Now here in Titus chapter three,
Paul begins, put them in mind to be subject to principalities
and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work.
Now, this is still part of the sound doctrine that Paul's telling
Titus and pastors. This is the part of the sound
doctrine that a pastor is to teach over and over and over
again. Don't be weary. Just keep teaching
it over and over and over again. When he says put them in mind,
what he means is remind them over and over and over again.
Remind them of the sound doctrine. And we need to constantly be
reminded of everything we've learned in the gospel because
of how easily it slips away. That's what Bob and I were talking
about just a minute ago is we need to be reminded quickly and
easily these things that we've been taught slip from our mind.
That's why Paul wrote to the Philippians to write the same
things to you. To me, indeed, it's not grievous
to remind you of these same things. It's not grievous for you. It's
safe to be reminded. And here Paul instructs pastors
to remind the flock to be subject to civil authority, civil authority
out in the world, to be a peaceable people out here in the world. And we need to be reminded of
this, because I'm telling you the hardest thing for a human
being to do is to be in subjection to somebody else. That just crosses
our nature. Every one of us it does. That's
why wives are instructed to be in subjection to their husband.
Children, be in subjection. Obey your parents. Citizens,
be in subjection to the civil authorities. And listen, the
Lord doesn't tell us this for our punishment. This is not just
something that the Lord, you know, puts on us a grief to be
endured while we're here on this earth. The Lord gives us this
instruction for our good. Look over at Romans chapter 13
and I'll show you that. The Lord gives us this instruction
for our good to be subject to the civil authorities. In Romans
13 verse 1, let every soul be subject unto
the higher powers for there is no power but of God. The powers
that be are ordained of God. And whosoever therefore resisteth
the power, resisteth the ordinance of God. And they that resist
shall receive in themselves damnation. For rulers, he's talking about
here civil rulers, are not a terror to good works, but to the evil.
Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? Do that which is
good, and thou shalt have praise of the same. For he is the minister
of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is
evil, be afraid, for he beareth not the sword in vain. For he
is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that
doeth evil. He's the minister of God to be
for good, so be subject to him. Be a law-abiding, peaceable person
and be ready to every good work. Always be ready, just at the
ready, to jump in to every good work. And that just is anything
that promotes peace. and welfare of the people that
are around you, in your home, in your neighborhood, in the
church. Be ready to do a good work to help anyone in your community,
just to help people. It's as simple as that. And he
goes on, he says, remind them in verse two to speak evil of
no man, to be no brawlers, but gentle, showing all meekness
unto all men. The pastor is to remind us to
speak evil of no man. And that's in or out of the church.
Don't be going around speaking evil about people. Even the civil
authorities here that Paul talked about in verse one, don't speak
evil of them. And when you talk about somebody, don't misrepresent
the facts and look for every opportunity to tear down their
reputation. Don't, especially don't tear
down their reputation by misrepresenting the fault or their character
and speak evil of them. And even when there comes a time
that you have to warn people about a legitimately dangerous
person, there are evil people in this world and we need to
be warned about them. But don't do it in a contentious
way. Because what does Paul say next?
Be no brawler. If you have to warn people about
an evil person, their evil conduct and character, don't do it in
a brawling fashion. Don't always be spoiling for
a fight. That's what he's saying. Because the Lord's called us
to peace. Not to warfare and ugliness. And this applies in
your relationship at home. Between husband and wife, don't
be a brawler. Between parents and children,
don't be a brawler. Parents, just from the time your
children are this high, don't let them be a brawler to you.
Nip that in the bud, I mean, when they can first speak. So
when they get older, you have a peaceful relationship with
one another. Be peaceful with people on the
job, with your brothers and sisters, with your neighbors, be at peace.
Henry said in his outline, he said, a person who's constantly
striving and bickering is very unbecoming to Christ and generally
by their attitude reveals their ignorance of grace. Now, don't
be ignorant of God's grace. And we're going to see this here
in a minute. All of this attitude of the believer. comes from an
understanding of God's grace and mercy. Don't be ignorant
of God's grace to you. Instead of being fighters, believers
are to be gentle and meek to all men, not just the people
that love you, but to all men. Look over to Ephesians chapter
four. By doing this, by being meek and gentle to all men, you'll
be Christ-like. And the heartfelt desire of a
believer, of a child of God, is to be Christ-like. Here's
how you can do it. Ephesians 4, verse 32. And be
ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, meek, tender-hearted, forgiving
one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven
you. How did Christ treat you in your
rebellion, in your ugliness? And do that to others. That is
being Christ-like. And so I'll tell you, when we
are unforgiving, we tend, and we'll do this, even believers
tend to do this, get hard and unforgiving. It's usually because
we've forgotten our past sins or our present sins or this present
sinful nature that we carry around with us. We get ugly at people
and unforgiving with people for doing the exact same thing we've
done ourselves. We're looking down our nose at
somebody for doing something that we've done ourselves. Now,
don't do that. Remember how much the Lord has
forgiven us. And if we remember the mercy
of the Lord, that'll make us gentle and meek and forgiving
with others. Because remember, we were foolish
at one time. Look here at verse 3. We were
foolish at one time. For we ourselves also were sometimes
foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures,
living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. Nothing
will kill our pride like remembering where we came from, remembering
where it is that the Lord found you and what he saved you from.
Don't forget what we are by nature. Don't forget. This is what the
pastor is to remind us of. Don't forget our dead, sinful
nature. Look over to Ephesians chapter
2. Now remind people of this, Paul says. Ephesians chapter
2, verse 11, Paul says, wherefore,
remember that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh who
are called uncircumcised who are called uncircumcision by
that which is called the circumcision in the flesh made by hands, that
at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the
commonwealth of Israel, strangers from the covenants of promise,
having no hope and without God in the world. Now, you remember
that's the way you were when God found you. Well, don't look
down your nose and be judgmental and harsh for people who are
in that condition right now, because that's where the Lord
found every one of his people. And yeah, they're foolish. But
so are we. So are we at one time. Actually,
so are we still now. If we're honest with ourselves,
how often do you just, why did I do that? That's foolish. It's
because we still carry around that dead, foolish nature. When the Lord saved you, that
nature didn't change. It stayed the same. The Lord
just gave you a new nature, but you're still carrying around
that dead, foolish nature. You know, before the Lord saved
us, we didn't have any spiritual understanding. You talk about
foolish, we had zero spiritual understanding. Well, it's no
wonder we did so many dumb things. We're dead. We had a dead understanding. We're going about to establish
our own righteousness. The Apostle Paul knew all about
that, didn't he? He understood. He could have compassion for
his brethren, the Jews, who are going about to establish their
own righteousness because he remembered when he did the same
thing. He was right there. We had no
idea of the spiritual nature of our sin or the spiritual nature
of salvation before the Lord taught us. We're foolish. That's
why the Lord has to teach us. We were disobedient. You see,
people today are disobedient. Don't be too quick to be so harsh
on them, because isn't that the way we are by nature? When the
Lord found us, we wouldn't obey God or man. And the old man still
won't obey. This old dead man we're carrying
around with us still won't obey. Won't bow. That's why we've got
to be reminded. And we were deceived. And this
word deceived means led into error or gone astray. And that's
exactly the way we are by nature. We're led into error by Satan.
We're led into error and deceived by our wicked heart of unbelief.
Every one of us were a sheep going astray before the Lord
found us and returned us to the shepherd and bishop of our souls.
We've gone out of the way of truth, gone out of the way of
holiness. And if the Lord hadn't intervened
in his mercy, we'd have kept going further and further and
further away from the Father. We were deceived, gone astray.
We were serving diverse lusts and pleasures, wasting our time
in the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride
of life. Just serving, just all the different
lusts and pleasures of this flesh. And you notice when Scripture
talks about the different lusts and pleasures of the flesh, it
says serving. Serving different lusts and pleasures
of the flesh. Serving as in bondage, living
in bondage to those things. Now, the world tells you, go
out and enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. Go out and
enjoy sowing your wild oats and doing these things. Have fun
doing it. That's what the world tells you. Scripture tells you
you're in bondage, in slavery to those things. God's word says
that's not pleasure, that's slavery. And before the Lord found us,
we were so dead. We are happy to be there, happy
to be in slavery, serving these different lusts and pleasures
of the flesh. So don't be too awful hard on
people who do it today. The only reason that we're not
still doing it is the Lord's merciful. Next, he says, living in malice
and envy. We lived in hatred and envy. It's not just something we felt
once in a while. You didn't just go visit envy and hatred. We
lived in it. That's where we lived. We lived
in hatred, which is the opposite of the commandment of our Savior
to love one another as I've loved you. We lived in envy, just so
jealous of the blessings of others and wishing we could have and
just always afraid somebody else would be happy. Just living in
envy and hateful. Deserving to be hated, deserve
to be hated by men and God and hating one another. You know,
we're just, well, they hate me. Okay. I hate them too. I'll just
hate them. God and men because of a wicked
heart. And I'm telling us here before
we spent a lot of time talking about people who right now are
the children of disobedience. We need to remember when we were
the children of disobedience. How did the Lord treat you? Did
He condemn you? Or show you mercy? Did He cut you off and cast you
off forever? Or was He patient with you? Kind
and tender hearted. And we need to remember, it'll
take the same grace to save them, the children of disobedience
today, as it took to save me. It'll take the exact same grace
and power of God. So rather than speak evil of
them and be so harsh and judgmental, we need to pray for them. Aren't
you glad somebody prayed for you when you wouldn't pray for
yourself? And we need to pray for them.
So I'm telling you, no one can deliver themselves or their loved
ones, the ones they care about, from the bondage to the fallen
nature that we're born with. We are totally and completely
dependent on the grace and power of God. Look at verse four. But
after that the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man
appeared. Now in the midst of our career
of sin and rebellion and manifestation of our sin nature, God's kindness
and love appeared. It appeared. Just don't look
too far down on Sinners, people living in sin today and think
there's no hope for them. Because God saves sinners. His love and kindness appears
to sinners. Now, God's kindness and love
appeared in the Old Testament, didn't it? By promise, by prophecy,
it appeared. Then in the fullness of time,
the Lord Jesus Christ appeared incarnate in Bethlehem's manger. Grew as a man. The embodiment
of God's love and kindness appeared to men on earth. And then one
day, in mercy and grace, Christ appeared to his people. Every
one of them, one at a time, he appears in saving kindness and
love. Christ appeared to his people.
Well, he didn't just appear out of thin air. He's always been
there, hasn't he? The Spirit came and gave us life. and gave
us eyes to see. And not where has he been all
the time? It's where have I been all the time? He appeared, gave
us eyes to see, faith to believe Him and cling to Him. He appeared.
And I'm telling you the truth, salvation from beginning to end
and every moment in between is of grace. It's all of God's grace,
His love and His kindness that's completely undeserved. Now, God is God. He's God. And part of that means
that God, because he's God, cannot be moved or affected by something
outside of himself. He's God. Well, if God's not
going to be moved by something outside of himself to save sinners,
then he's got to be moved by something in himself, doesn't
he? What is it about God that's in him, that's in his character
to move him to save sinners. Kindness and love. His kindness
and love appeared when He saved sinful, undeserving people. It's God's kindness and love
to sinners that moved Him to purpose to save a people through
the sacrifice of His Son. It's God's love and kindness
that made God's Son agree to become incarnate, to be a man,
You think how far he had to condescend to become a man, to be clothed
in human flesh. That's love. That's kindness. He did that for his people because
he loved them. God's Son willingly agreed to
be made sin, to be made guilty of the wretched, defiled sin
of his people. The only reason he'd do that
is he loves his people. Kindness, that he'd agree to
suffer. and die to pay the sin debt for
his elect. It's love and kindness that moved
the Holy Spirit to come where we were and reveal Christ to
us, to convict us of sin and of righteousness and reveal Christ
to our hearts. At that time, when the Holy Spirit
appeared and revealed the kindness and love of our Savior, it was
our time of love, wasn't it? Just like that band. polluted
in its own blood, thrown out into the field, the Savior appeared
and said, it's your time of love. Picked the baby up, cleaned it,
gave it life. It was His time of love. It was
our time of love when the Savior appeared in His eternal, immutable,
sovereign love. Love that cannot be expressed,
but it was our time of love when He appeared to us. And this great,
unspeakable salvation is all of God. There is absolute, never
be confused about this, there is nothing, I mean not a molecule
in us that moves God to show mercy to us. It's all God. Look at verse 5. Not by works
of righteousness, which we've done. Paul says remind people
of this. Remind them over and over and
over again. Even believers remind them of this. Salvation is not
by works of righteousness, which we've done. But according to
his mercy, he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing
of the Holy Ghost. Salvation is never by anything
that we've done at all. Salvation is a free gift of God's
grace. Look at Romans chapter three.
Now, this is a free gift. Not because we did anything,
it's a free gift of God's kindness and love. Romans 3 verse 24. Being justified, how? Freely. Freely by his grace through
the redemption that's in Christ Jesus. This thing of salvation
with justification is a free gift. Look at Ephesians chapter
2. Ephesians 2 verse 8. For by grace are you saved, through
faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. It's not by any works that we've
done. It's not by works of righteousness
that we did. Either before conversion or after
conversion, not by works of righteousness that we've done, it's by God's
grace. Now we've seen in here in the
last chapter, we've been looking at this, that a believer should
be known for good works, for a good godly character. And that's
true, isn't it? But not in order to gain salvation,
not in order to gain God's favor. It's out of a thankful response.
for what the Lord's done for us. It's out of gratitude, not
a mercenary attitude. Good works are the result of
salvation, not the cause of salvation. It's because the Lord's been
merciful to us. It's not because we're sober
and grave and temperate and discreet and chaste and, you know, we're
good employees, good husbands, good wives. You ought to be,
but that's not why God showed mercy to you. We're his workmanship. Created in Christ Jesus unto
good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk
in them. He ordained that we should walk in them before He
ever showed mercy to us. It's of God's mercy. And it is
not man's works that moves God to save a sinner. It's not anything
that a man does. Well, then what does move God
to save sinners? Mercy. Mercy, pure and simple,
getting what we do not deserve from God. It's mercy that moved
God to elect a people. It's mercy that moved the Father
and the Son to strike hands and enter into a covenant of grace.
The covenant that's based on the sure mercies of David is
mercy. It's mercy that caused Christ
to become incarnate. Forgiveness of sins is found
in Christ Jesus according to the multitude of God's tender
mercies. It's a mercy. And for the believer,
being taken from this life to life eternal is the ultimate
act of God's mercy to us in this world. Now, we mourn. We have
a funeral and we mourn and we're sorry, but we ought not be. For
the believer, that's an act of mercy. Well, it's no wonder we're
mercy beggars. Looks to me like everything we
need comes from God's mercy. It all stems from his mercy.
And we've experienced, God's people have experienced so much
mercy, God's been so merciful. How can we not be merciful and
forgiving to others because of the Lord's mercy to us? You see,
it's God's mercy that motivates a believer to the godly walk
that we looked at in chapter two. That's our motivation. And when God saves a man, He
makes him a new creature. That's the washing of regeneration
and renewing of the Holy Ghost. That's a new birth. And that
new man is clean. Through and through, he's been
washed in the blood of Christ. He's been washed in the blood
and the water that flowed from our Savior's side. See, we didn't
do anything to earn salvation, and we don't do anything to keep
it. We don't do anything to keep ourselves clean, just like we
didn't do anything to make ourselves clean the first time. It's an
act of God's mercy washed in the blood. Well, now, since everything I
need looks to me like from God's word comes from God's mercy,
I sure hope God's mercy doesn't run out. I sure hope all these
other sinful people don't use up all God's mercies before I
get there. I hope I don't use up all of God's mercy, the sinful
and wretched as I am. Is there any hope for me? Is
there any chance? God's mercy. or run dry and leave
me needing His mercy? No, sir. Look at verse 6. Which
He shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior. Now
make no mistake, God's mercy comes to us through Jesus Christ
our Savior. Because of Christ and through
the Spirit of Christ, God has shed His mercy on us. And that
shed on us actually means gushed out on us abundantly, just gushing
out. And God never deals in mercy
sparingly. Never. He never is stingy with
His mercy. Scripture always talks about
mercy in abundant, plentiful terms. There's mercy still reserved
for me and you because of His abundant mercy. Let me read you
a few scriptures. Here in closing, look at the
greatness and the multitude, the bottomless fountain of God's
mercy. In Numbers 14, Moses said the
Lord's long suffering and at great mercy, great mercy, forgiving
iniquity and transgression. So pardon I beseech thee the
iniquity of this people according to the greatness of thy mercy. It's great mercy. In Nehemiah
13, Nehemiah said, remember me, oh my God, and spare me according
to the greatness of thy mercy. I'm such a great sinner. I don't
just need mercy. I need the greatness of thy mercy.
David said in Psalm 5 verse 7, I will come into thy house in
the multitude of thy mercy. Now, is it ever going to run
out? Is the multitude of that mercy ever going to run out? David
said, no, surely. Goodness and mercy will follow
me all the days of my life. David, how are you so sure it's
going to follow you all the days of your life? Because of the
multitude of His mercies, the greatness of it. It'll never
run dry. The mercy of the Lord in Psalm 103 is from everlasting
to everlasting. It's eternal. It can't run out.
It's eternal. In Psalm 57, David said, For
thy mercy is great. How great is it, David? He says
it's under the heavens. Just stack it up from the earth
to the head goes all the way to the heavens. The Tower of
Babel couldn't go that high. God's mercy does. Psalm 136. Oh, give thanks unto the Lord,
for he's good, for his mercy endureth forever. 41 times in Scripture, we read
this phrase, his mercy endureth forever. It's not going to run
dry. Won't do it. Micah 7, Who is
a God like unto thee that pardoneth iniquity and passeth by the transgression
of the remnant of his heritage? He retaineth not his anger forever.
Why? Because he delights in mercy. The Lord's not going to get tired
of you and quit delighting to show mercy to his people and
his son. Peter said in 1 Peter 1, Blessed
be the God and Father. of our Lord Jesus Christ, which
according to his abundant mercy have begotten us again to a lively
hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Now that
abundant mercy, that great mercy, that multitude of mercies, that
eternal mercy has been shed abroad on his people. How can we not
be a merciful people? God help us to be a merciful
people. And let me close with this. Are
you interested in mercy? Is there anyone here that you
know of anywhere? Is there anyone interested in
mercy? If there is, let me tell you,
from Scripture, you beg God for it. He delights to show mercy.
Beg Him for it. Call on Him. Beg Him to be merciful. David said in Psalm 86, verse
5, For thou, Lord, art good and ready to forgive, and plenteous
in mercy unto all them that call upon thee." Well, do you need
mercy? Have you called on Him? He's
plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee. Have you
called on Him? Have you asked Him for mercy? Well, where do
we find Him? Where do we find God's mercy?
Hebrews 4, and I'll quit. Look at Hebrews 4, verse 16. Let us, therefore, come boldly
into the throne of grace that we may what? Obtain mercy and
find grace to help in time of need. I'll tell you where you
find mercy at the foot of the sovereign. That's where you find
mercy. God's mercy is sovereign mercy.
He certainly by no means has to show mercy to you or me, but
he delights to show mercy. And if we're going to find it,
we're going to obtain it. We're going to obtain it at the
foot of the sovereign. Crawl to him. I mean, crawl to
him. A week or two ago, Maggie and
Sidney came over to our house. We've got a little Yorkie, and
he thinks he's got to show everybody in this world he's the boss.
You've got to be scared of him. And he just comes in wanting
to terrorize people, and they come into our house. And he came,
we kept him out back, you know, to the girls been there for.
He came in the back door and he saw Maggie, his ears went
down. He hunkered down to the ground.
He crawled up to that girl, just crawled up to her. Put your ears down, get your
belly down on the ground and crawl to him for mercy. Crawl
to his feet and wait for him to show mercy to you. He delights
to show mercy. Alright, it's of the Lord's mercy.
I hope the Lord bless you.