You know, it kind of feels like I haven’t been up here in a while. And actually, I guess it hasn’t been since last year. I always want to use that joke when you can.
I don’t know about the other brothers who share here—and there are many—but the week that you know you’re going to share, my ear is usually really fine-tuned, listening for the voice of the Lord. And by that, I mean even after I feel like He’s laid something on my heart, I’m listening to be directed. I’m listening to see, “Am I in sync with Him?”
Because, for me, I get fearful easily around this matter, thinking that maybe I’m missing Him, or maybe I’m getting ahead of Him or behind Him, you know? And so this morning, I was amazed when I listened to the brothers and sisters—what came out. I could mention a lot of names, but I’m not going to. But the Lord, in His mercy, in His grace—it’s just an amazing thing.
But anyway, let’s just begin with a word of prayer.
Lord, we do just bow before You.
Lord, when we consider Your person—Who You are—it just is overwhelming to us: all that You’ve done for us, all that You are to us. Lord, what can we say?
And we come this morning, Lord, acknowledging our weakness before Thee, to speak and even to hear correctly. Lord, wanting to commit this time into Your hands, that somehow something of this time can flow into Your kingdom, can flow into eternity. And we pray to that end, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
I think a lot of you remember that recently our brother Kenny spoke on the subject of the grace of God. This morning, we hope to come alongside of that message. As I sat there and listened to that, I was struck with several thoughts.
Just as a reminder, our brother’s outline for that time was:
You know, I was struck with the thought that we’re very blessed people to live in this age of grace. Consider if you had been born in the time of the law. How difficult that would have been, having to get up, having to slaughter sheep, raise sheep, go through all that process, you know, in an attempt to try to approach God.
But we live in a very different age. We live in an age of grace, and what a blessing it is.
But I was also struck that this grace of God has not just been made available for our sakes, but to attain an end which would bring satisfaction to our God. With this thought in mind, we want to look at a passage in the book of Titus which shows us how grace works to bring about what God desires to attain through the giving of His grace.
We believe many believers fall short in their understanding of what the goal of grace is to be. Many seem to see grace merely as that which is to save us so that we do not have to spend eternity in hell. Now, certainly that is true. God does not desire that any should perish. But is that all that He is after in giving grace?
Now, I know most of us here this morning know that God’s grace, which saves us from eternal damnation, is but the beginning of what God wants to do with His grace. And by God’s grace, we hope to touch on this matter today.
We believe all of us are familiar with the definition of grace, which we define as unmerited favor. We find in Christianity that this is often only referred to in relation to our initial salvation—our being born again, our being saved from the penalty of sin.
But this grace, or unmerited favor, is to bring us into all that God is after in our lives, both individually and corporately.
No doubt God’s stooping in grace to save us from the penalty of sin is a tremendous thing. When we consider that the end of our being was that we were dead in sins and transgressions, and what that would have led to had we continued in that—we who were enemies of God, wanting nothing to do with Him except maybe to the degree that He would benefit us.
And yet we find that because of His great love, He reached out to us in grace and liberated us from all that is contrary to His Self, to His character, and brought us into that which would be to His satisfaction and His glory.
So then again, we want to look at a passage in Titus. I think most of us are familiar with this passage, and we want to consider the working of grace and the end which it is to accomplish.
So with that, let’s turn to the book of Titus, chapter 2. I don’t have the computer here, so you’re going to have to either use your computers or your Bibles. I do wish that you would follow along with me.
Titus chapter 2—we’re going to read verses 11 through 14. Now, I’m reading out of the NASB version, so your versions may sound a little different if you’re reading elsewhere.
For the grace of God has appeared,
bringing salvation to all men,
instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires,
and to live sensibly, righteously, and godly in the present age,
looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus,
Who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed,
and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession,
zealous for good deeds.
Before we go into this passage, let us point out a couple of high-level observations. Note first that this word appeared is found twice. It is once in the past tense, and it is once in the future tense.
Within these two appearings, we find something called the present age. And within this present age, we find a certain process or method that is to take place. We find there is that which is to be denied, and there is a way to be lived.
May we say it another way? We find there is that to put off, and there is that to put on. And lastly, we see how this will be accomplished and the reason it is to be accomplished.
Notice that the passage begins, “For the grace of God has appeared.” The Greek word for grace is charis, from which we derive the word charity.
Now, unfortunately, the word charity has largely been watered down today to mean the giving of some morsel or some small amount of money to some needy cause or individual. But we are told that in ancient Greece, this word carried the meaning of a favor freely done, without claim or expectation of return, finding its only motive in the bounty and free-heartedness of the giver.
But in pagan Greece, this favor was always conferred upon a friend, not upon an enemy. Yet we find in the New Testament that God’s grace has been conferred even upon those who are His enemies.
Listen to what one brother has said regarding God’s grace:
Grace is a self-motivating love that is in full energetic exercise.
Get a little background on what this guy is like, hearing it put like that.
Grace is a self-motivating, ever-acting love that delights to impart.
And he goes on and says:
Grace is a self-motivating, ever-acting, communicating love, which bends in tenderness and floods with gifts those that stand far beneath itself.
That’s Alexander McLaren, in case you’re wondering. Only God can dispense grace of this nature. I think we would all agree with that.
But let me go a little further. Listen to what William Newell says of the nature of grace. Bear with me a minute.
Grace is God acting freely according to His own nature as love, with no promises or obligations to fulfill, and acting, of course, righteously in view of the cross.
Grace, therefore, is uncaused in the recipient. Its cause lies wholly in the Giver—in God.
Grace also is sovereign, not having debts to pay or fulfilled conditions on man’s part to wait for. It can act toward whom and how it pleases. It can and does often place the worst deservers in the highest favors.
There being no cause in the creature why grace should be shown, the creature—that’s us, by the way; did you know you’re a creature?—must be brought off from trying to give cause to God for His grace.
The discovery by the creature that he is truly the object of divine grace works the utmost humility. If you want to know if you’re a recipient of grace, the fruit of that will be humility. It will not be pride.
For the receiver of grace is brought to know his own absolute unworthiness and his complete inability to attain worthiness. Yet he finds himself blessed on another principle outside of himself.
Remember the old song, “Just as I Am”? It’s William Newell. That’s out of his book Romans Verse by Verse, in case anybody’s interested.
So our passage says, “The grace of God has appeared.” Now, this word appeared means to become visible. So how has grace become visible?
We find in John 1:14, a very familiar verse:
And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us,
and we saw His glory,
glory as of the only begotten from the Father,
full of grace and truth.
Our brother Kenny shared that verse with us. Our Lord Jesus is grace personified. If you have a question as to what grace is, look unto the Lord Jesus Christ.
For we see how He moved about in grace when He was here on this earth: in grace toward His mother, even when He was dying on the cross, caring for her until the end; in grace toward the disciples, loving and training them, even though they bickered and fought among themselves for position; in grace toward the crowds that thronged Him, teaching and healing them.
And get this: even in grace toward those who hated Him. He rebuked and warned them out of His grace.
How our Lord Jesus has stooped, leaving the throne—His place next to the Father—so that those who were also destined to the throne, but had miserably disqualified themselves because of sin, could be redeemed and purified through the work of the cross, and thus brought into that place originally designed for them.
What does Scripture say in connection with our Lord and grace? It says of Him in 2 Corinthians 8:9—I recommend you memorize this if you haven’t:
For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
that though He was rich,
yet for your sake He became poor,
so that you through His poverty might become rich.
So, the grace of God has appeared. For what purpose? Our text says, “Bringing salvation to all men.”
Now, I want you to notice the tense of this word bringing. It is in the present tense. It is not stated in the past tense of brought, though this is true in one sense, as Christ has completed the work of salvation.
But it is in the present tense because we who are still alive in this age are to be continually experiencing salvation in its fullness. Also, this present tense of salvation, or bringing, has to do even with those who are now being brought into salvation initially by the grace of God.
But as we have mentioned, the grace of God is not only to bring us into initial salvation, but also into the complete salvation of our whole being: spirit, soul, and body.
Kenny shared with us, “Grace is our beginning.” That is our being born again. “And grace is our end.” That is the salvation of our soul, the alignment of our mind, our will, and our emotions with His purpose.
But also notice: this salvation is for all men. It is for all men.
Now, let me say that this bringing salvation to all men does not mean what is commonly called universal salvation. Have you ever heard that term before, universal salvation?
Universal salvation basically says that Christ dying on the cross automatically saved everyone. No. Scripture plainly teaches that salvation is received by faith.
Romans 5:17 says that individuals must receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness. This bringing salvation to all men means that this salvation, which is by grace, is offered to all types of people.
Even these Cretans who were referred to in this book of Titus, who were defined as lazy, evil liars—they were basically beasts. So what does that tell us? It tells us that no one is beyond the reach of God’s grace. Not even members of the Islamic terrorist group ISIS are beyond the reach of God’s grace.
Now our passage goes on to say, “The grace of God has appeared, instructing us.” Instructing us. That’s interesting, don’t you think? Did you know the grace of God has been given to instruct us?
Let’s consider some other verses where we find the same Greek word that is translated instructing here in Titus. Turn with me, if you would, to Acts 7:22.
Thank God for concordances, and maybe even thank God a little more for those that are online—though I do feel all electronic devices are evil. How’s that for talking out of two sides of your face?
Acts 7:22 says:
Moses was educated in all the learning of the Egyptians.
There is our Greek word. Moses was educated. It is our same word that is translated instructing in Titus.
Look also at 2 Timothy 2:24–25. We’re trying to lay a little groundwork here.
You know, I really had a good time when I was looking up these verses, looking up these parallels. The Lord can really show you things.
The Lord’s bond-servant must not be quarrelsome,
but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged,
with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition.
Guess which word there is the same one? Correcting. This word correcting is our Greek word we find in Titus. But I like how he put before correcting, “with gentleness.” I got corrected a lot as a little child in school, but I can tell you it wasn’t very gentle.
Let’s look in Revelation 3:19. We will see where it is translated by another English word.
Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline.
Discipline. There is our Greek word. We also find in Hebrews that this Greek word is translated discipline three times: Hebrews 12:6, 12:7, and 12:10.
Lastly, turn to Luke 23:16. This one made the hair on the back of my neck stand up a little bit when I saw this.
Pilate said, in reference to Jesus, to the crowd—this is where he was trying to get off the hook, because he wanted to let Jesus go free, but he could see the crowd was getting very hostile:
Therefore, I will punish Him and release Him.
That word punish here is our Greek word we find in Titus translated instructing. So this word instructing carries with it the meaning of training, discipline, to reprove, to chastise, to correct.
Now, I think if we have a man-centered view of grace, it probably will seem like a strange thing to associate God’s grace with discipline or chastisement. But if we have a God-centered view of grace, we will realize that God wants more than just kids. He wants kids that mature into adults.
He wants sons who are not only delivered from the penalty of sin, but who are also delivered from the power of sin—sons who will bear and reflect His character.
This grace has appeared, or been given, to instruct, discipline, and even chastise us to bring this about. We might normally associate discipline or chastisement with the law and not grace. But remember: what the law could not do because of the weakness of the flesh, God can and will do by His grace, which is to bring us into the fullness of His salvation.
Now, before we go on, let me say that this training, this chastisement, this working of the grace of God that comes to the believer, is a proof—it is a proof—that we are the children of God.
You know, Hebrews says that God deals with us as what? As sons, not as illegitimate children. In this matter of child training, there is an aspect of the working of grace. This is a unique aspect, if I may put it that way, of a working of grace in the life of a Christian.
There is that aspect of the grace of God that brings us into the place of being a child of God, but there is also an aspect of the grace of God that brings us into that place of grown-up, matured believers.
You all remember Matthew 11:28–30. Let’s read that together. I think we’re all familiar with these verses.
Come to Me,
all who are weary and heavy-laden,
and I will give you rest.
Take My yoke upon you
and learn from Me,
for I am gentle and humble in heart,
and you will find rest for your souls.
For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.
We believe that in these verses we find a different viewpoint of the outworking of grace. There are three key words to these verses, and they are these: come, take, and learn. Come, take, and learn.
First, we have come. Jesus said, “Come to Me.” This speaks of our initially coming to the Lord Jesus for salvation. Notice there are no prerequisites to this coming to Him. It is all of grace that enables us to come to Him.
You know, Jesus said, “No one can come to Me unless the Father Who sent Me draws him.” But it does not stop there, because we are not saved by grace just to go about our own way.
It then says to take. Jesus said, “Take My yoke upon you.” This speaks of discipleship. Coming to Jesus and taking His yoke upon ourselves were never meant to be separated, even as justification and sanctification are to go hand in hand.
The grace of God that has saved us from the penalty of sin is to also lead us into all the purpose of God.
Which brings us to the third word, which is learn. Jesus said, “Learn of Me,” which we can more accurately say, “Learn Him. Learn Him.”
Because the purpose of God is not that we learn something about Him, but that we learn of His life in us; that we be child-trained, allowing His character to be formed in us, as Romans states, to be conformed to His image.
The grace of God is given that we may come to Jesus and take His yoke—we could say His cross—upon ourselves, and be instructed by Him.
Now, we believe this coming to Jesus is meant as a one-time occurrence. What we mean by that is that, in the mind of God, He means for us to come to Jesus and remain, or abide, in Him. It is not many comings to Him. It is not meant to be that we come, and then we fall away, and then we come back again. It is not God’s mind that we are to drift in and drift out.
But unfortunately, we find in our experience that we often do not find ourselves in this place of abiding, and we find that we drift away at times.
You know, man has something that he calls disaster recovery plans. Disaster recovery plans. They are put in place to ward off any emergencies that occur to the initial plan.
God’s disaster recovery plan was incorporated into His initial plan in the beginning. He knew all that would be necessary to accomplish His purpose. He is not taken by surprise with so-called wrenches in the machinery.
There is an aspect of His grace that is more than sufficient to deal with man’s inabilities and weaknesses, to correct, straighten, and secure the accomplishment of His plan.
By His grace, we are to take His yoke upon ourselves, that we may learn of Him and that His plan may be accomplished in our lives. But therein is where the disaster can occur.
We do not like being linked like an ox in a yoke or a dog on a leash. You know, I have a dog, and I walk my dog almost every day. She is the type of dog who is naturally a hunter.
Do you know what they do when they want to walk? They want to go every way but the way you go. They want to sniff every little bush and anything else they can find, constantly tugging at that leash.
But you know what? If I tell her and say, “We’re going for a walk, but you have got to take that leash if you want to be with me,” guess what? She wants to go so bad, she wants to be with me, that she is willing to take that leash and go.
But we do not naturally like to be in a yoke, do we? We do not want to be that dog on the leash. But by His grace, He brings about ways to accomplish this purpose in our lives. Generally, it is by touching us in the area of either health or finances or family and friends.
But remember this when His discipline comes your way: He disciplines us for our good so that we may share His holiness.
He goes on to say, “All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of”—what?—“righteousness.”
Remember, the Lord Jesus is gentle and humble in heart. He corrects and disciplines with gentleness, which takes in also the meaning that He provides the grace to us to be able to receive and go through His discipline, His training.
So our text says grace has appeared, bringing salvation to instruct or discipline us. But in what specific ways?
Our text goes on to say:
Instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires,
and to live sensibly, righteously, and godly in the present age,
looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus.
There are three things mentioned here that the grace of God specifically instructs us in, or disciplines us in:
Deny, live, and look.
First, the grace of God instructs and disciplines us to deny. Our text mentions two things which we are to deny: ungodliness and worldly desires.
Firstly, to deny ungodliness. We find this word also appears in Jude 14–15:
Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones,
to execute judgment upon all,
and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds
which they have done in an ungodly way,
and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.
That word ungodly came up there several times—our same word. This word has the meaning of a lack of reverence toward God. It speaks of godless living. It speaks about living without the thought of, or any dependence on, God.
And we have to ask ourselves the question: Do we find ourselves floating along at times as if God does not exist? There is grace to instruct and discipline us in this matter.
We do believe it is the desire of every true believer to want to reverence and please God. But the truth of the matter is, we need grace to do so. Our natural tendency is to reverence ourselves.
You know, I heard recently of a famous athlete who is known for constantly talking and expressing his opinion. He said this: “I can’t wait to get up each day to hear what I have to say.”
We laugh at that, but you know, he was expressing that he was the beginning and the end of his little world. It is very little. That is ungodliness. By His grace, may we deny such an attitude.
But it goes on and says to deny worldly desires. We find the noun form of the Greek word for worldly in 1 John 2:15–17:
Do not love the world, nor the things in the world.
If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh,
and the lust of the eyes,
and the boastful pride of life,
is not from the Father, but is from the world.
The world is passing away, and also its lusts;
but the one who does the will of God lives forever.
Strong’s Concordance says this word worldly has the meaning of having the character of the present corrupt age.
Now, this word desires—worldly desires—could be translated craving or longing, a desire for that which is forbidden. We find this word in 1 Timothy 6:9:
But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare,
and many foolish and harmful desires
which plunge men into ruin and destruction.
Harmful desires is our word that we find translated desires here.
You know, it does fascinate me the extent that some go to in disciplining themselves in pursuing some worldly desire. We see those in corporate America who are willing to work twelve to sixteen hours a day, maybe even more, including skipping lunch or even working weekends, in order to climb that corporate ladder.
We see athletes who pummel themselves, pushing themselves beyond exhaustion, pumping and lifting those extra pounds away in the hopes of lifting that champion trophy one day—a trophy, as Paul describes in 1 Corinthians 9, that will only wither away.
Yet we find many Christians are spiritual wimps when it comes to this matter of spiritual discipline, succumbing to various worldly desires.
You know, William Newell was once speaking to an audience in Florida that consisted primarily of retirees. Isn’t that where everybody goes when they retire?
He asked them two questions. First, he asked how many of them wanted to go to heaven, of which, guess what? All of them raised their hands.
Second, he asked them how many wanted to go to heaven right now, of which only a very few of them raised their hands. Oh, how worldly desires can grip our hearts.
But do we not know that the grace of God has appeared, instructing, disciplining us, so that we can be able to deny worldly desires? Yes, grace has appeared to train us in what to say no to.
Now, this is the so-called negative side of the training or discipline. But as nature abhors a vacuum, there is also to be a positive side to the training. So we come to the second thing that the grace of God instructs us in, which is to live. To live.
We find in verse 12, “and to live sensibly, righteously, and godly in the present age.”
You know, if God was only interested in getting us born again, then He would have whisked us off to heaven when we got saved. But we find we are to live in the present age. Why?
The latter part of verse 10 of chapter 2, which we did not read, says this:
That they will adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in every respect.
This word adorn means to beautify. Believers, through their lives in this present age, are to beautify the gospel of grace. We are to be living epistles of what the grace of God can do in a fallen creature.
So we find on the positive side that we are to live sensibly, righteously, and godly. These three primarily speak of the life we are to live: firstly, in regard to ourselves, sensibly; others, righteously; and God, godly.
Notice these three are more or less the opposites of the characteristics we are to deny. Ungodliness is the opposite of godly, and worldly desires are primarily the opposites of sensibly and righteously.
First, we find we are to live sensibly. We find this word several times in the book of Titus. In Titus 1:8, it speaks of overseers living sensibly. In Titus 2:2, it speaks of older men being sensible. In Titus 2:5, it speaks of young women being sensible. And in Titus 2:6, it speaks of young men being sensible.
This word means to be sober and discreet. It also carries the meaning of being of a sound mind—an attitude of mind that leads to a self-controlled life.
How we need our mind to be saved in order that we may live sensibly. We need the grace of God to instruct us in this matter of sensible living so that we can discern between good and evil, so that we can be able to walk according to the will of God.
Many things are obvious to discern, to be sensible and discreet about, such as avoiding getting drunk or committing fornication or adultery. But some matters are more difficult to be sensible in. For example, what activities we should or should not be involved in.
You know, I know of one man who could not play the piano because his pride got the best of him whenever he would play it. He had to lay it down and never touch it.
Now, we know there is nothing wrong with the piano—we have one right over here—or many things in the world in themselves. But we need to be careful and have good judgment in what we do and do not do in our lives.
We need to be discreet. We need to be careful how we walk, making the most of our time in pursuing what benefits us spiritually as we live in this present age. And thank God, there is grace. There is grace to instruct and discipline us to live sensibly in this present age.
Next, we find we are to live righteously. This speaks of living a life of integrity, which includes dealing uprightly with others.
How many Christians find themselves cheating on such things as paying their taxes, or in business transactions, or in not putting in an honest day’s work? Or, for you young people, not doing a good job in your assigned chores at home?
It can also include our not showing mercy and forgiveness to our brothers or sisters when they offend us. You know, it is righteous. It is the right thing to do to forgive and have mercy on those who offend us.
And, of course, we are to first live right before God, because out of that, the fruit of that will be that we will live right before man. So we find the grace of God has appeared to instruct and discipline us to live righteously in this present age.
Lastly, we find we are to live godly. This speaks of living a Godward life, a life devoted to God.
Our Lord Jesus was the embodiment of a godly life. He was One who was consumed with the Father. All His thoughts and desires were centered in His Father. He never, never put Himself above or ahead of His Father.
He appeared, or became visible, in this world to do the Father’s will, never submitting to His own wishes and desires. Thank God, the grace of God has appeared to instruct us to live godly lives, for that inclination to do so does not reside in our old nature.
Lastly, we come to the third thing that the grace of God instructs us in, which is to look for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus.
The word looking means to expect the fulfillment of a promise, to wait, to receive. Wuest translates this as “expectantly looking for the prosperous expectation, even the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.”
Are we expectantly looking for His return? Most versions translate the beginning of verse 13 as “the blessed hope”: looking for the blessed hope. But I like how Wuest translates this as “prosperous expectation.”
How prosperous this appearing will be for those who are looking for Him. Consider Hebrews 9:28:
So Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many,
will appear a second time for salvation,
without reference to sin,
to those who eagerly await Him.
Or how about 1 John 3:2–3?
Beloved, now we are the children of God,
and it has not appeared as yet what we will be.
We know that when He appears, we will be like Him,
because we will see Him just as He is.
And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him
purifies himself, just as He is pure.
What a prosperous expectation. What a stimulus for us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires, and to live sensibly, righteously, and godly in this present age.
The grace of God that has appeared to instruct and discipline us is for the purpose of preparing us for His appearing in glory. Grace is given that we may share in His glory.
This attitude of looking expectantly for His glorious appearing is only attained by the grace of God. If left to ourselves, I am afraid we would become like the evil slave in Matthew 24, who said, “My master is not coming for a long time,” and he began to beat his fellow slaves and eat and drink with drunkards.
We cannot work up looking expectantly through studying prophecy of His coming or through observing the signs of the times. This looking expectantly can only come through His grace, through the Holy Spirit, Who is the Spirit of grace, Who is the great Lover of the Lord Jesus, and Who is jealous that we be occupied with the Lord Jesus.
The Holy Spirit yearns to abundantly supply grace for us in this matter of looking expectantly.
Lastly, but not least, we come to the conclusion of our text, which is verse 14. Paul began by stating in our text that the grace of God has appeared and that the purpose of grace appearing is to bring salvation.
He then proceeds in verses 12 and 13, if you will allow me to put it this way, to exhort us with what this salvation is to look like. Now, our natural inclination to any exhortation is to roll up our sleeves and say, “I’m going to deny this, and I’m going to deny that, and I’m going to live like this, and I’m going to live like that.”
Now, don’t misunderstand me. Exhortations are given to instruct us in the way we are to live, but we need to be careful by what source this is carried out.
Paul gives us these parameters in verses 12 and 13 to show us what the salvation is to look like. But he wants us to be clear that the bringing about of this salvation, which includes to deny and which includes to live, is to be through the grace of God.
So he returns to the source of grace, which we find in verse 14:
Who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed,
and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession,
zealous for good deeds.
In verse 14, Paul circles back after giving the exhortation to show us the means by which we are to carry this out. It says the Lord gave Himself to redeem us from every lawless deed—that is the negative—and to purify, sanctify, for Himself a people—that is the positive.
The Lord Jesus, Who is the embodiment of the grace of God, is the One Who will bring about all that God intended for salvation to complete. We can embrace the exhortations in verses 12 and 13 because grace has been made available.
We have Him, Who is the grace of God, within ourselves, and we need only to cooperate with His instruction, His training, His chastisement, if need be.
In this passage, we see the perfect blending of God’s side versus our side. God instructs. God provides grace. And we cooperate and lay hold of His grace, that we may walk in His will.
What is God’s will, or what is the purpose and end of grace? Let’s look at a portion in Ephesians. Most of us probably have not gotten there yet, but in Ephesians 5, let’s read verses 25–27. I am going to read this from the Darby translation.
Christ also loved the assembly,
and has delivered Himself up for it,
in order that He might sanctify it,
purifying it by the washing of water by the Word,
that He might present the assembly to Himself glorious,
having no spot or wrinkle or any of such things,
but that it might be holy and blameless.
So in these verses in Ephesians, we see the end or purpose of grace is to prepare a bride who is without spot or wrinkle. But here in our text, it speaks of procuring a people of His own possession, zealous for good works.
The end of grace is to bring about a people wholly possessed by the Lord, conformed to His image, having that zeal, that passion that Jerry spoke about, for good works—that zeal that He had when He said:
I have come to do Thy will, O God.
May we not frustrate the grace of God. May we not frustrate the grace of God, but allow this aspect of grace to do its work within us so it can prepare us for His next appearing and prepare us for that place with Him at His throne.
Let’s pray.
Lord, we just commit these feeble words into Your hands to do as You wish with them.
Lord, we do pray that we would be those who will go all the way with You, that we will not frustrate the grace of God, that we will be willing to be those who are even disciplined and chastised, and even maybe punished if necessary, that the end of grace will be done in us, Lord, individually and corporately.
We just pray in Your name. Amen.