Evening everyone. Turn in your
Bibles if you would to Titus chapter 3. Titus chapter 3. The name of the message is the
work of the Trinity in redemption. Work of the Trinity in redemption.
Titus chapter 3 and we'll read the first seven verses. Put them in mind. to be subject
to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates and 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 have done, but according to his mercy
he saved us, by the washing of regeneration and renewing of
the Holy Ghost, which He shed on us abundantly through Jesus
Christ, our Savior. That being justified by His grace,
we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. Our text tonight can be found
in verses four to seven. Now, a lot of folks in religion
They claim they make themselves heirs, heirs of God, by what
they do. They may not outwardly come out
and say that, but they use phrases like this. I accepted Jesus. I chose Jesus. I decided for
Jesus. I prayed a prayer. So we can conclude then by their
works, or by their words, right, by their words, by what they
say, that they believe that they're the source of their redemption.
Because remember, they've been told that God can't do anything
unless they do something. That God's hands are tied unless
they do something. So therefore, If we listen to
the words, they declare themselves to be their own redeemers, because
their God can do nothing. Now we who believe, we believe that we come to Christ, that we're made willing But unless God makes us willing, we'll never come to him. We flee the Christ because he's
wrought a work of regeneration in us. We're born again by the
Holy Spirit. Do we have faith? Absolutely.
It's a gift from God. Do we repent? Absolutely. Do
we continue to have faith in our lives and do we continue
to repent until the day we die? Absolutely. I like what Brother
Henry said. We come to Christ and we continue
coming to Christ. It never ends. It's not a one-time
thing. I punched my ticket and now I'm
good, thank you. But people really say that. They really say that. They think,
well, I'm good now. I made my decision. Now, we do believe that we come
to Christ and we do believe that a sinner must flee to Christ
to be saved. We believe that. Absolutely. But the main difference
is that we we believe that man has no ability on his own to
come to Christ. None. And, you know, do you know
that that goes against the pride of man? That's why what we believe
is so despised, beloved, because it destroys the pride of man.
It destroys the pride of man because it leaves us helpless,
hopeless, bankrupt sinners in front of a holy and righteous
God. And then what happens? The believer
runs to Christ, runs to Christ, flees to Christ. So we believe we have no ability
of our own And part of what sets us apart as grace believers is
that we believe salvation is all of the Lord, and I mean all,
A-L-L, all. It's his doing. It's his doing. From beginning, right, born again,
to the end, to when we're glorified and we're with him. Why? Then we see our Redeemer, the
one who saved us, the one who purchased us with his own precious
blood. Then we're gonna see him face
to face. Job said, I know my Redeemer living. I know. He said
he's going to see him again. And we do. We know that, don't
we? We who believe, we who have been saved and purchased by the
blood of Christ. We know he lives. We know who
holds our tomorrows. Oh, my, what a great God. And
think of this. He's either Alpha and Omega in
our salvation. Or it's not salvation at all.
Salvation's either all the Lord or it's not salvation. It's man's doing. We believe
that we are saved by the grace of God in Christ plus nothing. That we have obtained mercy.
Recipients of this wonderful matchless grace of God in Christ
Jesus our Lord. So let's look at our text and
pray that the Holy Spirit will illuminate the scriptures for
us and teach us, teach us more and more of Christ and more and
more of who God really is and how the whole Trinity is involved
in our redemption, beloved. Look at the source of our redemption.
Now it says, but after the kindness, verse four, but after the kindness
and love of God, our savior toward man appeared, Spurgeon called
this verse the philanthropy of God. the philanthropy of God. Here we see our source, and the
source of our redemption is the kindness and love of God. The
kindness and love of God. Think of this. Wonders of wonders,
beloved. God loved us in eternity. God loved us when we were dead
in trespasses and sins. And God will love us for eternity
in glory. His love is never changing because
he never changes. After the kindness and love of
God, our Savior toward man appeared. The Lord hath appeared of old
unto me saying, yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love.
Therefore, with loving kindness have I drawn thee. Why are we
drawn to Christ? Because of the loving kindness
of God. The kindness and love of God,
our savior toward man appeared. Now the elect of God are sinners
by by nature, by choice, by birth. But we have been loved by God. From eternity. Even when we were shaking our
fists and rebels toward God. He loved us. He loved us. And beloved. He will never stop loving us.
Never. Now marriages fall apart and
people drift apart and things people say, I don't love you
anymore. God will always love his people forever. Forever. It's an unceasing love. An unceasing
love. So we see in the text here, The
source of our redemption is God. Therefore He is the source of
our salvation. The kindness and love of God
our Savior. Now the English definition for
Savior means rescuer. He's rescued, saved His people
from their sins. Christ did this. Now John Gale
says of this verse that this speaks of God our Savior here
means the Father. because he planned the scheme
of salvation. He planned it all and appointed
Christ to be his salvation. God, the Father, the Son, and
the Holy Spirit, we know made a covenant in eternity past.
And beloved, it secured, think of this, it secured in its set
a time when Christ would appear upon this earth. And at the very
second that Christ was to appear, he was born. not a second before
and not a second later. All determined by the Father's
will. All determined by his kindness
and love towards his people in Christ Jesus, our Lord, our Savior
appeared. Our Savior appeared. And it was ordained by God that
Christ would obtain, and he did it, he did it, that Christ would
obtain salvation for the elect of God. How? Through the shedding
of his own precious blood. That was ordained by God. And
beloved, he obtained salvation for us. He did, we can never,
and think of this, we can't obtain salvation for ourselves. You remember when, remember scripture
says, that which is impossible with men is possible with God. We can never obtain salvation
by our works, by anything we do. But that which is impossible
with men is possible with God. And salvation has been obtained
for us, beloved, in and through the Lord Jesus Christ in him
alone. He hath obtained salvation, and
it is eternal salvation. We can't lose it. We can't mess it up. Because it's in Christ, and in
Him alone. Now that goes against the grain
of some religionists. When you say a statement like
that, they don't like that. but either I'm secure in Christ
or I'm not. And scripture declares he attained
eternal salvation for us. He did it. He cried, it's finished. It's finished. Oh, what great
salvation we have in the Lord Jesus Christ. This kindness and
love of God towards his elect is what is here spoken of. This is not the only text where
it shows the Father's love is the source of our redemption.
The scriptures say this, God so loved the world that he gave
his only begotten son. God commanded his love toward
us, toward sinners, toward his elect. And that while we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us. And again, here in his love,
not that we love God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation
for our sins. So we see that the source of
the elect's redemption is God. Is God. The father planned it
and purposed it. And it came to pass. It came
to pass. The next point I'd like to look
at is found in verse five. And this goes against the grain
of religionist, too. It goes against the grain of
what I used to believe before the Lord saved me, because I
used to think that I could be saved by my works. I used to
think that I could gain merit and favor with God by being a
good person. And then someone showed me a scripture that said
there's none good, no, not one. And my whole world crashed in
front of me. We are not redeemed by our works.
Number 2.2. We're not redeemed by our works.
Look at this in verse five, not by works of righteousness, which
we have done. You think that would end it right
there, right? But as I said, see, free grace goes against
the pride of man. Salvation being of all the Lord,
because man wants to do something to gain merit and favor with
God. But this scripture is so plain,
so clear, isn't it? Not by works of righteousness,
which we have done, but according to His mercy, He saved us. And I know you hear me talk a
lot about the mercy of God, but it's one of the most blessed
things I read in the Word of God. God having mercy on this
poor sinner. And I know if you're one of His
people, He had mercy on you too. And it just becomes such a wonderful,
wonderful truth. Because salvation in Christ,
think of this. Salvation in Christ, according
to this verse here, salvation in Christ is independent of human
merit or works. It says that, doesn't it? Not
by works of righteousness, which we have done. That is independent
of human merit and human works. Not by works of righteousness,
which we have done, but according to His mercy, He saved us. And we know from other portions
of Scripture, as I said, there's non-righteous. Romans 3 brings
that right out. There's non-righteous. And this
verse here says, not by works of righteousness, which we have
done. So all who are sons of Adam, there is none righteous. No, not one. Only one was born
into this world perfect and sinless. Perfect and sinless. And that
is the Lord Jesus Christ, God incarnate in the flesh. Fully
God and fully man. The perfect, spotless Lamb of
God. Not one sin in thought, not one
sin in deed, not one sin spoken. The perfect, spotless Lamb of
God, humanity and divinity intertwined. God incarnate in the flesh. The perfect man. The sinless
man. How perfect do we have to be to be in God's presence? As perfect as God. We have to be holy, don't we?
We have to be righteous. Christ robes his people. in His precious robe of righteousness. The unholy are made holy in Christ
Jesus our Lord. Now those, those who say that their own
works gain them merit and favor with God are in a world of trouble. Because we're born sinners. And
we cannot save ourselves, and we have no ability to save ourselves. And according to the portion
of Scripture here before us, we can never be saved by our
own works, not by works of righteousness, which we have done. That means
you cannot be saved by your works. Now man is wired for works. You
tell a man to do something, and I guarantee you he'll try to
do it. I know, I tried. But praise God by His mercy and
His grace, He revealed Christ to me. And I know He's done it
for you if you're a believer too. He's shown us the utter
inability to save ourselves. That salvation is only in the
Lord and in Him alone. And we think in our natural state
that we can somehow make ourselves fit for the presence of God.
I used to think that way, did you? It went like this with me. And
you've heard me say this, I'm gonna say it again. Well, I'm
not as bad as my neighbor over here. He's really bad. You wanna know someone who's
a sinner? That's him right there. Oh my. And then God reveals to the believer
what we are. And we say with Paul, I'm the
chief of sinners. Oh my, we can never make ourselves
fit for heaven. But as I said before, isn't it
amazing that that which is impossible with man is possible with God,
is possible with God. Paul in these verses keeps us,
keeps before us the doctrines of grace too, doesn't he? He's
never like Mr. Legality. He never teaches that
we are saved by our works. Mr. Legality teaches that all
the time. Paul's a pre-grace preacher.
He preaches that salvation is in Christ alone. He shows us
that we are saved by the grace of God alone, in the Lord Jesus
Christ alone. And the next portion of this
verse is precious for believers. Look at this. But according to
His mercy, He saved us. Oh, we do not save ourselves
and neither can we save ourselves. If we are saved, it is by the
pure mercy of God in the Lord Jesus Christ in him alone. Therefore,
hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy. If you're a believer. Therefore, he hath mercy on whom
he have mercy, you're one of them. God can have mercy on whomever
he pleases. He's God. And the believer says,
I'm so thankful he had mercy upon me. Therefore, he hath mercy on whom
he will have mercy, and whom he will, he hardeneth. Just leaves
them where they are. Now, mercy in the Greek is defined
as this, kindness or goodwill towards the miserable. Was that
not our state before the Lord saved us? Did God not make us
miserable in our sin when he started to show and reveal himself
to us and show us what we were and who he is? The miserable
and the afflicted joined with a desire to help them. God has
a desire to help his people. Kindness and goodwill towards
the miserable. Our salvation, beloved, is based
upon divine mercy. Divine mercy. Mercy for soul-sick
sinners. We do not get what we deserve,
do we? No. We receive mercy. God's people receive mercy in
and through and from the Lord Jesus Christ. And we cry, oh,
what a wonderful Savior is Jesus Christ our Lord, that He would
have mercy upon the bankrupt sinner such as I. Mercy, beloved. We receive mercy. And we will say with the Apostle
Paul, I desire to be found not having mine own righteousness,
Why? Because the scripture declares
we're not saved by our own righteousness. Paul says, I desire to be found
not having my own righteousness, but the righteousness which is
of God by faith in Christ Jesus. God's people have faith in Christ
and they are clothed in the righteousness of Christ. So we see the whole
Trinity is at work in our salvation. So far, we've seen redemption
is of God, the father. In the latter part of this verse
we see that we are regenerated by the Holy Spirit of God. Look
in verse 6. Look in verse 6. Let's look at verse 5 again.
Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according
to His mercy He saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing
of the Holy Ghost. My oh my. We are regenerated
by the Holy Spirit of God, and it's not our doing. Do you see
how foreign it is when people say, I chose Jesus. I made a
decision. Well, God regenerated me. I wasn't looking for Christ.
He sought me. He found me like we like we were
saying in that song today. I'm just I'm a sinner. I'm only
a sinner. He found me. And remember in
Luke 15, what does a shepherd do when that lost sheep is out
wandering around? Does a lost sheep like run up to the Lord
all of a sudden? No. The Lord seeks him out. And that's
what he does for every single one of his elect. He seeks them
out. and we are regenerated by the
Holy Spirit of God, born again by the Holy Spirit of God. It
says, by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost.
Turn, if you would, to John chapter 3. John chapter 3. Our Master
told this to Nicodemus. Now, Nicodemus was a master in
Israel. He was a master. He was one of
their teachers. He came at night to speak to the Savior. John 3, verses 3-8. Jesus answered and said unto
him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again... Now look how plain these words
are. Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of
God. Now, I remember Brother Henry saying this one time, and
it really struck me. When we read the Master's words,
he spoke mostly in one and two syllable words. The God of the
universe spoke in one and two syllable words. Very plainly. Jesus answered, verily, verily,
I say unto thee, except the man be born of water and of the spirit,
he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of
the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is
spirit. Marvel not that I say unto thee,
ye must be born again. You must be born again. The wind
bloweth where it listeth. Now, a few weeks ago, we had that bad windstorm, remember?
I was thinking about that when I was just blowing, and God has
power over all that wind. And the wind bloweth where it
listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but cannotst tell
whence it cometh. And whither it goeth, so is every
one that is born of the Spirit. God moves and saves whomever
He wills. Whomever He wills. He has mercy
on whomever of mercy. Nicodemus answered and said unto
him, How can these things be? Jesus answered and said unto
him, Art thou... Look at this in verse 10. Art thou ambassador
of Israel, and knowest not these things? You search the scriptures,
and you don't know these things? They haven't been revealed to
Him, have they? They haven't been revealed to
Him. Christ hasn't revealed Himself to them. Verily, verily, I say
unto thee, We speak... Look at this. We speak that we
do know. That's what Gospel preachers
do. They speak what they know. I can't tell you about somewhere
unless I've been there. I can't tell you about salvation
unless I've experienced it. The Lord Jesus Christ saved my
soul. I'm born again by the Holy Spirit of God. And I proclaim
now that salvation is only through Christ and Him alone. I speak
what I know and testify that we have seen and you receive
not our witness. I have told you earthly things
and you believe not. How shall you believe if I tell
you heavenly things? No man hath ascended up to heaven,
but he that come down from heaven, even the Son of Man, which is
in heaven. Now, we're going to hit a few
verses here that are well-known, well-known. But this is still
the Lord's discourse to Nicodemus. And as Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up.
Christ must die upon the cross. He knew it. He knew what was
set before him, beloved. And there's the gospel in verse
14. Everybody goes to 16, which there's the gospel right there
in 14. And this Moses lifted up the
serpent in the wilderness. Look to Christ and live. Look
to Christ and live lifted up the serpent in the wilderness.
Even so must the son of man be lifted up that whosoever believeth
in him should not perish. They won't perish. but have eternal
life. Now why did this happen? For
God so loved the world. He loved his people. He loved
the elect. That he gave his only begotten
son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but
have everlasting life. And the only reason we know this
and understand this is because God reveals it to us. We're born
again by the Holy Spirit of God. We must be born again. The spiritually
dead must be made alive. And this can only happen by the
Spirit's work, beloved. Now some believe that faith comes
before regeneration, but that's putting salvation in man's hands,
not in God's hands. And we know from the scripture
here in Titus, in the scripture in John 3, that we just read,
that if the Holy Spirit does not regenerate us, we will never
have faith. because faith itself is a gift
from God. If you have faith, you've been
given a gift from God to believe on Christ, and not everyone gets
that gift. Here have mercy on whom here
have mercy, and here have compassion on whom here have compassion.
Now, I don't know who they are, who the elect of God are, therefore
I preach and proclaim the gospel and let God do the work. That's
the key. That's the key. If someone ever
gets an interest in the Lord, stand back and let the Lord do
the work. Let him do the work. Let him move. Let him, he doesn't
need our help. Now we proclaim the great things
Christ done for us, don't we? We do. But we can't save anyone. Only God can do that. So we proclaim
the wonderful things the Lord has done for us and we stand
back and we watch the Lord go. if he's so pleased. And he will,
he will, he will not lose one of his sheep. Not one. Not one. And we know, again, from the
scripture here and from John 3 that, as I said, if the Holy
Spirit doesn't regenerate us, we'll never have faith. And this
regeneration always, always, always, always precedes faith. Always. God must do a work in
us and then we believe. One time I was talking about
regeneration preceding faith and I was asked, what does it
matter? Well, salvation's either of God
or it's not. If we think we save ourselves,
by our faith, then we have a workspace religion. We cannot save ourselves. God must save us. And he grants
us faith and he grants us repentance. And we believe and we repent
and we flee to Christ. And then we live a life of faith,
trusting, resting on our great king, on our great Lord. And
think on this, if God, the Holy Spirit, does not regenerate us,
then we shall remain ignorant of the Father's love and uninterested
in the things of God. And we know that from where we
were before. Just look back. Just look back,
beloved, at how you thought and how you acted, how you thought
about God, how you acted towards His people. We did not have a
care. Now we might have known a few
things. We didn't have a care. Nothing less than the divine
power is sufficient for this work of regeneration. We shall
continue dead in trespasses and sins if God the Holy Spirit does
not work affectionately in us. So let us remember. that no works
of our own will affect the work of regeneration. It is a work
of the Holy Spirit of God, and oh, if the Holy Spirit works
in us and regenerates us, then we are made willing, and we are
granted faith to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and He becomes
our all in all. He becomes everything to us. The next thing I'd like to look
at is our redemption is purchased by Christ, the sinner's substitute.
So we've seen the Father's planned it. The Holy Spirit regenerates
us. And look at this. Our redemption is purchased by
Christ, the sinner's substitute. Titus chapter three, verses six
and seven. 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.
The text in verse 7 says, through Jesus our Savior. It continues
in verse 8 saying we're justified, being justified by His grace. We cannot justify ourselves before
God on our own. We must be justified by His grace. By His grace. And this is made
more evident to us in verse five, where it tells us that salvation
is not by our works. It is God who justifies the elect,
who justifies his people. Now, justified in the Greek means
this, to render righteous. To render righteous. Brother
Chet, you've been rendered righteous in Christ. And it's not by anything
you did. And it's marvelous. And that's
for every believer. That's for every believer. It
means to show, exhibit, evidence one to be righteous such as he
is and wishes himself to be considered. To declare, pronounce one to
be just. God's people are just, not because
of anything we've done, but because of what Christ has done. One
to be just, righteous, or such as he ought to be. Made righteous
by God, declared righteous by God. The believer is clothed
in the righteousness of Christ by God. By God. Think of the great transfer.
Our sins were laid upon Christ, the sinless one, the perfect,
spotless Lamb of God. They were laid upon Christ. And
He bore them for us. He bore our sins before the justice
and wrath of God. And all the justice and wrath
of God was poured out for our sin upon Christ. And His perfect
spotless righteousness is given to us. Transferred to us. And now the believer is clothed
in the righteousness of Christ. Mercy. Mercy, streams of mercy
from God through Christ to His people. Salvation is in Christ
and Him alone. The Spirit is given forth from
Him and every supply of grace is in and through the Lord Jesus
Christ and Him alone. All spiritual blessings are found
in Him. In Christ is found redemption
for the sins of His people. In Christ is found justification
before God for His people. In Christ is found all wisdom
for the believer. In Christ is found sanctification
for the believer. In Christ is found full satisfaction
before God's law and justice for the sinner. In Christ, the
believer finds no condemnation. In Christ, the believer has the
law fulfilled. In Christ, the believer is free
from the penalty of sin. In Christ, the believer finds
peace. And in Christ, the believer finds
rest. rest for our souls in Christ
and Him alone. Neither is there salvation in
any other, for there is none other name under heaven given
among men whereby we must be saved. No other name, beloved. To sum it all up, Paul says to
the believer, Christ is all. He's everything. And I'd like
us to look at the latter part of verse 7. It says, that being
justified by His grace, we should be made heirs according to the
hope of eternal life. A short comment on this verse
and then we'll be done. Look at these words. That we should be made heirs
according to the hope of eternal life. And as I said, some people
Some people attribute their salvation to their doing, and that will
lead to their eternal doom. But salvation can never be by
man's works. It must be by the Lord and by
Him alone, and He will not share His glory. Notice the word here,
we should be made heirs. God's people are made heirs. Who makes us heirs? See how that
takes away man's doing? They're made heirs, beloved.
Made heirs what? According to the hope of eternal
love. Who makes us heirs? God and God alone, beloved. God and God alone. The word,
the Greek word for, For made here means to become. To come
into existence. Begin to be. Receive being. To become. To come to pass. To happen. Beloved, we are made
heirs. And it's not our doing. And it's
not our work. It's the power of God. In Him
alone. Salvation is of the Lord. It's
of the Lord. It's God's work alone. He saves
whom He wills. And it is Him who makes us to
differ. And not we ourselves. Eternal life is an inheritance.
So it's not acquired by works and it's not purchased by anything
we do. It's a free gift of God and Christ
in Him alone. It is a gift of the Father to
His children. Of His own free goodwill and
pleasure. And our adoption lies in eternal
predestination in Christ in whom the inheritance is obtained. Our inheritance is obtained in
Christ in Him alone. Beloved, He did it all. He did
it all. So we have looked at tonight.
Our salvation is all of God. The whole Trinity is in action.
in the salvation of His people. And we say all glory and praise
be to Him, the Great Three-in-One, God the Father, the Son, and
the Holy Spirit. Gracious Heavenly Father, oh,
may we leave here rejoicing, we who believe that salvation
is all of your doing. All of you, Lord Jesus, You are
the alpha and the omega of our salvation. You are the author
and the finisher of our salvation. And we just rejoice that this
salvation is not dependent upon us. It's all dependent upon thee. And you are the one who saves
us. And praise God, you are the one who keeps us. And you are
the one who will glorify us one day. Lord, we pray that you would
give us strength and grace this week. May these messages we heard
today be a comfort to our souls. And may we continue to look to
thee in all circumstances that come our way. In Jesus name. Amen.