Go back to Titus chapter 1, the
title of the message, The Faith of God's Elect. I started reading through this
epistle several times during the last few days, and the message
that I started to work on out of chapter 2, verse 11 through
14, what does the grace of God teach us? So I believe, Lord
willing, in about a week or two I'll bring that message. But
I started just reading this epistle. It's been a while since I just
read it. And verse 1, all writing to Titus,
speaks of the faith of God's elect, and that caught my attention.
I know there are many faith, so-called, out there in the world. There's what they call historical
faith. They believe the historical facts
of the gospel. You know, you hear a priest,
you believe that, yes, that did happen. They believe in Jesus
Christ as a historical person, that he really did exist. That's not saving faith. There's
the faith of devils. The Word of God says the devil
believes and trembles, but he's as lost as lost can be. He's not saved. There's a faith
of devils. I don't want that faith. That's
a faith I don't want. There's a faith of the Pharisees.
They believed because they were Abraham's seed. They were automatically
in the kingdom. But that faith doesn't save you.
There are many faiths out there in this world. All religions
have a form of faith. All religions do. But only one
faith, only one faith is real. And it's the faith of God's elect. That's what Paul tells us here
in Titus. He calls it the faith of God's elect. is a faith given
to a particular people. God's elect. Christ said to the
disciples, you did not choose me. I chose you. Let's get this straight. I always
think of this when I read that scripture. Let's get this straight.
Who chose whom? You did not choose me. I chose
you. And ordained you. It is a faith given to a particular
people, and we are given that people right here, God's elect.
And listen, it's the same faith. He says here, listen, Paul, a
servant of God, and you notice here, he's writing to Titus,
and Titus is like Timothy to Paul. He was just so important
to him, and he was a man very gifted, and he was left here
in Crete to establish the churches there. And when Paul writes to
him, instead of saying, I'm an apostle first, he says, I'm a
servant. I'm a servant. What a high calling.
The highest calling that any person could ever have received
in this life is to be a servant of Jesus Christ. What a high
calling. He says he's a servant of God
and an apostle of Jesus Christ according, in accordance with
the faith of God's elect. And what he's saying here is
this, it's the same faith, the faith that I have, the gospel
that I'm preaching is the same one that Abraham had. Same faith,
maybe a different degrees, you know, we have different degrees
of faith, weak faith, strong faith, but it's the same faith. It's in the same person given
by the same God. It's the same faith that Abraham
had, David had, Isaac, there's only one. One Lord, one faith,
one baptism. There's only one. Even though
there's many so-called faiths out here in the world, there's
only one, it's of God. Now, the faith that he's speaking
of here, of God's elect, now you get this verse, it's the
gift of God. They didn't come up with it,
I didn't come up with it, you didn't come up with it. We didn't make
ourselves. Thou hast made us, it says in
Psalm 100, Thou hast made us and not we ourselves. I did not
make myself a believer. God did that. That's a work of
God. That's a work of the Holy Spirit
in you. He's the one who creates faith in the heart. He's the
one who gives life. He's the one who gives understanding
and illumination, light. He's the one who gives it. It's
a gift of God. Look over to Ephesians chapter
2. Now let's establish this by the word of God. In Ephesians chapter 2, verse 8, for by grace are you
saved through faith, not without it now, through faith. And that
not of yourselves, that faith through which God has saved you
is not of yourselves. It's the gift of God. It's the
gift. Let's give honor to whom honor
is due here. And the honor is due to God. He's the one who's
given us faith. It's the gift of God. Look over
in Philippians chapter 1. Look in verse 29. For unto you it is given in the
behalf of Christ, not only to what? Believe on him. It's given to you to believe
on him. It says, not only given to you
to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake. But it is
given to you to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. I believe the gospel. Many of
you believe the gospel. Because you can't help it. I'm
telling you the truth. When God creates faith in the
heart, you cannot help but believe. It's the natural response of
a new birth, of a new life, of a new creation. You believe God. You believe God. And it's the
gift of God. And then this faith, the faith
of God's elect is precious faith. It's the only one of its kind.
There's no other faith like it. Peter calls it precious. You
have obtained like precious faith. There's none like it. And then
it's a justifying faith. It's the only faith by which
you can be justified. Look over in Acts 13. Acts 13. Verse 38, Be it known unto you,
therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached
unto you the forgiveness of sins. And by him, that is, by the Lord
Jesus Christ, all that believe are justified from all things
from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses." It's a
justifying faith. Look over at Romans chapter 3. I've got these written down,
but I want you to read them out of the Word of God. You can make
reference to them later. Look at verse 28, Romans chapter 3. Therefore, we conclude. Here's
the conclusion of the whole matter. Paul is drawing a conclusion
here. Therefore, we conclude that a man is justified by faith
without the deeds of the law. without the personal keeping
of the law. He's justified by faith, and that faith is in Christ.
That faith looks to Christ, lays hold of Christ, believes Christ,
follows Christ, trusts Christ. It has everything to do with
Christ. Everything. It is the only faith that lays
hold of Christ as its all in all in salvation. All other types
of faith do not do that. You know, like the Pharisees,
they wouldn't hold on to works. They wouldn't hold on to circumcision.
They wouldn't hold on to this and that. We'll take Christ too. We'll include Him also. No, no,
no. It doesn't work like that. It's
Christ and Christ alone. It's letting go of everything
else. We absolutely let go of everything
else but Christ. Christ is my salvation. Christ
is my righteousness. Christ is my hope. Christ is
my life. He's my life. It's the only faith that lays
hold of Christ as it's all in all in salvation. He's the sole
object of faith. Then it's a faith that lives
upon Christ. It lives upon Christ. Daily. I'm not just looking to him to
save me when all this is over with. I'm looking to Him to keep
me right now. Now. The just shall live how? By faith. The just shall live
every day upon Christ. The just shall live every day
believing God. The just shall live every day
looking to the Lord Jesus Christ. Every day. Every day. I'm not just looking for for
Him whenever I need Him at the end of this life. No, now. I
need Him now. I need Him as much now as I do
the day I stand before God. The just shall live by faith. Paul said this, for me to live
is Christ. And to die is gain. And the faith of God's elect
is a persevering faith. It does not quit. It may vary
in degrees as far as our assurance, things like that, but it does
not quit. Because the Scripture says we
are kept by the power of God through faith. Not apart from
it. We're not kept by His power apart
from faith. We are kept by the power of God through believing
God. It is a persevering faith. It
will not, it will not quit. Go over and read, if you want
to read the faith of God's elect, go read Hebrews chapter 11. I
read that last night. You can get a good picture of
the faith of God's elect. They were Saul and Sunder. They
were living in caves. I mean, just go over and read
that. And they didn't quit. They all, what does it say? What
does it say? These all died in faith. True faith, that's of God, does
not quit. If it's of God now, it does not
quit. If you're not lost to save, lost
to save, bleed, then you don't believe. No. You're kept by the
power of God through faith, through believing. And then here's the
nature. Let me give you something of
the nature of faith. Go back here to Titus chapter 1. Paul, a servant of God and an
apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect,
and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness."
The faith of God's elect is a holy faith. It's a holy faith because
God gave it. Whatever God gives is holy. It's
a holy faith. It's a sanctified faith. You'll
notice here it says, "...and the acknowledging of the truth
which is after Paul puts a stop here to any charge of salvation. My grace through faith leads
to sin. It does not do it. Paul met with
that over here in Romans. Let me see if I can find it over
here in Romans chapter. Let's see if it's Romans chapter 6.
Yeah, Romans chapter 6. Let me start reading in Romans
chapter 5. Let me start reading verse 18. Therefore, as by the offense
of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation, even so
by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto
justification of life. That's all the men that were
represented by him. For as by one man's disobedience
many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many
be made righteous. Moreover, the law entered that
the offense might abound, but where sin abounded, grace did
much more abound. that as sin hath reigned unto
death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal
life by Jesus Christ our Lord. What shall we say then? Shall
we continue in sin that grace may abound? Paul knew. He knew
that he was going to meet with that objection. God forbid. How shall we that are dead to
sin live any longer therein? And here's what he's doing over
here. Listen. And the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness. And he's putting a stop to any
of this, any suggestion that salvation by grace through faith
alone in Christ alone leads to sin. It doesn't. It leads to
a godly life. If true saving faith is in you,
it will lead to godliness. Not a sensuousness, not a sinful
life. It leads to godliness. Where there is true saving faith,
there will be true godliness, inwardly and outwardly. You will
desire to live after him in righteousness and holiness. The tenor of your
life, I promise you this, the tenor of your life will be after
godliness if true faith has been begotten in your heart. Then
the faith of God's elect, it says here, acknowledges the truth
to the acknowledging of the truth. When it hears the truth, it acknowledges
it. That's the truth. That's the
gospel. You know it when you hear it.
You know it when you hear it. You know that when someone takes
this book and opens it up and they preach God as the sovereign,
over all, as we heard this morning, in creation, in salvation, you
acknowledge that as the truth. You say, that's the truth. God is the sovereign. God is
the ruler. He is on the throne. He is sovereign
in salvation. He said, he said, he'll have
mercy on whom he'll have mercy. And he said, in whom I will,
I'll And every one of God's people
bowed to that. They bowed to it. They said,
that's so. That's so. When they hear the truth about
Jesus Christ, God, that He's God, manifested in the flesh,
that He came into this world to redeem a people, and He accomplished
that redemption, It was not an attempt, it was
a redemption. And He redeemed. His blood is the blood of atonement.
He gave His body as a sacrifice. He bore our sins in His body
on the tree. And when God's elect hear that, they say, Amen. They say that's the truth. It's
according to the Scriptures. It's according to the Old Testament
Scriptures. It's according to the Word of God, it's according
to Revelation. When they hear the truth about themselves, there was a time, I can honestly
say this, there was a time I thought I was a pretty good guy. I thought
I wasn't that bad. I wasn't that bad. I thought.
So I thought. But when God, the Holy Spirit,
convicts of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. If you ever
experience that, you'll know there's none good, no, not one,
even me. You acknowledge the truth. It's
the truth. It's the truth. When you hear
how God saves sinners, how He can be a just God and a Savior
through the substitutionary work of Christ, you acknowledge it
as truth. And then it's the faith, the
faith of God's elect is the faith, and it's the only faith that
lays hold of the hope of eternal life. That's what he says in
verse 2. Let me read verse 1 with you. Paul, a servant of God and an
apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect and
the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness in hope
of eternal life with God that cannot lie. That's something
that God cannot do. Lie. Because He's the God of
truth. Promise before the world began.
It's a faith that lays hold of the hope of eternal life, which
is begotten in us in the new birth. Which is Christ in you, the hope
of glory. He's the hope of glory. Faith
gives rise to this hope. If you don't believe God, you're
not going to have any hope." He said, I don't believe that.
Well, how could you have any hope? But the faith of God's elect
believes God. Abraham what? Believed God. It doesn't say Abraham believed
any God. He believed a God. Abraham believed
God. He believed the only God there
is. When God spoke of the sea, Abraham believed it. He believed
that he's able to do that which he said he would do. He believed
God. And this faith, the faith of
God's elect, lays hold of that hope of eternal life that's given
in Christ by promise, by promise, before the world began. It was
given to Christ in the covenant of grace, and it was given to
us in Christ in that covenant of grace. And faith lays hold
of that. Faith lays hold of that. It lets
go of all these other things. It lets go of all these material
things and all these possessions in this life, and it lays hold
of that promise of eternal life
that God gave in Christ before the world began in that covenant
of grace. Do you believe that? Do you really
believe that? Have you laid hold of that? That's of God. I mean, if you
really have a hope of eternal life, if you really have a hope
of being with God, being with Christ, being made like Christ,
being without sin, if you really have that hope, God gave that
to you. God gave that to you. The faith of God's elect is founded,
the foundation of it, is on the Word of God. What I'm giving you is not soap
bubbles. It's not soap bubbles. Look in verse 2. In hope of eternal
life which God that cannot lie promised before the world began,
but hath in due time manifested His Word through preaching. He's
manifested His Word. He's manifested the living word,
which is the Lord Jesus Christ. He's manifested his written word.
He's manifested the gospel, which is his word. And he's manifested
it how? Through what I'm doing right
now. Preaching. Preaching. Declaring. Not sharing. I'm not
up here sharing the gospel. I'm declaring the gospel. Declaring it. hath in due time manifested his
word through preaching." Listen, over in 1 Corinthians, "...it
hath pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe." Not the preaching of foolishness,
but what the world calls foolishness. The world calls the gospel of
Christ, the gospel of substitution and satisfaction, the world calls
it foolishness. Salvation completely, completely
dependent on another without me doing one single thing to
the world is foolishness. But it's the power of God. Scripture
teaches us it's the power of God unto salvation. The foundation of faith is the
Word of God. Everything we know about Jesus
Christ, everything we know about God, everything we know about
salvation, everything we know about how God saves sinners,
we have learned, we have been taught by the Holy Spirit out
of His Word. Out of His Word. And then the
faith of God's elect is common among all God's elect. We can go to Mexico, down where
Walter and Cody preach the gospel, and we can sit down with those
Mexicans, even though I can't speak their language. They love
and believe the same gospel we love and believe. It's a common
faith. What he says here in verse 4,
Titus, my own son, after the common faith. It's common among
all God's children. They all believe and love the
same gospel. They all believe and love the
same Lord. They all believe and have the
same hope of eternal life that was promised of God before the
world began. We have that same hope. It's
built on the same person. the Lord Jesus Christ. It's common. There's nothing different about
it. How God saves sinners is common
among all God's elect throughout this whole world. Throughout
the whole world. We are cleansed by the same blood.
We are covered by the same righteousness. It's common. The faith of God's
elect is common among all God's elect. If someone ever asks you what
faith you are of, you just reply, the faith of God's elect. That's the faith I'm of, the
faith of God's elect.