Looking in Titus chapter three,
and we had looked at this last week, and of course,
considering the description, as Paul writes, for we ourselves
also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving
divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy. hating, and
hating 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 have done, but according to
his mercy, he saved us. Now, that is a profound statement. Of course, Paul's writing to
Titus and writing to those who are called out by the Lord for
Titus to minister to. But when a man comes to the place
where he understands that, then he cannot help but worship
the Lord. Because it's not by works that
we have done, but according to his mercy, he saved us. Now, he didn't try to save us. He didn't do the best he could.
He didn't do part of it and then expect us to do something else,
but he saved us. Now, that's pretty clear. You
know, the salvation of God's people is not a cooperative plan. It's not something that God did
and made it available and hung it out like a sale at Walmart
and said, come get some of this if you want it. But he saved
us. He did what was necessary. He
delivered his people. That's exactly what the angel
told Joseph when he appeared to him. He said, thou shalt call
his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins.
Not he's gonna make an effort to, not he's gonna make an offer,
but he is going to save his people from their sins. And that's exactly
what Paul's writing to Titus about. According to his mercy,
he saved us. It's not according to anything
we've done, according to his mercy. And we talked about that. You know, mercy is mercy. It
has to be sovereign. There's no other kind of mercy
but sovereign mercy. On the one hand, you are not
able to show mercy. Now, we do show mercy, but in
the strictest sense of the word, you can't show mercy because
you don't have any other choice. You have an obligation to be
merciful. God has no obligations whatsoever. The Lord's under no pressure.
He's under no power. He's under nothing. He said,
I will do all my pleasure. He does according to his will.
Now men talk about free will, and God's the only one that has
free will. Men don't have free will. But God has free will. He can do as he pleases. And
there's none that can stay his hand. Nebuchadnezzar found that
out, didn't he? He said there's none that can stay his hand or
say unto him what do I say? Nobody can even bring him into
question. How foolish it is when men question God. They say, well,
I don't know why God did that. You know, and they get angry
at Him sometimes, but they have no place of standing. We don't
have any room, you know. If you try to bring a case to
the Supreme Court, they'll laugh at you, because they'll tell
you you don't have any standing. You don't have any reason. You
don't have any place, ground to come there. And brethren,
that's the place we are before Almighty God. We don't have any
grounds to stand on. We're at His mercy. And it is according to His mercy
that He saved us. We have nothing that we have
not received. And if we have received it, then
how can we boast of it? We can't boast of what we are,
but we can only boast in what He is and what He has done. According to His mercy, He saved
us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost.
That is, by the work of it, by the, as the washing as you consider
it, as a wave, as that which is sent from the Lord, the washing
of regeneration. It's not that we did something
to regenerate ourselves, but he is the one who calls that
to occur. As he said to Nicodemus, Nicodemus
accept a man be born again. Now last week I was asked the
question, you know, what is it to be born again? It's the work
of God. It's not something that can be
explained. Nicodemus didn't understand it,
did he? He said, what do you mean? Can
I go back into my mother's womb and be born again? See, our mind
goes to the carnal reasoning of things. That's how we think
of things. That's how men think of God, with carnal reason. That's the only way they can
think. Men can't think any other way. apart from the mercy of
God, to give us spiritual understanding. The natural man receiveth not
the things of the Spirit of God, neither can he know them, for
they are spiritually discerned. That's what the Lord was telling
Nicodemus. He said, Nicodemus, you don't know anything about
the kingdom of God. See, he was coming to the Lord. He was going
to reason with the Lord and try to get this thing figured out.
And men try to figure it out. I want to know. I want to figure
it out. Well, you can't figure it out because it's impossible
for a man to know the things of the Spirit of God apart from
the mercy of God opening a man's eyes to see these things. And so the washing of regeneration
is the work of God wherein a man is brought out of darkness and
into the light. Now what is the light that is
brought into? The light of the knowledge of
the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. You see, when
the Lord causes a man to be born again, he causes him to understand
and see and know that Jesus Christ is the Savior of sinners. And apart from that work, he
can't know it. He'll never know it. Now, you
can teach it to him. I mean, he can say, you know,
you can teach any child to say that Jesus died on the cross
for our sins. I mean, and that's a good thing.
I'm not saying we shouldn't do that. But only the Spirit of
God can take and open a child's mind, or a man's mind, or a woman's
mind, and cause them to see the glory that is in that. See, that's what it is to be
born again, is to see the glory that surrounds Jesus Christ.
Now, we're coming up on a time of the year here where people
make a big deal about remembering the birth of Christ, and I'm
not opposed to that. I'm not opposed to remembering
the birth of Christ. But people make a big deal out
of it, but most of the people that go off onto these things,
they never stop to think of the glory of Christ, because they
don't know of the glory of Christ. I mean, they know that the story,
it's like a nice little story. They may even take the Bible
and read the passage in Luke. That's a beautiful passage. I
like to read it. You know, about when the Lord
appeared to the shepherds. It's a glorious thing. And a
lot of people will read that, but it's just to them just kind
of like a nice little tale that, you know, you could pick up any
children's book or whatever, and a nice little story and it
makes you feel good and that sort of thing. But they don't
see the glory of the one that was born in that manger. See,
those wise men, Of course, you know, as all these depictions
are, that the wise men were there shortly after the birth of Christ,
that's not true, because it was later on that they came to see
him. It was not that the night that
he was born. But the Lord didn't think about
this. These were men, far removed from those people there in Israel. We don't know exactly where they
came from, wise men from the east. They were all somewhere,
maybe they were in China, maybe they were, I don't know where
they were. How did they know? Did they learn it? Did somebody
tell them? No, the Lord showed them. He said, I see a star. Do you
see that? I'm not sure. There's controversy
about this and whatnot, but maybe they were pagan idolaters. I don't know. We don't know anything
really about them. All we know is that they came
and they left. But the Lord showed them that
the Savior of sinners was born in Bethlehem. And they came bringing gifts, gold, frankincense, and
myrrh. Gold. Because they knew him to be a
king. How did they know that? because God showed it to him. Frankincense, incense, a sweet smell, the worship of God. They knew
him to be God. They knew that the same one that
showed them his star in the east, that he would have them go there
and worship him. You see, the washing of regeneration, that's
what brings a man to do is worship Him, to fall down and give Him
glory. We don't know all things about
Him. We know what He's shown us. Dear brethren, the man that
thinks he knows all the things there is to know about Jesus
Christ is a fool. John said, if even the things
that He did on the earth were written down. All the books in
the world couldn't contain them. It would be impossible for us
to even know Him fully as He walked among men in this world,
in this finite world. complete understanding of His
glory and who He is and what He has done in our behalf, we
can't begin to tell it. And these men, they didn't have,
there's many things about Christ and the things that Christ did
that they probably never fully knew, even so much as what you
know, but yet the Lord taught them exactly what He wanted them
to know. And he taught them that Christ
was a king. He taught them that he was God.
And they brought myrrh, which was a bitter herb. And it was
that which they put upon a sponge and put to the Lord's lips. How
did they know that? How could it be? Who could have
let them in on that knowledge except God? In His mercy, He
visited them with the washing of regeneration and He showed
them who the Savior was. Dear brethren, that's the same
work that God does in His people now. And it's not a work that a preacher
can perform. It's not a work that takes place
by anything men do. But it's that which God is pleased
to do, to draw men to himself, to open their eyes, even as he
did the apostle. Saul of Tarsus, a man breathing
out threatenings and slaughters against the people of God, and
yet God in his mercy. When the time came, He opened
his eyes and he said, Lord. It was the same thing, really,
that those three wise men said, Lord, we came to worship Him.
He fell down and he worshipped. Because, you see, the glory of
God overshadowed him. He couldn't do anything else.
See, when the glory of God is revealed to a man, when the face
of Jesus Christ, the glory, is revealed to a man, he can't do
anything else but worship Him. He can't turn away and walk away
from Him. He has to follow that. He's like
that thief on the cross. What made the difference? between
the two thieves on the cross. The scripture says that they
both cast it into his teeth. They were both mocking him as
they hung there on the cross, but something happened. Now, you know, a lot of times
you hear men talk about, well, you know, it's never too late. I mean, see the thief on the
cross. He finally came to his senses and gave his heart to
the Lord. You know, that's not what happened.
The Lord changed his mind, changed his heart. He opened his understanding
and he said, Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom. See, he knew that Christ was
the king. That's what the work of regeneration
is. When a man's born again, he comes to know that Christ
is the King. And a man that doesn't know Christ
is the King has not been born again. He's not been awakened.
He's not seen Christ in His glory. That's the work of God. According
to His mercy, He saved us by the washing of regeneration and
renewing of the Holy Ghost. We've been renewed. Born again, that's the same understanding,
by the work of the Holy Ghost, which He shed on us abundantly
through Jesus Christ our Savior. How does the Holy Ghost come
to men? Through Christ. The Lord said when He's come,
He'll glorify me. He said He won't speak of Himself. but he'll speak of me, and he'll
show you the things of God. Regeneration is the work of the
Spirit. The wind blows where it lifts,
and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell from whence
it cometh. So is every one that is born
of the Spirit of God. Oh, may the Lord visit us with
that washing and renewing of the Holy Ghost. which he shed
on us abundantly through Jesus Christ, our Savior. He didn't
just squeak us in. See, a lot of people look at
the thief on the cross and they say, well, he just barely made
it. I mean, he just squeaked in though. You see, he was never
any more or any less a child of God. when he hung on that cross than
when he committed the crimes that he did. Now, a lot of people
have a hard time with that, but dear brethren, the Lord knows
the people that are his. When Saul held the coats of those
that stoned Stephen, he was no less a child of God. He didn't
know it. He didn't care about it. Had
no thought toward it. But you see, the mercy of God
was spread upon Saul of Tarsus from his mother's womb. Just
like every one of his children that he calls in time, his hand
of kindness has been upon them. I look at my life and I see the
many times that the Lord showed mercy to me and yet I didn't
know it at the time. I had no understanding of it. Yet His mercy, as that song says,
before my infant heart conceived from whom those blessings flowed. He has shed on us abundantly,
not just some little minor blessing. Well, we just received a little
bit of blessing. No, dear brethren, if we've been called by the grace
of God through Jesus Christ, that we have received an abundant
blessing. There's no greater blessing on
earth that a man can ever have than to come to the place where
he's enabled to see the glory of Jesus Christ. The fact that
he's the King, that he's the Savior, that he's Almighty God,
without rival, he's shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ,
that being justified By His grace. Justified. Now you hear a lot
of talk about being justified by faith. Scripture speaks about
being justified by faith. And indeed, when a man's been
born again, faith is an operation of that. I mean, that's the work
of God. No such thing as a man who's been born again who doesn't
have faith. Because you see, the faith of
God's people is Christ. And a man who's been brought
to faith, that doesn't mean that he decided to do something. It
means he can't do anything else. See, that's what the faith of
Christ is. It's absolute. There's nothing
else that will do. No, I can't say, well, I'm going
to try a little bit of this faith and I'll have a little bit of
that faith. No, it's the faith of Christ. It's that faith which
rests in Christ. It is Christ being justified
by His grace. So it doesn't say here being
justified by our faith. Now, I've been taught all my
life when I was a kid growing up that you became justified
when you Believe. Well, just as surely as salvation
is by grace, so is justification by grace. It's a gift. It's not predicated on anything
that a man does. Now, his understanding of it
and his delight in it and his rejoicing in it, his reception
of it, His reconciliation toward God does indeed come when the
Spirit of God opens his mind to see and know that which the
Lord had done. Now, when Paul was on the road
to Davascus and the Lord brought him to that place, well, I mean,
did he, was he any more justified then than when he was born? Because you see the work of God
in saving his people and causing them to be justified is in his
decree and purpose. Now Jesus Christ indeed has come
into the world to purchase our redemption and in fact justify
us before the law by his work that we're going to remember
today. But the justification of God's
people by grace is just as much so as any part of their salvation. They're justified. That is what
is justification. Well, it simply means that a
man is made acceptable in the sight of Almighty God. He's as if he had never sinned. Now we have a hard time with
that. That's the biggest struggle that any of us have. really as
we go through our life is to recognize that the Lord does
not regard us as outcasts. Now, we were by nature outcasts
in our mind by sinful works. In our understanding, we are
indeed outcasts. How can it be any other way?
We're sinners. He told us that we're sinners.
But yet, He doesn't regard us as sinners. Because He regards
us in Christ. And before the foundation of
the world, He gave us to Christ. And He sees us in Christ. What
a glorious thing. Justified by His grace that we
should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. What is the hope of eternal life?
Same thing as the faith. It's Christ. Christ is our hope.
Now He's given us hope, has He not? He's given us hope, expectation. The scripture even speaks about
the fact that a man, if a man has something, why does he yet
hope for it? Now that's a kind of a conundrum. On the one hand, we know that
we're in Christ. We have that hope in Christ,
but yet we yet hope for it. We do this in hope, do we not?
Because we do it till Christ comes again. This is our hope,
what Christ has done. And in hope of eternal life,
he made us heirs of that. He brought us to that place.
He gives his people hope. Expectation. That which Christ
has done is satisfactory. See? I'm not hoping what Christ did
was enough. I believe it's enough because
it is my hope that what Christ did is enough. And of that I
have no doubt. Now many times I have to confess
my doubts arise because I can't imagine how it could possibly
be that I could be included in that number. And maybe I made
a mistake in thinking that I was. But you see, the scripture's
been written to teach us that he is our savior. And that through
the work of regeneration wherein a man comes to see the glory
of Christ and desire him, then he has put his stamp upon that
man. And I, you know, that song we
sang it a moment ago. But if I should die with mercy
sought, When I the king have tried, this were to die. Delightful
thought, a sinner never died. The Lord does not play games
with people. But those whom he calls, he gives
a hope. He gives an expectation. He gives
a longing. He gives them a desire. See,
everybody in the world doesn't desire. to have the salvation
of Christ. Now most people, if they had
any understanding of things, would not want to be cast into
the lake of fire. I mean, who would want to do
that? I mean, if, you know, a man wouldn't want that. He wouldn't
want to be cast out from the presence of God forever, if he
understood what that was. But most people are not, they
don't really care. I mean, they kind of go through
life and it's not really on their mind. It's been on my mind a
long time. Why? Because of the mercy of
God. Oh, that he might teach us today
what a blessing we have to be surrounded by the mercy of God
that teaches us and leads us and does not let us grow complacent.
He does not let us cast Christ aside There are many that do. They turn from Him and walk no
more because it's not convenient for them. But you see, for the
people of God, it's not a matter of convenience. It's a matter
of desperation. I don't have any other hope.
You know, I know that if I'm not found in Christ, I'm done
for. Paul said, oh, that I might know
Him and the power of His resurrection, and that I might be conformed
to His image. that he might work that work
in me. See, that's the desire of the people of God, is that
he might work in us, his perfect work, he might draw us. And we're
often disheartened because we don't see that work taking place
in us as strong and as powerful and as happening as quickly as
we'd like to see it. But I can tell you this, that
every one of God's people is right where the Lord would have
them to be. He gives to every man the measure of faith as it
pleases Him. He's drawing His people unto
Himself. He's working in them His perfect
work. And He's drawing them in their
understanding and in their desire to be found in Christ. According
to the hope of eternal life, this is a faithful saying, in
these things I will that thou affirm constantly. that they
which have believed might be careful to maintain good works.
And we're gonna talk about that next week. But to affirm constantly
these things to God's people. We preach the gospel to God's
people. Now I was always taught when
I was a kid that you go out and preach the gospel to try to win
souls for Christ. That's what you're preaching
the gospel for. But dear brother, the preaching of the gospel is
for the magnification of the glory of God and he is glorified
as his people are drawn to him. As the people are built up in
the faith. As the spirit of God goes and
takes the word of God and applies it to their heart. And so we
preach the gospel for the glory of God, but we preach the gospel
to God's people. See, I need the gospel. I need
it every day. For God so loved the world that
he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him
should not perish, but have everlasting life. Come unto me, all you that
labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. I need
to hear that. See, because I desire to be found
in Christ. And that encourages me to know
that he is the Savior of sinners. Oh, that the Lord might teach
us today.