So we are going to Titus chapter 2 and I want to
read the last five verses. For the grace of God that bringeth
salvation hath appeared to all men. teaching us that denying
ungodliness and worldly lusts, 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 Saviour
Jesus Christ. who gave himself for us that
he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto himself a peculiar
people, zealous of good works. These things speak and exhort
and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise thee. So here we have five verses I've
got five headings and I trust that we've got five words of
encouragement and comfort for the Lord's people in what we
have to say today. I think that when we read verses
like these and pause and consider them, that we can only stand
in awe at the glory and the wonder and the majesty of the Apostle
Paul's language when setting these truths before Titus. I'm
sure you know the little saying when something sort of amazing
is happening before your eyes, somebody will say, you know,
you couldn't make this up. Well, you couldn't make this
up. This is beyond the imagination
of men. These things have to be Holy
Spirit inspired. And to see the Apostle Paul just
writing these things down and sending them on a piece of parchment
to Titus in Crete, is truly amazing and one of these examples where
the scripture testifies of itself and the majesty of the truths
that it conveys to us. So as I say, I've got five little
headings from these five verses, one heading for each verse and
we will move quickly through. The first that I want to point
out is that when the Apostle says For the grace of God that
bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men. What he is talking
about here is the gospel. When he speaks about the grace
of God that bringeth salvation, he's talking about the gospel. And let me quickly say something,
if I may, though I think you all know this, but just to say
it. When I speak of the gospel, I'm
not referring to the notion that is often expressed that the gospel
is an offer that is presented to men and women soliciting or
requesting their faith or belief in exchange for blessings that
will follow. That's not what I understand
by the Gospel. The Gospel is the whole body
of truth that God has revealed concerning the plan of salvation
within the covenant of grace. From the election of a people
in eternity by the Father, to the redemption of their souls
by the Son, and the quickening of their spirits by the Holy
Ghost and ultimately they're being taken into glory in the
presence of God. That whole plan of salvation
is the gospel. It's the whole counsel of God
as it concerns his love for and salvation of chosen sinners. And it's that gospel, this good
news, that the apostle calls the grace of God that bringeth
salvation. Now let us just hold that thought,
if I may ask you to do that. That grace of God that bringeth
salvation, because everything that he says in these following
verses is contingent upon that message of the gospel, which
is the grace of God that bringeth salvation. And it's that that
Titus must preach in Crete. That's what the apostle is telling
him. Paul says of the Gospel, it has
appeared to all men. And that doesn't mean that every
single person has heard the Gospel. That just isn't the case. Far
less does it mean that everyone has understood and believed it. What it does mean is that what
had hitherto been promised and prophesied and yet remained hidden
in the types and symbols of the Old Testament Scriptures concerning
the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ to redeem his people from
their sins, had now, by his coming, by his death, by his Great Commission,
been fully revealed and manifestly appeared. It had been sent out
into all the world, especially it had been sent to the Gentiles. It was sent to be believingly
received by those who were given the gift of faith. The Apostle
has another way of referring to that. He says in Romans that
this gospel is now made known to all nations for the obedience
of faith. And so the gospel went to all
nations and it is those of faith who are obedient to it. So this grace of God or this
gift and goodness of God brings salvation. That's what the apostle
says. It's the grace of God that bringeth
salvation. And God has graciously willed
that men and women like us should convey this message throughout
the world. so that we who preach the gospel
and all who support and believe the gospel, like Paul and Titus,
are engaged in the greatest calling in the world, the task of bringing
the message of salvation and the words of eternal life to
men and women by spreading and declaring the gospel of Jesus
Christ crucified. And that is a wonderful work
and a wonderful movement and purpose to be part of. Verse 12, the apostle goes on
to say that this gospel, this grace of God that bringeth salvation. He says that it teaches believers
what to deny and what to pursue. That's what he says in verse
12. Now I think this is very interesting
and I want you to think about this. I don't know whether you
mark your Bibles at all but if you do put a little X against
this verse and come back to it maybe when you're doing some
quiet reflection at some stage and just think about what this
verse is saying. Lots of people tell us that we
need to preach the law because the law tells men and women how
they should live and what they should and should not be doing. Well, that's not what Paul is
saying here. If Paul had merely been intent
on teaching morality, this was the great opportunity for him
to recite the Ten Commandments to Titus, and a few more as well,
to get all the Christians to conform. But of course, that's
exactly what the Judaizers, the troublemakers, were doing. And
it wasn't what the Apostle was preaching. It's not what he does. This grace of God, this gospel
that brings salvation, Paul says, also teaches a believer to deny
or repudiate ungodliness and worldly lusts. It's the gospel
that teaches us how to live. It's the gospel that teaches
us what to leave, what not to touch, what not to pursue, what
to repudiate and deny, while at the same time soberly pursuing
righteousness and godliness. So that the gospel, not the law,
teaches the believer, how then shall we live? And I want us
to notice the us in this verse 12. Teaching us. The gospel teaches
us. That is, those who believe it,
to whom it's sent, to whom it appears in power. to whom it
is revealed by the Holy Spirit. So that was the second point. Here's the third one in verse
13. While this gospel, this grace
of God that brings salvation is teaching us to honour and
serve and glorify our Saviour, It is also directing us and enabling
us to look forward in faith, hope and love for that blessed
hope and glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour,
Jesus Christ. So here's what the Gospel is
doing. in the heart and soul and mind
of every believer. It's bringing us to a knowledge
of our salvation. It is teaching us what to deny
of this world and what to pursue in order to serve the Lord. And at the same time, it is directing
our eyes to look forward for the blessed hope and glorious
appearing of the great God, our Saviour, Jesus Christ. So our
blessed hope is Christ, or rather, since Christ is mentioned in
the second part of this, it's the eternal glory and happiness,
the hope of righteousness or the hope laid up in heaven, which
Christ will bring with him for us either at our death or at
his return for the church. So here we have a blessed hope
at the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour
Jesus Christ and this is Christian living. This brothers and sisters
is what Christian living entails. It's what the gospel gives us
in Christ, it is what it teaches us to honour and glorify God
in the things that we do and say in this world, and it is
giving us that view and faith and hope of what he is about
to give us to enjoy everlastingly when he appears. And who is it that's going to
appear? the same great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ. And
let us note that this is one person, this is not God the Father
and God the Son that is being spoken about here. Our great
God is our Saviour Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ is our great
God. It is he himself who shall appear
for us to take us into his Father's presence. And that is a glorious
and blessed hope for any sinner. Indeed, given the circumstances
that are in our little group at this particular time, both
with those who are ill and those who are old, those who are closest
to death ought to be the happiest amongst us. Here's verse 14 and
a few thoughts from that as well. Christ himself shall appear.
That's what the Apostle's telling us. Just as it was Christ who
gave himself for us. And there's that little us again
that the Apostle Paul uses. This is our gospel. These things
were done for us. Now Paul summarises this instruction
to Titus saying that this is the whole reason for Christ's
coming. To redeem us from all iniquity
and purify unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works. So let us be sure and confident
that when we speak about Christ's finished work on the cross, and
we speak about the successful accomplishments of our Saviour,
that we understand the implications of that in the context of Paul's
words here. We are redeemed from all iniquity. That is a fact. We are redeemed
from all iniquity. No sin or iniquity will ever
be laid to our charge. The Lord Jesus Christ himself
has redeemed us from all iniquity. We are pure We are a pure, purchased
and precious people to Christ. That's what peculiar means. Did
you think it meant something else? We are a peculiar people. That means we are uniquely valuable. We're like precious jewels or
a rare breed of cattle. We are the prized possession
and we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit which makes us zealous,
desirous and eager after good works that will honour our saviour
in this world and help his people, the church. These are the realities
of what it is to be indwelt by the Holy Spirit. This is what
it means to have Christ as our saviour. We are redeemed, we
are a pure and precious people. We are zealous of good works
in this world. These are things that should
thrill believers. It should comfort our hearts. Whatever the world throws at
us, whatever God's providence allows, even regardless of our
downtimes and our fleeting feelings and our discouragements and disappointments,
This is the fullness of the gospel and the more frequently we come
back to this, the better will be our hope and our confidence
and our joy in the Lord. This is the promise of grace
sufficient now and glory infinite to come. And in the end, It's
all we have and it's all that we need. And the last verse says
this. The Apostle Paul says, take are
these things speak and exhort. These things aren't to be a secret. Paul tells Titus, this is the
message to be preached in the world and to the churches at
Crete. These things speak, he says. Preach sound doctrine. Preach the doctrine of grace. Preach the doctrines of salvation
and redemption by Christ. Tell people of their heavenly
peace. Tell them about the full, free,
pardon of sin and cleansing by the blood of Jesus Christ. You
know, sometimes you'll hear preachers say that doctrines such as election
or complete justification by imputed righteousness or free
grace and certain glory are doctrines that are too deep to be preached
to everyone, but that they need to be kept for the more advanced
class in the church, or the deeper thinkers, or the more mature
amongst the congregation. Well, I'm glad that that's not
true. And Paul is here in this verse
putting such an idea to bed. Titus, he says, You preach this. You make sure this is what you
preach. Speak and exhort. Make sure everyone knows that
this is the message to be declared and to be believed. And what
is more, you rebuke anyone who says otherwise. And he says,
rebuke them not just with my apostolic authority, but with
the authority of God himself, all authority, because this is
his gospel and this is his glory. He finalises this little passage
by saying, let no man despise thee. The gospel is despised
by many. The gospel that I've just explained,
what it is at its heart, what it is in its extent, what it
is in its message. That gospel is despised by many. It is considered foolishness
by the men and women of this world, and it is hated even in
so-called Christian churches. If it must be so, let us, you
and me, let us be despised for proclaiming it, not for failing
to proclaim it. It is, after all, what we believe. May the Lord bless these things
to us. Amen.