If you would, please turn with
me to Titus 1. Titus 1. And I'm just going to read the
first four verses. So Titus 1. And I'll try to speak
up so Matt can hear me back there. So Titus chapter 1. Paul, a servant of God and an
apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect,
and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness,
in hope of eternal life which God, that cannot lie, promised
before the world began, but hath in due times manifested his word
through preaching, which is committed unto me according to the commandment
of God our Savior, to Titus, mine own son, after the common
faith, Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and the Lord
Jesus Christ, our Savior. And once again here we read in
this text about faith. We are told in two of the verses
we read, faith of God's elect and after the common faith. You hear a lot of people talking
about their faith. What they mean is they have the
power of positive thinking. That's what they mean. They believe
that something they wanted to happen would happen, and it did. So then they say their faith
got them through. The problem with their faith,
and I'm not saying they do not have faith, people can believe
a great many things, but that faith that most have does not
move toward God. it moves to what they want. They
are deceived and God will give them what they want and they
will think because they got what they want that it is God honoring.
They do not have the faith of God's elect or the common faith.
In fact, from the context here, there was probably some who thought
they were with God's people and may have thought they had the
common faith. But it is made evident that they
do not have the faith of God's elect when they do not talk about
salvation in Christ and Christ alone. They are vain talkers. They speak empty things. That's
what it says here. And it says, especially they
of the circumcision. Adding anything to Jesus Christ
is vain, empty, and it has no substance whatsoever. But rather
they speak about what they did or do to bring about something
because they believed it would happen. They wear it, as Earl
used to say, they wear it as a lucky rabbit's foot around
their neck. And that's all their faith does
is bring them good luck. They know nothing of Scripture
where it says, in 2 Thessalonians 1, 3-5, we read, We are bound
to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet, because
that your faith groweth exceedingly, and the charity of every one
of you all toward each other aboundeth, so that we ourselves
glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and
faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure. which is a manifest token of
the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy
of the kingdom of God for which ye also suffer. They may suffer, but they do
not suffer for the kingdom of God. And most of the time, their
faith, it's something that's completed, if you will. And what
I'm trying to say is, they're not enduring something, not going
through anything continually. And that's what God's people
do. but they may suffer, but not for the kingdom of God. Their
faith looks to what they do and not what Jesus Christ has done. They may suffer, but their suffering
generally involves them not getting as lucky as they thought they
should. Tribulations and persecution for God's people is because of
the kingdom of God and the fact that they look for the return
of the king of the kingdom. God's people's faith look to
and hopes in Jesus Christ, and luck has nothing to do with that.
It's all because of grace, mercy, and peace from God and his son,
Jesus Christ, which we'll look at a little bit more. In fact,
the faith that they have comes from him because it is his to
give, God's people, that faith that's of Jesus Christ. And I
want to look at this this morning, the faith of the believer. Any
faith that does not look to God and His Son, Jesus Christ, having
worked out salvation for us, and that God will work all things
for our good to cause us to be with Him one day and that forever. Any faith that does not look
to that is a dead faith. We read of dead faith. Faith
without works is dead. Those works are in obedience
to the gospel of Jesus Christ, those ones that are not dead
works. That faith believes Jesus Christ and what he has done,
and you do things to that end. Everything is geared around towards
that if you have this faith, whatever it might be. So let's
look at a little bit today, what does the faith of God's elect
cause? Where do we see this faith? and
what is meant by God to give this faith to some. So first
of all, the faith of God's elect. What does the faith of God's
elect cause? First of all, who is God's elect?
I know that there are those fallen sons and daughters of Adam that
are chosen by God, elect of God. I know that. But God's elect
is Jesus Christ. He is God's elect. Isaiah 42,
1, we've read it before. Behold, my servant whom I uphold,
mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth, I have put my spirit upon him. He shall bring forth judgment
to the Gentiles. There's nothing in me that would
have caused God to choose me to do anything for God's people,
to uphold anything. It's Jesus Christ. There's only
one in whom God so delights, and that is Jesus Christ the
Lord. If God delights in us, if he
delights in you, delights in me, as his elect, it will be
in Jesus Christ. We are chosen in him if we are
chosen at all, Ephesians 1, 3, and 4. Blessed be the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all
spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as
he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world,
that we should be holy and without blame before him in love. So now, what does the faith of
God's elect cause? This is something that happens
for all who possess this faith. It does not say some who possess
this faith or depending on the individual believer, it doesn't
say that. It is a specific faith that is of God that comes from
Jesus Christ. This faith does what? It acknowledges
the truth. It does not say you come to your
truth. It says, acknowledging or recognizing
what God says is true and believing it. That is, you believe God
about what he says about mankind born of Adam, and you also believe
the record God gave of his son. Acknowledging the truth is after
godliness, it says. You believe that Jesus Christ
is the elect and that if you have any hope, it will be because
you are chosen in him and because he died for you. Hidden God in
Jesus Christ, as the scripture puts it. But your hope is to have eternal
life. Verse two, in hope of eternal
life, which God that cannot lie promised before the world began,
was what was promised in Jesus Christ, who is our life, is sure,
and it will come to pass if you are one of his. So this faith
has a good hope, and we acknowledge the truth to that end, in hope
of eternal life. Faith trusts Jesus Christ to
have saved me and to save me. Hebrews 9.15 we read, And for
this cause he is the mediator of the New Testament, that by
means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were
under the first testament, they which are called might receive
the promise of the eternal inheritance. But what Jesus Christ did, we
are not now able to receive this inheritance. That's what it just
said there. But you will not know this until you are given
faith, his faith. And let's be clear, it does not
say we obtain faith or this life by our works. It is promised
by God before the world began in Jesus Christ. He is our life. So our hope is in an eternal,
holy, and merciful God. But this faith acknowledges God
is right. And where do we see this? So
the next point, where do we see this faith? Where do we see the
faith of Jesus Christ, the faith of God's elect? It is manifested
in his word through preaching. If you do not hear his word,
if you do not believe his word, then you cannot say you have
the faith of God's elect. Here's how important the preaching
of the gospel is. Paul tells us in Acts 20, 24.
But none of these things move me, all these things that was
happening to Paul, all these tribulations and stuff. He says
this, but none of these things move me, neither count I my life
dear unto myself so that I might finish my course with joy and
the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus to testify
the gospel of the grace of God. Here in Titus, it does not say
it is manifested through visions or signs. It says through the
proclamation of the gospel. The proclamation of the gospel
manifest Jesus Christ, the word of God. Jesus Christ is the truth
that we acknowledge by faith. He is the truth. He told us,
I am the way, the truth, and the life. John 14, 6, Jesus saith
unto them, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh
unto the Father but by me. There's no other way to the Father
other than Jesus Christ. He is the only way. This faith responds to the preaching
of the gospel, if you have it. If you have this faith, the response
is obeying the gospel, acknowledging it. This response of this faith
is not to start keeping the law or for you to do anything. The
response is to believe the gospel sent to you as it is. And that's where we see Jesus
Christ in this gospel. Verse 10, we read of 2 Timothy. But it is now made manifest by
the appearing of our Savior, Jesus Christ, who hath abolished
death and hath brought life and immortality to light through
the gospel. He is the light and the life. By this faith giving, having
obtained it by grace, mercy, and peace of God the Father and
Jesus Christ, what do we do? We worship the one who saved
our soul. The response to the gospel is
not trying to break God's law. I want to be clear about that.
It is resting in Jesus Christ who fulfilled that law completely. His elect, chosen in Him, He
did the law. By faith, God's people established
the law is what scripture says. We hold it up. We hold it up.
Not we perform it or we do it or we keep it, we establish it. Romans 3 31, do we then make
void the law through faith? God forbid, yea, we establish
the law. We stand in the law by believing
Jesus Christ. It amazes me that so many who say they know the grace of
God in Jesus Christ, Yet they will not believe God in what
he says Jesus Christ accomplished. If he is the head, and he is,
and we are his body, his chosen people, and we are, if you're
chosen in him, it's one man. The head and the body. Then if
our head has kept the law, we have kept the law in him. Simple
as that. The gospel tells us this. So
the next point, what is meant by God to give this faith to
some? We are told here that it is a
common faith. And I know a lot of people think
the faith of God's elect, and that's what we're talking about
here, the faith of God's elect. But many think that faith is
something that is on a shelf or whatever, and they take it
down whenever they need it. It is their faith that gets them
through. In other words, it's what they do that gets them through. That's how they think of it.
But this common faith spoken of here is not common at all.
It is only to all those who possess this faith. But we are told in
Scripture, 2 Thessalonians 3, 1 and 2, Finally, brethren, pray
for us that the word of the Lord may have free course and be glorified,
even as it is with you, and that we may be delivered from unreasonable
and wicked men, for all men have not faith. And we're talking
about this kind of faith, the faith of God's elect. The scripture's
clear. All men do not have this faith.
Some men have their faith, but it is a dead faith because it
does not have the one who is the source of that faith producing
it. It is a man-made faith, if you
will, and it is dead as last year's Christmas tree, as the
saying goes. It does not say it is common
to all without exception. First of all, the context is
talking about the faith of God's elect, that's how it starts out.
So those chosen of God are the ones who have this faith. That
faith trusts, it believes in and it obeys Jesus Christ the
Lord. It does say common or shared
by all or several, that's the meaning of the word. But it is
common to all he is talking to and all that have it. It is saying that this faith
is the same to all who possess it. It's common. This faith looks
to the one who gave it, for without him we can do nothing. It is not, I have my faith and
you have your faith. If you have this faith given,
as it says here, this common faith, it specifically believes
God. But we are told right here where
that faith comes from and how it comes. It has a colon right
there in the sentence. And I'm no English expert by
any stretch of the imagination, but I can look up the meaning
of what it means, what a colon is supposed to do. And here's
what it says. It's supposed to introduce lists,
explanations, formal quotations, or clarifies ideas that follow
an independent clause. That's what a colon is. So what
do we read next? I want to go back to the verse. So it first says, to Titus, my
own son, after the common faith, colon. We're going to have an
explanation of where this comes from. Grace, mercy, and peace
from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior. It is by or from grace, mercy,
and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our
Savior. All men have not faith because
it is God who must give it and he gives this, he does this by grace, mercy,
and peace toward those whom he has chosen, to those whom he's
pleased to give it to. He does this so that those He
chose will believe on His only begotten Son and to acknowledge
the truth of Him and about ourselves. Believers do not boast in their
faith because they know it was given. Rather, they say, Lord,
I believe. I know I believe because of what
You have done and what You have given. Lord, help thou mine unbelief,
because this flesh likes to take credit where there is no credit
due. So faith is not common at all,
but this faith is given so that we might have hope in Jesus Christ
the Lord. It is common to all those who
are his elect, elect in Jesus Christ. The faith of Jesus Christ
is what is common to all of God's people. Faith acknowledges the
truth, and in that we have eternal life. This is promised by God
through Jesus Christ, our Lord. He cannot lie, it says. He promised
it in Jesus Christ, so it is sure and solid. It is not a pipe
dream. It is real and acknowledging
the truth by faith, we are sure about it. The Word of God, which
is Jesus Christ, is manifested and made known through preaching
because those sent of God preached the faith of Jesus Christ, the
same gospel Jesus Christ preached. Turn over with me to John 3,
if you would. John 3. John 3. John 3 and verse 31 through 33
is what I'm going to read. This is talking about Jesus Christ.
He that cometh from above is above all. He that is of the
earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth. He that cometh
from heaven is above all. And what he has seen and heard,
that he testifieth. And no man receiveth his testimony. He that hath received his testimony
hath set to his seal that God is true. Jesus Christ testified to these
things, and it's what we have right here in front of us, right
here. The scriptures. Talks about Jesus Christ. But
does it say of those who hear this testimony, not all hear
it? But those, no, I'm sorry. Does it say of those who, what
does it say of those who hear this testimony? It says some
people don't hear it, is what it says. But those who do, what
does it say? They have set to his seal that
God is true. They stamp it. What does that
stamp say? God is true. What is the testimony
both of our Lord and those he has chosen? That is the gospel. He is the author and finisher
of faith. Looking unto Jesus, the author
and finisher of our faith. And this explains his faith here. It tells about his faith. Who
for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising
the shame, and is set down in the right hand of the throne
of God. And what is that? He came down,
died, and paid the redemption price, and then he arose. That's
what that's saying. That is the gospel. Those who
have that common faith, common to all his people, and it acknowledges
the truth, the truth being Jesus Christ is our hope and Jesus
Christ alone. If you teach anything else, if
you teach Jesus Christ and something else for salvation, you are a
vain talker. And it says your mouth must be
stopped. How about those who stand up
by the grace of God, Titus 1, 9 and 10. Let's read that, Titus 1, 9 and
10. Holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught,
that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to
convince the gainsayers. For there are many unruly and
vain talkers and deceivers, especially they of the circumcision. That's what it says right there
in Titus. Whose mouths must be stout. who subvert whole houses
teaching things which they ought not for filthy lucre's sake.
There's no place for such empty sayings as these. Things like this are empty sayings.
I decided to follow Jesus on my own, by my own free will. That's vain talk. But so is this. Jesus Christ saved me by his
grace and all I have to do is be circumcised. All I have to
do is this or that to make what he's done effectual. That's vain
talk. Faith, believing God, that is
the substance because it sees Jesus Christ, that is the substance
of faith, who is our life and it is the evidence What Jesus
Christ did is what faith sees, and that is my evidence. This
common faith acknowledges who God's salvation is. They believe
Jesus Christ is the Word of God. That is, we are told to preach
this, who He is and what He has done. But I do not get to this
point on my own. This faith, this salvation in
every aspect comes by grace, mercy, and peace from God the
Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who is our Savior. Turn over
to chapter 2 of Titus, chapter 2. And this is what Paul is saying
to all those who are ordained should be teaching these things.
He's talking to Titus about those he should ordain, these elders,
he should ordain and what they should teach. But Titus 2 verses
10 through 14. not purlorning, but showing all
good fidelity, that they may adorn the doctrine of God our
Saviour in all things. 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 Savior,
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. We can see right there the grace
of God brings salvation. That grace is found in Jesus
Christ. because that is who is manifested
through the preaching and by faith. It teaches us that we
should live good lives. That's what the gospel does.
It don't teach us to break the law. It teaches we should live
good lives. And we do this, though, looking
for something, looking for that blessed hope. Jesus Christ is
that hope. Jesus Christ is a great God and
a savior. Then it tells us how this salvation
was accomplished, who gave himself for us, that he might redeem
us from all iniquity. With this end result, that he
might purify unto himself a peculiar people, a special people. I know some might say, well,
you all think you're special. Well, that right there says that
there are some who are special. That's what the word peculiar
means. But they're not special in anything they did. He purified
His people, making them a special people unto Himself. So they
are special to Him because of Him. And what did we have anything
to do with it? Nothing. All we can do is praise
His name for all things that He has done. Thank God for His
grace, mercy, and peace in Jesus Christ. because that saved me
from my sins. A couple more verses to give
witness to this common faith and I'll be done. 2 Peter 1 and
1 says, Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ,
to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through
the righteousness of God and our Savior Jesus Christ. Right
there it says it. Do you see it? We receive this
like precious faith, this common faith to all of God's people.
We obtain this faith through the righteousness of God and
our Savior, Jesus Christ. One more, Romans 1, 11 and 12.
We read, for I long to see you that I may impart unto you some
spiritual gift to the end you may be established. That is,
that I may be comforted together with you by the mutual faith,
both of you and me. That faith is the faith of Jesus
Christ, which we hear in the gospel. I don't know of a time
where we see people gathering together in God's word, where the gospel was not proclaimed. Faith feeds off of the gospel
of Jesus Christ and him crucified. And oh, may I hear it over and
over again, amen. Dear old God, forgive your servant
for trembling, stuttering words, dear Lord, but you're merciful
and gracious to allow us to see you once again in your word,
dear Lord, in your gospel. Calls us to just continually
look to your gospel, to preach your gospel, support your gospel,
because it tells us all about you, dear Lord, and the faith
you have given feeds off of that and it causes us comfort and
we have that hope of eternal life to come. All these things
we ask in Christ's name. Amen.