Preached Sunday, June 27, 2010
from
Titus 2:11-15

Theme: God’s grace through Jesus Christ teaches us to live a transformed life in this world.

(Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are taken from The Holy Bible, New King James Version; copyright 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc.)

This morning’s passage is a very important one. We’ve been studying the New Testament book of Titus; and this morning’s is the key passage of the book. But much more than that, it’s also a key passage with respect to our faith.

How ‘key’? In just a few verses, it gives us the whole theological basis for the Christian life—and to fail to grasp it is to fall short of the practical implication of the very gospel itself!

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Just to show you how important this morning’s passage is, look at what Paul says at the end of it—in Titus 2:15. He was writing to Pastor Titus concerning the Christians that were under his care. And after telling him what he says in this morning’s passage, he then writes very strongly and urges Titus, “Speak these things, exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no one despise you.”

Paul hinted at that sort of instruction at the beginning of this chapter. He told Titus, “But as for you, speak the things which are proper for sound doctrine” (2:1); and the “things” that he was speaking of was the way that those who profess a faith in Jesus ought to live. Paul got specific about every age group within the church, and explained how the believers were to live before a watching world. And he did this so that the message of the gospel would never be discredited by the way those believers lived. As Paul said, they were to live carefully and consistently with their faith “that the word of God may not be blasphemed” (v. 5); or “that one who is an opponent may be ashamed, having nothing evil to say of you” (v. 8); or “that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things” (v. 10).

And then, in verses 11-14, Paul gives Titus the theological basis for the kind of life that truly “adorns” the gospel! Paul wrote,

For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works (Titus 2:11-14).

What a needed message this is today! No wonder Paul then wrote, “Speak these things, exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no one despise you.”

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When I read this morning’s passage, I think of another one from the Old Testament that’s very much like it. In fact, I believe that this other passage can rightly be thought of as the Old Testament “illustration” of the New Testament “reality” that our passage this morning affirms to us.

That Old Testament passage is found in Exodus 19. It was there that God—after having delivered the people of Israel out of their bondage in Egypt—brought them before Himself at Mount Sinai and entered into a covenant with them. He had proven Himself to be their Savior—taking them from out of bondage to their Egyptian slave-masters, and setting them free to follow Him. And now, thundering from the top of Mount Sinai, God called Moses up to Himself, and gave Him this message to give to His newly-redeemed, assembled people.

God told Moses to tell them;

“‘You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel” (Exodus 19:4-6).

God told the Israelites, way back then, that they had seen with their own eyes what He had done for them. It was by His grace—and not because of anything worthy in them—that God had severely punished their task-masters, and gloriously delivered them from their bondage. He “bore” them along across the Red Sea through the dessert, just as an eagle carries her young on her wings; and brought them safely to that place, before Mount Sinai, were He Himself spoke to them. And now, He tells them that if they will pay attention to what He tells them, and keep the agreement He was entering into with them, they would be His “special” people. All the earth was already His; but they would be His special “treasure” above all other peoples on the earth. In fact, they would be His unique representatives on earth to the rest of the nations of the world; because He promises that He would make them “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation”.

Now; there’s a lot of parallel in that passage to the one we’re studying this morning—even to the point where, at the end of it all, he tells Moses, “These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel.” He was to speak to them authoritatively as God’s own spokesman to them—just as Titus was to speak to the people under his spiritual care.

And yet, those very words—spoken so long ago by Moses to the people of Israel—were a mere “hint” of what was going to one day be true of you and me today because of what Jesus Christ has done for us. The apostle Peter once wrote to Christians in his day and told them,

But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy (1 Peter 2:9-10).

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ; God in His mercy has delivered you and me out of darkness, and brought us into His marvelous light! We were once not a people, but now we are the people of God! We were once without mercy, but now we have obtained mercy from God Himself! He didn’t do this for us because we were “worthy”. Rather, He did it because of His grace—for we were truly very unworthy! And as a result, we have a completely new identity! We are now a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own special people! And He did this for us that we might open our mouths—in the midst of this fallen and needy world—and proclaim His praises!

But that brings us to the important question this morning’s passage forces us to ask: When you and I open our mouths and proclaim His praises, are we also careful not to discredit that proclamation by the way we live? Do we live in such a way as to truly “adorn” the good news that we proclaim? Let me read this morning’s passage to you again:

For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works (Titus 2:11-14).

When we declare the praises of God for saving us and making us His ‘special people’, the unbelieving people of this world hear it and start looking very carefully at us. And it is absolutely essential that they see us live lives that are consistent with what we say that God, by His grace, has made us to be!

That’s what this morning’s passage is all about. It declares to us that God’s grace through Jesus Christ teaches us to live a genuinely transformed life in this world. May we live consistently with what the gospel teaches us that God has made us to be!

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Look with me at the first great theological point Paul makes in this passage; that . . .

1. THE GRACE OF GOD HAS APPEARED (v. 11).

What good news that is! The grace of God—the saving grace that turns undeserving sinners into redeemed saints—has already appeared! It’s not hidden! It’s manifested! It’s as plain as can be to anyone who wants to receive it!

The translation that I’m reading from this morning has it this way: “For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men . . .” In other words, the emphasis in that translation is on the fact that the gospel has appeared to all people. But other translations have it a bit differently. The English Standard Version, for example, has it this way; “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people”; that is, that the gospel brings salvation to all people. And that second way of translating it is actually more accurate. It’s not just that the grace of God that brings salvation to all men has appeared; but that it has appeared, “bringing salvation to all men”.

The offer of of salvation through the grace of God is universal in its reach and availability. The good news “brings salvation to all men.” It has appeared in the world through the coming into this world of Jesus Christ who, though He was the eternal Son of God, took full humanity to His own being, was born into the human race, and died on the cross as the “one Mediator between God and men” (1 Timothy 2:5). And through its appearing, it now makes salvation available to all men equally. It is a free offer of His grace available to all who want it! No one who wishes to be saved, and who comes to Jesus for it, will be excluded from it!

But while stressing that it truly is a universal offer, these words also stress that it is an offer that is exclusive in terms of its effectiveness. There is no other way of salvation than that which is made available by God’s grace through Christ; “For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5). The message of God’s grace, which has come into this world, is the only one that brings salvation to all men; and anyone in all the world who would be saved saved must come to Jesus, yield themselves to Him, and place their faith in His sacrifice on on the cross for them—and in nothing else; “for”, as Peter says elsewhere, “there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).

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Now; that’s the wonderful “grace of God” which has “appeared, bringing salvation to all people”. And the apostle Paul was all about the ‘appearance’ of that gospel. As he wrote at the beginning of his letter to Titus, it is the message of the hope of eternal life “which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began, but has in due time manifested His word through preaching, which was committed to me according to the commandment of God our Savior” (1:2-3). He lived to declare the appearance of the grace of God, and urge people everywhere to believe the Jesus it proclaims for salvation.

Now; not everyone, of course, is saved by it. And this is because not all believe it. But many who hear it do believe it and are saved by it. And it’s to those of us who truly believe that Paul goes on to speak about the way we ought to live in the light of it. Paul changes his emphasis from “all men” to “us”; and goes on to show us that . . .

2. ITS APPEARANCE TEACHES US TO LIVE TRANSFORMED LIVES (vv. 12-13).

The grace of God that Paul tells us has “appeared”, and that brings salvation to all men, “teaches” something to those of us who believe it. It, you might say, enrolls us in a “training program” that changes the way we live. Paul writes that it appears;

teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ . . . (vv. 12-13).

The message of the gospel is the “appearing”—that is, the manifestation—of something that happened in the past. Jesus, the Son of God, has come to this earth and has paid the debt for our sins. And according to this morning’s passage, the implications of this “past” fact—once we truly grasp it and believe it—effects both our present experience, and our future outlook.

Consider its impact on our present experience. Paul says that it teaches us—right now—to “deny” some things, and to “live-out” some other things in their place. What we are to “deny” is “ungodliness and worldly lusts”.

Did you know that, if you truly believe that Jesus Christ died for your sins on the cross, and that you are genuinely set free from them, the evidence that you have truly grasped that fact is that you be habitually turning away from the sins that Jesus died to save you from? Sadly, a lot of people don’t seem to realize this. They appear to believe they can put their faith in Jesus, and claim Him as their Savior from the eternal consequences of their sins, and yet keep right on living in the same sins they claim that Jesus died to save them from! But what an insult that is to the sacrifice of Jesus! Those who think that way don’t realize that they are trying to have fellowship with the holy Son of God while continuing to cling to the very sins that cost Him His life on the cross!

No, dear brothers and sisters in Christ! If Jesus died to save us from our sins, how can we continue any longer to live in them? We are, instead, to deny them!—disown them!—renounce them!—turn from them!—leave them behind! As the New International Version translates it, we’re to say a loud and clear “No” to them! We’re to have nothing further to do with the attitude of “ungodliness” that used to characterize us—that is, that attitude that clings to a completely “secular” view of life; one that, for all practical purposes leaves God out of our decisions and priorities and desires; one that acts as if God doesn’t exist! We’re to have nothing further to do with any of that! And what’s more, we’re also to have nothing further to do with the “worldly lusts” that had their hold on us; those sinful things that we used to do because everyone else did them, and because the rest of the world seemed to pressure us to do them; those passions and desires that led us down the wrong path! Anyone who keeps on clinging to those old sins hasn’t understood the significance of Jesus’ death on the cross for them. They haven’t allowed themselves to be properly “taught” by God’s grace.

But it’s not just a matter of “denying” those old sins of the past. The same gospel of God’s grace also teaches us to take up whole new patterns of living in their place. If Jesus died in our place for our old way of life, His resurrection means that we now rise up with Him to a new way of living. We’re to live, as Paul says, “soberly”—that is, with a clear and sound mind. Drugs and alcohol are to no longer cloud our thinking. Out-of-control passions and emotions are no longer to rule over us. We’re to live in such a way as to know what it is that is going on around us, know what it is that God wants us to believe about it, and to keep our heads and think biblically in the midst of it all. We’re to also live “righteously”—that is, in a way that is in righteous conformity to the standards of God’s holiness that are set forth for us in His commandments. Living “soberly” has to do with our thinking, and living “righteously” has to do with our actions. We’re to know where it is that God wants us to place our steps in daily live; and to be very careful that we faithfully place our feet there! We’re to walk in accordance with His commandments as given to us in His word. And finally, we’re to live “godly”—that is, we’re to live with an attitude of constant reverence toward God; acknowledging Him in all our ways, depending upon His help for all we do in life, thanking Him for all that He sends our way. We’re to live in a way that is the exact opposite of “ungodly”.

Think of it! The gospel of God’s grace teaches us to live differently in every aspect of our being—intellectually, actively, and attitudinally. And note that Paul adds that we’re to do this “in this present age”. We’re not to live “in the past”—trying to recapture what “faithfulness to God” meant in some other era; nor “in the future”—hoping for some better day. We’re to live in the time that God placed us, in the location that God has set us, and before the unsaved people of our day. We’re to “live-out” the implications of the grace of God before the eyes of the watching world our own time.

What a difference we can make if we do so! And that is exactly what the grace of God comes to “teach” us to do!

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Now; that has to do with the impact of the “grace of God” on our “present” experience. But we can’t muster all of that up by keeping our eyes on the present only. If we do that, we’ll soon get discouraged. That’s why Paul then goes on to show us how this same “grace of God” bears an impact on our “future” outlook. We are to live in such a way as to be continually “looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ”.

I don’t know if you noticed it; but in those words, Paul makes a remarkable affirmation about Jesus Christ. He didn’t just call Him our Savior, but called Him “our great God and Savior”. Jesus is the eternal Son of God who—in a point of time—joined His divine nature to a human nature, became a man, lived a sinless life, and became our saving Substitute on the cross. It’s through Him that the grace of God has appeared! But while He walked on this earth as our Savior, He was also fully God.

After He died for us, He ascended again to the Father—but He ascended in the body in which He walked on this earth. That body is at the right hand of the Father right now! Think of that! A glorified human being—a man of like nature as ourselves—sits upon the throne of heaven, and is at the right hand of God as our Advocate and Friend! And one day, just as the Bible promises—and just as He Himself promised—He will return to this earth in power and great glory. And then, we will share in His glory with Him. As Paul wrote elsewhere;

For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself (Philippians 3:20-21).

What a blessed hope! Our blessed hope is His glorious appearing! And the grace of God that has appeared in this world is meant to teach us to look forward to that future coming so much that we live faithfully now—denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, and living soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age!

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As you can see from this, the power for living a transformed Christian life is Jesus Himself—from start to finish! Paul makes this point in the next verse—in words that sound very much like those words spoken long ago by God for Moses to give to the people of Israel. It’s there that Paul shows us that . . .

3. THE BASIS OF THE TRANSFORMED LIFE IS JESUS CHRIST (v. 14).

Jesus is He who, as Paul says, “gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works” (v. 14). It was why He made the sacrifice for us that He made on the cross!

Have you ever asked yourself why it is that Jesus came to die for us? Why was it that He willingly left the glory of heaven, came to this earth, suffered the shame of the cross, and died in our place? It certainly wasn’t because we were worthy of such a sacrifice; because, as the Bible clearly reminds us, it was “while we were still sinners” that “Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

Well; this verse tells us why He did it. It was so that He could “redeem us from every lawless deed”—that is, buy us out of our old slavery to sin which had kept us in bondage and in death—so that He could wash us clean, give us a new identity as God’s own special people, and characterize us as those who are now zealous for good works. As Paul says in Ephesians 2:10, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”

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I hope that, now, you can appreciate why it is that Paul spoke that closing admonition so strongly to Titus. “Speak these things,” he says; “exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no one despise you” (v. 15). These things are absolutely crucial for those of us who claim to be followers of Jesus to remember and keep faithful to. As the pastor, it is my duty to remind you of them. And as the people of God, it is our duty—all of us together—to live them.

The world is watching our lives. They are evaluating the gospel we proclaim with our words by what they see lived-out in our lives. They are right to do so; because the grace of God is to teach us to live truly transformed lives—looking ahead to the return of our Savior. They are right to expect this of us; because it was why Jesus died on the cross!

May we truly live lives that adorn the gospel before the watching world!

The Life Under Grace audio version