So the epistle to Titus, and
this is going to be the last message I think in this series,
just the third one, and I want to look at Titus chapter three,
particularly this morning. It's a short epistle, and it's
a pastoral epistle, which means that like the two Timothys and
Titus, and I suppose Philemon to a certain extent, it's teaching
the Lord's will for his church in this world. the Lord's will
for his church. What is the church of God in
this world? It's the people of God who have
what we saw in the first chapter, in the first few verses, what
is called in Scripture the faith of God's elect. All sorts of
faiths, all over the place. But there is, according to Scripture,
the faith of God's elect. It's the faith which teaches
the people of God, those that Christ came to save, He came
to save who? Who did he come to save? Oh,
everybody, everybody. No, read the scriptures. Where
do we get the truth? Read the scriptures. Call his
name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. Read Isaiah 53, for the transgressions
of my people was he stricken. Who are the people of God? Those
that God has chosen in Christ from before the beginning of
time. Oh, you believe that doctrine of election, do you? Yes, we
do, dead right we do. Do you know why? Because it's
in this book from cover to cover. God is a God of sovereign grace. Those who are born of God, not
of the will of man, nor of the will of the flesh, nor out of
the traditions that they've been brought up in, but according
to the will of God, the will and purpose of God. The apostle
Paul was Saul of Tarsus, breathing out fire and anger and fury against
those who call themselves Christians. And he was on his way to Damascus
to arrest them and bring them and get them killed. And in sovereign
grace, the Lord Jesus Christ stopped him in his tracks. The
Lord Jesus Christ, Saul didn't decide for Christ, Christ decided
for Saul in eternity and in time sent his spirit and stopped him
in his tracks. Lord, what would you have me
to do? You know, the man that's breathing out fire, the next
breath, Lord, what would you have me to do? There he is, in
the hands of the living God, knowing that's where he is. They've
got the faith of God to elect these people. And there are instructions
here as to how the Church, the true Church of Christ, ought
to be ordered so as to fend off error, because there's error
and false teaching everywhere. You cannot read the epistles
without being conscious, nor can you read the gospels, the
ministry of Christ, without being conscious that the church will
be subject to attacks from Satan on every side, mostly in the
form of false teachers. Do you know what they're called?
Do you know what Jesus himself called them? They're wolves,
they're ravening wolves, but do you know what they're dressed
up like? Lovely, cuddly, soft, woolly sheep that wouldn't hurt
a fly. They're sheep on the outside,
they're ravening wolves on the inside. Beware, what do they
say? Examine what they say. We're
told in the scriptures, aren't we? John tells us, try the spirits,
that means the preachers, the teachers, whether they be of
God. Try them, test them, be like
the noble Bereans. Search the scriptures to see
whether the things you're hearing are in accordance with this word.
For if they speak not, as Isaiah tells us, according to this word,
there is no light or truth in them. They have a lifestyle,
these people, in the church. The church is living amongst
people who do not know the truth, who do not want to know the truth,
and the church is to have a lifestyle that is separate from the world
around. They are to be, as we were seeing last week, zealous
of good works. God's will for his church, until
Christ returns, is that they be in the world. Jesus said,
I pray not that you will take them out of the world. John 17,
he said, I don't pray that you will take them out of the world,
but while they're in the world, that you will keep them from
the evil, that you will preserve them. And God says he will preserve
his people, and he will take them to eternal glory. The church
now is, as Revelation tells us, in a wilderness separation from
this world. We live in the world, we brush
shoulders with the world, we go and shop in its shops, we
interact with it, we come across neighbors every day, but the
church, those who truly believe the gospel of grace, are in a
wilderness separation from this world. How have they got there?
On the wings of a great eagle. What does that mean? Wings of
faith. God has given faith. given faith to put us there,
and the devil is constantly trying to wash us on a flood back into
conformity with the world, but he keeps his people from evil.
He keeps his people in this world. Ever since the fall in the Garden
of Eden, the kingdom of Antichrist, the kingdom of Satan, has been
set against the kingdom of God. Ever since the fall in Eden,
and so it will be until Christ comes again, and all of these
things are brought to an end, and the church is taken to glory.
God's purpose is His kingdom triumphant and Satan's kingdom
defeated and destroyed. But for now, in this time, here
we have instruction as to how we're to live. In this time,
you know in Revelation it's called a times, times and half a time. It's known as three and a half
years. It's known as 42 months. It's known as 1260 days. They
all mean the same thing. What does it mean? It means a
time that is a long time, but a time that is limited in the
purposes of God. In this time that we live in
now. a long time that is limited in the purposes of God. In this
time, God will have his church bear testimony to his righteousness
in this world, like a little enclave in this world. Do you
know, just, I struggle to think of an illustration, and this
probably isn't a very good one, but during the Cold War, the
Cold War was what went on between the Soviet Union and all of its
satellite states in Eastern Europe, and the West, America, Britain,
France, all the Western world. And the Cold War went on from
the end of the Second World War, more or less, until about 1989,
1990, when the Berlin Wall came down. But during all those years
of the Cold War, West Berlin was a little enclave. Marguerite
will remember this. West Berlin was a little enclave
of the West, of America, of Britain, of the Allies that defeated Hitler. It was a little enclave of the
West in the midst of that Soviet satellite of East Germany. You
had to drive down a dual carriageway motorway for several miles over
the border, and there were great fences either side of it to this
little enclave. And in a way, the Church of the
Living God is like that little enclave in this world of Satan,
this kingdom of Antichrist all around. Now, the pastoral epistles
instruct and encourage believers how to live in this world. You
know, all sorts of religion, we keep hearing of religion radicalizing
people, don't we? And we know which one we're talking
about, but we won't mention it. But we know the ones that want
to kill people in society, the ones that want to blow up bombs
in underground trains, the ones that want to drive vehicles into
crowds of people and all of that sort of thing, Now, listen what
the pastoral epistles say to the people that are the citizens
of the kingdom of God. Put them in mind to be subject
to principalities and powers. In other words, civil authorities,
governments, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work,
to speak evil of no man. Not to be hate preaching, to
be speak evil of no man, to be no brawlers, but gentle, showing
all meekness unto all men. Do you know, we should seek,
believers should seek to live in this world giving absolutely
no offence whatsoever except one thing. You know that? You
know this, don't you? There's only one thing for which
it is right for believers to give offence and it's what's
called the offence of the cross or the offence of the gospel.
Should I tell you what the offence of the cross, the offence of
the gospel is according to scripture? It is this. If you tell people
that a man called Jesus came to die and shed his blood, that
everybody might have a chance to be saved from their sins,
they'll say, well, I don't want to believe it myself, but I'm
absolutely fine for you to say that. That's no problem to me.
Yeah, you go ahead. You can have your religion. We'll
get on all right. But the moment you say, no, the
Lord Jesus Christ came for one purpose. He taught it. His word teaches it. from start
to finish, from Genesis to Revelation, His Word teaches it, the Lord
Jesus Christ came for this purpose, to save from their sins the people
known as the elect of God that the Father gave to Him before
the beginning of time. Oh, you say, that's not fair.
Well, you go and argue it out with God, because that's what
His Word says. His Word says that. That's the only offense
to give. If people ask and you tell the
truth about sovereign grace and particular redemption, that Christ
died for His people, to save his people from their sins. If
you tell them that and they take offense, well, don't be surprised. That's what to expect. But in
every other respect, in every other respect, oh, we should
try to live at peace with all men. We should try not to be
obnoxious people. We should try not to be loudmouths
and you know, really, really annoying and aggravating people
in the name of our religion. No, no, don't do that. Don't
do that at all. Be good citizens, unlike subversive
religion. Jesus said this, he said, my
kingdom is not of this world. If it was, my servants would
take up swords and fight, but they don't because it isn't.
Now in verses three to eight of this epistle, Paul instructs
us why. Let me remind you. Let's read
it again. 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 the kindness and love of God our Saviour towards 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 Saviour, 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, I want,
that thou affirm constantly that they which have believed in God
might be careful to maintain good works. These things are
good and profitable to men." So we have three points. Believers
are transformed people. They're people who have been
secondly changed by God's grace. And thirdly, they're people who
are changed in demeanor and lifestyle. Transformed people. Verse three,
we were once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers' lusts
and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating
one another. But the implication is not anymore.
Not anymore. You know, the armed services
can be very good at transforming, you know, you could take You
could take a lad of 16 or 17, a rebellious youth, and I suppose
the same could apply to girls as well, but anyway, I'll use
the illustration of a lad who's a rebellious youth, who's always
in trouble, who's insolent and disobedient and lazy and deceitful
and dishonest and rowdy and loud and unpleasant. And the armed
services can transform that person into somebody who's smart, who
respects authority, who seeks the honour of his regiment, who
makes his buttons shine and his boots shine for parade and his
uniform turned out perfectly, that his drill might be absolutely
done according to the instructions of the sergeant major. The armed
services can totally transform a rebellious youth. Here's the
message of scripture, more so the gospel. The gospel can transform,
the gospel does transform those who believe it. Paul says here,
show that you are changed from the people you were before you
knew Christ. Before you knew Christ, you know
what you were like. You know, there's a veneer of
respectability that everybody's able to put on, but you know,
deep inside, in the heart, in the inner man, you know that
there is anger, that there is frustration, that there is greed,
that there is selfishness, that there are all of these things
there, because that's what sin is, and that's what we all are.
All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. And Paul
says, not you were like this, he says we, he includes him.
He says, Paul says, I'm not worthy to be called one of the apostles.
Not worthy. He said, look what I did, I persecuted
the church. He said that God came, this is
the message, Christ came into the world to save sinners of
whom I am chief. I'm the chief sinner. If you
knew what I was and what my intention was, you'd know that I one who
is now saved and ministering the gospel, I am the chief of
sinners. There can't be anybody worse than me because I desired
the destruction of the Church of Christ. Nobody could be worse
than me, says Paul. We all, all of us without exception,
were foolish. Foolish in what way? Do you know
what the biggest foolishness is that you can ever commit?
As you walk through this life, do you know what the scripture
says the biggest foolishness you can ever commit is? It's
the foolishness of unbelief. The fool has said in his heart,
there is no God. Psalm 14, repeated in Psalm 54,
I think it is, or maybe 53, I can't quite remember. The fool has
said in his heart, there is no God. Foolish in unbelief. Foolish in heavenly wisdom. The
things about eternity. By nature, we're foolish about
those things. We have no true knowledge about
those things. The life philosophy that we live
for and follow is foolish. It's unwise. we're following
Satan's delusion by nature. Satan's delusion, you see, you
know, it's not according to intellect. You see some of the wisest men
in their proclamations about what they see as the truth of
this world in which we live in these days, they're blind. They're
utterly deluded by the delusion of Satan concerning this world
and the attainment of some eternal sort of good without any satisfaction
of divine justice. It's that foolishness of saying
the equivalent of, there is no God, it's no God for me, you
keep your God, I don't want your God. And we are, in our flesh,
by nature, as Paul describes us to the Ephesians, children
of wrath. like everyone else, even like
everyone else, without the life of God in the soul, without the
light of gospel truth in the heart. Oh, what a blessing it
is. You know, the people that walked in darkness, it's not
good to fumble around in darkness. The people that walked in darkness,
what does it say? Have seen a great light. What is the light? It's the light
of the knowledge of the glory of God. Where do you see the
light of the knowledge of the glory of God? Where does scripture
tell us you see it? In the face of Jesus Christ.
In Him. In all that He's done. In all
that He came to do. But we, by nature, we, ourselves,
were sometimes, what? It says in Psalm 58 verse 3,
the wicked. The wicked? Oh, that's not me,
I'm not wicked. No, no, the wicked people. Adolf Hitler, he was
wicked. No, no, the wicked. Do you know who the wicked are,
according to Scripture? The wicked, what is the most
wicked thing you can do? I'll tell you. It's to disbelieve
God. Because if you disbelieve God,
you shake your fist in the face of God and you call him a liar.
That's exactly what Scripture says. If you disbelieve God,
you call God a liar. That's wickedness. That's to
be wicked before God. The wicked, those who shake their
fist in the face of God and say, I don't believe you, the wicked
are estranged from the womb from the moment they're born. From
the moment they're born. In fact, before that. David said,
in sin did my mother conceive me. Even from the moment that
I was growing in my mother's womb, there was all the seeds
of sin in that little one. They go astray. This is what
the Scripture says. They go astray as soon as they're
born, speaking lies. Look, we listen to what the Word
of God says. You know that adorable little
baby? I mean, there's very few people that don't love the sight
of a cute little baby. That adorable little baby. Do
you know what the Scripture says about it? Boy or girl, whatever
it is. Do you know what the scripture
says? What did we just read? Liar. Liar. That little baby? Liar. By nature, that little baby?
Liar. That's what's in that heart.
Liar. That's what the scripture says. Liar. Untruth. Not believing God by nature.
Prone to go their own way. Not to tell the truth about things.
Oh, you say, I'm not untruthful. Oh, I guarantee you. You who
think you are so truthful and you've never told a lie, there
will be stories that you tell. Come on, let's confess, let's,
you know, admit it. I know that this picture I paint,
I always paint it in a way that puts me in a good light. Don't
I? Don't you? Don't we all? Liars, liars, therefore
disobedient, lawbreakers, without fear of God. Like Pharaoh, you
know when Moses and Aaron came and they said to Pharaoh, the
Lord says, let my people go. And what did Pharaoh say? Who
is the Lord that I should obey him? I don't know him. This is
what we say by nature. The whole world, says John, lies
in wickedness. The whole world. This is the
world in which we live. Working itself out in selfish
pursuits. In sinful lusts. Seeking pleasure
for its own sake. Putting self before others. Malicious. Look, these are not my words,
it's what it says here. Malicious, envious, hateful of another.
But the grace of God in salvation has changed all of that. We all
were, we ourselves also were, but not any longer. Not any longer. The revelation of God's accomplished
salvation, the birth of a new man created after God by his
Spirit in the inner man, this is the new birth, you must be
born again, this transforms God's people. It's not just something
you know about intellectually and you go on as you were. The
knowledge of the truth of salvation transforms God's people. We never
attribute any of it to self, because it's not of self lest
any man should boast, but only of God's grace. But it should
be evident to us that we're not what we were. That smart soldier,
that wayward rebellious youth who's transformed by the army
into a smart, respectful young man who's some use to society
and his colleagues around him, who could be relied upon by his
friends in a battle situation, that smart soldier can look back
and he can see the change that the army has made to him. And
we can look back. If you're a believer you can
look back and you can say, I'm altogether sinful in my flesh. I know that in my flesh there
dwells no good thing. I know that as long as I live
I will always be subject to this sinful flesh. I have a good thought
and ten seconds later it's evaporated and it's replaced by thoughts
of sin. I know all of that. But I'm not what I was. I'm not
what I was. I know I'm not what I should
be, I'm not what I ought to be, but I'm not what I was. For the
grace of God has changed me. So what has changed with those
who have believed the truth? The change is a change that is
wrought, it's brought about, it's worked by the grace of God. In the life of every child of
God, there is, as verse four says, an appearance, but after
that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared. There is an appearance of the
kindness and love of God in salvation. In a individual's salvation there
is an appearance. It might be in a flash in a moment,
as it was with the Apostle Paul. It might be over a period of
weeks or months or even years. We can't prescribe how it should
be, but there is an appearance. You go from darkness of knowing
nothing of the truth of God into the light of the knowledge of
the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. How does it
work? God providentially orders your
steps. works things out providentially.
I don't think there's a Sunday goes by without, Marguerite tells
me how amazed she is at the providence of God, that we happen to be
only five minutes away from where she lives. And so she can come
and gather here with us on a Sunday morning. God providentially orders
your steps. Oh, what a blessing it is. Blessed
is that man who's brought to a knowledge of his sins. How
does God speak? I'll tell you how God speaks.
He speaks by his preachers today to your heart. Don't look back
at what somebody said to you 40 years ago. Look at what God
is speaking to you now. Providential ordering of your
steps, speaking in your conscience. You know, people go along and
they're quite happy with the lie of Satan that he's peddled
all the time about this world in which we live. that there's
no God and no need for any God and the conscience starts to
nag. Do you know that's God working?
That's God speaking. That's God's telling you. In
those nighttime hours of loneliness, what is this life all about?
Do you know that's God speaking to you in your conscience, causing
you to seek him while he may be found, convicting you of sin? Do you know a sinner? Somebody
said to us only a couple of years ago, somebody we knew several
years ago, And they said to us, we don't hear about sin anymore.
I hope you do hear. I hope you do hear because it's
what the Bible talks about all of the time. Sin is what we are
outside of God. Only in Christ are we accepted
in the beloved. Outside of him, we stand in our
sins and responsible for them and subject to the justice and
condemnation of God for them. A sinner, as we keep saying,
that hymn, a sinner is a sacred thing. Why is a sinner a sacred
thing? Because the Holy Ghost has brought
him to a knowledge of the truth of what he really is outside
of Christ. He sends a preacher to him. This
is so important. The preacher might come in the
form of a book that you're reading, but it will be preaching. It
will be preaching. It will be the message of the
gospel of grace preached. It might be in the pages of a
book. It might be on through the internet in these days. It
might be if you're fortunate enough to have a faithful church
nearby where the truth you can rely on. There are so few of
them in these days. By the foolishness of preaching
it pleased God to save those who believe and he shows mercy. Look, not by works of righteousness
which we have done. We're not saved because of what
we are, inherently good people, because we're not. According
to His mercy, He saved us. By the washing of regeneration,
He's washed us. In the renewing of the Holy Ghost,
when He comes and puts that new man inside, He washes us. He
puts a new nature in. He imparts the righteous nature
of Christ. He imputes the righteousness
of God to us. We're made the righteousness
of God in Christ. He renews us by the Holy Ghost,
and he sheds it not slightly, but abundantly through Jesus
Christ our Saviour. This is how we know, through
Jesus Christ our Saviour. I determined not to know anything
among you, said Paul. than Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
He's shown us the mercy that comes from God, that is possible,
that He accomplished by virtue of blood justification. The price
of sin is death, the penalty. And Christ came as the substitute
for His people. And He, as the substitute, shed
that infinite, precious, real human, but sinless blood. As of a lamb without blemish
and without spot, He died in the place of His people, that
the law might be satisfied and the law might say, Enough, no
more is needed. They're justified. There's nothing
more that the law can exact from these people, for Christ has
died in their place. Look at verse 14 of chapter 2.
He gave himself for his people that he might redeem, buy back
from all iniquity and purify unto himself a peculiar people,
a people that dwells alone, a special possession of God, a people who
are zealous for good works. They've been given the washing
of regeneration. They're a new creation. If any
man be in Christ, he's a new creature. Old things have passed
away. Behold, all things have become new. The Holy Spirit comes
and renews and puts in that person, that saved person, a new mindset. Oh, we're still in sinful flesh,
but there's a new mindset. There are new thoughts. There's
a new way of judging things, discerning things. There are
new desires that were not there before. We desire to know more
of God. We desire to know his truth.
We hate the things of the world more and more. We're unimpressed
by them. We're not enticed by them. And
it's all of grace and not of works. And it's not only just
enough, but it's abundantly, as Psalm 23 says, my cup runneth
over. When God blesses, it's as if
the cup just cannot contain the truth and the blessing of it.
were plucked, as it were, as those burning logs from the fire,
by grace, plucked from the burning, shown the accomplishment of justifying
righteousness, given a new nature by God's Spirit. saved from condemnation. There is therefore now no condemnation
to those who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not according to the
flesh, but according to the Spirit. And thereby, we are qualified. We are qualified. Look, Colossians
1 verse 12 says, the Father which hath made us meet to be partakers
of the inheritance of the saints in light, we're made heirs of
God. and joint heirs with Christ.
So verse 7, being justified by his grace, we should be made
heirs according to the hope of eternal life. Heirs of God, joint
heirs with Christ, with a confident expectation of eternal life. Do you have that confident expectation
of eternal life? Yes? Believers do. True believers do. What a transformation! The grace of the Gospel, the
truth of the Gospel, the Spirit of God coming produces a transformation. It's a very poor illustration
but if you know the story of Oliver Twist, Charles Dickens,
and that boy was found in squalor and in poverty, engaged in base
dishonesty in a gang of thieves, Fagin's gang of thieves, but
he's found and he's brought into the family estate and shown the
legal papers of the promised inheritance that he is actually,
he was actually the son of the disgraced daughter of the person
with all of the wealth and it's a very pale image, a pale illustration,
but it's that sort of thing brought from the knowledge of what we
are as sinners in the flesh to see the inheritance that is there
for the children of God, for the people that Christ has redeemed.
He's clean and clothed and fed and cared for. Oliver Twist.
Should he now go back to squalor and to criminal activity now
that he's in that state? No, of course not. Though he
hasn't earned it, he should live for the honor and the good reputation
of the family estate. Is that not what those who have
believed in God, those who had the faith of God's elect should
seek to do? And so thirdly, A changed lifestyle,
a changed lifestyle. Verse 8, 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. Paul says to Titus, You need
to teach these things constantly to the church in Crete, Titus.
This is what you need to teach. You need to make sure the elders
in each place are teaching these things, Titus. You need to make
sure that they're teaching the truth of electing saving grace,
which is just outlined in the previous verses. You need to
be sure that they're teaching the promise of heaven, that there
is the hope of eternal life, that believers should look to. that lay up their treasure in
heaven, and therefore it's the reasonable service which we all
should strive to give to God. Romans 12 verse 1 says this,
I beseech you, I implore you, I encourage you therefore, brethren,
by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living
sacrifice. In other words, give yourself
completely to God and his service. Give it completely to God. You're
not your own, you're bought with a price. It's for you to do what
you hear Him tell you to do, in His Word, by His Spirit. Holy,
acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. If you've
been saved from condemnation by the doing and dying of the
Lord Jesus Christ, is it unreasonable that He should ask of you the
fruit of the Spirit in this life, as we walk through this life?
Paul says, be careful to maintain good works. Take care that you
maintain good works. We're told in Philippians 4 verse
6 to be careful for nothing. In other words, don't be worried
about anything, but trust God. Don't be worried, but in this
respect, take care that we maintain good works. Now you say, is this
not legalism? Is this scripture not contradicting
the gospel and telling us that there is something that we have
to do? Isn't it legalism? No. No, it's the very same as
Paul says in Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 8, he says, for by
grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves, it
is the gift of God. Nobody can boast about salvation
that they have done anything to make God look favorably upon.
No, not in the slightest. Your decision or your faith didn't
save you. Christ did at the cross. If he
died for your sins, your sins are taken away in him. Faith
is just the gift to see it and believe it. But then he goes
on in verse 10, two verses later, to say that we are God's workmanship,
created in Christ Jesus. Why? unto good works, which God
has before ordained that we should walk in them. You see the balance
that there is there? Entirely of the grace of God
is salvation, entirely, from start to finish. But being saved,
God has ordained you to good works. He's ordained that before
the beginning of time you should walk in these good works. God
will have the people he has saved from sin live out the character
of his righteous kingdom in the world. That's what he wants.
That's what he wants of his people. That good works might be a testimony
to the truth that we profess. I think I said last week that
the greatest witness that you can give to the truth of the
gospel you believe is a godly life. That's the greatest witness.
It's in contrast to the works of unbelievers. Jesus said in
the Sermon on the Mount, let your light so shine before men,
that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which
is in heaven. But I'll ask the question and
answer it briefly. How? How? You see, there is a
lot of legalism about. There are those that will tell
you that Sunday is the Sabbath day in its Christian form and
therefore we should aim to keep the fourth commandment on this
day and that we shouldn't pick up sticks for fear of being stoned
and we shouldn't walk more than a certain distance and blah blah
blah blah blah or they're just legalistic. Paul tells the Colossians
he says don't let any man judge you in meat or drink or Sabbath
days or any of these external things. They're just a show.
They're just an external show. So how? How do we let our light
of the truth, of the knowledge, of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ, how do we let it shine before men? Can I tell
you, it's really the precepts that Christ expounded in the
Sermon on the Mount. How about unselfishness to others? Yeah? That's what he's looking
for, unselfishness, because the human heart is so inherently
selfish, and self-centered, and self-interested in, and concerned
with its own self-preservation. But this is the work that God
requires of his people, unselfishness to others. A willingness to help
at personal cost. Oh, I'm not doing that, it's
going to cost me that bit of fuel in my car. Oh, I'm not going
to do that, it's going to cost this, that. No. willingness to
help at personal cost. Willingness to help in time,
our time, to give it freely. In effort, the things that we
do, to give it freely to others. In the resources that we hold,
because what have you got that you were not given? Hold it on
an open hand. In the possessions that we have,
to be used in the in the purposes of God for the extension of his
kingdom, in our attitude to one another, to employers, our attitude
to our employer. Look at verse 9 of chapter 2,
which we started the reading with. Exhort servants to be obedient
to their own masters. Put it this way around. employees
to be obedient to their own employers, and to please them well in all
things, not answering back, not stealing, but showing all good
fidelity, honesty, that they may adorn the doctrine of God
our Saviour in all things. That's how you give glory to
God. That's how you do the work, the fruit of the Spirit. you
know, by not cheating, by being honest in all things. Whatsoever
you do, says Colossians 2 verse 23, whatsoever you do for others,
whoever they might be, do it heartily as if it was the Lord
himself. As if that employer was the Lord
himself and not unto men. As we interact with neighbours,
with family members, with colleagues, with friends. Have you been forgiven? In the gospel of grace, have
you been forgiven your sins? Will ought you not to forgive
others? A willingness to forgive? To not take offense? To not judge? All of these Sermon on the Mount
precepts, they're not things that we do to earn favor, but
they're characteristics that we ought to show. If what this
scripture is saying, you know, I know there will be people out
there listening who'll say, oh, he's preaching legalism now.
He sounded like he was preaching free grace, but now he's preaching
legalism. Well, you tell me how you would read this scripture.
Because does not Paul say, those that have believed in God ought
to be careful to maintain good works. It's profitable to men,
good and profitable to men. Aiming to live so that the only
accusation that unbelievers can bring against us is our refusal
to deny gospel truth. That's it. Aiming to live so
that the only accusation unbelievers can bring against us is that
we're stubborn people when it comes to compromising the truth
of the gospel that we believe. This is good and profitable unto
men. It's a heavenly investment that
pays heavenly dividends. Think of the parables. Good and
faithful servant, said Jesus. The Lord said to his servants,
good and faithful servant. This world is hastening on to
its end. This world is. It's hastening
on to its end. It's hurrying on. Listen to what
Peter said. 2 Peter chapter 3 verse 11. Seeing then that all these things
shall be dissolved. This world is hastening on to
its end. What manner of persons or you believers, Lord, we believers,
to be in all holy conversation and godliness. The people of
God transformed by salvation. Amen.