titus is a
powerful message. And it's a message that needs
to be preached and spoken and proclaimed abroad. And that is
that as God saves his people, he cleans his people up. And
because this cleaning is from the inside out, it is real, it
is meaningful, and it truly changes people. God can and does work
in the lives of His people. This is a hopeful, hopeful message. How many of us over the course
of our lives have tried to change habits? I won't even go so far as to
say change things that we perceive as sin, just habits. left in and of ourselves, we
don't change. We may set things aside for a
while. We may admit and say to others,
it's bad, we shouldn't be doing this. But true reformation is
just impossible for the most part. It's hard to do. Talk to
somebody who struggled and struggled to quit drinking or to quit smoking
cigarettes or even something as trivial as Chewing your fingernails. And I don't mean to trivialize
the message here. My point is that in the flesh, reformation
is not in us. It's not in us. The flesh wants
what it wants. And it will have what it wants.
The hopeful message of the gospel, the grace of God appearing, salvation,
and then teaching us to renounce is that we can change. We can change. The message is
that God does save sinners. And that God does, in saving
sinners, change their hearts. Real change. Not just moral reformation. Not just that I need to quit
that. It's real change. And then as
God changes hearts, He changes bad living into good living. That is the gospel. That is the gospel. Salvation
brings about meaningful change because God is working in the
lives of his people. I've seen that proven in the
lives of those I've known over the years. People I've known
who have come to Christ and who have changed. They didn't need
to be browbeaten into change. They didn't need to be whipped
into shape. God took care of that. I've seen it proven in me, in
myself. Not that I've achieved everything.
I haven't. None of us have. But I can honestly
say, and I don't mean to sound like I'm focusing on myself in
this, but I can honestly say as I look over my life, I have
seen meaningful change. And that's God. That is God and
Jesus Christ working, teaching from within to live such That is our hope. That was the hope of the church
in Crete. That is our hope today. That God saves sinners, that
He changes sinners' hearts, and that He does, in doing so, bring
good living out of bad. In discussion, my friend asked
me what is my favorite passage and why. I'm thankful. and I had the opportunity to
talk to him a little bit and explain that. I hope maybe it
was a seed planted. I hope today as I've gone over
this again that the message was clear and it was encouraging. God loves his people. God dwells with his people and
God teaches us now in this present age. For the grace of God has
appeared. bringing salvation for all people,
training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions and to live
self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age,
waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of
God, our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself
for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for
himself a people for his own possession who are zealous good
works. I pray we'll all be encouraged
by that message, take it to heart, and be thankful always that God
loves us and cares for us.