I almost forgot I had that on.
Well, good morning. If you would, open your Bibles
with me to Titus. Titus chapter 3. We'll read the first 11 verses
of Titus chapter 3. 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
diverse 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.
This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou
affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might
be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable
unto men. But avoid foolish questions,
and genealogies, and contentions, and striving about the law, for
they are unprofitable and vain. A man that is an heretic, after
the first and second admonition, reject, knowing that he that
is such is subverted and sinneth, being condemned of himself. Let's bow together in prayer. Our great God, our holy, sovereign,
just, merciful Heavenly Father, Oh, how we thank you to be able
to come into your courts this morning with Thanksgiving. How
thankful we are that out of your goodness and grace and provision
for your people, that you have allowed us once again to meet
together and to worship thee, to hear your gospel preached.
And Father, I pray this morning, we beg of thee that you'd bless
us with your presence, with the presence of your spirit. and
enable us to worship Thee in spirit and in truth. Father,
I pray that You would deliver us from just going through the
motions of religion, but that You would give us a heart of
faith, a heart of worship, a heart that hungers and thirsts after
righteousness, that hungers and thirsts after hearing the gospel
preached. And Father, that You would give
us the faith to believe, to believe the Savior that we hear preached, Father, I pray that you would
bless each one here this morning with a heart of faith, that we
would leave here this morning believing the gospel that we
here preach and rejoicing in Christ our Savior. How we pray
that you would reveal to us your glory, your glory in saving sinners
and showing mercy to the undeserving. Father, we thank you for how
richly you have in your sovereignty that you have blessed this congregation
for so many years. We know it's not because of any
good found in us at all, but it's according to your mercy
and grace. And Father, we're so thankful. We are the least
deserving of anyone, and we're thankful and pray you would continue
to bless, that you would continue to bless your word as it's preached,
that you continue to call out your sheep, that you continue
to feed your sheep through the preaching of your word. Get much glory to yourself in
this place, we pray. And what we pray for ourselves,
we pray for all of your people who are meeting together this
morning. Father, bless. Cause your word to run well and
make this a day of special blessing to your people. Father, for those
that you've called into the time of trouble and trial, we pray
for them. We freely admit you've blessed us beyond all people,
but in this flesh, we are still a poor and a needy people. We still carry around this dead
man of flesh with us. And Father, we pray that you
bless your people who are in the valley. Bless them with a
special portion of your presence, we pray. Heal and lead and guide
and direct according to your goodness and what you have reserved
in store for your people. Father, all these things we ask
and we give thanks in that name, which is above every name, the
name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Oh Lord my God When I in awesome
wonder Consider all The worlds thy hands have made I see the
stars, I hear the rolling thunder Thy power throughout the universe
displayed Then sings my soul, my Saviour God, to Thee How great
Thou art, how great Thou art Then sings my soul, my Saviour
God, to Thee How great thou art! How great thou art! When through the woods and forest
glades I wander And hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees
When I look down From lofty mountain grandeur, And hear the brook,
and feel the gentle breeze, Then sings my soul, my Saviour God,
to Thee, How great Thou art! How great Thou art! Then sings my soul, my Saviour
God, to Thee How great Thou art! How great Thou art! And when I think that God, His
Son not sparing, Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in
That on the cross, my burden gladly bearing, He bled and died
to take away my sin Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to Thee
How great Thou art, how great Thou art Then sings my soul,
my Savior God, to Thee, How great Thou art, how great Thou art! When Christ shall come, wish
out of acclamation, And take me home, What joy shall fill
my heart! Then I shall bow in humble adoration,
And there proclaim, My God, how great thou art! Then sings my soul, my Savior
God, to Thee, How great Thou art! How great Thou art! Then sings my soul, my Savior
God, to Thee How great Thou art! How great Thou art! Isaac, that was outstanding.
Thank you. Perhaps the greatest measure
of God's greatness is that He is great enough to think upon the likes of you
and me and reach way down where we are and save us. That's outstanding. Open your
Bibles with me again, if you would, to Titus chapter 3. I titled the message this morning,
He Saved Us. He saved us. I took my title
from the middle of verse 5, Titus chapter 3, which says He saved
us. Now salvation is a big, big subject. We talk about it every time we
meet together and I don't want us to be so familiar with the
term salvation that we lose sight of how great of a matter this
is when God would save a sinner. Salvation is not this easy thing
I hear preachers, false preachers, tell us about where a person
just up and decides of their own free will to believe on Jesus. They just decide that this Jesus
who just wants to save us, if we'll just decide to let Him
into our heart, they say that's salvation. Or they say, now,
if you'll live good enough, if you'll do the right thing often
enough and live right, God will have mercy on you. God will save
you. That's why I hear people saying those times, prayer times,
I stop and listen to them on TV, but you know, you won't find
anything like that in the Word of God. You won't find anything
like that. That is the idea of dead, sinful
man. It's dead ideas, it's dead doctrine
that comes from a dead, spiritually dead mind. Salvation is such
a big subject that it answers the need both of God and the
sinner. Salvation involves the need of
a sinner being met while at the same time satisfying a holy God. Satisfying the need of a holy
God. And try as he might, and man
has tried, since Cain, man has tried, try as he might, man can
never come up with a way to satisfy, a way of salvation that satisfies
both the character of a holy God and at the same time takes
care of the need of a sinner. Only God is great enough to accomplish
such a salvation And God has to reveal that salvation to us
or we'll never see it because we're born dead in sin. Now,
if a sinner would be saved, saved from their sin, first, God must
do something for Himself. If a sinner would truly be saved
from his sin, the character of God must be satisfied. And what
I mean by that is this, if God's going to save a sinner, He cannot
violate any of his other attributes. If God is gracious, and people
say that, that's true. God is gracious. He's gracious
to sinners. But if God's going to save a
sinner by His grace, He can't violate any of His other attributes. He can't violate His holiness
or His justice in order to be gracious to a sinner. So first,
God must do something for Himself of the sinners to be saved. Well,
what must God do for Himself in order to save a sinner? Let
me give you three things. Number one, if a sinner is going
to be saved, God's righteousness must be satisfied. Must be. God can only accept a perfect,
spotless righteousness. God cannot accept anyone who
has any sin. He can't do it. Leviticus 22
verse 21 says this. It shall be perfect to be accepted. There shall be no blemish therein. Salvation requires perfection. Salvation requires that that
sinner be perfect because God's character requires sinless perfection,
perfect righteousness. Well, right off the bat, that
excludes every one of us, doesn't it? It excludes every single
one of us. All of us, all we are is sin. When we're born into this world,
we're born one giant blemish of sin. There's not a spot, not
a pinprick of righteousness in us anywhere. So we've got no
hope of salvation if we have to make ourselves perfect for
God to accept us. If we have to do that ourselves,
we've got no hope, do we? Well, then aren't you glad He
saved us? The Lord Jesus Christ established
perfect righteousness for his people by obeying the law for
them as their representative. Just like the first Adam, in
the garden, Adam made all of his race sinners, didn't he?
By his disobedience. That's the reason we're born
sinners, because Adam made his race to be sinners by his disobedience. Well, the second Adam, the Lord
Jesus Christ, he undid for his people everything Adam did to
him. He made His people righteous by His obedience as their representative. And in Christ, we are righteous. In Christ, and I say this very
carefully and say this reverently, but I say it because it's true.
In Christ, we're as righteous as the Son of God. As righteous
as God's own Son in Him. Look with me at 1 Corinthians
chapter 1. The Lord Jesus Christ which is
the only righteousness that there is. We can't earn it, but we
have it freely in Him. In the Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians
1 and verse 30. But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus,
who of God is made unto us. and righteousness and sanctification
and redemption. And according as it is written,
he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. The Lord Jesus Christ
personally is. Righteousness is not a thing.
Righteousness is a person. He is made unto us righteousness. He is our righteousness. Well,
thank God He saved us. He saved us by making us what
God will accept. Absolutely righteous. Alright,
number two. If a sinner is to be saved, now
God must do something for himself. God's holiness must be satisfied. Now sin must be put away. That's
how we're made righteous. The Lord Jesus Christ put our
sin away. But there also has to be a holy
person. There has to be a person who
has a holy nature who will never sin again. See, we can't sin
again because there remains no more sacrifice for sin. There's
not going to be another sacrifice for sin. So there's got to be
a person who has a holy nature. Well, then automatically that
excludes every one of us, doesn't it? Because the way we're born
into this world is with a sin nature. It's the only nature
our daddy had to pass on to us. A sin nature. So that all we
can do is sin. Everything we do, everything
we think, just our motives in this flesh is sinful. And God
cannot and He will not accept us as we are in our sin nature.
We must be made holy. And the only way that can be
is by being in the Lord Jesus Christ, who is our sanctification. That's what Paul says here in
1 Corinthians 30. He, Christ, is made unto us wisdom,
righteousness, and sanctification and holiness. Christ is the holiness
of His people. Now, aren't you glad He saved
us? That He didn't leave this up
to ourselves to make ourselves holy? When sinners say, Not only
does the Lord Jesus Christ put their sin away by His blood,
but He also washes them in His blood and makes them holy by
giving them a holy nature. Now that salvation can only be
found in Christ. He saved us. Look over a few
pages of 1 Corinthians chapter 6. 1 Corinthians 6 verse 9. Know ye not that the unrighteous
should not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived, neither
fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor
abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor
drunkards, nor violers, nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of
God. God can only accept perfect holiness. And such were some
of you. We ought to be able to identify
with that. Such were all of us. Some of
you, such were all of us by nature. But you're washed. You're sanctified. You're made holy. You're justified
in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.
That's how we're sanctified in the Lord Jesus Christ. Aren't
you thankful He saved us and made us what God, made His people
what God will accept. Made us holy. Alright, number
three, if a sinner is to be saved, God's justice must be satisfied. Now, God is holy, and the misunderstanding
of that has caused almost all the doctrinal error that you
see out in the world today. It's not understanding who God
is and who man is. It's a misunderstanding that
all we are is sin. A misunderstanding thinking we
can do something to make God happy with us. And second, that
God is holy. They think God would just accept
the best that we can do. God is holy. God must punish
sin with death. And not just physical death.
Now, I mean, that's why we all die. All of us are going to die
someday because of sin. Sin, when it is finished, brings
forth death. But this is not just talking about physical death.
God's justice demands more than our physical death. Our sin demands
eternal death. Eternal death in hell. In Ezekiel
18, verse 20, the soul that sinneth, it shall die. Eric, there's no
wriggle room, is there? There's no room for negotiation
in here. The soul that sinneth, it shall die. We can't make a
plea bargain and get a smaller sentence, a lesser sentence from
God's justice. God cannot compromise His justice
and still be God. He must punish every sin with
death. And what's more, since we're
sinners, our death will never satisfy God's justice. No amount
of time in hell will satisfy God's justice. The only way,
the one and only way God can be satisfied is by the death
of a perfect substitute, of a perfect lamb. Now I've got good news. I've got good news for you. God
sent his son into this world to be the perfect lamb. The reason the Lord Jesus Christ
was born as the perfect lamb is so that he could die as a
substitute and a sacrifice for the sin of his people. Now, aren't
you glad he saved us? This is the message of the gospel.
He saved us. The father can only be satisfied
with the death of his son, the death of the perfect lamb. And
the father is satisfied with it. He's satisfied with the death
of his son, and he's satisfied with everyone for whom Christ
died. Everyone. The father will accept everyone
for whom Christ died. None of those people can possibly
perish. It's impossible. There's no reason
that the father would reject them because the death of Christ
satisfied God's justice against the sin of those people. God's
not angry anymore. The death of Christ satisfied
his justice and the very same justice that demanded Christ
died for sin. When Christ was made sin for
his people, The Father's justice demanded that he die. The soul
that sinneth, it shall die. Christ must die for sin. Well,
the same justice that demanded Christ die for sin also demands
the salvation of everyone for whom he died because Christ's
death put away the sin of his people and made their sin to
be gone. They must live. They cannot be
condemned because Christ was already condemned for them. God's
justice, true justice, will never let two people die for the same
sin. Never. Now, aren't you glad he
saved us? He saved us. The only death that
will satisfy God's justice and his wrath against the sin of
his people is the death of his son. Christ died to do something
for the father, to please, to satisfy his justice. That's what
God's done for himself. God, before he saves sinners,
he must first do something for himself. But then if the sinner
is going to be saved, something must be done to satisfy the great
need of that sinner. Well, what must be done for a
sinner in order for a sinner to be saved? Let me give you
six things. Number one, a sinner must be
saved by mercy. It can't be by our works, it's
got to be by mercy. Look back on our text here, Titus
chapter 3, verse 5. Not by works of righteousness
which we have done, but according to His mercy, He saved us. Now our great need, the great
need of everybody here this morning, our great need is for someone
to do something for us that we can't do for ourselves. and the
only one that can do anything for us. I mean, I love you all.
I wish I could do something for you. As I preach, I wish I could put
this in your heart. I wish I could compel you to
believe. I wish I could enable you to
believe on Christ. But I'm utterly helpless. I can't
do anything for you. As much as you love your children
and parents, You can't do anything for them. Not spiritually you
can't. Oh, you can teach them. You can teach them what the Scripture
says, but you can't make them believe. The only one who can
do anything for us is the Lord Jesus Christ. We can't do anything
for ourselves so Christ came to do something for us. See,
we can't be saved by our works of righteousness. We can't even
make ourselves more savable. We can't make ourselves less
offensive to God by our works of righteousness because we don't
have any works of righteousness. All of our works, everything
we do. I'm not just talking... I mean,
there's things you do, you know, that was a sin. I shouldn't have
done that. That's not what we're talking about here. I'm talking
about those things, those good religious things that you do
that might impress other people. And you think, maybe God would
be a little more happy with me because of that. That's a work
of righteousness. That work of righteousness. is filled with
sin. Those things that we think are
good are works of sin. We have no works that will satisfy
God's holiness. All we have are sinful works
that deserve death and condemnation. That's the only works we have
to offer God. Then aren't you glad He saved us? The righteous
one, He saved us. The Lord Jesus Christ did for
His people what they could not do for themselves. He made them
righteous as their representative. And since he is the representative
of his people, his people have done works of righteousness in
him, in Christ, our representative. Every time Christ did a work
of righteousness, his people did too. It's the righteousness
that Christ earned under the law as a man, and he gives it
to his people freely. He doesn't give them wrath. He
gives them his righteousness. Now that's mercy. That's mercy. He'd given us something we do
not deserve. He did not give us the punishment
that we deserve. All of us deserve God's wrath. That's what we deserve. We don't
deserve such a wonderful gift as the righteousness of God's
son. But that's what the Lord Jesus Christ gives his people.
We're saved in mercy. And not one of our works can
be contributing to it. None of our works are ever a
contributing factor. And then after he worked out
a perfect righteousness for his people, the Lord Jesus Christ
agreed to be made sin for his people. Their sin became his
sin. He became guilty of that sin
and he suffered and he died under the holy wrath of his father.
He suffered until his father's wrath was fully satisfied. And then he gave up the ghost.
He took the sin debt of his people and he paid for it by his life's
blood. Christ died for a sinful people
when the only thing they deserved was God's wrath. Christ died
for those people that they might receive mercy. Oh, that's God's
mercy that saves a sinner. The death of Christ made it right
for the Father to show mercy to His people. And the only way
that's possible is in the perfect life, the death, the burial,
the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. is the fountain
of mercy for His people. Aren't you glad He saved us? Number two, in order for a sinner
to be saved, a sinner must be saved in eternal love. Look back at page 4, Titus 3. But after that, the kindness
and love of God our Savior toward man appeared. Now, if God's going
to choose to save a sinner, He must love that sinner. If the
father would choose a sinner to save and put that sinner in
his son, he must love that sinner. If the son of God is going to
suffer and die to save a sinner, he must love that sinner. If
he would give himself to suffer everything that he suffered,
I'm talking about from the time of conception in Mary's womb,
if he would come down so far to be conceived in the womb of
one of His creatures all through the whole rest of that time till
He cried, it's finished, and gave up the ghost. If He would
suffer all of that to save a sinner, my goodness, He must love that
sinner. He wouldn't do that for somebody
He hates, would He? No, He did that for the people who He loved.
If God the Holy Spirit is going to come and take a dead, rebellious
sinner and reveal Christ to that sinner, and dwell in the heart
of that sinner, the Holy Spirit must love that sinner. But here's
the problem. And this goes back to what I
said a minute ago. It's the problem that man by nature does not know.
We're not lovable. We're not lovable. Not by the
Holy God, we're not. No, we're not lovable. We're
dead in trespasses and sins. By nature, we're offensive to
Holy God. You know, when people taught
us that song, Jesus loved you, this I know, for the Bible tells
me so, they told you a lie. Now they're lying to children.
I mean, what's worse than lying to a little child? The Bible
doesn't tell me so. My mama might tell me so, but
the Bible don't tell me so. The Bible never says anything
like that. Anything. By nature, we are wicked
sinners. That's the way scripture describes
us. And God is angry with the wicked every day. There came
a day, just not long after God created Adam and put him in the
garden, that God destroyed the entire world with a flood and
killed every living thing on this planet except people who
were in that ark at Nobel. God destroyed the earth. He destroyed
man upon it because God said that the wickedness of man was
great in the earth and that every imagination, not some, every
imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. I mean they couldn't even go
to the worship service and quit thinking evil things. I mean
everything that they did was only evil continually and God
sent his wrath on this earth in the form of rain and he killed
every living thing outside that ark. Now, it wouldn't have been
something. What a lie would Noah have been
telling people if right before he went into that ark and God
shut him in, he stuck a great big old bumper sticker on the
back of that ark and said, now smile, God loves you. You know,
before the rain starts falling, that's all saying Jesus loves
me. They say, no, what a lie he would have told people. This
is the preacher of righteousness. He didn't do that because that
would have been a lie. God's holy. God cannot love sin. God must punish sin with death. Now I can't fully explain how
this is so, but I know it is. The holy God has the capacity
to love sinners and to save those sinners by his grace. The word
love that Paul uses here means pity. In his love, God pitied
his people. God pities. He has the capacity
to pity the poor, helpless sinner and to save them by His grace. The Father pitied those helpless
people so much, He sacrificed His own darling Son in order
to save them. The Son pitied, He loved those
people so much. Those ones that just a few hours
ago swore their eternal, undying affection for Him had all fled
and left Him alone. And He didn't get angry with
them, did He? He pitied them. And He freely gave Himself as an
offering for their sins. He freely gave himself as the
offering for the sin of his elect, a number that no man can number.
Now that is the greatest display of love that creation has ever
seen. That the Lord Jesus Christ would
pity his people, that he would love them and give himself, not
just his body, but his soul to be sacrificed for their sin.
As a songwriter said, if that ain't love, the ocean's dry.
The ocean's dirty. God's love for His people is
eternal. Eternal both ways. Before time
began, before God ever created anything on this earth, God loved
His people. And He had to love His people
before He created us, didn't He? I know I haven't. I bet you'll agree you haven't.
From the time we've been born, we haven't done anything to deserve
God's love, have we? No, the only thing we've done is deserve
His wrath. So the Father had to love us
before time began. His love has to be eternal. It
has no beginning and it will never end. It'll never end because
God's love for His people does not depend upon the creature. It doesn't depend upon us doing
anything to earn God's love or to lose God's love. God's love
for His people is eternal. Because the reasons for God's
love, the reason that God could love and pity a sinner enough
to redeem them from their sin is the reasons for God's love
are all found in God. And none of them are found in
man, in you and me. Now, aren't you glad? This one
whose love never fails. He saved us. He did. He did. If God loves
you now, He's always loved you. And if God loves you now, there'll
never come a time he'll quit loving you. Now, what a comfort
for the souls of a helpless, unlovable sinner. Nobody else
would love us that way, likes you and me like that. Aren't
you glad he saved us? All right, number three, if a
sinner is to be saved, that sinner must be justified. And look here
at Titus 3 in our text, verse 7. that being justified by His grace,
we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
Now, justified. Justified. It's not just as if
I'd never sinned. God doesn't deal with ifs. He doesn't deal with, well, we're
just going to pretend like they're justified when they're not. No,
justified means to have no sin. To have never sinned. And here's
the good news. If there's anybody here this
morning that's a sinner, is anybody a sinner? I've got good news for you, if
you are. You don't have to justify yourself. You don't have to now
start quit sinning. Well, we can't do that. And besides,
that's too late anyway, isn't it? What about all of our past
sins? You and I have already sinned
enough just this morning, just while Christ is being preached.
We've already sinned enough to damn a world down. Now we can't
quit sinning. Somebody else then is going to
have to justify us. Somebody else is going to have
to make us without sin. Weren't you glad? He, the Holy
One, the spotless Lamb of God, He saved us by His death. The Lord Jesus Christ eternally
justified His people, made them without sin. Romans 5.25, He
was delivered for our offenses. He did no sin. He knew no sin.
He delivered for our offenses. And He was raised again for our
justification. He was raised again as proof
positive. His death justified His people. His sacrifice put away all that
sin that was charged to Him. It was gone. That's why His body
saw no corruption in the tomb. That's why the Father could raise
Him again. Because all the sin charged to Him was gone. He took
it away from His people. So His people have no sin and
He put all that sin away by His sacrifice. Now that justification
is not received by our works. Just like we can't be made righteous
by our works, we can't be justified by our works. Any works of righteousness
which we've done, all of that justification is received through
faith in Christ. Let me show you that. Look at
Galatians chapter 2. It's not our works. It's Christ's
work. Galatians chapter two. Not our works. Every one of our
works is a sinful work, but every work, everything the Lord Jesus
Christ did was a work of righteousness, perfect righteousness. Galatians
chapter two, verse 16. Knowing that a man is not justified
by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ. Even we have believed in Jesus
Christ that we might be justified by the faith of Christ and not
by the works of the law. For by the works of the law shall
no flesh be justified. Now that ought to kill forever
any thought that any of our works could justify us. Any of our
works trying to keep the law, it's a dead work. No flesh should
be justified by those works, but we're justified. Paul doesn't
say by faith in Christ. He said we're justified by the
faith of Christ. By the faithfulness of Christ
to obey God's law perfectly. By the faithfulness of Christ
to do every work which was required to save his people from their
sin. That's how he justified it. God's people are justified
by the faithfulness of Christ to make his people perfect. To
accomplish the salvation that God had in purpose for his people.
And that justification, that perfect, righteous, spotless
holiness is received through faith in Christ. It's not earned
by our works, it's received by faith in Christ. In Christ. Now aren't you thankful that
He saved us? He, the just one, justified His
people. He saved us. Alright, here's
the fourth thing. If a sinner is to be saved, That
sinner must be redeemed. For all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God. That's a common memory verse.
Romans 3.23. We give all little children.
I bet everybody here had that. If you were in a Sunday school
class that was a little tight, you were given that memory verse.
For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. And
buddy, that's a good thing. We need to be taught that right
just as soon as we can start understanding language. We need
to be taught that. So we get it through our thick
skull, someday, by God's grace, that we're sinners. We've fallen
short of what God requires of us. And because of our sin, we've
got a price on our head. There's a price. Sin against
God demands a payment. A payment that you and I cannot
make. We're spiritually bankrupt. We've got nothing to pay. So
Romans 3.23 is the bad news, isn't it? All have sinned and
come short of the glory of God. Look over there. You want to
hear some good news? Paul, as he's writing this under
inspiration of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit doesn't give us much
time to fall into despair after we hear that all have sinned
and come short of the glory of God. In the next verse, here's
the good news. Being justified freely by His
grace. through the redemption that is
in Christ Jesus. See, there's a price on our head.
And the Lord Jesus Christ paid the price for all of His people.
He paid that price with His own blood. Money wouldn't do it.
Silver and gold being put in the treasury wouldn't do it.
The only thing that'll pay the price is perfect blood. And the Lord Jesus Christ can
pay a high price for all of the sin of all of His people Because
His blood is perfect. His blood is so precious. That's
why the Apostle Paul said in Ephesians 1 verse 7, In whom? In whom? In the Lord Jesus Christ. We have redemption through His
blood. Through His blood. Redemption
from sin is in Christ. And it's given freely. Now a person who's bankrupt,
Their ears perk up when they see something is free. You know,
if I read Jan gets these coupons in the mail, 30, 40, or 50%,
she gets a 30%, she turns up her nose at. That's not enough.
She just throws that away. But now she gets a 50% one, I
know she's going down to that store pretty soon. She's going
to buy something. But if we were bankrupt, 50% coupon would mean
one thing to you. But free? Oh. Now that gets the attention of
somebody who's bankrupt. Who's got nothing to pay. Redemption
in the Lord Jesus Christ that fully pays for the sin of His
people is given to them freely. Freely. Now why don't you run
to Him? Why don't you run to Him? I tell
you, the only reason you won't run to Him is you think you've
got something to pay. You don't need a handout. You ever heard
somebody say, I don't need a handout. Sinners do. Sinners do. Christ
gives it to His people freely. Oh, aren't you glad He saved
us? Run to Him. Everything you need
is found in Him. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
only one who's able to redeem His people. And He did it by
His one sacrifice. That's what Eric told us about
Wednesday night. His one sacrifice redeemed His people forever.
He hath redeemed us from the curse of the law being made a
curse for us. Now the curse, the penalty of
the broken law is death. But no one for whom Christ died
can die. No, we already died in Christ.
We must live if Christ died for us. We must. In our text back
here in verse 7, Paul talks about being made heirs according to
the hope of eternal life. If Christ died for us, we have
eternal life. Because He's redeemed us from
the curse of the law, the law will never demand we die. If
Christ died for us, we must have eternal life. Now aren't you
glad He saved us? Nobody else could have and nobody
else would do something so wonderful for the likes of you and me,
but He did. Oh, aren't you glad He saved
us? Then look in our text here, Titus chapter 3 verse 1. Here's
the fourth thing, or fifth thing, excuse me. If a sinner is to
be saved, that sinner must be born again. Paul says here, Now
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
diverse lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful
and hating one another. Now, that's the way we all were
before. We're foolish, disobedient, everything Paul says there in
verse three. Now, what would make a person that used to be
foolish be wise? What would make a person who
used to be disobedient to all authority, disobedient to authority
of the government, disobedient to authority on the job and the
home, disobedient to the authority of a pastor? What would make
that person suddenly become obedient? What would make a person who
used to serve those diverse, different lusts and pleasures
of the flesh now serve Christ? What would make a person who
used to live in malice, Envy. Hateful. Hating everybody all
the time. Now be a loving person. What would make such a great
change in a person? One thing. The grace of God in
the heart. One thing. God giving us a new
heart in the new birth. And that happens with what we
read in verse 4. After the kindness and love of
God our Savior toward man appeared. That's when God in love gives
us a new heart. Read on now, verse 5. Not by
works of righteousness as we've done. We didn't cause ourselves
to be born again. No, God did that. According to His mercy,
He saved us by the washing of regeneration and the renewing
of the Holy Ghost, which is shed on us abundantly through Jesus
Christ, our Savior. That washing of regeneration
or renewing of the Holy Ghost is the new birth. And when that
happens, everything is new. Everything's new because we got
a new nature, a nature that came from God. that He shed on us
abundantly, how? Through Jesus Christ, our Savior.
Oh, aren't you glad He saved us? He gave us a new nature that
God would accept. Here's my last point, number
six, and don't miss this. Don't miss this. If a sinner
is to be saved, that person has got to be a sinner. Got to be. Now you think, well, isn't everybody
a sinner? Yes, everybody's a sinner. Very
few people know it. Very few people know it. The
only people who know that they're sinners are people who God saves. God will save every sinner. Every
sinner. Paul says here, he, and that's
what I wanted to focus on. Salvation's a person. He, it's
all in him. He saves us. Us. Well, who is the us? Huh? Who's the us? Well, it's
not every son of Adam. Janet told me on the way over
here, she wrote on Facebook, I guess it was this morning,
a woman talking about that everybody's name is written in the Lamb's
Book of Life. Really? If that's so, the Lamb's Book
of Life means nothing. It means absolutely nothing.
Because we read in scripture that people right now who are
in hell, Well, if their names are written in the Lamb's Book
of Life, then the Lamb's Book of Life means nothing. That's not
so. It's not every son of Adam can't
be. The us is everybody who's a sinner. The us is everybody that God
chose to save. It's all of God's elect. The
Holy Spirit will convince every last one of those people of their
sin, and He'll convince them of their need of Christ. Now
when Christ died, he died only for God's elect. That's what
limited atonement means. It doesn't mean there's limited
power in his atonement. It's limited in the scope of
his atonement. Christ died only for God's elect
and only God's elect will be saved. Well, then how do I know if I'm
one of God's elect? How do I know if Christ died
for me? Well, let me ask you two questions. Number one, do
you need Do you need Christ? Do you need Him? I mean desperately
need Him. Do you need Him to be all of
your salvation because you can't do anything? Do you need Him?
Do you need to hear of Him? Oh, do you need to hear? Do you
need Him? It's not a complicated question.
Do you need Him? Second question is this. Do you
believe? Do you need Christ and do you
believe that He is all it takes to save you? If your answer to
those two questions is yes, then you're one of God's elect. Because
God the Holy Spirit convinces God's elect of their need of
Christ and that He is all it takes to save them. Now I tell
you, He saved us. Fully and freely He saved His
people. Then you come to Christ. Don't come to Christ because
you know you're one of God's elect. You won't find that anywhere
in the Word of God. You'll never find one sinner
anywhere in the Word of God coming to Christ because they knew they
were one of God's elect. But everybody that came to Christ
that received mercy came to Him because they were a sinner who
needed a Savior. Now you come the same way. You
come to Christ for forgiveness. Come to Christ for mercy. Come
to Christ for grace. Come to Christ for justification.
Come to Him as a poor sinner who needs pity. You need to be
pitied. You've got no hope but the Lord
Jesus Christ. You come to Him that way, and
I promise you this, He'll never cast you out. He'll never cast
you out. Now come to Him. He'll have mercy
on you. He'll save you. If you come to
Christ like that, it's because God has everlastingly, eternally
loved you. And once you get there, once
you get to Christ, you know what you'll find out? Oh, I didn't
even decide to come to Christ. He's been drawing me. From the
beginning of time, God has ordained everything that's happened in
his creation, drawing you to his son. Now you come to him.
He'll never cast you out. Now aren't you glad he saved
us? In closing, I want you to turn
with me to Colossians chapter 1. And when you get there, hold
your place and look up here. The best I know how. I told you this morning how God
saved a sinner. We talked about God's elect,
a number that no man can number. He saved us. How do I know that that applies
to me? I want everybody in this room
to look me right in the eye right now. I'm talking to you. I'm talking to you. God's Word
is talking to you. This gospel that I preached this
morning is talking to you. Colossians 1 verse 21, to you. And you. Look here at verse 19. And it pleased the Father that
in Him, He saved us. In Him, the Lord Jesus Christ,
in all fullness dwell, and having made peace, through the blood
of His cross. By Him to reconcile all things
unto Himself. By Him, I say, whether they be
things in earth or things in heaven, and you, don't think
this is not talking to you, and you, that were sometime alienated
and enemies in your mind by your wicked works, yet now hath He
reconciled in the body of His flesh through death to present
you holy and unblameable and unreprovable in His sight. Now I'm talking to you. Now you
come to Him. You come to this Savior. He saved
us. Aren't you glad? Aren't you glad
He saved us and brought us back to God? Oh, may God grant us
faith this morning to rest in Him. Let's bow together. Our Father, how we thank You.
How we thank You for this glorious message of redemption in the
Lord Jesus Christ, that He, by Himself, He saved us. Father, how can we ever thank
You? But we do, we thank You. And Father, I pray that You might
reveal Your glory this morning in calling Your people to Your
Son. Call us to repentance and to faith. in our Lord Jesus Christ
and let us leave here, drive home this morning, feasting on
these precious words, He saved us. Father, we ask you to bless
us and hear us and see us only in our Lord Jesus Christ. For
in his blessed name we give thanks. Amen.