Titus chapter 2. We've been in
this chapter for quite some time, but maybe we can finish it tonight. I don't want to keep you too
long. But let's begin reading again in verse 11. Titus chapter
2 and verse 11. For the grace of God that bringeth
salvation hath appeared to all men, all kinds of men, 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, 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. You will notice what the Apostle
Paul says here that he deals with all three-tenths of our existence. He deals here
with the present in verse 12, that we should live soberly,
righteously, and godly in this present world. That is where
we live at now, isn't it? That is where you and I are occupying,
this present world right now. Here is where we are saved in
our experience. Here is where we experience the
grace of God, this present world. But that is not all of it is
there? This present world is not it.
There is going to be a world that is to come. And that is
what He tells us here in verse 13. Look in for that blessed
hope and the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus
Christ. There is a world to come. Our
Master told His apostles one day, He said, There is no man,
there is none of you fellows, He said, that you have forsaken
lands and houses and and children and wives and brothers and sisters,
but what you'll obtain abundantly more in this world. And you know
I found that to be true. I've got more real friends right
now than I've ever had in the days of nature when I was lost,
more places, more houses to stay in, more vehicles to drive. And
that's what the Lord said, you know, you follow Me, you're going
to have more in this present life. And then He said, and in
the life to come, in the world to come, everlasting life. So there's a world to come, isn't
there? A world that's present and a
world to come. And then He says here in verse
14, He looks back. God who gave Himself to redeem
us. The believer looks back to something
that happened. in our history, in the history
of this world, 2,000 years ago something happened, brothers
and sisters, in this world, in the history of this world. We've
got record of it in civil society and we've got record of it in
this Bible. 2,000 years ago something happened. God came down from heaven and
joined Himself to our likeness and redeemed us, redeemed us,
who gave Himself for us in order to redeem us. And that laid the
foundation for our present salvation, didn't it? We wouldn't have a
present salvation if we couldn't trace it back 2,000 years ago
to God redeeming us. And what does this do? This gives
us a good hope of that world to come. So in all three tenses,
God is our Redeemer and God is our hope. We're utterly dependent
upon God, aren't we? You go back to the future, back
to the past, there's God redeeming us. We're utterly dependent upon
Him to do it, even before we was ever born. We come to the
present, we're utterly dependent upon Him to save us. We're in
darkness. And His salvation has to appear
to us. It has to come to us and save
us. Without God, we'd have no salvation. And without him saving
us, we'd have no hope for the future. Thinking about me and
Larry was talking yesterday about his dear sister dying. And I
said, Larry, do you think she has a good hope? And he said,
no. He said, I'm afraid she don't. She's dependent upon this water
baptism for salvation. That's sad. And we made the statement,
me and Brother Larry was talking about, wouldn't your heart break?
If you went to the doctor knowing what you know now and he'd say,
three more months, it's going to end this life for you. Three
more months and you're leaving this world. Wouldn't our hearts
break if we didn't have a good hope? Hope for the future. Looking for that blessed hope.
And where do we get that hope? God gave it to us. He redeemed
us. He saved us. And then He gave
us a good hope for the life to come. Looking. Looking. for the appearing of our great
God and our Savior, Jesus Christ the Lord. So as we look back
in the history of this world, our faith and hope, it's in God,
what He's done for us. When we consider our present
time, that world that you and I live in, our faith and hope
is in God. He has saved us. And when we
look out to the future, our hope and faith is in God. He's given
us a good hope. Our faith and hope is in God.
And Paul calls Him, You're a great God. I like that, don't you? I love it when these wise apostles
and these holy apostles that were so filled with the Spirit
of God, they're riding and all of a sudden they come out with
this, a great God and Savior. And it just jumps out at you,
great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. Who is our God? Jesus Christ. The Scriptures are very careful
and they do this very deliberately. They're very deliberate when
they do this. It's no accident when the Scriptures identify
who our Savior is. It's very important who our Savior
is. And I'll tell you why. The situation
that you and I are in The state that you and I are in demands
that we have a sufficient Savior. Therefore, when the Word describes
our Savior, it describes our Savior as God, the great God,
our great God and Savior. The Scripture calls Him that,
and sometimes it calls Him the great God and Savior, our God,
our Savior, and other times it calls Him Jesus Christ, our Savior,
but these are both wrong. These are both one. And Paul
does that here in Titus. Look at some of these places.
Look back in chapter 1 in verse 3. Here he addresses God as our
Savior. Look in verse 3. But hath in
due times manifest his word through preaching, which is committed
unto me according to the commandment of God our Savior. And look what he says on down
in verse 4. to Titus, my own son, after the
common faith, grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father, and
the Lord Jesus Christ our Savior." Who is our Savior? Is God our
Savior or is Christ our Savior? Christ is God and God is our
Savior. And he says it again here in
chapter 2 and look in verse 10. not prolonging, not pilfering,
stealing, but showing all good fidelity, that they may adorn
the doctrine of God our Savior in all things. And look in chapter
3 and look in verse 4. But after that the kindness and
love of God our Savior towards man appeared. God our Savior.
And verse 6, which He shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ
our Savior. So God is our Savior. and Jesus
Christ is God. He brings both of these names
together in our text and he says it like this, looking for that
blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and
our Savior Jesus Christ. And he doesn't mean to make a
distinction between God and Jesus Christ. They're one and the same.
The great God is our Savior Jesus Christ. When you read this in
our version, sometimes it's a little bit difficult to understand.
It seems to make a distinction between them, doesn't it? I've
got a little Greek book and it's helped me so much. Reading other
versions has helped me a lot. I love the King James Bible.
I was raised up on it. I love it. But sometimes when
you study, reading other versions helps so much. I've got a little
inner Lanier Bible there at the house, a couple of them. And
here's what they say. And every version, I've got like
10 or 12 different versions, and all of them point to this
very thing here. Listen to the way the Greek literally
reads this verse. Expecting the blessed hope and
the appearance of the glory of the great God and Savior of us,
Jesus Christ. I like that, don't you? He's
the great God and Savior of us, Jesus Christ. And the other little
Greek book I have said this. Awaiting the blessed hope and
the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus
Christ. So who is our Savior? It's God. It's God. He makes that so clear,
doesn't He? And who is God? Jesus Christ
is God. Jesus Christ is God. When Abraham,
going up to offer Isaac, And Isaac asked him where the sacrifice
was and he said, God shall provide Himself a lamb for a burnt offering. Abraham knew exactly what he
was saying. He knew that God was going to provide Himself
for a sacrifice. And when John the Baptist saw
the Lord Jesus, he looked at Him and said, Behold the Lamb
of God that taketh away the sin of the world. That was God. God
not only provided the Lamb, God provided Himself as the Lamb. And that's what the Apostle Paul
is teaching us here. This is God our Savior, Jesus
Christ, who gave Himself to redeem us. He's God our Savior. I want
you to look at some places if you can follow me right quick
over in Isaiah concerning God our Redeemer. God our Savior
and God our Redeemer. Look in Isaiah Chapter 48. We'll
stay in Isaiah Chapter 48 right quickly. Isaiah Chapter 48 and
look in verse 12. Look in verse 12. When you see
Redeemer and Savior, especially in the book of Isaiah, every
time without exception, He either addresses Him as God are Jehovah. God, our Redeemer. Jehovah, our
Redeemer. God, our Savior. Jehovah, our
Savior. Look what he says in verse 12. 48, verse 12. Harkening to me, O Jacob, in
Israel my call, I am he, I am the first, I am the last. My hand also hath laid the foundations
of the earth, my right hand hath spanned the heavens, When I call
unto them, they stand up together. In verse 17, Thus saith the Lord,
Jehovah, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, I am the Lord
thy God, which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee
by the way that thou shouldest go. Who is our Redeemer? He is
the One who laid the foundations of the earth. He is the Jehovah.
He is God, the Lord thy God. Look in chapter 54 and look at
verse 5. Chapter 54 verse 5, For thy maker
is thy husband, the Lord of hosts, Jehovah, is his name. And thy
Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, the God of the whole earth, shall
he be called. Who redeemed us? The God of the
whole earth. Look in chapter 63 and verse
16. Chapter 63 and verse 16. This is telling us who our Redeemer
is. Who is He that redeemed us? 63 and verse 16. Doubtless thou
art our Father, though Abraham be ignorant of us. This must
be the Gentile church talking. And Israel, acknowledge us not.
Thou, O Lord, Jehovah, art our Father, Our Redeemer, Thy Name
is from everlasting. Who but God then is our Redeemer? And Savior. Let's look at Savior. There are six places in the book
of Isaiah the word Savior is mentioned. And every time it's
mentioned, it's always associated with God, with Jehovah. Every time it identifies our
Savior as Jehovah God. Let's go backwards this time. Look in Isaiah 63 and look at
verse 7 and 8. I will make mention the lovingkindness
of the Lord, Jehovah, and the praises of Jehovah, according
to all that the Lord hath bestowed on us, and the great goodness
towards the house of Israel, which he hath bestowed on them
according to his mercies, and according to the multitude of
His lovingkindness. For He said, Surely they are
My people, children that will not lie. So He was their Savior."
Let's go backwards. Look in chapter 60 and look in
verse 16. Chapter 60, verse 16. Thou shalt also suck the milk
of the Gentiles, and thou shalt suck the breast of kings, and
thou shalt know that I, the Lord, am thy Saviour, Jehovah, am thy
Saviour, and thy Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob." Look on
back in another place in chapter 49 and look in verse 26. 49, 26. And I will feed them that oppress
thee with their own flesh, and they shall be drunken with their
own blood, as with sweet wine. And all flesh shall know that
I, Jehovah, am thy Savior, and thy Redeemer, the Mighty One
of Jacob." And here is one of my favorite ones. Look on back
to your left in chapter 45 and look in verse 15. 45, 15. Verily thou art a God that hideth
thyself, O God of Israel, the Saviour." Look in verse 21, "...tell
ye, and bring them near. Yea, let them take counsel together,
who hath declared this from ancient time, who hath told it from that
time. Have not I the Lord? There is
no God else beside me, a just God and a Saviour, There is none
beside Me. Look unto Me and be ye saved,
all the ends of the earth, for I am God." So who is the Savior? Paul said, God our Savior has
redeemed us. He is God, isn't He? He is God. He is God our Savior. And one
more, chapter 43 and look in verse 3. I am the Lord thy God, the Holy
One of Israel, thy Savior." God is our Savior. It is not unnatural then when
we come to the New Testament and we see people addressing
God as their Savior. My soul doth magnify the Lord. My spirit has rejoiced in God
my Savior." God is my Savior. Remember the context of Thomas'
statement when he said, My Lord and my God? Remember the context
of that? It was in the light of him seeing
the Prince in the Savior's hands. And he said, Thrust your hand
in the hole in my side. And what did he say? My Lord
and my crucified God. God was His Savior. It's just
natural then when we come here to these places, like our text,
and we see God, our Savior. And who is He? He's Jesus Christ. Why is this so important? Why
is it critical? Why is it essential? To say it's
important is an understatement, isn't it? This doctrine is essential. first of all, to prove the deity
of Jesus Christ. He was no mere man. He was not
a great prophet. He was more. He was more than
a sinless man. He was more than a holy man.
He's the God-man. Jesus Christ is God. He's God. And since God is our Savior and
our Redeemer, this is so important. Listen to this. God in His wisdom
God in His merit, in His power, in His eternal purpose, in His
immutability, God has redeemed us. God has redeemed us. And since God has redeemed us,
there is no just doubt. that can be entertained, there
is no unanswered questions that must arise as to the certainty
of our final and eternal salvation. If you had a hand in on it, if
I've got a hand in on it, if it was just of a mere man or
angel, questions may arise, doubts may be entertained, but if God
is our then all questions have been answered as to the certainty
of our hope. We have a good and sure and steadfast
hope. Why? God is our Redeemer. God is our Savior. And that settles
it, doesn't it? That settles it, removes all
doubt and fear. I say that because you run into
people like the Jehovah Witness and Mormons And let them say
what they will about the death of Christ. Let them exalt Him
as being the greatest man, the first creature. He cannot redeem
them. They have no good hope. They
look back 2,000 years ago, and who's that dying on the cross?
That's a creature. A great man, but he's a creature.
And no creature, no matter how great he is, can redeem us. It's
essential that we be redeemed. And who can redeem us but God? The God-Man. So this doctrine
is essential, isn't it? It's essential. Our faith and
our hope is in God. Is that enough? Is that enough? Is God your Redeemer and Savior? Is He enough? I tell you, if
your faith and hope is in Him, He's enough, isn't it? And let
that remove all doubt, because He engaged Himself to save us. And the old Puritans used to
say, With strength enough and none to spare. And that's so. With merit enough and none to
spare. It took Himself. It took all
of Himself, but it was sufficient. And it was effectual. It was
effectual. God hath redeemed us. And the result of God giving
Himself, back over in our text again, back over in Titus chapter
2. The result of Him giving Himself,
the first thing is that He redeemed us. That He redeemed us. who
gave Himself for us in order to redeem us. When you read that
word in the Scriptures, it means two things. Might means power. Sometimes it deals with power,
the power and might of God. But here in these places, it
simply means in order to. It's not the might like you and
I use it. Will you come over to my house tomorrow? I might.
But this is in order to. He gave Himself in order to redeem
us. You know, redemption can be looked
upon two ways. It's by price and God Himself
incarnate is the redeeming price. That's why the Bible says we're
bought with a price. We're bought with a price. Peter
said the price was the precious blood of Jesus Christ, didn't
he? not silver and gold, but the
precious blood of Jesus Christ. You're bought! You're bought! You're His! He's redeemed you! He's bought you! And the second
thing, redemption means by power. It not only takes the price,
but it's by power. Listen to Exodus 6, when the
Lord was going to bring the children of Israel out of the house of
bondage. He said, I am the Lord. I will
bring you out from under the burden of the Egyptians and I
will rid you out of their bondage. I will redeem you with a stretched
out arm. That means power. When He reaches
out and gets you and He brings you to Himself. That's not price.
The price has been paid. Now it's a matter of power He
has delivered us from the power of darkness and translated us
into the kingdom of His dear Son. He's redeemed us. He's redeemed
us. Something else this includes,
He tells us here in our text, not only has He redeemed us,
but He has redeemed us from all iniquity. I don't know if I can
explain this to suit you or to help you at all. But I tell you
what, just thinking about this, I was meditating on this the
other day, and this word, from all iniquity. Oh, it just came
to my heart. I thought, from all iniquity. The greatest burden of my life
right now is nobody. And it's not things, it's not
circumstances, it's me. It's my sin. It's my iniquity. I'm still sin, and I still struggle
with sin. And when you read this, that
God in Christ has redeemed us from all iniquity. Isn't that a blessing? And it means several things.
One, it means that He's redeemed us from the curse of sin. And He did that by purging those
sins away. Two thousand years ago, brothers
and sisters, you who believe in Jesus Christ, two thousand
years ago, your sins were punished. Your sins were purged there at
the cross. Every one of them. Every one
of them. Only God can round up all of
your sins, past, present, and future, and lay them upon His
Son and purge them away. All iniquity was purged in one
day, He said. I will purge the iniquity of
Israel in one day." When was that day? There at the cross,
2,000 years ago. That's amazing, ain't it? That's amazing. Secondly, to
be redeemed from all iniquity means that one has been forgiven
of all sins. He said in Colossians 2, you
that were dead in your sins hath He quickened together with Christ,
having forgiven you all trespasses. Every sin that you've ever committed,
the instant you believed on Jesus Christ, they were all forgiven.
All forgiven. Every one of them. In whom we
have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sin. You may still worry about them.
I've got some I worry about. I've got some I can't forget.
But He'll never remember them. They're gone. They're washed
in the blood of Jesus Christ. To be redeemed from all iniquity
means this. It means we're not slaves to
sin anymore. Sin used to rule us. It had power
over us. We couldn't break loose from
it. But the Scripture says this. Sin shall not have dominion over
you, for you are not under the law, but under grace. He hath
redeemed you from all iniquity. And it means this, soon you will
be saved from the very presence of sin. You here tonight who
are children of God, you are believers in Jesus Christ, He
has revealed His salvation to you. It has appeared to you.
Sin molests you now. Sin bothers you now. The presence
of it is ever with you. Evil is always present with me,
Paul said. But I'm telling you there's coming
a day soon, soon we hope, when we'll not have to put up with
the very presence of sin anymore. We'll be delivered from even
the presence of sin. There won't be a spot, there
won't be a blemish on our soul, on our conscience, or on these
bodies. Jesus Christ will present us to Himself without spot or
wrinkle or any such thing. No sin, no sorrow will be known
in that heavenly city that He's prepared for His people. That's
a good hope, isn't it? And it's because He hath redeemed
us from all iniquity. Aren't you glad that He's put
it in your heart to hate sin and hate yourself because of
it? I don't care to sorrow. I used to, I just thought, I
thought to myself, well, if He saved me, I don't need to go
around and be so sorry, but I don't care to sorrow over my sin. There
is a degree of that in every child of God's heart. Because
someday, you that sorrow over sin now, you're going to be completely
redeemed from it, even from its presence. And He said something
else here, not only redeem us from all iniquity, and purify
unto Himself. purify unto himself. And that
is what the Scripture teaches us when it says such things to
us that the blood of Jesus Christ God's Son cleanseth us, cleanseth
us from all sin. There is no stain. You cannot
go down in the bottom of a person's soul and find where sin has even
left a stain. The blood reaches deeper than
the stain has gone. And he told the children of Israel,
You are perfect through my comeliness that I put upon you. And he told
the old prophet, and the old prophet said, He hath clothed
me with the garments of salvation. He hath covered me with the robe
of righteousness. And that is real. Jesus Christ
was made sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of
God. in Him. When I look out over
you, I don't see much righteousness. I'll be honest. I can see mistakes. I can see weaknesses, frailty. But you know what God sees when
He looks upon you? The righteousness of His Son.
He sees perfection. He accepts you in the Beloved.
And you are complete. And you are perfect. And you
are clean in Him. And I say that because the Word
says that. I don't say that because I feel like that. But the Word
of God teaches us that. He's purified to Himself a peculiar
people. You're a new creature in Christ.
And the Bible says that you're created in righteousness and
true holiness. Now that's pretty pure, isn't
it? To be created. in righteousness
and true holiness. You have the Spirit of God in
your heart and He is a Holy Spirit. So He is purifying us. He is
purifying us to Himself. And it says here in our text
that He has redeemed us to Himself a peculiar people. And the word is only, if I'm
not mistaken, this is the only place in the whole Bible that
this word like this is used. You may already check me on that.
It may be another word I'm thinking about. But it means beyond usual. It means special. Special. Now you can say that
to a child of God and he won't get the big head. But you say
that to an old self-righteous person, he says, well, I know
it. You're telling me. You're special. There's something
peculiar about the children of God. And you know what it is?
Nobody else believes God but them. They're the only ones in
this world that believe God. They're the only ones in this
world that worship God. They're the only ones in this
world that's accepted of God. They're the only ones in this
world that knows God. They're the only ones in this
world that love God. They are the only ones in this
world who are the objects of His everlasting love. They are peculiar people, aren't
they? They are peculiar. The kingdom is reserved for them
and them alone. Boy, they are peculiar. They
will stand on Christ's right hand in the Day of Judgment and
them alone. They are special people, special
people. You don't think yourself special,
do you? But you're special to Him. To Him. If you're redeemed, you're special. Don't you want to be one of them?
I do, don't you? Oh, He said those He predestinated,
them He also called. Them He called. Them He justified. Them He justified. Them, I want
to be one of them, don't you? I want to be one of them. They're
peculiar. They're special to Him. That's
why He paid such a great price for them, Himself. And they are
zillious, He said. They are zillious of good work.
And Webster says that word means wormly engaged. Wormly engaged. There was a time
when you and I had no affection for holy things. I couldn't sit
down and read my Bible. Some of you may, but I couldn't.
I didn't want to read it. I didn't like it. I didn't love
it. I didn't want to do anything for the Lord's glory. I wanted
to please myself. My affection was towards myself.
But boy, when He saves us, He gives us warm affection. He warms
our affection for His glory and for the good of other people.
and for a holy thing. That's what you're doing. Was
it a great burden for you to be here tonight? Did you go around
the house moping all evening and say, oh man, I've got to
go to church again. I've got to be there. I don't want to upset
the pastor, get him mad at me. Is that the way you felt about
being here? Or were you warmly affected? And it's not, boy, I just really
want to build a superstructure. I want to build a big cathedral.
I want to build a building that holds 5,000 people. I don't have
any affection for that whatsoever. I don't. And you know on the
Day of Judgment the Lord Jesus is not going to recognize stuff
like that? You know the good works that He will recognize
on the Day of Judgment? I was hungry. I was hungry. And your affections went out
to me. And your will was bent in my direction. And you gave
me meat. I was thirsty. And you recognized
it. And your heart went out towards
me so warmly. And you gave me drink. I was
sick and in prison. And boy, your affection went
out to me. You just felt so warm. I've got to do something for
that man. Oh, I've got to help him. And you did it. You visited me. That's what he'll
recognize, isn't it? That's what the Master recognizes
as good. It's usually what the world counts
as nothing. The world wants to be patted
on the back and bragged about. They want to do great things
and great works in His name. Boy, just being a husband, loving
your wife, being a son, obeying your dad and mom, being a wife
and respecting and reverencing your husband, being patient in
the household, being a good employee, being a good citizen, being honest,
living out your daily life as He works it in you. And He says
that's a good work. That's a good work. And you'll
recognize it. Let me leave you with this. You
know everyone that God redeemed 2,000 years ago? They're going
to come to Him. every one that He redeemed 2,000
years ago, He is going to save them in time. Listen to this,
Isaiah 51-11, The redeemed of the Lord shall return. Isaiah 44-22, I have blotted
out as a thick cloud thy transgression, and as a cloud thy sins, return
unto me, for I have redeemed thee. And the instant a man returns,
he finds out, yeah, I'm one of them. He's redeemed. So we just
take the gospel to everybody. Find the sorriest person in the
world, the scumbag. Joe and I was coming over here
just a few minutes ago. And this guy's coming right up
the middle of the street. And I thought, man, get out on
the road on a bicycle. And he just on the bike. I thought,
man, you're on the road. You're going to get run over.
He pulled his jug of vodka out. He had a jug of vodka in one
hand and something to chase it with in the other hand. And stopped
right in the middle of the street. We went around him. He was trying
to get it up to his mouth the last time I saw him. Already
so drunk he couldn't hardly go up. Stop if you can when you
see somebody that way and tell him, listen, God has done something
wonderful. God has redeemed sinners and
just perhaps By the grace of God, that poor fellow will return
to his Redeemer, and the Lord will forgive all his sins and
purify him, and he'll be completely new, looking for the blessed
hope and the glorious appearing of our great God.