away this week on vacation. The Lord will refresh them and
renew them in spirit. It's good to have all of those
of you that are visiting with us today. And we invite you to
come back at any time and every service. Remember that there
will not be a evening service this evening. Nor will there
be an evening service Wednesday night of this week. Our message
this morning, as I mentioned in my prayer, is going to be
brought to us by Bill Parker. Bill has a a desire for souls to see souls
saved. And he's brought the gospel to
us many different times and has always been a blessing to this
church. So Bill, you come now and bring
the message to us. Thank you, Brother Streeter.
We thank this church and thank our pastor for extending me this
invitation. Let us turn to Titus, the book
of Titus. Titus was a missionary appointed
by Paul in the island of Crete to appoint pastors. in the cities in that island,
and Paul says many things to him, and I want to focus in on
just one passage in the book of Titus, chapter 2. In the book
of Titus, chapter 2, where Paul, in verse one, he says, but speak
the things that become sound doctrine. So let's go on down.
I want to skip a lot of the different exhortations to focus in on just
one exhortation, one passage, and I will have four points on
this passage. And it starts with verse 11. 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 Savior,
Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us that he might redeem us
from all iniquity and purify into himself a peculiar people
zealous of good works. These things speak and exhort
and rebuke with all authority." Paul gives him that authority.
The Lord gives him that authority and gives preachers of grace
that authority to preach the Word of God. And I appreciate
our pastor here and there's a placard up here that says, Preach Christ.
preach Christ, and that's what I want to do. And so, if I would
just, I love those hymns, especially Amazing Grace, and I want to
think of something that Jonathan Edwards once said, just one short
statement. He said, as grace is first from
God, so it is continually from him, as much as light is all
day long from the sun, as well is at first dawn, or at sun rising. And so grace not only saves,
grace empowers, grace teaches us to walk a certain way. And this is what the whole chapter
two is talking about. Grace teaches us to walk. And
so I want to talk about the grace of God, redemption through grace
and its many facets here. First of all, redemption by grace
in its appearance. and its appearance and announcement. For he says, for the grace of
God, verse 11, that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all
men. The grace of God has appeared
to all men or to all sorts of men. Ephesians 1, Paul calls
it the gospel of your salvation. It's the gospel of grace. It's
the gospel of grace that Paul is referring to in Acts 20, 24.
I know Brother Streeter will be preaching on that one coming
up and next week, probably, Acts 20, 24, where Paul says this,
the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus was to testify
to the gospel of the grace of God. And I appreciate that verse
because in one verse, he uses the word gospel and he uses the
word grace. because it is the gospel of grace.
And that's the only verse I know in the New Testament that has
it in one verse. It's the gospel of grace that
goes out universally and effectively applied to people from all walks
of life. Paul said it's the power of God
to salvation in Romans 1. It's the power of God. It's the
power to change lives. Unworthy dead sinners who were
by nature children of wrath, even as others, Paul said, but
God who is rich in mercy for his great love for with he loved
us, even when we were dead in sins, he has quickened us together. That's that word that he made
us alive. Dead sinners made alive by grace, made us alive together
with Christ, referring to when we died with him, we were raised
in resurrection with him, made us alive together with Christ.
By grace are ye saved. That's what he says there in
Ephesians 2. So it goes out universally in
preaching and it's effectually applied to people from all walks
of life. That's my point. And the universal
gospel, the preaching goes out to all. Paul said, for the preaching
of the cross is to them that perish foolishness. So you see,
there's many people that heard and they put it off. They put
it off and they hear it daily. They hear it daily and they put
it off. And to them that perish, the hymn that are perishing is
foolishness to many. But unto us who are saved, it is the power
of God. It's the power of God to call
them in conversion. And that's what he's referring
to in that Ephesians chapter two, because he starts out in
Ephesians two saying that there were dead. They were dead sinners,
and with that same power that he ends up in Ephesians 1, where
God raised Christ and He set Him in the heavens at His right
hand, and He said, and you who were dead in trespasses and sin,
God exerted that same spiritual power. That's a very, very important
verse, I think, about the power of God to give life to a dead
sinner like you and I. It's so important to realize
that man does not choose Christ. Man does not choose to believe.
He can't. He's dead. He's dead towards God. He has
no ability. If people understood the total
inability of man, they wouldn't understand. They wouldn't have
problems understanding the doctrines of grace. So that same power,
but Paul goes on in Corinthians 1, I'm just quoting these, I
don't want us to turn there to different passages yet, but he
says, we preach Christ crucified unto the Jews a stumbling block,
unto the Greeks is foolishness, but unto them which are called
of God, you see there's the effectual call, and to them that are called
of God, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. And
so in this verse 11, I see two truths. I see two truths here.
One of them is the universal invitation of salvation. And
that goes out through proclamation, doesn't it? It goes out through
preaching. The universal invitation of salvation
by grace through faith. It's the preaching of the grace
of God in that God will save all who will come to him. And so it's a message with an
open invitation to all men, because he says that in Isaiah 55, 1.
Ho, everyone who thirsteth, come to the waters. He who hath no
money, come and buy wine and milk without money and without
price. Why do you spend money on that which is not bread, he
says. And then he goes on also in another passage, Isaiah 45,
22. Look unto me and be saved, all
ye ends of the earth. You see how it's an open invitation
to all to come. all the ends of the earth and
be saved. For I am God and there is none
else. There's none else who would save. That's the gospel call. That's
the gospel call. I like Matthew 11, 28, all the
way through 30, I think it is, where it says, it says that,
come unto me all you who labor and are heavy laden. You see,
that is the point. The only way that a sinner can
be laboring and heavy laden is because the Spirit of God gives
him that burden. It shows him that he's a sinner
because he says, come to me, all you that labor and are heavy
laden. He's not talking about your daily work. He's talking about
your souls. He says, come to me. Let me start over. Come to
me, all you labor and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Right.
And he says, take my yoke upon you. That's a yoke of learning.
the yoke of learning, and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly
in heart, and you shall find rest unto your souls." You see,
he's talking about soul rest. For my yoke is easy, and my burden
is light. You see, it's not like your burden,
where you don't know where to go, like Pilgrim, like Christian,
you know, that this burden is going to take me straight down
to hell. And he says, I'm not ready to
meet the Lord. I'm not ready to hear that sentence."
And he looked to evangelists, you know, because the Lord wants
to take that burden off and He will give you the light yoke,
the yoke of following Him, the yoke of following Him. And so
the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared and it's
announced. You see, it's the gospel call
that goes out. It's man who will not come because
of his deadness of heart. He will not have Christ to reign
over him. He doesn't have a burden. Most
of them don't have a burden. When you have a burden, praise
the Lord. If you have a burden of your sins, praise God, because
we feel like that at that point, you're under conviction by the
Spirit of God. So he will not have Christ. Normally, he will not have Christ
to reign over him. He wants his sins. And as long
as he can stay in his sins, He has no objection to Christ. That's
the problem. You see, he's not wanting to
be saved from ungodliness and worldly lusts that Paul was talking
about here to Titus. He's not wanting to be taken
out of that. The second truth I see here in this passage is
that this grace has appeared and has saved millions of folks.
in all walks of life. And he mentions them here. For
example, if you go up, just glancing up at people that he's mentioned
in this passage, aged men in verse two, aged women in verse
three, young men in verse four, in verse six, young men, and
in verse nine, servants, servants, those who have sold themselves
to pay off debts, sold themselves into servitude. That grace of
God that bringeth salvation continually, it has brought salvation because
it's a finished work. The Lord said it's finished.
The atonement was made. And we're just calling the sheep
in, right? And it has appeared and it is
saved. Millions, millions. Let's look at a parallel verse
to this verse about saving millions in all walks of life. It's in
First Timothy. Turn over there just a few pages to your left.
First Timothy chapter two. Verse one through six. I exhort, therefore, that first
of all supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of
thanks be made for all men, for kings, and for all that are in
authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceful life in all godliness
and honesty. For this is good and acceptable
in the sight of God, our Savior, who will have all men to be saved
and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one
God and one mediator between God and men. the man Christ Jesus
who gave himself a ransom for all to be testified in due time. He's referring to even kings
and governors who would normally would persecute Christians, all
sorts of men. And here he's talking about in
all walks of life and society that he saved millions. He would
even save kings. He would even save people that
would normally were set up to persecute Christians in that
first century. And so we know it's not that
Christ gave himself a ransom for all men that ever lived,
but for all types of men, and that's what in the context in
both of these verses, in both of these passages, the appearance
and the proclamation of the gospel of Christ. Look at 2 Timothy
chapter 1, chapter 1 and verse 9. I'm in Hebrews. Let me go back.
2 Timothy chapter 1. And verse 9, God who has saved
us and called us with a holy calling, there's the effectual
calling, not according to our works, but according to his own
purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before
the world began. You see, that's the specific
application and the foreordination of grace. It was given us, it
appeared even before the world began, before there was a sinner. there was a Savior of sinners. And we look at that prophecy
in Genesis chapter 3 and verse 15, that the seed of the woman
would put the death blow on the seed of the serpent, that Satan
would ultimately be defeated by the Lord Jesus Christ when
he would come. But look further in this same
passage in 2 Timothy, It says it is now, referring to grace,
it is now being made manifested by the appearing of our Savior,
Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death and brought life and immortality
to light through the gospel. That's the good news proclaimed
through preaching. You see, it was revealed, grace
was revealed in its appearance all throughout the Old Testament,
clearly and very much more clearly in the New Testament. You see,
in the Old Testament, there was very clear verses like Genesis
3.15. There was an expectation for
Messiah all through in Genesis 49 also. And in Isaiah 53, there
was an expectation. There was clear, clear verses
about Him coming. But it was basically revealed
in the Old Testament in types and shadows and prophecies But
look at what Simeon said when he held the baby of the Lord
Jesus in his arms. And he said, mine eyes have seen
your salvation. He appeared in the fullness of
time. In the fullness of time, God
sent forth his son, made of a woman, made under the law to redeem
them that were under the law. You see, it became clear, it
became so clear. with the revelation, with the
appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ. Hebrews 2 puts it this
way. So great salvation. Let's look
over there. We're right there. Hebrews chapter
2. Verse three, how shall we escape
if we neglect so great salvation when at the first began to be
spoken by the Lord and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him? God also bearing them witness
with signs and wonders and diverse miracles and gifts of the Holy
Ghost according to his own will. His own will. So it's a so great
salvation that at first began to be spoken by the Lord, you
know, clearly spoken when He appeared, clearly spoken. And
the invitation has gone out, the gospel preaching has gone
out. And so as 2 Timothy 1, verse 10, it
says, He had brought life and immortality to light through
the gospel. That's the good news proclaimed
through preaching. So that first point is the fact
that redemption by grace and its appearance and proclamation
through the Lord Jesus Christ and through the apostles and
through the Word of God, the Word of God being completed.
And secondly, the results of grace in our lives, verse 12
and 13, the results of grace back in Titus. teaching us that grace teaches
us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live
soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world. It teaches
us how to live. The results of grace in our lives,
first of all, it is a teaching grace. It's an exclusive transformational
teaching of grace. And by the way, that's the reason
why you have to have life before you have faith. You've got to
have life. You have a forefaith because
we're called on here to give up things that are contrary to
the natural man. You know, I think of that illustration.
I think of that movie. Remember Spencer's Mountain?
Remember when Clay Spencer had realized that his son, Clayboy,
had received a ministerial scholarship, you see, and he was talking to
the dean, and it came as a surprise to him, and he says, what do
you have against Christians? And he says, I have nothing against
Christians, but they're against everything I'm for. That's what
he said. And, you know, that's the attitude
of the world, isn't it? That's the attitude. We're to
give up. We're to give up the love for ungodly behavior. We
should live godly lives, lives that reflect his glory. It becomes
a matter of not pleasing myself, but living in a way that makes
him known. Proverbs 3, 5, and 6 says this,
trust the Lord with all your heart and lean not to your own
understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge
him. And I believe the word there is in all your ways, make him
known. Make him known in all your ways.
So we give up the love for ungodly behavior. How can we do that?
The only reason why we can do that is because there's a new
man that has been created in the believer that imparted righteousness,
that new man. And that's the new birth. And that new man is created in
righteousness and true holiness. And he loves to do these things.
He will give up the love for ungodly behavior. He will give
up the love for worldly lusts. He goes on to say, we should
keep sober lives. We should keep a watch against
the wiles of the devil. That's not necessarily sober,
meaning alcohol. That means stay awake and be
watchful because the adversary, the devil, walks about seeking
whom he may devour. And Peter says, resist him steadfast
in the faith. Resist him steadfast in the face.
Oh, he says that in Peter also, for the time past of our lives
may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles when
we walked in lasciviousness, lust, excess of wine, revelings,
banqueting, idolatries, wherein they speak evil of you. They
think it's strange. that you don't run with them
with the same excess of rioting. They speak evil of you. We're
also supposed to give up, and we should give up, and we are,
by the grace of God, able to give up the love for this present
age. Look how he says that. He says
in verse 12, live soberly, righteously, and godly, and he puts that in
this present world, in this present age. And you know, we're in the
world, but we're not of the world. And that's why, I think that's
why he puts it this way, in this present age. So I take it that
we're to give up the love for this present age. 1 John 2, verse
15 and 16, where he says, love not the world, neither the things
that are in the world. For if any man love the world,
the love of the Father is not in them. For all that is in the
world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the
pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.
And the world passes away. and the lust thereof. But he
that doth the will of God will abide forever." Will abide forever. So we give up the love for this
present age. And I'd like to use Moses in
this example in Hebrews 11. In Hebrews 11, verse 24 through
26. It's such a great passage, and
you're welcome to turn there. It's just a few pages over. Hebrews
11. 24 through 26. By faith, Moses, when he was
come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter,
choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God rather
than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season, esteeming the
reproach of Christ greater riches than the pleasures of Egypt,
for he had respect unto the recompense of reward." He had respect, and
that's important. He was looking at the reward
of following Christ. He was looking at that reward.
So it's a teaching grace. It teaches us how to live, to
give up fleshly things, to live godly lives. But as Moses did, this one also
says this in Titus chapter two here in our text. He says, looking
for that blessed hope and glorious appearing, just as Moses did.
Moses had a recompense for the reward. And he says, he tells
these Christians also looking for that blessed hope, that glorious
appearing of our great God and our Savior, Jesus Christ. Looking
for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great
God and our Savior, Jesus Christ. And so teaches us to live. It teaches us to look. The results
are that it teaches us to live and it teaches us to look, and
that's to look up. Hope that we'll ever be with him. That's
a confident expectation. You know, that blessed hope,
not that I hope it happens. I hope that we'll have pie in
the sky by and by. It's a confident expectation
that it's going to happen, just like Moses had. Just like Moses
had, he counted it greater riches to suffer for Christ than to
have the pleasures of sin in Egypt, the great riches of Egypt,
because he looked to that reward. And we're exhorted to look up,
to hope, to have that blessed hope that we will ever be with
him, that confident expectation, realizing that there's joy at
God's right hand, that that joy motivates our living this way.
The same thing that motivated our Lord in Hebrews 12, where
he says, he goes on to say, let us lay aside the weight and the
sin that does so easily beset us. Let us run with endurance
the race that is set before us. And he says, looking unto Jesus,
the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy, the joy
that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame
and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. He
was willing to endure it, wasn't it, because of the joy of sitting
at the right hand of God. And for us, too, that joy, because
he says, in thy presence is fullness of joy, at thy right hand are
pleasures forevermore. It's not a sin to look at our
inheritance. He said, let your living, let
your sight be, let your affections be on things above and not on
things of the earth, where Christ sits at the right hand of the
Father. Oh, listen, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher
of our faith, who for that joy, we have that same joy. Now, we
know that that coming of the Lord, you know, he says the glorious
appearing of our great God, you know, it is it is a serious day. It's going to be a serious day.
Right. Because we'll be judged according to those things that
are done in the body. And it will be a day of condemnation
for the lost. but it will be a glorious day.
There's something glorious. He says here, the glorious appearing
of our great God and Savior on that day as well. The glorious
day. Turn to 2 Thessalonians 1, 9 and 10. 9 and 10. 2 Thessalonians
1, 9 and 10. Look at, start in seven, quickly. And to you who are troubled,
rest with us when the Lord Jesus Christ will be revealed from
heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, taking vengeance
on them that know not God and that obey not the gospel of our
Lord Jesus Christ. What a terrible condemnation.
Who shall be punished from everlasting destruction from the presence
of the Lord and from the glory of his power. Oh my, what a serious
thing. What a serious thing to warn
people out there. But look at this. Look at verse
10. When he shall come to be glorified in his saints and to
be admired at. in all them that believe because
our testimony among you was believed in that day." There's something
glorious about that day. Paul put it this way, for my
light affliction, Paul said, for our light affliction is but
for a moment and works for us a far more exceeding and eternal
weight of glory while we look not at the things that are seen,
but the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen
are temporary, but the things that are unseen are eternal. You know, I always like to use
that scale. You know, he's got his light
afflictions, and he knew afflictions, right? We don't want to make
light of that. Paul knew more afflictions than
we'll ever understand, but he puts them in a scale and looks
at that weight of glory. You know, and it's light affliction.
Oh, it's just it's so beautiful to see that attitude that Paul
had. We look not at the things that are seen to the things that
are unseen. We look at eternal things. He says, looking for
that blessed hope. And now Paul's moving on now
from from the results of grace and transforming us. He focused
on the redeemer of grace. the Redeemer of grace, the identification
of the Redeemer of grace, His divinity. He is our God and Savior. He's in our God and Savior, verse
13, the end of verse 13. There's only one article in the
original Greek, just as in 2 Peter 1.1, to those who have obtained
a like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God
and Savior, Jesus Christ. You know, the cults want to make
him a, they want to proclaim that he is a creation of God,
but that's not so. He is God and Savior. The Lord
Jesus is our God and Savior. Hebrews 1.8, a few pages over
from this, look at this one. Hebrews 1 and verse 8, but unto
the Lord he saith, thy throne Oh, God is forever and ever. A scepter of righteousness is
the scepter of thy kingdom. He is God and he is Savior, the
appearance of our God and Savior. And we need to bring that out.
There's only one article in the Greek and also in Romans 9 5,
just to quote that, not to quote that one, but he just one phrase.
He said, Christ is God blessed forever. Christ is God blessed
forever. Romans 9 5. Oh, that's a that's
a great verse to use on the cults that when they try to claim and
we run into them all the time and we just we try to avoid them.
But why is this important? Because they're going to try
to say he's a brother of Michael or the archangel or of Lucifer.
But what does John say in John one? He says in the beginning
was the word and the word was God and the word was with God
and the word was God. And in one 14, the word was made
flesh. So God was made flesh and dwelt
among us. Also, it is the blood on the
cross is the blood of God. And he brings it out. Brother
Streeter, I know is coming up on that one right there. And
I hate to steal his thunder on that. But Acts 20, 28, he had
to be sinless because only a sinless being could could answer for
our sins without answering for the sins of his own. But Paul
says in Acts 20, 28, God purchased his church with his own blood. The blood of God, the blood of
God. He had no sin, He did no sin,
and Him was no sin. Only God can satisfy God. Man
failed to glorify God's just law, and man was under the wrath
of God, and man had to glorify Him completely. So divine wisdom
ordained a way for the justice of God to be satisfied by a man,
and that was the God-man. 100% God and 100% man, bone of
our bone, flesh of our flesh. He satisfied and honored and
magnified God's law and therefore glorified God completely. He
died also at the hand of God's law to take our curse in his
own body. The Bible says in Galatians 3,
it says, Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law
being made a curse for us. For it is written, cursed is
everyone who hangs upon a tree. So we have redemption by grace,
results of grace. Paul moves from the Redeemer
of grace and identifying who he is to the recipients of grace
and the work of the Redeemer, and the work of the Redeemer,
the recipients of grace. And he says that in verse 14.
Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior Jesus Christ, who
gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and
purify into himself a peculiar people or his own special people
is that word, zealous of good works. Oh my, our true identity. The people of God, His elect
people are recipients of the grace of God and love because
of that everlasting love that brought salvation to Him. He
redeemed them in the eternal covenant of grace where God gave
His church to His Son, the Lord Jesus. And He came into the world
to fulfill covenant engagements, to buy His people out of the
slave market of sin. That's that word redemption.
And it says it right here, He gave Himself that He might redeem
us from all iniquity. And because of that everlasting
love, he brought salvation to us in that eternal covenant of
grace and in the fullness of time. What does this verse 14
say about this wondrous redemption? Redemption was that he gave himself. He gave himself. That involved
the just for the unjust, the sinless for the exceeding sinful,
the precious for the vile. A substitute, taking the sins
and giving us, taking our sins and giving us His perfect righteousness
in return. Christ also has once suffered
for sins, 1 Peter says, the just for the unjust to bring us to
God. You see, that's the thing. You
have to have a mediator to bring you to God. You can't appear
to God without a mediator. And so He gave ourself, he took our
sins and gives us his perfect righteousness in return. Second
Corinthians 521, he has made him who knew no sin to be sin
for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. He worked out as a man that perfect
righteousness. He knitted that robe of righteousness
as a man. And, you know, figuratively speaking,
he worked it out. He worked it out as a man. He
magnified and honored God's law, is what Isaiah 42 says, in that
he magnified it. He showed that the law can be
broken in the mind. you know, in a look of lust,
a lie with the mouth and so on like that, different ways that
you could break the law. He magnified the law, but he
honored it. He honored it by putting himself
under it and worked it out perfectly, a perfect righteousness that
he gives to his saints. And the reason why I said he
knits that robe together of righteousness, because Isaiah 61, he says, God
has clothed me with that robe of his righteousness. I like
that one and so it just fits that he would knit it together.
But the truth is that he worked it out. He obeyed God's law completely. I don't want to mince words.
He worked and he gives us that perfect righteousness that He
gives us. He redeemed us from all iniquity,
it says. Redemption was from all iniquity
here in verse 14. From past, present, and future
sins, sins of commission, sins of omission, failure to do what
we ought, our sinful deeds and our sinful condition that brings
about the deeds. All iniquity, all sinful practices. for sanctification, right? Because
he says he would purify, that would be the resulting condition,
new creatures in Christ Jesus. He would purify to himself his
own special people, our true identity, a peculiar people,
zealous of good works, to magnify the glory of God's grace in good
works. Peter says it this way, that
we are called out of darkness to proclaim the praises of him. who called us out of darkness.
Oh my. And so we're zealous of good
works. Why? Because he gives us the
ability. He gives us the desire to magnify
him in good works. Good works are the enabling by
the grace of God. First Corinthians 15.10, he says
this, by the grace of God, I am who I am. I am what I am. And
his grace toward me, which was bestowed upon me, was not in
vain, but Paul says, I labored more abundantly than they all.
Yet not I. Yet not I. It's not I, but the
grace of God that was laboring in him. You see, God gives us
that ability. to labor. So we're created in
Christ Jesus unto good works that God has before ordained
that we should walk into them. Our motivation and our joy and
our goal is joy and glory at the appearing of Christ. Paul
said to live is Christ and to die is gain. You see, we're a
people that want to live for Christ, because if you live for
Christ, to die is gain. And so it is so important. But I want to quote, I want to
have one quote to close with and about God's own special people
that he has given John McDuff in 1851, a Scottish Presbyterian
pastor and author, the author of the night watches and the
morning watches. He says this, his own special people. that's
redeemed sinners, who are thus sought out by divine grace, purchased
by divine love, destined through eternity to be set as jewels
in the crown of the eternal God. The Lord's portion is His people.
There is a surpassing revelation of love here, great, unspeakably
great, is the privilege of the believer to be able to look up
to the everlasting Jehovah and say, You are my portion, O Lord. But what is this in comparison
with the response of omnipotence to the child of dust saying,
You are mine. You are mine. Oh, what an array
of titles, he says. What an array of wondrous titles
belong to the saints of God, are given by God himself in his
own word. He calls them my sons. He calls
them brethren. He calls them princes, friends,
heirs, jewels, my portion, mine, my special people, my peculiar
people. And when is the time when they
became thus dear to him? When you wept at the cross of
Jesus and joined yourself in covenant with God? No, no," he
says, from eternity past, he has loved you with an everlasting
love. Oh, that is the redemption of
the Lord Jesus Christ, transforming us, saving us and transforming
us. Praise the Lord. Thank you.