Open your Bibles, if you would, to the book of Titus, chapter 3. Our topic for this message is the sovereign mercy of God and salvation. So I named the message Sovereign Mercy, Sovereign Mercy. God's mercy is sovereign mercy, because God's sovereign, absolutely sovereign over all things, visible and invisible. So let's read in Titus chapter three, verses four to seven. Titus chapter three, verses four to seven. We'll look at these wonderful words. My, our text will be in verse five. But we're going to read from 3 to 7. Titus 3, 4.

But after that the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, no, but according to his mercy. See that mercy there? That's sovereign mercy. That's sovereign mercy. According to his mercy, what?

He has saved us by the washing of regeneration and the 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. So what we just read about there is sovereign mercy, because our God is sovereign. Whether people believe it or not, God is absolutely sovereign over all things. The scriptures declare that our God is sovereign. He's high above the heavens. He's outside of time and space, beloved. He's not affected by time and space.

And we see in verse five, God's sovereign mercy in our salvation. We have been shown, we who are the people of God, we who are the born-again, blood-washed people of God, we have been shown mercy from God. Mercy. We've received mercy from God. We didn't receive what we deserve, did we? Because we deserve the wrath of God. But we've received mercy in and through the Lord Jesus Christ, and by his perfect sin atoning work in our room and place as our substitute, through his blood and righteousness. It's absolutely glorious.

And look at verse 5, not by works of righteousness, which we have done. That means what it says. That means that we can't save ourselves. We're not saved by anything we do, whether we think we're being righteous. Well, we're really not, because the scripture says there's none righteous, no, not one.

But the believers made righteous in Christ, which is wondrous. But look at this. Not by works of righteousness, which we have done. Oh, no. See, right away, that disqualifies anybody's works from salvation. And it points us to the one who done it all, the salvation of sinners, the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at this. Not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to his mercy.

Oh, praise God for mercy. Praise God for his sovereign mercy shown to his people. By the wash and the regeneration, you must be born again. You must be in renewing of the Holy Ghost. And it's the Holy Ghost. He is the one who regenerates us and gives us faith to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ to the saving of our souls.

Oh, it's wondrous. It's wondrous. So we see, we see we're not saved by anything we do. Because there's none righteous, no, not one. But we're saved by what Christ has done. And because of the mercy of his regenerating power, remember Christ our King said, I'm going to send the Comforter to you. And he'll guide you into all things. Well, he's the one who regenerates us. He's the one who gives us an understanding, gives us a new heart. that now hungers and thirsts after Christ, after righteousness, which is Christ. My, and He's all our righteousness, isn't He? Oh yeah. And this sovereign mercy, this sovereign mercy, we have abundantly in Christ. Abundantly.

You can't measure it, beloved. You can't measure what a wondrous truth is set before the people of God in this verse here. What precious truth strikes the heart of the believer. Oh my, this makes my heart sing, beloved. My, this is a glorious verse, not by works of righteousness which we have done.

You can't save yourself, and I can't save myself, but there's one who can save us, the Lord Jesus Christ. And you know what? He saves all who come to him. We cry, Lord, save me. Save me, Lord. Oh, what mercy, sovereign mercy, makes us cry out, beloved, Lord, save us. God be merciful to me, the sinner.

Oh, it's wondrous. It's absolutely wondrous. And you know what? This world, this world has become drunk, beloved, intoxicated with self-worth and self-promotion. It really has. You look at all the apps and things like TikTok and all that stuff. It's all about self. It's all about promoting self. Even they call, what do they call that picture? Oh, it's a selfie. Yeah. It's all about self. It's all about promotion of oneself. But you know, you know, the believer, the believer, we don't promote ourselves. Preachers, we don't promote ourselves.

God gets all the glory. In this verse, it cuts through the fog of all that, all that self-worth and self-promotion. It cuts through the fog of all that, this verse does. Look at, because it tells us with divine clarity, not by works of righteousness, which we have done. We can't be saved by anything we do. It cuts through all the fog of self-righteousness, doesn't it? Oh, yes, it does. But according to his mercy, according to God's mercy, he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost. And God saved us in Christ, not because of righteous things, which we've done. That verse clearly brings that forth.

As a matter of fact, everything we do is tainted with sin. And the only reason a believer is righteous is because we're clothed in the righteousness of Christ. Oh my goodness, that's wondrous. clothed in the righteousness of the sinless one, all according to sovereign mercy, all according to God's sovereign, free and sovereign mercy. Salvation is not a wage paid for moral effect. No, it flows from the free and sovereign mercy of God to sinners such as we. Oh, it's glorious. That's why we say, flee to Christ, sinner friend. All we are, all we saved people are, is sinners telling other sinners, here's the Savior of sinners, the Lord Jesus Christ. Come to Him. Flee to Him. Oh, my. My. And God saved us again, not because of anything we've done, no. It's all according to His sovereign mercy. It's all according to, it's actually, our salvation is an act of divine mercy. Isn't that wonderful? It's wonderful. In our supposed righteousness, this verse just destroys it, doesn't it? This verse just destroys it. Our righteousness is nothing but filthy rags in the sight of God.

But when we're born again, oh, When we're born again, we receive righteousness. And the reason we must be born again is because we're born dead in trespasses and sins. Oh, yeah. Or we're incapable of any spiritual good. Oh, my. We're enemies with God in our minds by wicked works. My. As a matter of fact, The scripture says we're incapable of any good. You know what? It says this.

As is written, there is none righteous, no, not one. There's none that understandeth. There's none that seeketh after God. They are altogether out of the way. They are altogether become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good, no, not one. That's what the scripture declares in Romans chapter three, verses 10 to 12. Now, if salvation depended on anything in us, no one would be saved. No one would be saved. None.

But praise be to God. According to the mercy of God, our salvation depends entirely upon the Lord Jesus Christ and His perfect sin-atoning work through His blood and righteousness. His blood was shed to redeem us from all our sins. And in His righteousness, God clothes us in His righteousness that we might be acceptable to God.

Oh, it's glorious. I'll tell you, it's absolutely glorious. And God's mercy and grace flows to us. We see God's holy compassion for sinners. Oh my, flowing from Christ, flowing from God's sovereign will and mercy. And remember, oh, remember this. It's His mercy. It's His sovereign mercy that sought us. It's His sovereign mercy that bought us, redeemed by the blood of Christ.

It's His sovereign mercy that keeps us, not our tears, not our prayers, not our repentance, not even our faith. Oh my. None of those originate salvation. They are fruit of God's mercy. Fruit of God's mercy, not the root. That's wonderful. It all comes from the Holy Spirit of God. Remember, it's called the fruit of the Spirit. It comes from the Spirit. Oh my, my. And, O Beloved, the truth of God's sovereign mercy to sinners in Christ alone humbles the pride of man. It humbles us. Oh, my. You know what it does, too?

It shuts every boasting mouth. You ever been around people who boast all about what they do all the time? Sovereign mercy shuts the boaster's mouth, because we can only boast in Christ. We can only boast in what He's done. Oh, my. It's all to His glory. and sovereign mercy leaves no ground to glory in ourselves. The fact that we are saved by Christ alone leaves us no grounds to glory in ourselves.

That's why I always say, let us see each other, let us see our brothers and sisters in Christ. Saved sinners, just like you and me. The ground at the foot of the cross is absolutely level. Listen to this. Listen to what the saints sing. Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but to your name be glory because of your love and faithfulness. Psalm 115, 1. To God be all the glory, beloved.

And what peace this brings to the trembling believer when we think about sovereign mercy. If salvation depended on our righteousness, then we would be forever lost and forever uncertain. But since our salvation rests upon God's sovereign mercy revealed to us in the finished work of Christ, we have full assurance, don't we? Now, we may doubt. We all do. We may doubt. But we can lay hold of the full assurance we have in Christ, beloved. Oh, dear believer, cling to this truth.

God has not saved us because of anything we've done, but despite us. God saved us. God has not saved us by anything we've done, but despite us, God saved us. Why? For the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved, through the blood and righteousness of the Messiah, of God in the flesh, the Lord Jesus Christ. And may our hearts, beloved, be moved to deeper gratitude for our sovereign mercy. fuller surrender, and stronger confidence in the Lord Jesus Christ, who has saved us and let us live today, not to earn his favor, oh no, but as one who has received God's sovereign mercy freely, undeservably, and irrevocably. He will never take it from us. All glory to God. So marvel at this truth. God has saved us and called us to a holy life, Oh, but not because of anything we've done, but because of his own purpose and will. Don't you love sovereign mercy? Praise the name of Jesus. Amen and amen.