Titus 2:11-14, The Grace Of God Has Been Revealed
1. God’s Grace Brings Salvation To Anyone (v11)
2. God’s Grace Trains Us To Live Godly Lives (v12)
3. God’s Grace Keeps Our Attention On Jesus (v13)
4. God’s Grace Transforms Us Completely (v14)
Titus 2:11-14, The Grace Of God Has Been Revealed
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Pastor Jerry Simmons [00:00:00]:
Amen. As we look at Titus, chapter two this morning, really incredible and powerful passage that Paul writes here to Titus, as he is encouraging Titus in his mission to set up the structure of the church on the island of Crete. As they were passing through, Paul left Titus behind. He left him there to take care of some things. But like Timothy, as we were reading Paul's letters to Timothy in the previous couple of weeks, titus needed some encouragement. He needed some direction to help lay the foundation for the church. And as he encourages Titus to lay a solid foundation for the church and make sure that it's established. Well, what's interesting to me as I was reading through Titus this week is the amount of gospel found in this letter.
Pastor Jerry Simmons [00:00:53]:
This is one of those letters that we call the Pastoral Epistles, right? It's a letter to Pastor Titus and Pastor Titus, here's what you need to know. And so for some, it's kind of a behind the scenes insight and encouragement to what it looks know for a minister to be encouraged, a pastor to be encouraged and directed in some of the things that need to be done. Of course, it's largely valuable for all of us to understand the things that Paul wrote to Titus because they are the encouragements and exhortations that the church needs. But each chapter, it's a short book, only three chapters, and yet in each chapter, paul makes a very clear, laid out declaration of the Gospel to Pastor Titus. Hey, Pastor Titus, I'm writing to you. Imagine if I were to write an email to Pastor Jonathan and every third paragraph in the letter, I said, let me remind you about the Gospel, and here it is and lays it out, right? It would be probably not typical for us and not what you would expect to see. And yet here Paul looks at this and he says, look, the grace of God and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Titus, I need to remind you of this and refresh you in it.
Pastor Jerry Simmons [00:02:08]:
You need to be strengthened in it, that no matter how long we've been walking with the Lord, no matter how long we've known the Lord, now, no matter how involved we are in the ministry of the Lord sorry about that. Let me fix this real quick. It that means we lose the computer screens, so no slides. Sorry about that. Back to where I was. No matter how long we've been walking with the Lord, no matter how long we have been serving the Lord, we never leave that place of needing the grace of God. The message of the gospel, it never loses its power, it never loses its value. And for us, this morning, we get to hear this encouragement from Paul to Titus, as he is encouraging Titus and how to minister to the congregations there on Crete.
Pastor Jerry Simmons [00:03:07]:
He focuses in on the grace of God and the impact of grace on the lives of the people within the churches. And so I've titled the Message this morning. The grace of God has been revealed. The grace of God has been revealed. Obviously, it comes from verse eleven, for the grace of God has been revealed. It has been revealed. Paul says the grace of God is the subject. He mentions grace, God's grace, several times in his letter to Titus.
Pastor Jerry Simmons [00:03:42]:
And he's saying this the grace of God has been revealed in connection to what he's just been saying about encouraging the believers in their various ages and genders and how they are to live in light of the Gospel, and we are to live this way. He's saying, because the grace of God has been revealed. That word revealed, it means to shine forth, to light up something. It's like if something were dark, perhaps a work of art, a statue, and it was there and it was a little bit obscured, you could kind of see it. But then you turn on the spotlight on it and you are able to see you shine forth upon this thing. In a similar way, the grace of God has been revealed. It has been shined forth, announced and revealed to the world ever since the beginning, back in the Garden of Eden, in the Book of Genesis, when man fell from his position of fellowship and relationship with God, god had been pointing to this unveiling, to this revelation, to this salvation that would come forth. And Paul here is on the other side of that, looking back and saying, now that has happened, that thing that God was pointing forward to for thousands of years through the prophets, now we are looking back, we're pointing back, the grace of God has been revealed.
Pastor Jerry Simmons [00:05:10]:
The salvation God promised through the Savior that God promised has been revealed. And it all centers around this word, grace. Grace. Grace is a powerful word. It speaks of goodness that is not earned or not deserved. You can think of grace as goodness from God that we do not deserve and that we cannot earn. In the Greek culture, they would use this word as doing a favor for someone without expecting anything in return. It's a favor.
Pastor Jerry Simmons [00:05:58]:
I'm just doing it. You don't owe me anything. You don't have to pay me anything. You don't have to pay me back. I'm not saying, hey, you owe me one. So later on, when I'm in need, you'll do this back to me. It's just a free gift with no expectation of return. And that is how God has related to us, and particularly in regard to our salvation.
Pastor Jerry Simmons [00:06:20]:
It's goodness from God that we do not deserve. There is no person who has ever existed, aside from Jesus who has not been able to earn or deserve goodness from God. We're the only I mean, Jesus is the only one. We all, all of humanity, throughout all of history has deserved God's judgment and has been fully incapable of earning anything good from God. But grace comes into the picture and changes everything. Where we deserve judgment and where we deserve punishment for our sinfulness, where we deserve nothing from God. God says, I'm going to do good to you anyway, for the grace of God has been revealed. Now, it's interesting to think about this.
Pastor Jerry Simmons [00:07:19]:
The grace of God has been revealed. We're not just talking about an attribute of God or a kind of work that God does. When Paul says here the grace of God has been revealed, we can also understand this to be picturing and pointing back to the revelation and appearance and coming of Jesus himself. Jesus has been revealed. The instrument by which God shows us grace is through Jesus and his work for us upon the cross. The way that grace was revealed was in the person of Jesus, the apostle John. In his gospel. John, chapter one, verse 17, tells us that the Law was given through Moses.
Pastor Jerry Simmons [00:08:08]:
How was the law revealed? Through Moses. He went up the mountain, received the tablets, he brought them down. The Law was revealed through Moses, but grace and truth revealed through Jesus Christ. He was God's way of demonstrating to all of us his goodness that we do not deserve. The grace of God has been revealed. And so what does that mean for us? And how does that impact us? Well, we're going to walk through four points this morning, looking at these verses. Titus, chapter two, verses eleven through 14. Four points to help us understand the grace of God that has been revealed.
Pastor Jerry Simmons [00:08:51]:
Four points. Hopefully to help us receive that grace and to walk in it. Point number one, we're going to camp out in verse eleven. Point number one. God's grace brings salvation to anyone. God's grace brings salvation to anyone. Again, verse eleven says, for the grace of God has been revealed, bringing salvation to all people. This revelation of the grace of God has brought salvation.
Pastor Jerry Simmons [00:09:27]:
It is the instrument by which we have salvation. It is the path to salvation. The grace of God is what brings salvation. There's a couple ways that you could think about this to kind of help you think through all of the aspects of it. Number one, grace is the only means of salvation. The grace of God is the only possibility for you and I to have the promise of eternity with God. It is the only way of salvation. As Jesus said in John, chapter 14, I am the way, the truth and the life.
Pastor Jerry Simmons [00:10:10]:
No one comes to the Father except through Me. Jesus declared Himself to be the one way, the only way. And the way of Jesus is the way of grace. His first coming. As he came as a humble servant, as he came as a man, adding humanity to his deity. He went to the cross in order to make the way of salvation in order for grace to be fully applied to anyone who believes on him, he is the only means of salvation. There is no opportunity to work for salvation. There is no amount of effort that I can give.
Pastor Jerry Simmons [00:10:58]:
There is no amount of rules or rituals that I can perform. There is no amount of anything that I can do to earn or deserve eternity with God. The scripture is very clear. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. We are incapable of working this out ourselves or doing it for ourselves. It is not us earning, building up, doing more good works than bad things. It is only by grace. The grace of God has been revealed, bringing salvation to all people.
Pastor Jerry Simmons [00:11:40]:
And so we understand it's the only means of salvation. But we also understand from this another important point is that every single person has the possibility of salvation, bringing salvation. He says to all people, that is, all people have the opportunity to receive the grace of God. There was a universal need for humanity. Every human being has the need for a savior because of our sinfulness. We have the universal condition of sin, so the universal need of a savior. And so we needed a remedy that was universal, that would make it possible for each one to receive salvation. Now, Paul is not saying here that everybody will always be saved, regardless of the choices that they make and the decisions that they follow.
Pastor Jerry Simmons [00:12:44]:
That's not what Paul is saying. It's not universal salvation. But what he's saying here is that it's available to all. The grace of God has been revealed and is accessible to all. It's a universal remedy. There is no human being who has ever lived who was outside of the reach of the grace of God. Every one of us have the opportunity to receive God's goodness and grace, forgiveness and promise of everlasting life. In Romans, chapter one, the apostle Paul says I am not ashamed of this good news or the gospel about Christ, for it is the power of God at work saving everyone who believes.
Pastor Jerry Simmons [00:13:39]:
This good news tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith, as the Scripture says, it is through faith that a righteous person has life. By faith in Jesus Christ, we receive the grace of God. When we believe that Jesus is who he claimed to be, we receive the grace of God. And so Paul says, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. What a strange message. Yes, I believe in a guy who lived a long time ago and was crucified. He was put to death as a criminal.
Pastor Jerry Simmons [00:14:22]:
I believe in him, and so therefore I believe I have everlasting life. It's a strange message to those who are not familiar with the gospel, but to understand that Jesus is God, he claimed to be God, that he lived a sinless and perfect life to be the perfect sacrifice, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Paul says, I'm not ashamed of that message. It is the power of God to save everyone who believes. And when Paul says everyone, he means everyone. God's grace brings salvation to anyone who will believe. Paul always remembered where he came from. He started out not as a great follower of Jesus, he started out really as an enemy of Jesus and an enemy of the Church.
Pastor Jerry Simmons [00:15:20]:
He was very religious and very zealous in his religion and in his zeal for God, his misguided understanding of what God wanted. He was persecuting Christians and causing people to renounce the name of Christ, to blaspheme the name of Christ while he tortured them until they did so. He was the enemy of the Church, he was the enemy of Christ until that day. On the road to Damascus, the Lord revealed himself to Saul, said, why are you persecuting me? I am Jesus. I am alive. And Saul later on became the apostle Paul. But Saul then believed in Jesus and the worst enemy the Church had ever seen up to that point was now born again. Redeemed delivered the grace of God, brought salvation to even Saul of Tarsus, the enemy of the Church.
Pastor Jerry Simmons [00:16:26]:
So Paul writes to Timothy in one Timothy chapter one, this is a trustworthy saying and everyone should accept it. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners and I am the worst of them all, Paul says. I'm the example, I'm the worst of the worst. So that everyone could know that the message would be clear. It doesn't matter how far you go, how bad you've been, it doesn't matter how terrible it looks, how dark the days. God's grace brings salvation to anyone because it's by grace, anyone can receive it if it was by works. Only a limited number of people could receive the salvation that God offers. If it was by some kind of measurement that you had to reach a certain level of faith or Christianity or certain level of good deeds, there would only be a limited set of people who ever lived who could receive salvation.
Pastor Jerry Simmons [00:17:33]:
It wouldn't be available to everyone. But because it's by grace, God's goodness towards us that we do not deserve and cannot earn, because it's by grace, anyone has the opportunity. No matter what crimes have been committed, no matter the extent of rebellion against God, every person has the opportunity for salvation. It's for all people, meaning it's the only means of salvation, but also that every single person has the possibility, has the opportunity. The grace of God is extended, but grace, it's God's goodness towards us. Grace is a gift which must be received. And so it's not automatically applied to everyone, but for those who receive, anyone who receives, whosoever will believe, will have everlasting life. And so great gospel message that we have by grace.
Pastor Jerry Simmons [00:18:42]:
God's grace brings salvation to anyone. Secondly, we're going to move on into verse twelve for point number two, and that is that God's grace trains us to live Godly lives, god's grace trains us to live Godly lives. And this is important for us to understand that the grace of God is not just in that initial encounter with the Lord for salvation. It's not just about the one occasion or that moment when you are born again by believing in Jesus that the grace of God is needed or active in our lives. As believers in Jesus, we never stop needing God's grace towards us. We never get to a place where, okay, thank you Lord, you kind of set me back up right and give me a clean slate. And so from now on I can earn my way and deserve all the goodness that I want from you. That's not how it works.
Pastor Jerry Simmons [00:19:39]:
Even having been born again, having been washed off cleansed and have our feet set on solid ground again, we never stop needing the grace of God because it's always God's goodness towards us that overcomes our failures, our frailties, our sinfulness. We are in a constant need of the grace of God. In Ephesians chapter two, Paul talks about eternity and says in the ages to come that we are going to be trophies of God's grace. We're going to be put on display as, look at God's grace towards that one and look at God's grace towards that one, and look at God's grace towards that one. It's not just that initial salvation, but it's ongoing in our lives. And as we receive the grace of God in an ongoing way in our lives, it trains us there's a transforming work, a training work that takes place in us. Look at what Paul says here in verse twelve. And we are instructed to turn from Godless living and sinful pleasures we should live in this evil world with wisdom, righteousness and devotion to God.
Pastor Jerry Simmons [00:20:59]:
Paul says we are instructed to turn from Godless living. There is in the original Greek of this text, a little bit of a stronger connection between verse eleven and twelve, the way it's worded here. And we are instructed almost as like, a separate thing. But it's the grace of God that brings salvation and teaches us, or trains us to turn from Godless. Living is another way to understand that that these two things are intertwined, that it's not grace and then now obedience apart from grace. It's grace that teaches us how to obey. And you can see here very subtly, grace does not stop at conversion as he changes from all people to we, right, verse eleven, bringing salvation to all people, verse twelve. And we are instructed that all people, that grace is available to those who receive it, become the we.
Pastor Jerry Simmons [00:22:10]:
We receive the grace of God, we're born again. And now Paul is transitioning to talk to those who have received the grace of God, who are believers in Jesus. And this grace, he says, instructs us, or better understood, perhaps trains us. Pastor David Guzick says the Greek word for teaching has in mind what a parent does for a child. It speaks of the entire training process, teaching, encouragement, correction and discipline. Not just one aspect of teaching, not just one kind of teaching, but all kinds of teaching, like raising a child. We are coming to maturity by the grace of God. We're being raised up and trained by the grace of God.
Pastor Jerry Simmons [00:23:07]:
And the grace of God. What does it train us in? It trains us in turning from Godless, living Godless, living apart from God, living without God, included in our lives, living in a way that is inconsistent with the character and nature of God. It's the grace of God that trains us to turn away from the things that are not of God. There's a battle that happens many times in our hearts and minds, even as believers in the Lord, where we are drawn toward legalism and laws and rules and regulations as a means of trying to turn from Godless, living where if there's something Godless going on, there's something that is not right. And trying to enforce laws and rules in our lives is many times something that we reach for as a tool to try to solve that sin issue, to try to solve that disobedience that's happening. And there's whole religions built on this type of legalism. There's branches of Christianity that rely upon this kind of approach. But here Paul is teaching us something very different.
Pastor Jerry Simmons [00:24:32]:
And it's a powerful truth to receive and to understand. It's the grace of God that trains us to turn away from sin, to turn away from the things that are not of God. It's the grace of God that changes our life in regards to the sinful patterns and behavior that we used to walk in, that we're tempted to walk in, that we're drawn towards. It's the grace of God. Now, I started in verse eleven today because the Apostle Paul started a whole new subject and ignored everything else he had written before and brand new slate. He said, okay, let me talk about something new, verse eleven. No, that's not what happened. Right.
Pastor Jerry Simmons [00:25:24]:
You can back up to verse two here of Titus, chapter two, to get a little bit even more context to what Paul is saying here. There. Paul Instructs. Titus. Teach the older men to exercise self control, to be worthy of respect, and to live wisely. They must have sound faith and be filled with love and patience. Similarly, verse three teach the older women to live in a way that honors God. They must not slander others or be heavy drinkers.
Pastor Jerry Simmons [00:26:01]:
Instead, they should teach others what is good. These older women must train the younger women to love their husbands and their children, to live wisely and to be pure, to work in their homes, to do good, and to be submissive to their husbands, then they will not bring shame on the word of God. Verse six. In the same way, encourage the young men to live wisely. If you jump to verse nine, slaves must obey their masters and do their best to please them. They must not talk back or steal, but must show themselves to be entirely trustworthy and good. Then they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive in every way. Four, verse eleven.
Pastor Jerry Simmons [00:26:51]:
The grace of God that brings salvation has been revealed to all men. Paul here is weaving together the behavior of the church and the belief of the Church. The grace of God and its work in our lives is directly related to how we respond and how we behave in the world around us. And so he's telling Titus here in the first part of the chapter, titus here's, the things to instruct the people in. And so if Titus were here sharing the message with you this morning, he would be saying, older men exercise self control. Now, in order to exercise self control, it means you're going to have to turn from Godless living and sinful pleasures. There's Godless living and sinful pleasures that you will engage in if you do not exercise self control. Older men, you need to be worthy of respect.
Pastor Jerry Simmons [00:27:59]:
But guys, if you don't turn from Godless behavior and sinful pleasures, you will not be worthy of respect. Older men, you need to live wisely. But if you continue in sinful pleasures and continue in Godless living, you're not going to be living wisely. We can work our way down. Ladies, younger ladies, younger men, these things are all tied together. That it's. Paul saying, okay, here's what you need to lay out, Titus, about how everyone is to live. These are important characteristics.
Pastor Jerry Simmons [00:28:39]:
And so you can decide if you're young or old and find the right application for you here in Titus, chapter two, What Titus Would Be Teaching You. But then you need to understand that the resource to carry out that instruction is not okay. So now be very determined and work really hard to exercise self control and to have sound faith and make sure you muster all of your energy and set in place this rule, this law for you to follow. No, that's not how you're going to be able to walk in the things that were instructed in here. It's for the grace of God that has been revealed, that trains us, instructs us to turn from Godless living and sinful pleasures. The grace of God gives us this opportunity to follow the instruction that we've been given so that there will be a difference. And Paul draws a contrast here. We live in this evil world, he says here in verse twelve, but we're not going to live like the world, even though that's natural and normal.
Pastor Jerry Simmons [00:29:59]:
We kind of start to blend in and fit in with everyone around us. That's the normal way of things. But following that is self destructive. And the grace of God trains me to say, you know what I should do? I should listen to God and not to what the world is saying, not to what is normal for the world, not what is normal in society. The grace of God trains me to trust God in what he says, more than what anybody says, more than what any organization says, more than what any media outlet says, more than what all of society collectively says. The grace of God trains me to turn from Godless living and sinful pleasures. He says at the end of verse twelve, we should live in this evil world with wisdom, righteousness and devotion to God. Here's what the grace of God trains us to do.
Pastor Jerry Simmons [00:31:04]:
We're in a bad situation. We live in an evil world, a world fallen into sin, a world in pursuit of rebellion against God. We live in a war zone. And so Paul says we need to be wise, we need to be righteous, and we need to be devoted to God. But we don't achieve these things through our own resources. It's the grace of God that we need. It's the grace of God that enables and equips us to live in this world with wisdom and righteousness and devotion to God. When he says wisdom, they're in verse twelve again.
Pastor Jerry Simmons [00:31:51]:
He's tying back in the things he's been teaching. You know what he told Titus to teach to the older men? You'll find it in verse two, titus, you need to teach them to live wisely. We should live in this evil world with wisdom, he says in verse twelve. That's what the grace of God teaches us. So how do these guys live wisely as they're instructed? In verse two, you jump down to verse twelve. You find it's the grace of God that gives us what we need, that trains us to put that into practice. In verse six, Paul tells Titus, teach the young guys to live wisely. To be wise, literally, it means to have a sober mind, to be self controlled.
Pastor Jerry Simmons [00:32:42]:
How do young guys have a sober mind and be self controlled? How can they execute that instruction that Titus is giving them? The grace of God brings salvation to all men and trains us to live in this evil world with wisdom, righteousness and devotion to God. In verse five of Titus two, as Paul's instructing Titus on what to teach the ladies, instruct them to live wisely and be pure. All the genders, all two of them, all the age groups instructed to live wisely, how are they going to do that? Old guys face challenges in this world. It's an evil world. There's lots of issues going on. Young guys face challenges. There's a lot pushing back against our endeavor to live in the way that God has called us to live? How are we going to live wisely? There's a lot of challenges for the ladies to live wisely. How are we going to do that? What are the resources that we need? It's the grace of God.
Pastor Jerry Simmons [00:34:01]:
It's the grace of God that trains us, that teaches us. Paul says in Romans, it's the kindness of God that leads us to repentance. Sometimes the training that we receive is not so much like a formal setting education, but God being kind after failure, something to consider how grace instructs us. I would encourage you to remember that sin is called sin because it is destructive. Sin is forbidden because it is harmful to us. God didn't see a lot of really fun things and say, all right, I don't want you to do those fun things, so I'm going to call it sin, and you're going to miss out on all the great fun because I said so. God saw sin and the destruction that it brings and the hurt and heartache that unfolds. And he says, I don't want my people to be hurt or to suffer or to inflict harm on others.
Pastor Jerry Simmons [00:35:09]:
I don't want them to be destroyed in this way. So I'm going to call that out as sin and tell my people, don't play catch on the freeway, don't put your hand on the frying pan, don't hurt yourself. It's not like wet paint, right? You see the sign. Maybe you're tempted to touch it, but you're not really harmed if you touch wet paint, right? Who's harmed the one who wanted the nice finished, painted, whatever it was, right? They're harmed. That's not what sin is. God didn't say, Look, I had this almost perfect thing and then you ruined it. Sin is, look, this is going to hurt you, you're going to burn yourself, you're going to hurt yourself. And so I have forbidden this because I don't want you to experience that destruction.
Pastor Jerry Simmons [00:36:07]:
Godless living is destructive. Sinful pleasures, they're destructive. But notice the word pleasure in there, which is an interesting thing that we have to understand that there is temporary pleasure many times associated with sinful pleasures, but the end of that way is death. It's a trade off of temporary pleasure for a permanent pain. You could jump off the roof and have a good time on the fall. That'd be like we but then you hit the ground and now the rest of your life is affected by it. It's a temporary pleasure. It lasts for a moment, then you suffer the grace of God that brings salvation.
Pastor Jerry Simmons [00:36:57]:
It trains us to turn away from Godless living, to turn away from sinful pleasures. I think the father of the prodigal son is a really good picture of grace and we need to think about it. We need to allow it to really take root in our hearts. When someone around us is heading in a direction, maybe they even seek us for counsel and we. Direct them a different way than they want to go, and they go that way anyways. And maybe they even say, I'm going to go that way anyways. And we are very tempted at that point to say, well, don't come crawling back to me. When all that falls apart.
Pastor Jerry Simmons [00:37:51]:
Grace says, listen, I don't think you should go that way. It's going to result in pain and hurt. It's going to be devastating when everything falls apart. Come crawling back to me. That's what the prodigal son's father did. Son, you want your inheritance early? No good can come of this. Here you go. And the son took the inheritance, squandered it, lost it, ended up in a pig pen, so hungry that he was tempted by the food that he's feeding to the pigs.
Pastor Jerry Simmons [00:38:36]:
He realized the lowest of the low in my father's house lives better than this. I'm going to go back to him and just offer to be a servant. Can I just please. I don't deserve it. It's going to be Grace if he even lets me be a servant in his house. But it's got to be better. That lowest spot in my father's house is better than the highest spot in the pig pen. And he goes back and the father sees him a long way off.
Pastor Jerry Simmons [00:39:08]:
He runs to him, he embraces him. He restores him to his sonship. Not just as a servant. It's Grace. The father had every right to be angry, to say, you're never seeing my face again. I disown you. Look, you wasted all the money that I saved up for you. We would have all understood if that was how the story of the prodigal son went.
Pastor Jerry Simmons [00:39:30]:
But the father demonstrates the grace of God. Yes, you hurt yourself really bad. Yeah, you devastated a lot of and you hurt your mom and you hurt your brother and you hurt all these people on the way. Come crawling back to me. Let me restore to you relationship, fellowship. Grace instructs us many times by allowing us to make our bad decisions and come crawling back to God after we've proven his point. When he said, that's painful, that's destructive, don't do it. We say, I don't know, I think I could do it without the destruction.
Pastor Jerry Simmons [00:40:12]:
Let me try. Guys, you want to choose not to exercise self control, that's going to go poorly. You're going to regret it. But God's door of fellowship and relationship and forgiveness is still open. Come crawling back to me. Grace trains us by allowing us to make bad choices, to fall hard, to fail hard, and to come back and say, god, you are right all along. That's what confession means, to agree with God. God, you are right.
Pastor Jerry Simmons [00:40:49]:
I didn't believe you when you said that was wrong. When you said that would end in destruction, I didn't believe you. But now I do. I've learned it the hard way, I think. Also, Grace is demonstrated to us with the abundance of examples that we have in the Scriptures and in the believers around us the opportunity to learn hard lessons, the easy way that's grace, that we don't have to rebel against God and try it our way and learn the hard way to learn a lesson. But the grace of God has provided for us so many people around us who've tried all of those paths. We have the example like Solomon, who tried everything with all of his resources to find fulfillment and pleasure in this life apart from God and found none. It's grace that God provides for us the opportunity to learn these lessons and to receive his goodness, to believe Him at his word, to not have to learn it the hard way.
Pastor Jerry Simmons [00:42:02]:
The grace of God has been revealed and his grace brings salvation to anyone. His grace trains us to live Godly lives. Moving on to verse 13 for point number three. God's grace keeps our attention on Jesus. God's grace keeps our attention on Jesus. Verse 13 says while we look forward with hope to that wonderful day when the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ will be revealed the grace of God is training us. While we are looking forward, we have great hope about what is to come. We are looking forward with hope.
Pastor Jerry Simmons [00:42:53]:
He says hope is a confident expectation of eternity. I would have no confidence regarding eternity if it was not for grace. Would you? If it was up to me to measure up to have enough good works to keep all the right rituals and rules. If it was up to me and my performance I would have no confidence regarding eternity. And so I would not look forward with hope if that is the way that God had provided for us to approach Him and to have eternity with Him because I don't measure up, I don't perform very well. I am weak and I'm frail and I fall short. Paul says we look forward with hope because the grace of God that brings salvation has been revealed. And so our reliance and our hope is not in our performance.
Pastor Jerry Simmons [00:43:57]:
Our reliance and our hope is based upon God's goodness, his unchanging nature, his keeping of his promises and his word to look forward with hope. It's a constant thing that we're doing. Pastor Thomas Constable points out this word to look forward. It's in the present tense indicating that this waiting should be our characteristic attitude. We should always be ready to welcome the returning Lord. We're always looking forward with hope. We're always looking forward to that day, that wonderful day. Paul says here in verse 13 when we are face to face with the Lord jesus grace keeps our attention on Jesus what he has done, the work accomplished for us at the cross and what he's going to do in our lives, the future that he has promised to us.
Pastor Jerry Simmons [00:45:16]:
He says that wonderful day when the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ will be revealed. You see, that two revelations, verse eleven, the grace of God has been revealed. And then in verse 13, we get the second revelation, that future day, that wonderful day when the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ will be revealed. The revelation of God's grace at the first coming of Jesus, when he came in humility as a servant. The revelation of God's glory will be at the second coming of Jesus when he returns to establish his rule and authority here upon the earth. We're looking forward with hope to that day. There's confidence in that day. There's confidence as we look forward to that, that we can look forward to standing before God.
Pastor Jerry Simmons [00:46:18]:
You know, sometimes we perhaps think about standing before God in that day. And it can be anxiety inducing, right? Like, oh, how scary to stand before God to meet the Lord face to face. And rightfully so, if it's based on performance, earning it, deserving it. But because it's all rooted in the grace of God, we can look forward joy, excitement, anticipation for that wonderful day when the glory of God will be revealed, that wonderful day of Jesus. In Philippians, chapter three, verse 20 and 21, Paul says we are citizens of heaven where the Lord Jesus Christ lives, and we are eagerly waiting for Him to return as our Savior. He will take our weak mortal bodies and change them into glorious bodies like his own, using the same power with which he will bring everything under his control. We are citizens of heaven, Paul says, and we have an eagerness awaiting for his return. He's going to do some amazing things.
Pastor Jerry Simmons [00:47:39]:
Our mortal bodies are going to be transformed by his power. We will be resurrected bodily to be forever with the Lord as he reigns over all things. We will be in a place of fellowship with Him and of glory with Him. Grace keeps our attention on Jesus. That day is coming and we can look forward to it. We can be eager for it, we can be excited about it, because our great God and Savior Jesus Christ is coming again soon. Finally, verse 14 for point number four, god's grace transforms us completely. Verse 14 says he gave his life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us and to make us, his very own people, totally committed to doing good deeds.
Pastor Jerry Simmons [00:48:46]:
God's grace transforms us completely. Not a little bit, not a partial transformation in our life, but it's a total and complete transformation. How did that happen? Well, he starts in verse 14 saying he gave his life. So again, our attention is on Jesus. Everything that we have, everything that we can do. It's all a response to what he has done for us. His goodness extended towards us, his grace. He gave his life pointing out the fact that Jesus was not suffering the consequences of some incredible accident.
Pastor Jerry Simmons [00:49:30]:
Oh, no. The Son of God was accidentally put to death on the cross. He willingly gave himself Remember when they were in the Garden of Gethsemane and the soldiers came and Peter whipped out a sword and he's ready to fight. And Jesus stopped Peter from fighting. Don't fight, Peter. Put away your sword. Don't you know I could ask my Father for thousands of angels to protect us? And he would send them instantly. Jesus could have been out of that in a flash.
Pastor Jerry Simmons [00:50:03]:
He didn't need Peter's help. He really didn't even need the help of the angels. He could have just got out. He's God who became man. He gave himself. He willingly surrendered to those soldiers, surrendered to the suffering of the cross. Paul says he gave his life to free us. It wasn't for no reason or for no purpose or with nothing in return.
Pastor Jerry Simmons [00:50:31]:
He gave his life. He willingly surrendered in order to free us or redeem us. It means to set free with a payment. He set us free from the punishment that we owed for our sin. He set us free from the bondage to sin. He set us free so that we don't have to live in sin any longer. He gave Himself to free us, willingly gave. Grace is a gift to us.
Pastor Jerry Simmons [00:51:16]:
But it did come at a great cost, a great expense. He gave himself. He gave his life in exchange for our freedom. Paul says to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us and to make us his very own people. His very own people speaks of us being his treasured people. All people are God's children in the sense that they are part of his creation. And he loves all people. But those who receive his grace, those who believe in Jesus and are born again, they're his own people in a special way, in a treasured way.
Pastor Jerry Simmons [00:51:58]:
Way back in the day and I used to collect baseball cards. I would want to get the whole set right. You get score 1990, the full set right. The goal was to have them all. And you could cheat and buy the whole box at one time if you had wealthy parents, but I didn't. And so you would buy package by package and try to line them up. And they were all ordered one, two, all the way to like 345 or whatever. There's probably many more now, but you would try to get all 300, all 500 and so in order to know that you would keep them in sequence.
Pastor Jerry Simmons [00:52:32]:
But then there were special cards that were worth keeping out of sequence. I got this one signed by Oral Hershey. Sir, it's an old pitcher. You don't have to worry about it. But he played for the Dodgers. Some of you guys would appreciate that. So that one doesn't go in the pack with all the rest of the 500 this one goes in a special place. It's a special treasure.
Pastor Jerry Simmons [00:52:59]:
All of humanity God loves, and he desires for all to be saved. And those who receive his grace says, let me take you out of the normal sequence and put you in the treasured place. You're going to go on display. You're going to be my own special people. But not just that. He finishes saying, totally committed to doing good deeds. Completely turned over. We're not going to necessarily see the full fulfillment of this in this life, but for all of eternity, we will be totally committed to doing good deeds right now, for sure.
Pastor Jerry Simmons [00:53:44]:
Yes. That's part of all the instruction that Paul's been giving to the people through Titus. Christians are to be people who are eagerly looking for chances to do good. But even more than that, for the rest of eternity, we will be doing good. We will be finally free from the fallen nature and the sinfulness. And the full transformation of God's grace will be upon us as we experience the redemption, the deliverance he gave Himself to set us free, to transform us into men and women who are zealous, passionate, completely committed to doing what is good. The grace of God has been revealed, which means that salvation is available to anyone and those who receive it. God's grace trains us to live.
Pastor Jerry Simmons [00:54:46]:
Godly lives. God's grace keeps our attention on Jesus, what he has done and what he is going to do. God's grace transforms us completely as we experience the full payment of what he did on our behalf. Now, grace, it's goodness we cannot earn. We do not deserve. It's a gift to us. And so, in response to God's grace, there's only one thing that we can do. They asked Jesus one time, what good work must we do? And Jesus said, here's the good work.
Pastor Jerry Simmons [00:55:27]:
Believe in the one that the Father has sent. The one thing that we can do is to receive the gift that is being presented to us. That's it. That's what we do. We receive God's grace, which means come crawling back. Bobbitt, I don't deserve it. You don't know how far I went, how bad I went, and how bad it was and how terrible. It's okay by faith in Jesus Christ, understanding what he accomplished for you at the cross.
Pastor Jerry Simmons [00:56:02]:
Come crawling back. Don't stay away. Sometimes, even as believers who've been around with the Lord for a long time, we kind of put ourselves on time out. We stay away from God. No. Receive God's grace and run back into fellowship with God. Run to God even more. Call out to God and ask God to work.
Pastor Jerry Simmons [00:56:23]:
Ask God for miracles in your life by God's grace. Ask for God to work good in your life that you do not deserve because you believe in what Jesus Christ has done for you. The grace of God has been revealed in the person of Jesus. Receive him. Believe Him. Run to the Father through Him every day, every moment, no matter what. Lord, we thank you that you have made away an opportunity that is accessible to each one, no matter what our background, no matter what our education, no matter what our nationality, no matter how bad our failures, how great our rebellions. Lord, we have the opportunity to know you to be washed and cleansed and to have the promise of eternity with you because you are good, and you extend that goodness to us.
Pastor Jerry Simmons [00:57:25]:
Lord, we thank you. It doesn't require saying, but we say it anyways. Lord, we're unworthy. We're undeserving. But, God, we thank you for your love and your grace. And right now, we grasp hold of it. We receive it. We say yes.
Pastor Jerry Simmons [00:57:43]:
I believe in Jesus. I believe in that work. It was so complete. It does wash and cleanse, even these sins on my mind and heart right now. But, Lord, I receive your grace. I receive your forgiveness. I receive all of Your promises. Lord, would You Continue to pour out Your grace in us, that we might become more like you? Transform us, change us, help us to put a stop to those harmful behaviors that you call sin.
Pastor Jerry Simmons [00:58:19]:
Help us to believe you at Your word. We need Your grace to be able to do that, because we want to believe our mind, our eyes. We want to believe our senses. We want to believe the message of the world around us. Lord, help us to believe you by Your grace. Do good in us, towards us, and through us. We pray in Jesus name, amen.