Unity ARP

The Grace of God

Titus 2:11-13

The book of Titus has a different structure than most of the other epistles of Paul. In the first half of most of his letters he concentrates on doctrine. In the second half he then shows the practical implications of doctrine. However, in the book of Titus the order is reversed. Paul begins with the more practical matters and ends with doctrine. Either way, Paul is concerned to demonstrate the connection between doctrine and practice - between what a Christian believes and what he does. He wanted to show the Christians on Crete and us today just why we should live in the ways he has outlined in the first part of the book. There is always a doctrinal foundation for Christian living. There are some people that want to skip over the theology and get on to living the Christian life. But in order to live a holy life, you must understand the doctrinal foundation that enables such a life.

It is to this doctrinal foundation that we turn now in vv. 11-13. The foundation for the holy lifestyle of a Christian is the grace of God. Grace is vital to you as a believer. You can’t live without it. You better not die without it. As you will see today, God’s grace is rooted in the past, it is active in the present and hoped for in the future. You are saved by grace, you will persevere by grace, and you will enter glory by grace. Therefore, you had better gain a clear understanding of the grace of God, because your salvation past, present and future depends upon it.

First of all, you need to know that:

I. GOD’S GRACE HAS SAVED YOU FROM THE PENALTY OF SIN

Verse 11 reads, “FOR THE GRACE OF GOD THAT BRINGS SALVATION HAS APPEARED TO ALL MEN.” Here is the first advent - the incarnation. The word “appeared”, is the same Greek word used in verse 13 to refer to the “glorious appearing” that is yet future. This word is where we get our word “epiphany”. What is it that has appeared? The grace of God. Not grace in an abstract sense, but the grace of God embodied in the person of Christ, proclaimed to mankind. John 1:17 says, “FOR THE LAW WAS GIVEN THROUGH MOSES; GRACE AND TRUTH CAME THROUGH JESUS CHRIST.”

According to William Hendriksen, grace simply means “HIS ACTIVE FAVOR BESTOWING THE GREATEST GIFT UPON THOSE WHO HAVE DESERVED THE GREATEST PUNISHMENT.” Grace is personified in Christ. In the incarnation God sent the greatest gift ever given to those who deserve nothing but His wrath. The gift of God’s grace is all the more wonderful, when we see what we really deserve. What do we deserve as sinners? The wrath of God. Ezra 8:22 says, “The hand of our God is on all those who seek Him for good, but His power and His wrath are against all those who forsake Him.” By nature we have all forsaken God and stand under condemnation. Romans 1:18 says, “For the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness.” Ephesians 2:3 “we were by nature the children of wrath.”

When God pours out His wrath the result is death. The Bible says, “The wages of sin is death.” Physical death is only the beginning. Then there is eternal death in the lake of fire. Jesus said, in Mark 9:44, “their worm dies not, and the fire is not quenched.” Those in hell will be dying, but will not die. In both body and soul, unbelievers will be consciously tormented forever. Revelation 14:10-11 says that unbelievers “will drink of the wine of the anger of God, having been mixed undiluted in the cup of His wrath. And he will be tormented by fire and brimstone before the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever. And they have no rest day or night, those who worship the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name.”

The penalty for sin is great. Why? Because our sin is a great offense against God who is holy and good. There is not a person in this room that does not fully deserve the everlasting wrath of God in hell. Have you ever felt the weight of that thought of the wrath of God in your soul?

The penalty for sin is real. There are millions in hell as I speak. But to you who are still alive, the grace of God has appeared. This grace “brings salvation.” What is salvation? The basic meaning of the word is “deliverance or rescue from danger.” The problem is that most people today do not know or do not believe that they are in any danger of the wrath of God. What can be done about this? We must preach God’s word to them concerning their danger, realizing that ultimately, God must convict them by His Holy Spirit of their condition.

Jonathon Edwards, in a sermon simply titled “SAFETY”, said, “God is pleased to make some sensible of their true condition. He lets them see the storm that threatens them, how black the clouds are, and how impregnated with thunder, that it is a burning tempest, that they are in danger of being speedily overtaken by it, that they have nothing to shelter themselves from it, and that they are in danger of being taken away by the fierceness of his anger.”

Though it is the sovereign prerogative of God alone to awaken a sinner to the danger his soul is in, we ought to be praying that God would bring such conviction to the unsaved. Pray for individuals you believe are lost and ask God to make them aware that they are under the wrath of God and in need of a Savior - a deliverer. Pray that God’s Spirit would work in a mighty way throughout this entire area we live in and in our nation to make men and women conscious of their sins and the penalty that is due them.

You may be here this morning in a lost condition. You have never repented of your sins or been converted to Jesus Christ. Do you realize the danger you are in? Do you understand that if God chose to take you from this world today you would enter an eternity of excruciating agony in hell? You may not have given it very much thought. The devil has many people today in a sleepy daze - unaware of what is coming. They are like the person who gets on a raft at the beach just beyond the waves. They float along, relaxed and unaware that the current is slowly pulling them out to sea. When they try to swim in, they realize that the current is too strong. Their only hope is to be saved - to be rescued.

If you realize that you are drifting toward hell, then your only hope is to be saved. There is good news for you this morning. The grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. That includes you. It doesn’t matter if you are young or old, a man or woman, boy or girl, rich or poor, slave or free. The Bible says, “And it shall be that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” It does not matter how far you have drifted from shore, He hears you. No matter how far you have gone in sin, if you call upon Him, He will save you. If God the Holy Spirit so chooses, He will enable you today to call on the Lord to save you. I pray that He will.

He is able to save all who call upon Him from the penalty of sin because He died upon the cross to pay the penalty of the sins of those the Father gave Him. In Hebrews chapter 7 we read, “Therefore He is able also to save to the uttermost those who come unto God by Him.” Those who repent of their sins receive Christ as Savior and Lord will be saved from the awful penalty of sin. It is by grace - that means it is a free gift, entirely undeserved and unearned. Have you received the free gift of salvation in Jesus Christ?

Some of you young people and children need to be converted. You are not going to be saved just because your parents are Christians, or because you go to church. You have to come to Jesus yourself and believe in Him. No one else can believe for you. If you trust in Jesus and His death on the cross as the payment for your sins, then you will be saved from the penalty of sin.

If you have already been saved by grace from the penalty of sin, then you need to realize that:

II. GOD’S GRACE SAVES YOU FROM THE POWER OF SIN

God’s grace appeared when Jesus Christ was born into this world. This grace brought salvation from the penalty of sin through the death and resurrection of Jesus. But this grace does not stop there. No, it also saves you from the power of sin. Verse 12 says that the grace of God teaches us to deny “ungodliness and worldly lusts”, and that “we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age.” God’s grace not only deals with your past sins and the penalty due them. His grace enables you to overcome sin right now - “in the present age.”

There are many so-called Christians that will say, “Oh, I’ve been saved, and I’m going to heaven.” But something is missing. What about right now, in the mean time? Is God doing anything in your life today? Or was it all in the past? God’s grace teaches those who are saved from sin’s penalty to overcome sin’s power in everyday life. If you are not being saved daily from the power of sin, it is unlikely that you have ever truly been saved from the penalty of sin. The other day I took Caroline on picnic. I asked her to pray over the food. She said, “God, please forgive my sins and help me to be like You.” I’m not altogether sure if she was cognizant of all that prayer meant, but she was asking for grace to be relieved from the penalty of sin and grace to overcome the power of sin!

God’s grace is active. It instructs, it trains, it teaches you to be holy. This training is the work of the Holy Spirit, who takes the Scriptures and applies the word to your life. The Holy Spirit lives within every true believer. God’s Grace indwells you. By the power of the Holy Spirit your life is transformed into the image of Jesus Christ. But before your life can become like Christ, your sinful habits must be stopped. The NIV translation says, “The grace of God teaches us to say NO to ungodliness and worldly passions.” That is the negative side of holiness. There is something you must put off - ungodliness and worldly lusts or desires.

If there is anything that characterized the inhabitants of the island of Crete and that characterizes people in our country today it is ungodliness. Ungodliness has to do with a lack of the fear of God. It is characterized by irreverence toward God. Ungodliness has to do with direct sins against God, and any breaking of the first four commandments. To worship any other god other than the true God of the Bible is ungodliness. To worship the true God in ways in which He has not commanded is also ungodly. Many Christians today want to worship God however they please and yet God is only pleased with worship that He has commanded us to bring. The Westminster Confession of Faith says that God must “not be worshiped according to the imaginations and devices of men.”

So all idolatry, superstition, and man made worship is ungodliness. The manner or method by which we worship God is important, just as the attitude that we have in worship. You may be very correct and use only the biblical elements of worship, but your lack of respect and your lack of seriousness in worship displeases God. Or you may have a sincere heart and right attitude, but your man-made worship practices and added elements have dishonored the Lord. What does God desire? True and zealous heart devotion that is expressed in ways and means that are Scriptural. He desires worship in spirit and truth. Any approach to God that is not in spirit or in truth must be denied and put off. God’s grace will train you to do so.

Ungodliness is also seen today by the disregard of the Sabbath day. Most Christians feel that they can do whatever they want to on the Lord’s Day. But God says in the fourth commandment, “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.” If you do your own thing on the Sabbath, then you are ungodly. Many people feel that the day belongs to them since they have to work the other six days. They ought to be able to do whatever THEY want to do on Sunday. But God says, “Six days you shall labor, and do all your work; but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God.” The Sabbath is not for you to do as you please, but it is “to the LORD your God.” If you are a Christian, then you must say no to Sabbath breaking. You say, “But that’s just asking too much to give one whole day to the Lord!” God’s grace will instruct you and enable you to do it. You can’t do it in your own strength. You won’t even desire to keep the Sabbath, except by grace working in your heart.

You are not only to deny ungodliness, but also “worldly lusts” or “worldly passions.” Worldliness has to do with loving the things of this world and clinging to them as if they could bring you happiness and peace. A person may be said to be worldly who has their focus on this life, and who live as if God did not exist. King David, in Psalm 17, asked God to deliver him from “from men of the world whose portion is in this life, and whose belly You fill with Your treasure. They are satisfied with sons, and will leave their riches to their babes. As for me, I will behold Your face in righteousness; when I awake, I shall be satisfied with Your image.” You must say no to a view of life that seeks lasting satisfaction here on earth. You must seek it in the Lord. Of course if you are a Christian, you can enjoy certain things that are in the world as long as you do in obedience to God and with thanksgiving.

You must hold onto the things of this world loosely. Listen to what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 7:29-31, which I read Sunday night: “Brethren, the appointed time has grown very short; from now on, let those who have wives live as though they had none and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no goods, and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the form of this world is passing away.”

Denying worldliness begins in the heart. You can’t stop your worldly ways until you snuff your worldly desires. You must stop loving the world! James says, “each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.” When you gratify those desires they only grow stronger. However, when you seek to put those desires to death by the power of the Holy Spirit and slay them with the Spirit’s sword, then those desires will grow weaker.

But after you have denied ungodliness and worldly desires, you must replace these things with something positive. Verse 12 says that instead of ungodliness and worldliness, “we should live soberly, righteously and godly in the present age.” By the grace of God, you must develop new habits in accord with your new nature as a Christian. To be sober is to be serious minded and self-controlled. To live righteously is to live by the righteous standards of God’s word. To live godly is to live in such a way that you give God what is due to Him - whether it is praise, worship, obedience, love, or thanksgiving. Your utmost desire is to please Him in all things. You have the utmost respect for His name.

This grace affects all your relationships. It affects the relationship you have with your “self”. It enables you to control your self instead of indulging it. Grace affects your relationship with others. It teaches you to live an “upright” or righteous life towards your neighbors. Grace trains you to be fair, honest and loving at all times. Lastly, it teaches you to be godly, which has to do with your devotion to God Himself. It teaches you how to pray to Him, to worship Him, to know Him as He is revealed in Scripture, and to obey His commands.

Remember, it is by God’s grace that you are saved from sin’s power. You cannot resist temptation with willpower. You cannot say no to the world unless you are being strengthened by God’s grace. And when you do find yourself seeking to please God and to love Him with all your heart, remember that it was only because of His grace that you have these desires.

God’s grace saves you from the penalty of sin, the power of sin, and best of all,

III. GOD’S GRACE WILL SAVE YOU FROM THE PRESENCE OF SIN

As you exercise God’s grace in this present age, you are to do so with your eye upon the age to come. In verse 13 Paul said, “Looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.” Keep looking ahead to the blessed hope. Our hope is blessed because the moment Christ returns we will experience the total and permanent removal of sin from our lives. There will not even be a trace of sin left. The only thing left will be eternal blessedness with the Lord for those who believe.

If you have been saved from sin’s penalty, and are being saved from it’s power, then you can be sure that one day you will be saved from sin’s presence. Many people are fearful when they think about the Second Coming of Christ. Some are afraid because they are not sure about their salvation. They are not certain that they are in a state of grace. Some are afraid of the Lord’s return because of all the paranoia that is being spread by all the so-called “prophecy experts” out there. People are afraid of the Antichrist, the mark of the beast, Armageddon - you name it. In short, they are afraid of evil. But when Christ returns, all sin and evil will be destroyed. He is coming to put an end to all wickedness, so rejoice! Be not afraid!

While we wait for His return, we are not to be passively sitting around, doing nothing. You are to have an expectant attitude, patiently looking forward, diligently laboring until He comes. The grace made available at Christ’s first appearing, prepares us for His second appearing. And the thought of His return motivates us to grow in grace in this present age. Living in the in between times we are to look back to the birth and death of Christ and seek grace. Right now we look to the grace found in his Word and Spirit. And we also look forward to the grace we will receive at His return.

This hope is not something of peripheral concern to the Christian - it is to be the dominant expectation that exceeds all others. There are many things we look forward to in this life. We look forward to the birth of a child, the answer to a prayer, to a visit from friends or to a night out with someone special. One of the strongest anticipations someone can have is when two people are in love, but are separated from each other. Each one longs to be with the other and to see their face.

This is quite vivid for me, because this is the way it was for Deby and me before we were married. I was going to school in Colorado, and she was at Clemson. That was bad enough, but at least we could call each other on the phone, though at great expense. The worst part was when she left to spend the summer in Germany. She was traveling around and all I could do was write letters and send them to a place where she would get them after half the summer was over. I probably wrote more letters during those six weeks than I have during the 19 years since then! I missed her terribly and wanted so much to see her. Deby was longing to see me just as much as I was to see her, so she left Germany early to come home. I don’t think I could have waited another 6 weeks! When she came back, my hope was fulfilled - I was able to see her again!

Until she came back, all I could think about was how badly I wanted to see her. That is the way it should be for you as a Christian when you think about Christ. If you really love Christ, He will be on your mind all the time. You will want to read and reread His letters to you in the Bible. Every day you will want to speak with Him in prayer. You will live your life in such a way that when He returns, He will be pleased.

His return will be a “GLORIOUS APPEARING”. We have never seen our Beloved, but we can be sure that He will be more glorious than we could ever imagine. He will descend from heaven on the clouds of glory, attended by thousands of angels. 1 Thessalonians 4:16 says, “FOR THE LORD HIMSELF WILL COME DOWN FROM HEAVEN, WITH A SHOUT, WITH THE VOICE OF THE ARCHANGEL AND WITH THE TRUMPET CALL OF GOD.” When He returns, the brightness of His glory will make the daytime seem like the dark of night.

John Calvin said, “The luster of the world, while it appears great to our eyes, dazzles them so much that the glory of God is, as it were, hidden in darkness. But Christ, by His coming, shall chase away all the empty show of the world and shall no longer obscure the brightness, shall no longer lessen the magnificence, of His glory.” This appearing will be of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ who is no mere man, but also the “Great God”. When He returns, His glory, which was hidden while He walked upon the earth, will be revealed and He will be seen as Lord of all. The Bible says that at that time, “every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

1 Peter 1:13 says, “Therefore gird up your minds, be sober, set your hope fully upon the grace that is coming to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” Is your hope fully upon that grace to be revealed at his return?

If you are in Christ, then by His grace you have been saved from sin’s penalty. You are being saved from sin’s power. By grace, you will be delivered from sin’s presence. There are some that would say that the idea of grace will make people slack and not work as hard to please the Lord. But I know that if your heart is right with God, that this overview of God’s grace will motivate you to glorify Him now and long for the day when you will enjoy Him forever.

“May the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. To Him be the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.”

This entry was posted on Saturday, September 30th, 2000 at 2:25 pm and is filed under Series on Titus, Sermon Text.