Actually, we ought to begin at
chapter 2 and verse 1. We don't have the time to do
that. We're in the middle of Paul's exhortive part of this
great epistle, but he keeps bringing back as well the great doctrines
of grace and of salvation. So verse 1 through 7 for our
reading of the morning. Put them in mind to be subject
to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready
to every good work, to speak evil of no man, to be no brawlers
but gentle, showing all meekness unto all men. For we ourselves
also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving
divers' lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful
and hating one another. But after that the kindness and
love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of
righteousness, which we've done, but according to His mercy, He
saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost
or Spirit. 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 a passage of Scripture for
us to consider and discuss this morning. I think in order to
get our spiritual and our contextual bearing, it might be a helpful
thing if we were to remind ourselves once again that the epistle of
Titus, from which we have read this morning, is one of three
epistles in the New Testament that answereth to the title pastorial
epistle. The other two being, of course,
1 Timothy and 2 Timothy. Now, both of these men, Timothy
and Titus, were gifted in spiritual matters and greatly beloved by
the Apostle Paul. And both men had been commissioned,
that is, they had been given a commission by the Apostle unto
the Gentile that they might each abide in a certain place and
oversee the work that was begun when Paul came there and preached
the gospel and a group of believers was raised up. Timothy was left
in the city of Ephesus, and you see that in I Timothy chapter
1 and verse 3. Titus Paul had left on the isle
of Crete, and you see that in chapter 1 and verse 5, of the
epistle of Titus. And for what it might be worth
in our study, the employment of both of these men in the gospel
of our Lord Jesus Christ raised the issue of circumcision. Timothy, you will remember, Paul
had circumcised because his mother was a Jewish, and he would be
therefore much more serviceable among the Jew. You can see that
in Acts 16, verses 1 through 3. On the other hand, Paul steadfastly
resisted calls for Titus to undergo the night, Galatians 2 and 1
through 5. And that was because there was
a principle of the gospel that was involved. Should a Gentile
be required to submit to circumcision as a part of their justification
before God, it would be a spoiling of the gospel and the doctrine
of grace and of justification. Now, nothing, and I mean nothing,
was more important to Paul than the purity of the gospel of Jesus
Christ. And because of that, he hazarded
his life again and again. in the course of the preaching
of the Gospel. He endured the alienation and
the hatred and the treason of his own countrymen. He suffered
many hardships on the sake of the Gospel. And so when he writes
to each man, Timothy and Titus, He exhorts them to be and remain
sound in the faith and to hold the people to the truth of the
gospel as they had received it from Paul. Among them at the
first he had come and brought the gospel. And so he wanted
them to continue it and he wanted them to withstand heretics. on every occasion. Some examples
can be found in II Timothy 1, verse 14, "...who fasted the
form of sound words which thou hadst heard from me." And here
in Titus 2, verse 1, He said, speak the things that
become sound doctrine. Now concerning Titus, that is,
the man Titus, whom Paul calls in the epistle of Titus in chapter
1 and verse 4, my own son after the common faith. Titus must
have been a convert under the ministry of Paul. And he became
a man grounded in the gospel and a man that Paul loved and
trusted with the truth. And Paul used him for various
tasks. I'll name some, then we'll go
on. Such as 2 Corinthians 8. Paul sent Titus to Corinth in
order to get the collection for the poor saints that had been
collected for Jerusalem. And in 2 Corinthians 8.23, he
calls him, my partner in fellowship concerning you. While in 2 Corinthians
12, And verse 18, he declares Titus to walk in the same spirit
and the same step as himself. Now, Titus' work consisted in
at least three areas that we glean out of this book. A, in
Titus 1, 5 through 9, he was to set in order the things that
were left undone when Paul had to leave and go on his way, such
as setting up elders or overseers, what 1 Timothy 3 and 1 called
bishop elders and overseers in 1 Timothy 3. And in Titus 1,
6 through 9, Bishop, and in 1 Timothy 3, 2 through 7, the qualification
of such persons are laid out so that the right sort of men
might be chosen and set over. And then B, he was to withstand
the heretics that came among them. He was to stand fast against
that. You have it in chapter 1 and
verse 10 and 11. For there are many unruly and
vain talkers and deceivers, especially they of the circumcision, whose
mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things
which they ought not for our filthy lucre's sake." Titus 1.14,
Not giving heed to Jewish fables and commandments of men that
turn from the truth. Titus 2 and verse 1, Speak thou
the things that become sound doctrine. And then see, he was
to emphasize Christian behavior. He was not only to set up the
order of the church, withstand heretic, but he also was to put
them in mind of Christian behavior. You have that throughout chapter
2. and some of chapter 3 that we have read from this morning. Now, let's put the finishing
touches on our introduction by noticing, if we will, a couple
of things that are relevant unto this matter this morning. The first matter is the nationality
of Titus. He was a Greek, therefore Titus
was of Gentile extraction. Titus was a former pagan and
idol worshipper. Galatians 2 and 3, Titus being
a Greek. Now Paul took Titus with him
to Jerusalem concerning that great controversy that arose
down at Antioch as to whether the Gentiles should be circumcised
and put under the Mosaic law as a part of their justification
before God. And Titus, in a sense, became
the great test case for that. Paul writes in Galatians chapter
2 and verse 3, Not even Titus was compelled to be circumcised. Here we have a full Greek, a
full Gentile showing that salvation was to the Greek also. that they
are made fellow-heirs and fellow-worshipper of the Jew in the gospel by the
righteousness of faith in and through Jesus Christ. So that's
the first matter. the nationality of Titus. Now,
the second matter is the general character of the Cretans. I want us to just look at that
for a moment. Their general disposition, a
mark of their personality, if we might say. And look with me
at Titus chapter 1, and verse 12 at what Paul says of them. One of their own, even a prophet
of their own said, the Cretans are always liars, evil beasts,
and slow bellies. Now Paul is telling Titus, hold
to the truth as he will contend with many gainsayers. He will meet many on his way,
that is, opposers and contradictors of the truth and of the gospel. He will come across many unruly
and vain talkers and deceivers in chapter 1 and verse 10. He will come across subverters
of houses, lovers of filthy lucre or base gain or dishonest gain
in chapter 1 verse 11. becoming nearer to the part that
is our present text and subject here in chapter 3. In verse 1
we have a reminder of how we shape that submission and authority. telling Titus to tell the people
to be subject to higher powers and to authority, to be subject
to what Paul calls in Romans 13 and verse 1 the higher power. Not only that, but to be ready
to every good work along with our Christian life and duty. Now, of course, the first injunction
has its limits in subjection unto higher power, as we must
obey God rather than men, as we read in Acts chapter 5 and
verse 29. Then in verse 2 of our text this
morning, we are exhorted to refrain from slander and to live peaceable
lives toward other, even the lost pagans that are in our midst. To be gentle, Paul said, and
displaying a meekness toward those that are without. That is, that are not our brothers
and sisters, not in the church, not in the assembly. And in Romans
12 and verse 18, Paul gives basically the same admonition, but he adds
this. If, as much as it is possible,
live peaceably with all men. Notice verse 3 of our chapter
this morning. as a motivation to manifest this
kind of behavior toward all men, not just fellow Christians of
like mind, but even the crude Christians among whom they live. To enforce that exhortation or
admonition, notice that Paul reminds them that they were,
quote, sometimes, unquote. That is, they themselves were
at one time. They themselves in time past
sang in the third verse, for we ourselves Paul includes himself
in this number. We ourselves were this, etc.,
etc. Now, we ought to understand,
should we not, the conduct of the wicked. For we once lived
our lives in open wickedness, even as they. We ought to understand,
therefore, how they think. because we once thought as they
do. We ought to understand the ignorance
of the natural man, for we ourselves were once ignorant and without
the Spirit of God. In short, we must remember the
pit out of which we have been digged. We need to remember what
we were by nature in former times and in days gone by." Paul uses
this reference in his epistle. He does so in Ephesians chapter
2, saying to them, You were once Gentiles in the flesh, without
hope, without God, and without Christ. But now you are made
nigh by the blood of Jesus Christ. He further tells him, You were
once dead, entrespassed, and in sin, but you have been quickened. There's another one of those
in I Corinthians chapter 6, 9-11. He names some sins that he says
separate them from God and eternal life. Awful, awful sins are mentioned
here by the apostle. Then he says in verse 11, such
were some of you. In days gone by, such were some
of you. But then he adds, but now you
are washed, you are sanctified, you are justified in, by, and
through Christ. Nor does Paul exclude himself,
though he was the champion of Phariseeism in his day. In Galatians 1, 13-16, speaking
of my conversation In time past, what did he do?
Persecuting the church. But then Christ called him by
his grace. Again, in 1 Timothy 1 and verse
13, he refers to himself saying, Who before was a blasphemer and
a persecutor and injurious, then he adds, but I obtained mercy. So the question is, Did you,
did we, always believe in Christ? Did we always love the church? Have we always had an ear and
a love for the Gospel? Did we always hold to the Bible
as the inerrant, inspired Word of our God? Did we always see
the world as wicked and as anti-God as we do now? By the way, by
the way, Did we always believe in the doctrines of grace? Have we always believed these
great, wonderful truths? Now we act like we are the ones
that invented them. But the knowledge of grace doctrine
came to us by divine revelation. We first believed in free will
before we believed in the free grace of God. Now coming to verse
4 in our chapter and the question, what is it, what was it that
affected such a change in them? How and why were they so changed
from their former manner and conduct of life? And what was
it that changed Paul from a hater of the church to a preacher of
the gospel? Now, let's focus our attention
for right now on verses 4 through verse 7, the subject being spiritual
renewal and the manner of it. In verse 4, the appearance of
the kindness and love of God toward men." Notice the two words,
after that. Gil says it can be when, when,
that even or when They were living that manner of life that is described
in verse 2. After all their time and course
in sinning, as Gil put it, amidst all this iniquity, when these
persons were making a career out of sin and had done no preparatory
work, or had any previous qualification or disposition for the grace
of God." In other words, even as they were living in sin, living
in malice, living in envy, when they were hateful and hating
one another, when they were serving different desires and all kinds
of pleasure. Then the kindness and the love
of God toward man appeared, and it appeared It came in effectual
power to turn them from their sin and their former life unto
the Lord Jesus Christ. And note, if you will, that this
special appearance came not or when or because they ceased or
they left off sinning. It did not come when or because
they self-reformed. It did not come as a result of
that. And it did not come because they
sought after it and greatly desired it. But they appeared, that is,
the kindness and the love of God appeared after that, after
that course of sinning. In former days it appeared. And
I see this word in the concordance at least four times. Kind of
wanted us to take notice of it because it has the meaning to
shine upon, to give light, to become visible, to come out into
the open. In fact, it is the same word
that is used by in the book of Luke chapter 1 verse 79, when
Zacharias at last could speak after the birth of John. And
he said, when the day spring from on high has visited us to
give light, and there's that word appeared, to them that sit
in darkness, to appear, to give light. to become visible, to
come out into the open. It's also the word that is used
in Acts chapter 27 and verse 20, when Paul and they on the
ship were caught in the great storm day after day and night
after night. It is the word there when neither
sun nor stars appeared." That's the same word that we have here
in Titus chapter 3. They were not visible. Neither
gave their light through the cloudy surrounding. Could not
be seen for days and for nights. Now the word is twice here in
the epistle unto Titus. It's in chapter 2 verse 11 and
here in chapter 3 And it seems reasonable to view the appearing
of saving grace in a two-fold way and still stay with the Holy
Scripture. I had this thought enforced by
what I read in John Gill, that grace appeared in the incarnation
of Christ. Yes, it did. Grace appeared when
Christ became incarnate. John 1 and verse 14, he was full
of grace and truth. And John 1, 17, I believe it
is, the law came by Moses, but grace and truth by Jesus Christ. And who can beat that wonderful
passage in 2 Timothy chapter 1, verse 9 and 10? There was a purpose of grace.
It was hid in Christ, it was given before the world began,
and was made manifest by the appearing of our Savior, Jesus
Christ, who hath abolished death and brought life and immortality
to light through the Gospel. Here's a part of what Gil wrote
on Titus chapter 3 and verse 4. that is, grace, broke forth
and showed itself in the mission of Christ into this world and
in redemption and salvation by Him wherein God hath manifested
and commended His love and hath shown forth the exceeding riches
of His grace." That was in the appearing of our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ. Take that verse back in Titus
2 and verse 11. For the grace of God that brings
salvation hath appeared unto all men. Now the subject is grace,
saving grace. is in the mind and the eye of
the apostle. Saving grace, that brings salvation. It has appeared. And this is
the same word that we have in chapter 3 and verse 4. And of course, the universalist
Arminian would put great emphasis on those words, to all men. But when grace appears, it brings
salvation. And not all men of any age or
of any generation, any nation, or any class are or ever have
been saved. And when we take those words
in their proper and suitable context and also consider what
is said before as expressed by the word for, in verse 11, chapter
2, and what follows then in verse 12, Titus 2, 11 and 12. Linsky even said that the words
in the Greek are, quote, second, aorist, passive, unquote, meaning
that the words can be rendered. For there has appeared the grace
of God saving for all men. And when we look at the all,
as will be seen from verses 2 to verse 10 in the second chapter
of Titus, it is to be seen as a reference to all sorts of persons,
every class, every rank, both genders, every social status
that we might mention. See this again, 1 Timothy 2,
1 through 6. He refers to kings. He refers
to old men, Titus 2, 2. Old women, verse 3. Young women,
verse 4. Husbands, young men, servants,
masters, all men. Teach them sound doctrine, Titus
2 and verse 1. to adorn the doctrine of God
in all things, for there has appeared the saving grace of
God unto all sorts, types, and classes of men." In other words,
as Fairbain wrote in his commentary on the book of Titus, the salvation
bringing the grace of God, is without respect a person and
unfolded to every sort of sinner." And we need to keep that in mind. Then see what follows in Titus
2 and verse 12. The grace that brings or that
appears in salvation also is an instructor in righteousness. That the grace of God that brings
salvation teaches righteous living and Christian discipleship. Dare any to try to make a license
out of grace to sin. Paul denies it emphatically. The grace of God appears another
way. In what John Gill called effectual
vocation." And I think that's what we're dealing with here
in our text this morning. Meaning, bringing certain individuals
to a saving knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And this is the way that is meant
here in Titus 3 and verse 4, as it is the contrast of the
former way of life that they were living. hateful and hating,
but when or after the grace of God appeared. The grace of God
appeared to Paul on Damascus Road, and it effectually called
him away from his former ignorant and misconceived way of life. But moving along here in chapter
3 of Titus, it almost seems that verse 5 could be looked at as
sort of an explanatory digression. Now, I'm not saying that, but
it could appear at least a rebuff here in verse 5 of the merit
mongers, which by the way is most professing Christendom today. Paul makes a denial here in verse
5, a denial of any and all human acts as having any bearing on
this salvation of grace and their justification. If you look, verse
4 would then fit perfectly down with verse 6. But the sentiment
of verse 5 is a common one with the apostle Paul. We see him
again and again saying, not by works of righteousness which
we have done. Remember that great passage in
Ephesians 2, verse 8, verse 9, by grace Are you saved through
faith? Then he added, That not of yourself
it is the gift of God. And then he added, Not of works
lest any man should boast. You have it again in 2 Timothy,
in that passage in chapter 1, verse 9 and 10. Who saved us
and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but
according to his own purpose and grace which was given us
in Christ Jesus before the world began." Now, the sentiment in
these verses rings out again and again in the Pauline Epistle. By grace, not of yourself. According to the purpose of grace,
not according to our works. by his calling, not on account
of any works of righteousness. And then in verse 5 he said,
in accordance with his mercy he saved us. Not by works of
righteousness, not by the law, not by merit, but by or in accordance
with his mercy he saved us. He's very clear. not upon the
ground of works, but upon the ground of mercy, grace, and goodness. No human act, none at all, had
any influence in us obtaining or in any obtaining the mercy
of God. Though we had great need of mercy,
without mercy, what would we do? We would perish. And yet,
none of us had any influence in bringing down the mercy of
God upon our unworthy head. So neither our willingness or
our cooperation had a hand in our calling. Our works had no
part in our righteousness, in our being reckoned righteous
in the sight of God, nor our deeds of law had any influence
in us escaping the curse of God's law. Paul sums it up under such
terms as mercy, grace, love, kindness, or benignity. And in verse 5, according to
His mercy, He saved us. He saved us by the washing of
regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit. Now, pardon
me if I take one step back in order to take two steps forward,
but it concerns the fact and the reason why absolutely none,
and I mean absolutely none, can ever be justified by any works
or by any merit of their own. And it is, as the Puritan teacher
and expositor Thomas Goodwin put it in his writing, it is
because of our first estate, because of what we were by nature,
which he called our, quote, natural condition, unquote. He then wrote,
and I'm quoting Goodwin, quote, our once having been in a state
of nature, It spoils, it disenables all holiness to ever justify
us before God." This means that prior to regeneration, prior
to being renewed by the Holy Spirit. We had not the influence
of the grace of God in our life, so we had no holiness. We had
nothing good in us. We were, in fact, dead in trespasses
and in sin. And then, blessed be His name,
God sent forth the blessed Holy Spirit to quicken at the appointed
time, when our time was come, when God passed by like that
little infant. And it was the time of love,
and God said unto it, live. Regeneration, therefore, is the
great divide. Regeneration is the great divide
which none can cross in and of themselves. Not only that, but
it is the great divider. There are only two sorts of person
living upon the earth, the regenerate and the unregenerate, either
dead in sin or born of God, not halfway in or halfway out. And there are many professing
religious people, Christians, today, no doubt, who are yet
unregenerate. And among them are two sorts
that we can see visible. A, there are those who don't
believe in any new birth. They don't believe that becoming
a Christian is grounded in a sovereign work, an inward work of God. They believe it is all self-determination. than be. There are those on the
other hand who think, yes, it is our actions that lead to and
that set in motion the new birth. But regeneration is a sovereign
work of the Spirit of God. in which the spirit is neither
aided nor successfully resisted. In fact, regeneration is the
first internal saving work of God by the spirit in the elect. Let me say it this way. It is
the first thing done in the application of the great redemption purposed
by God before the world and wrought by Christ in His death yonder
upon the cross." Again, quoting from Gale. I guess I ought to
have brought Gale's commentary and just read the third chapter
to you. But he said, and I'm quoting this, regenerating and
renewing is the first appearance and discovery of the love of
God to them. This is their open passage into
a state of grace, unquote. This is their open passage into
a state of grace. What a summation. Their open
passage. I really like that. without or
apart from regeneration. There would not be faith. There
would not be repentance or calling or conversion or the implanting
of the new life. The renewing of the Holy Spirit
is the very foundation of the Christian life and the impetus
it is to sanctification and good works, except one is born of
the Spirit. They cannot see or enter into
the kingdom of God. Jesus said that in John 3. They cannot see or enter, for
until they are renewed, they have only the natural man's outlook
upon life. In I Corinthians 2 and verse
14, I may preach on that soon, the natural man receives not
the things of the Spirit of God and that upon two accounts. Number one, their foolishness
to Him. He hears these things that we
consider wonderful and great truths, and He calls them foolishness. And secondly, they are spiritually
discerned or judged, as the word might be rendered. The things
of God are spiritually judged or discerned, known only by those
that are spiritual. Coming to Titus 3 and verse 6,
the word which Now, it has as its nearest antecedent in the
end of verse 5, the Holy Spirit, or verse 6, some render it whom?
For Paul having just said in verse 5, the Holy Spirit to be
the author of this quickening and of this renewal, what one
called the efficient author of the renovation of the old man."
And the Apostle speaks of the Spirit further as, number one,
being shed abundantly upon us. The margin, you notice, has richly,
copiously, in other words, in large amount meeting every need. And secondly, this rich effusion
of the Holy Spirit is through Jesus Christ our Savior. This effusion of the Spirit comes
not except by and through Jesus Christ our Savior, by His mediation. by His person and His work, and
by His death and glorification, the Lord Jesus has ascended into
heaven and has procured for His people the promise of the Spirit
as a fruit of His atonement and glorification." John 7, 37-39. Acts 2 and verse 33, He's ascended
to the right hand of God, having received of the Father the promise
of the Spirit, has shed forth this which you now see and hear. So all the grace, the mercy,
and the gifts of the Spirit are bestowed in and through the Lord
Jesus Christ, which He merited by his death and his obedience,
and this he leaves as the legacy unto his church. Finally, look
at verse 7. The ultimate end and aim of the
work of the Spirit of Christ, verse 7, that through the justifying
righteousness of God in Christ they might be made partakers
of the inheritance of the saints in See Colossians 1 verse 12
also. This is the high design of God
in bestowing all spiritual blessing upon the chosen. It's not just
that they might have a happy, prosperous life in this world,
but that they might have eternal blessedness. Eternal blessedness
is the ultimate end of the working of all of these things. everything
tending toward the blessing of blessings, eternal life and happiness,
freely, fully justified through Christ. Now, I'm not talking
about merely an acquittal. It's more than an acquittal.
We are justified through the Lord Jesus Christ. We are declared
righteous in His sight, have an imputed righteousness, which
is the righteousness of our Lord, and upon this standeth our justification. Heirs of God join heirs with
Jesus Christ. Heirs of eternal life. That's
the ultimate end and aim and purpose of God in all of these
things. the quickening, making us alive,
renewing us. That all tended toward sanctification
in this life, but eternal blessedness and happiness in the life and
in the world to come. And for this, our Savior came. For this, our Savior works. For
this, salvation is applied. For this, we are renewed that
we might walk in the way and be heirs of life and fellow heirs
with Jesus Christ.