Titus chapter 2. The title of
the message is this. What does the grace of God teach
us? What does the grace of God teach
us? The scriptures teach us that all whom God saves, He teaches. He teaches them. He instructs
them. Look over in John chapter 6. John chapter 6. Look in verse 43. Jesus therefore
answered and said unto them, Murmur not
among yourselves." Speaking here to the Jews who were murmuring
at what he had to say. "'No man can come to me except
the Father which hath sent me draw him, and I will raise him
up at the last day. It is written in the prophets,
and they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that
hath heard and hath learned of the Father, the Father is his
teacher cometh unto me, cometh unto me. But every man, every man, every
woman whom the Lord saves shall be taught of God. He does not
leave his children untaught, no more than you would leave
your children untaught. When God saves a sinner, he teaches
that sinner by his Spirit, by the Holy Spirit, using the Word
of God. He instructs, he disciplines
that sinner by the Gospel of Christ concerning how God saves
sinners, concerning salvation, concerning redemption, concerning
our justification, our sanctification. But he also, now listen, he also
instructs us at the same time how to walk in this life. How to walk in this present evil
world. Faith and conduct always go together. You cannot separate them. You
cannot separate faith and conduct. It's like faith and repentance.
You cannot have one and not have the other. It's not possible
to have one without the other. It's like justification and sanctification.
You can't have one without the other. If you're justified, you're
sanctified. If you're sanctified, you're
justified. They go together. Don't think that the gospel is
all doctrine without application. went preaching throughout the
Gentile world, he was faced with so much ungodliness, so
much idolatry, drunkenness, homosexuality, adultery, fornication. They were
rampant in his day, just like they are in our day. But when
Paul preached the gospel, And it came in power. It changed
men's lives. Look over in 1 Thessalonians.
In 1 Thessalonians, it says in verse 5, For our gospel came not unto you in word only,
in doctrine only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost,
and in much assurance, as you know what manner of men we were
among you for your sake. And you became followers of us,
and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction with
joy of the Holy Ghost." so that you were examples to all that
believe in Macedonia and Achaia. For from you sounded out the
word of the Lord, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also
in every place your faith to God's word is spread abroad,
so that we need not to speak anything. For they themselves
show of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how you
turned to God for models." You didn't incorporate. You didn't
incorporate the gospel into your worship of idols. You turned
from the idols. You turned from the idols to
serve, to worship, to follow the living and true God, and
to wait for his Son from heaven, whom God raised from the dead,
even Jesus. Even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to
come. So when the gospel comes in power,
it does not only come in doctrine, though it does, because it's
not without its doctrine. It's like you try to build a
house without the framework. You just try to say how long
a house will stand without framework. Good, solid framework. Take away
the skeleton in this body, and this body can't stand. His body
has to have this skeleton that God has put inside of it. That's
what solid, sound doctrine is to the church. It's the framework. It's the skeleton that holds
it up. But it's not all skeleton. It's
not all skeleton. There's a practical application
in our daily lives that the grace of God teaches us, leads us,
guides us and directs our steps, our attitude. I have a much better
attitude since I heard the gospel thing before. And you do too. You do too. Now, in verses 1
through 10, Paul tells us how we are to live so that we might,
and I caught this as I was reading this, I've read this several
times. But if you look in the verse, let's see what verse that's
in. in verse 10, not pure loining,
that's not stealing, but showing all good fidelity that they may
adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in
all things. That they may adorn, and that
word doctrine can be translated gospel, gospel. That they may adorn the gospel
of God our Savior in all When you got up this morning,
you went about adorning yourselves to come here today. You got up,
fixed your hair, got dressed. You adorned yourself. I don't
want to come here like I look like when I get up. You don't
want me to either. Hair's all over the place. Looks
like I just got up. But I combed my hair, I took
a shower, combed my hair, you know, put my suit on. And what
he's saying here, our lives, our lives are to set forth the
beauty and attractiveness of the gospel. The life of a believer. Now get this. The life of a believer
is to set forth the beauty and attractiveness of the grace of
God in Christ. If we would have sinners to listen
to us, to listen to our message, who
hath believed our report Isaiah said? Who hath believed our report,
our message? If you look in the margin over
there, it's our doctrine, our gospel. And if we would have sinners
to listen to our message, our lives must be such that the gospel
is adorned by our conduct and attitude. That's what Paul's
writing here to Titus. That's what he's writing about.
And as a preacher of the gospel, I am to adorn the gospel, the
doctrine of God, our Savior, by preaching it faithfully every
week. Every time I stand in this bullpen,
or Dale, or Eric, or Frank, we stand here, first of all, to
glorify Christ. But in glorifying Christ, we
are adorning the gospel of God. The doctrine we preach is the
doctrine of grace. It's not one of works, it's of
grace. And that includes That includes what we call the three
R's. Ruined by the fall. Redeemed
by the blood. Regenerated by the Holy Spirit.
It includes God's sovereignty and salvation. Dale spoke of
God electing us. God choosing us. He did that
sovereignly. He did not do this like Madison
did the other night was playing a game. She goes any, many, mighty
moat. Catch a tiger by the toe or something like that. That's
not how God chose sinners. It wasn't just at random. Those whom He chose He loved
with an everlasting love. Gave them to Christ, Christ in
that covenant of grace, and in time called them by His grace.
Called you by His grace to the Lord Jesus Christ. And when we
stand here and preach, we preach God's sovereignty, we preach
particular redemption, we preach ruined by the fall, redeemed
by the blood, we are adorning the gospel of God. Now Paul says
to Titus here, verse 1, he says, Speak thou the things
which become sound doctrine. Sound doctrine is healthy doctrine. I looked this up. It's sound. It's solid. It's biblical. Sound doctrine is doctrine that
we get out of the Word of God. Sound doctrine is not my opinion
on things. Sound doctrine is doctrine, listen,
that God Almighty has given us. It's doctrine He's given us.
And if He's given it to us, it's sound. It's sound. It's healthy. It's good. And
here's the purpose of it, the effect of it, the reason why
Paul's telling Titus to speak those things which are becoming
sound doctrine. And he has something here for
everyone, for everyone here. First he says it starts with
the aged men, the old men in the congregation. That's what
he's talking about, he's talking about the old men in the congregation.
That the aged men be sober. This is the effect that sound
doctrine has on God's people. That the aged men be sober, grave,
temperate. That is, temperate in all that
they do. And one of the definitions I looked up to this is temperate
in their opinion. You know, age should teach us
something. Years should teach us something.
And one of them is that just keep your opinion to yourself.
Be very discreet, giving out your opinion. Give a lot of thought
to it before you open your mouth. That the aged men be sober. That
is, they're serious. They're not somber and sad, but
they're serious. You know, they're sober minded
in their thinking. Grave and temperate. Sound in
faith. Sound in love. Sound in patience. You learn
to wait on the Lord. I remember writing Henry back
in 1979 about the ministry. And I was writing him, and I
started writing him about once every two weeks. I was just thinking
the matter of the ministry was really on my heart. And he wrote
me one of the letters back that said, wait on the Lord. Be of
good courage and wait, I say, on the Lord. Wait on him. Wait on him. and age, and know
this, the young people here are watching us. They're watching
us. Let them see these things. Listen,
when they watch us, let them see a sober mind. Let them see
a temperate mind. Let them see love. Let them see
faith. Let them see patience. Let that be what they see. And
then the aged women. The aged women, likewise, that
they be in behavior as becometh holiness for holy women. Not
false accusers. Not going around talking and
just zip it. Not false accusers. Not giving
them much wine. Teachers of good things. And
here's a ministry. You older women. the aged women,
you have a ministry. You have a ministry. And here
it is, that you may teach the young women. That you may teach
them. You may teach the young women
to be sober, to love their husbands. And I thought this was odd to
me. To love their children. Teach
them to love their children. Giving your children everything
is not loving your children. The aged woman says, now hold
up, you know, you might want to, that's not, giving them everything
is not loving them. Teach them, discipline them,
instruct them, some things they need and some things they don't
need. He said, you aged women, you teach these younger women,
you teach them. You've already been through it.
You've already been through the battle. And young women, be discreet,
be chaste, be keepers at home, take care of the home, good,
obedient to their own husbands, let the word of God be not blasphemed.
And young men, young men likewise exhort to be sober-minded. Be serious in your thinking. And then he has a word here for
pastors in verse 7 and 8. In all things showing thyself
a pattern of good works, in doctrine showing uncorruptedness, that
you can take the word of God and establish what you are saying,
what you're teaching. Gravity, sincerity, sound speech
that cannot be condemned. that he that is of the contrary
part may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of you. And
servants, see how he covers everyone here, exhort servants to be obedient
unto their own masters, to be a faithful servant, an
obedient servant, and to please them well in all things, not
answering again, not talking back, not puroring, not stealing,
but showing all good fidelity. Now here it is. that they may
adorn the doctrine, the gospel of God our
Savior in all things. In all things. Adorning the gospel
by our conduct and attitude in all things. Then it says in verse 11, for
the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all
men. The grace of God here can also be translated the gospel
of God's grace or the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. The
scripture says grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. He's the embodiment of it. When
he appeared, when he appeared, now listen, The grace of God
appeared. Scripture says grace poured from
His lips. For the grace of God that bringeth
salvation hath appeared to all men. And that grace of God that
hath appeared, that bringeth salvation and hath appeared to
all men, is the Lord Jesus Christ. That's who He's speaking of.
He's speaking here of a person. He's speaking of the Lord Jesus
Christ. When He appeared, grace appeared. And the gospel went
throughout the world. You know, when our Lord cried,
It's finished. They took Him down from the cross,
laid Him in a grave. Three days He arose. And He went
back to the Father. And the gospel has spread throughout
the world. It has gone throughout this whole
world. At one time or another, You can
probably look back through history, and at one time or another, the
gospel was preached in a place, to a people, to a tribe, to a
tongue, to a kindred, to a nation. The gospel was sent. It was preached. And he says here, for the grace
of God that bringeth salvation, the Lord Jesus Christ hath appeared
to all men, teaching us, and here's where I want to finish
out the message, Teaching us. Instructing us. And you know
that word teaching there in the Greek means discipline. Discipline
us. It disciplines us. There's a
discipline. Grace disciplines us. If it's
in you, if it's in you, it teaches us how to walk. How
to talk. It changes our whole conduct
from the way we used to be. teaching us that denying ungodliness
and worldly lust, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly
in this present world, looking for that blessed hope and the
glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior, Jesus Christ.
What does the grace of God teach us? What does it teach us? Well, first of all, it teaches
us that God is our Savior. that God and God alone in Christ
is our Savior. Salvation is not a cooperative
effort between me and God. It's God saving. It's God giving life. It's God
calling. It's God regenerating. It's God
dying on a cross. It's God risen. It's God seated.
It's God for us. I shall call his name Immanuel,
which being interpreted means God with us. It teaches us that God is our
Savior. And then it teaches us that salvation
is by grace alone in Christ alone. That's what the grace of God,
that's what the gospel of God teaches us. That salvation is by grace. The
unmerited favor of God. God loved me, chose me, gave
me to Christ for this reason. Even so, Father, it seemed good
in thy sight. It has nothing to do with me,
who I am, what I've been doing. It has everything to do with
God, who He is. God loved me because He loved
me. That's who He is. And then it teaches us here,
listen, to deny ungodliness. It does not, listen, grace does
not promote ungodliness. Grace does not promote sin. It teaches. It teaches us to
deny ungodliness, to deny Godliness in whatever form it comes in.
And I'm telling you, it comes in many shapes, many forms. Many
forms. It teaches us to deny everything
that is unlike God. To deny everything that would
bring reproach on the name of our Lord. Deny it. Leave it. It teaches us that. And then it teaches us to deny
worldly lust. The grace of God teaches us.
And this is a daily teaching. This is something that goes on
day after day after day. This is the grace of God in you.
It teaches you to deny the lust of the flesh. You know, there
was a time you did not struggle, I did not struggle against the
lust of the flesh. If I wanted it, I wanted to figure
out how to get it. I didn't try to, I didn't even,
my thoughts, you know, the scripture says to bring every thought into
subjection to Christ. There was a time I didn't give
any thought to my thoughts. But you do now. You do now. You say, that's not of God. That
thought's not of God. And you stop it. You stop it. You do. You get your mind on
something else, you stop it because you know that's not of God. It teaches us to deny worldly
lust, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes. I don't
need, but very little, what I see.
Very little things that I see, I don't need. Ninety-nine percent of it, I
can do without. You know, when Eve looked at that tree, she
saw, she looked, she saw that it was a tree to be desired,
to make one wise. Boy, that's a nice looking tree.
Nice looking fruit. There's nothing wrong with that
fruit. The pride of life? Who am I? David said, who am
I? What is my house? What is my house? And who am
I? It teaches us to deny ungodliness.
It teaches us to deny worldly lust. And it teaches us to live. To live. It says there to live
soberly. To live in a serious manner.
Redeeming the time. It teaches us to live soberly.
It teaches us to live righteously. He's talking here about our daily
life. This is what the grace of God teaches us. Not to live
foolishly, but to live soberly. And also to live righteously. And to live godly. To live godly. When? Where? In this present
world. Now. Now. It teaches us to live soberly,
righteously, and godly. I thought of this last night. To
live godly. I thought, what is it to me to
live godly? What does that mean to me? As
I was looking at this last night. And I thought of this. It's to
live full of God. To live in that constant consciousness
of his presence, of his person, of his mercy, of his grace. It's to live full of God. See,
ungodliness is unlike God. But godliness is to be full of
God. And he said that's the way we live, to walk. To walk. Grace teaches us to deny ungodliness. It teaches us to deny worldly
lusts. It teaches us to live. How to live. And then it teaches
us to look. To look. Looking for that blessed
hope. This struck me last night as
I was reading this over again. It's amazing how you can read
the scriptures over and over and over and different things
just jump out at different times. And as I was sitting in my chair,
in my study, looking at this, I read that, looking for that
blessed hope. We go through the week busy,
busy, busy, busy. We were constantly trying to
take care of the next thing, doing the next thing. And I sat
down last night and I looked at that and I thought, looking, expecting His return. And I thought how I had not been
really looking. This week, been busy. Been busy
looking down and not up. Busy looking after, like Martha
in the kitchen. She was busy. Busy, busy, busy,
busy. Looking, looking, looking. But
not to Him. She's looking after these things.
She's looking after these earthly things. And I just sat back and
I thought, He's going to return. The reality,
the reality of that just set in for a little while. My Lord
is going to return. He's coming again. Why am I so
concerned about these things? I know I have things to take
care of. You have things to take care of. But as we take care
of these things, let us not forget to look. And here it says looking,
that's continual. That's not just walking over
to the window to see if he's coming and going back about your business.
That looking is a continual attitude. Listen, it is a continual expectation
that the Lord is coming. Will it be today? I don't know. It could be. It could be today. But listen, that blessed hope,
that hope that we have in Christ is a blessed hope because it's
of God. God gave it to us. God has worked
it in us by His Spirit, through the preaching of the gospel,
by His grace. By His grace. Grace teaches us
to look for Christ. He's coming. He's coming. Grace gives us a well-grounded
hope, a hope that creates expectation, anticipation, and desire. That's what grace does. That's
what grace at work in the heart does. It creates an expectation. It creates this hope. It creates
this looking. It creates this ability to deny.
Ungodliness, worldly lust teaches us to live. And while we are
living, we're looking. Are we? We're looking. Looking for that blessed hope. Looking for that blessed hope
and the glorious appearing. That angel said those disciples,
I can't quote verbatim, but they said, why are you standing here
gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus whom you saw go away is
going to come again in like manner. He's coming again. He's going
to appear. You and I are between the two
appearances. The first one, when he came to
this world, became flesh. Hung on a cross, buried, and
now we're waiting for this second one, this second appearing. But between these two, we are
looking, we are looking for Him to appear. Do you really, and I ask myself
this question, do you really get up in the morning with the
expectation of the Lord coming? I know you, I know me. Times
we do, times we don't. But this is the truth. The Lord
is coming. He's coming. And we're looking
for Him. We are looking for Him. It says
in Colossians chapter 3, If ye then be risen with Christ, seek
those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right
hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things
on the earth. For you are dead, and your life
is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life,
shall appear, then shall you also appear with Him in glory." As I said, our hope of eternal
life, of eternal glory, is a well-grounded hope. The Father gave it to us,
the Son purchased it, and the Holy Spirit is the earnest of
it. We have Him as the earnest of
it. Now look, and I'll close. In verse 14, we have the motivation
for living in such a way that the gospel is adorned by us. Here's the motivation. Who gave
Himself for us. Who gave Himself for us. He was delivered up to the wrath
of God. He was delivered up to my torment.
He was delivered up that He might deliver us. who gave himself
for us that he might redeem us, purchase us back, pay the ransom
price, that he might redeem us from all iniquity. Not one sin will be left on any
of his children. Not one sin can claim anything
against me. He gave himself for us that he
might redeem us from all iniquity and purify, make holy, purify
unto himself a peculiar people that strangers, strangers, there
we are, peculiar, purchased, separated, He said in Isaiah, this people
have I formed for myself. They shall show forth my glory. Zealous. Now listen, all this
goes together. Who gave himself for us that
he might redeem us of all iniquity and purify unto himself a peculiar
people. Zealous of good works. Zealous. Eager to do right. Not trying to do
right in order to impress God or to be accepted, but you know
what? It comes natural. Good works
to a believer is the natural response of grace in the heart.
You want to do right. You want to help. You do love.
You do give. You do sacrifice. You give up
of yourself, your time, because you're zealous of good
works. These things speak all the time. He said, Titus, you keep this
before the people. These things speak. Speak thou
think which becomes sound doctrine. And you exhort and rebuke with
all authority, let no man The grace of God teaches us,
doesn't it? Continually. It teaches us to
deny ungodliness, worldly lust. I tell you what, if it didn't,
we wouldn't. We wouldn't. It teaches us how to live, to
live soberly, righteously, godly in this present world. It teaches
us to look. Well, that blessed hope and the glorious appearing
of the great God and our Savior, Jesus Christ, and that's speaking
of one person. The great God and our Savior,
Jesus Christ. That's speaking of one person
there, not two. That's not speaking of God and then Christ. The great God and our Savior,
Jesus Christ, is one person. God our Savior. who is Jesus
Christ. This is what the grace of God
teaches us. Everyone whom he saves, he teaches,
and he teaches by his grace.