In the Lord’s presence today, and as we’re considering the Word this morning, I had a question for us: Why has the grace of God appeared? We’re all familiar with the grace of God. Why has it appeared?
So, let’s have a word of prayer.
Lord, we are thankful for the wonderful blessing of gathering in Your name, the wonderful privilege of gathering around Your table with saints here and throughout this world, to remember You. We’re thankful for Your loving-kindness.
And Lord, we’re thankful for Your continued presence with us. Lord, You haven’t left us. Your Holy Spirit hasn’t left, but we by faith just continue to stand in the full provision that You have made for us.
Lord, we’re thankful that we have no lack in You. Thankful we don’t have to look at ourselves, but we can look off unto You. And we commit this into Your hand, in Your wonderful name. Amen.
So, why has the grace of God appeared? I get that little question out of Titus. Titus 2:11–13 says:
For the grace of God hath appeared, bringing salvation to all men,
instructing us, to the intent that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts,
we should live soberly and righteously and godly in this present world;
looking for the blessed hope and appearing of the glory
of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.
Thank the Lord for the testimony in these verses. As we start to answer this question, we can see that He gives us some hints as to why He has appeared. The grace of God has appeared. It brings salvation. Praise God. But it does not stop there.
Then it is instructing us. It is discipling; it is teaching us, bringing us into sanctification. But praise God, it does not stop there, even though those are both wonderful.
The grace of God also appears because He is causing us to have within our hearts a hope, an expectation of looking for that appearing of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
If you continue reading in this section of Titus, verse 14 in one way summarizes these first three verses:
Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity,
and purify unto himself a people for his own possession,
zealous of good works.
It summarizes these other verses, but it also shows that God has a purpose in view. The grace of God always has His end and His purpose in view.
It is interesting, as we look at this compilation of verses here in Titus, that these verses are the very heart of this letter—the very heart of what Paul was writing to Titus. But, if you step back and look at it, it is also the very heart of the gospel. It is the whole message of God, and it shows the full working of the grace of God.
This is what we want to be considering this morning. We are familiar with the grace of God, but what is the grace of God? We should probably ask more correctly: Who is the grace of God?
One of the best ways to interpret Scripture is by using Scripture itself. If you look at Titus 2:11, it says, “The grace of God has appeared.” We might think that is a thing—this thing has appeared. But then, if you go down to verse 14, it says, “Who gave Himself to redeem us.”
The grace of God is not a thing. The grace of God is our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the full personification of the grace of God. He is the very key to all of this.
Through Christ we have been saved. Through Christ we are sanctified. Through Christ we have a glorious future. It is not about us.
One of my favorite choruses is Yet Not I but Through Christ in Me. I always love the way it starts. The first two lines of that song are so precious to me:
What gift of grace is Jesus my Redeemer,
There is no more for heaven now to give.
Christ has been given. There is no more for heaven now to give. He has given us everything. He has given us this treasure of His heart. God has given us everything in Christ Jesus. There is no more for Him to give.
That is why it is so precious when we keep the grace of God and the person of our Lord Jesus Christ together. It is that person of Himself.
I have really appreciated Titus 2:14. If you like to remember things through letters—alliteration, I think that is what it is called—it says He redeemed us. That is, He purchased us. Then He purified us, and we are His possession. It is a possession with purpose.
Purchased, purified, possession, purpose. There is always an end in view.
These verses show us what He has done, what He is doing, and what He is going to do. They show us how all of it is with an end in view. Whenever God does anything, it is always with the end in view.
Our Lord Jesus was on the cross, and we see the joy set before Him. The joy was not going through the cross. That was agonizing and painful, but He had the end in view. He knew what was going on and what was going to be the end.
It is all about Him. It is not about us. It is about His heart and His purpose. We are so self-centred. We think the grace of God has appeared so we will not have to go to hell. The grace of God has appeared so that now I can have my ministry, I can do my thing, I can work, I can help Him.
All those things are an aspect of it, but there is a fuller, much grander picture. Let’s not make the grace of God too small a thing. The greatest thing that God has ever done is cause the grace of God to appear in human form to mankind and to reveal it to each of our hearts.
What a treasure. That is the treasure of this table each Sunday. God is doing a great work, and one thing about when God is doing a great work is that God gets the glory.
When grace is manifest, God gets the glory. When grace is manifest, you are not seeing man. Man is not getting the glory. When the grace of God is manifest in lives, God gets that glory.
All of this is with that end in view: having that bride, His wife, ready to rule and reign with Him. That is the end.
As we look at this comprehensive passage, everything that God does has this in view. That is why these other verses are so important to us, because He desires for us to live godly in this present age.
Why does He desire for us to live godly in this present age? Is it just so that He can look from heaven and say, “Oh, look at those people living godly. Look at them denying themselves. Look at them saying no to evil and yes to My ways”? Is that all He is after? No.
The way we live today, the way we live in these days, will determine our condition in the future when we are with Him. The condition of our lives will be based upon how much we have responded to the grace of God and what He has called us to do—faithfulness.
We all desire to finish well. We all want to finish this race well and be prepared. It is really living each day for Him.
That is why I like this little phrase: “in this present age.” That means today. We love to put things off until tomorrow, but He is saying, “No, today. That is the day of salvation. Today is when I want to work within you. Today is when I want to purify you.”
Today is when He wants to cause us to leave these other things behind and come to Him, so that we will be vessels fit for the Master’s use—not only in this age. Praise God, He uses us in this age, but also in that age to come.
What I would like to do this morning is look at who Titus is and then consider this matter of the grace of God: Why was it sent? Why has the grace of God appeared?
Next time, Lord willing, we can consider how this can become real in our lives. It is one thing to know about this. It is one thing to say, “Oh, the grace of God is wonderful,” and go on and on. There are many wonderful hymns. But is it made real in our lives? Is the life of Christ a reality to us? That is what we will consider next time together.
I do not know how many of us are that familiar with Titus. It is probably not one of the most popular books to which we turn all the time. Do we even know that much about Titus?
If you look at Titus, you will see that Titus was a coworker with Paul, similar to Timothy. They were both young. Most people think Titus was probably a little older than Timothy, but we do not really know a lot about him.
It is interesting: he was a coworker with Paul, but he is never mentioned in the book of Acts. You will see that he is in there, but he is not mentioned in the book of Acts at all.
To me, this is a powerful testimony. We see in Titus the life of one who had a hidden ministry—hidden from man’s eyes, but not from God’s.
We want to be seen. We want to be made prominent in everything. But do we really appreciate this one who had a hidden life with the Lord? He was serving the Lord. He was not out to receive the praises of man. He was there for the praises of God, to be faithful unto Him, to receive that grace, known and used by God.
Chronologically, the first time we see Titus is in Galatians 2:1:
Then after the space of fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus also with me.
But not even Titus who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised.
There is a great debate among commentators about whether those fourteen years are from the date of Paul’s conversion or from when he referenced going to Jerusalem in Galatians 1:18. That is really totally irrelevant, which one it was. We know he is going there now.
He is going to an event recorded in Acts 15. They were having this conversation in Jerusalem about whether Gentiles needed to be circumcised. We know how that worked out, and we are thankful for that.
Paul took Titus along with him, almost as an example. Titus was a Gentile, and Paul was saying, in effect, “Does this one who serves the Lord need to be circumcised?” They determined no. The grace of God has appeared, and we do not need to bring them back under the law.
We do not know exactly how Titus was saved, either. We believe from the Scriptures that he was saved through Paul’s ministry, because Paul calls him “my true child in a common faith” at the beginning of Titus. People say, “Aha, that means he was saved through Paul’s ministry.” We cannot be absolute on any of these things.
Titus is not mentioned again until 2 Corinthians. We can assume that he continued in his ministry, but in 2 Corinthians Paul refers to him.
Paul was in Ephesus when he wrote 1 Corinthians. We know it was a very strong, severe letter. Paul was concerned about how the letter would be received because he had not heard any reports. He did not know if the ones at Corinth were angry with him, if they had excommunicated him, if they were ready to chop his head off, or what.
Paul was actually disturbed about it. Titus must have been with him, because Paul says that he sent Titus on to Corinth to check on things and bring back a report.
Paul was in Troas, and he said he had no rest in his spirit. So he went over into Macedonia—Neapolis, Thessalonica, and Philippi were all part of Macedonia—and Titus showed up there in Macedonia, as recorded in 2 Corinthians 7.
Titus encouraged Paul concerning how well the Corinthians had received the letter and responded. It was a great comfort to Paul.
As an aside, one thing I really appreciate about that interaction between Titus and Paul is that it shows Paul’s humanity. Here is this great apostle, but he was without rest. He could not even share the gospel in Troas. He said, “My spirit is so disturbed.” He had to leave until he got over into Macedonia, waiting, and then finally Titus came to him and he was comforted. He was back in a place of rest.
The next time we hear of Titus is in 2 Corinthians 8. He is travelling around Macedonia because they are taking a love gift to the ones in Jerusalem.
Then we do not hear anything of Titus again until after the book of Acts ends. Paul gets out of prison at the end of Acts, and they believe it is probably in Macedonia that Paul and Titus meet up together again.
At that point, they travel down to Crete, the island in the middle of the Mediterranean, and they begin ministering there. Paul leaves Titus in Crete and says, “When you finish here, come back up to this area and meet me in Nicopolis.”
After Nicopolis, the last we hear of Titus is in 2 Timothy, where Paul says that Titus is serving in Dalmatia. Dalmatia is above Macedonia, and it is also referred to in Scripture as Illyricum in Romans.
To me, all of this shows how Titus had a very hidden ministry in the eyes of man, but he was very faithful. He had a willingness to serve anywhere. He was in Antioch, then Jerusalem, then Ephesus, then Macedonia, then Crete. Wherever the Lord was using him, he had a willingness to go.
Sometimes we can say, “Thank the Lord, I feel I am supposed to serve here.” Many of us have prayed with our brother Stuart concerning where he would get his residency. I appreciate how he may have had preferences, but he left it in God’s hands: “Where does the Lord want me? Not where I want, but where does God want me?”
We are thankful that God got him to Duke. But we can handicap God at times with our desires instead of just letting go. Someone may be looking for a job. We may want Benny to have a job here in Richmond, but maybe Benny gets a job somewhere else. Where does God want him? Where does God have need?
That is the desire of all our hearts for one another. We do not let even our natural emotions and love for one another hinder that. That is what I appreciate so much about Titus. He was willing to go anywhere, serve anywhere, and even be in difficult situations.
As you look at Timothy and Titus, there is a tremendous contrast between the two. Titus was a thoroughbred Gentile. Timothy was Jewish—his mother was Jewish, his father was a Gentile, and Timothy was circumcised.
Look at where the Lord sent them. Titus went to Corinth and Crete. They kind of fall into one category of the flesh, of sin. They were not the highest spiritual people that you see in these two groups. Then Timothy goes over to Ephesus, and you think, “Wow, how spiritual the church in Ephesus was.”
Titus was probably a little more extroverted. We know from some of the writings about Timothy how shy, introverted, and quiet he was. Titus was probably more of a troubleshooter.
Paul did not know if there would be trouble in Corinth, but he sent Titus to find out. You know from reading the letter of Titus that there was a lot of trouble going on in Crete. If they had sent Timothy to Crete, they probably would have eaten him alive and spit him out.
But the Lord knows. Titus was a little more tough-skinned, and Timothy a little more sensitive. The point is that the Lord uses different people in different situations.
There is not one temperament that is the perfect Christian temperament. We are all different temperaments. There are many different ways people measure temperaments today; we will not get into that. But the one thing they agree upon is that we all have different temperaments. It does not make one better than the other; it is just different.
Timothy could be used in one way under the control of the Spirit, and Titus could be used another way. There are differences. So often we can forget how God has fearfully and wonderfully made each one of us—so different, so wonderful.
Do not try to be like someone else. Be yourself in Christ. Be yourself in the Holy Spirit. Just because you admire somebody, you do not need to become like them. Just because you want to impress somebody, you do not need to act like them.
I remember in high school—if I can remember that long ago—there was one girl, and I tried to be somebody I was not just to impress her. It did not work. It did not take long for her to see through that.
But we can do that spiritually too, trying to impress people. We can learn the Christian vocabulary. We can learn how to act and how to respond. But just be yourself in Christ, under the Holy Spirit.
That is the key: in Christ, under the control of the Spirit—not just being yourself in your natural flesh. Now, that is an abomination to all. But we see how the Lord uses different people in different places, and the Lord used Titus in Crete.
As we come over to Crete, we know that Cretans were present on the day of Pentecost. Acts 2:11 says:
Cretans and Arabians, we do hear them speaking in our tongues the mighty works of God.
So, they were there at Pentecost. Most people believe that Titus was written around AD 62, between 1 Timothy and 2 Timothy. That would make the assemblies in Crete more or less thirty years old, from Pentecost to the early sixties.
But what were they like? If you read the letter, you see what they were like. Titus 1:16 says:
They profess that they know God;
but by their works they deny him,
being abominable, and disobedient,
and unto every good work reprobate.
How would you like that as your testimony? Also, in Titus 1:12, it says:
One of themselves, a prophet of their own, said,
Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, idle gluttons.
How would you like to be called to serve among them? You might say, “No, no, I want to go to Ephesus. They are so much sweeter, so much nicer.”
These ones had been saved, but maybe they had not had a lot of teaching. We are not sure what they were exposed to beforehand. They professed to know God. They could say, “Yes, I’m a Christian,” but their actions spoke totally otherwise.
Sadly, that is the testimony of believers at the end of the age. If you look at 2 Timothy, there are those who hold to a form of godliness but deny the power thereof. That is a warning to us. Again, we want reality.
But do we look down upon the Cretans and say, “Oh man, I can’t believe that”? That is why I appreciate Paul. He knew that people would be reading this letter two thousand years later, and he wanted to put a warning in there for them.
Titus 3:3 says:
For we also once were foolish, disobedient, deceived,
serving divers lusts and pleasures,
living in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another.
That is how we all start without the Lord. That is who we are.
When you think about the condition of these dear ones in Crete, it causes the theme verses to become more and more amazing to us. To these ones, the grace of God has appeared. The grace of God has appeared to all men.
Paul left Titus there and gave him a charge. He said, “Titus, in the midst of everything that is going on”—I get all these names confused—He gave Titus a charge. In Titus 1:5, Paul says:
For this cause left I thee in Crete,
that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting.
What does this charge to “set in order” mean? It simply means to set straight, to bring something back to its original place. It is a recovering process of bringing something back to its original place, original function, and original purpose.
That is what God has done for mankind when He saved us. We who were far away—He created us with a purpose and a function in view. As we fell, because we were born of Adam, He redeemed us. God has redeemed us back to the original place He wants us to be.
He has brought us back to that original function, with the original purpose that He has in view.
Medically, the phrase can refer to setting a broken bone. They did not have great anesthesiologists back in those days. When you were setting a broken bone, you got pain.
Sometimes, when we are off the path and have to be straightened out, there can be a little pain through the working of the cross and the discipline of that. But when we see it is with purpose, it is worth it.
If you break your arm or other things are broken, you get them fixed, and they hurt. But after a little therapy, you see that they are working again the way they are supposed to. So the pain is worth it. I hate that little phrase, “No pain, no gain,” but sometimes that is true anyway.
With this in view, let’s look at these verses a little more specifically. “For the grace of God hath appeared, bringing salvation to all men.”
This little phrase, “the grace of God has appeared,” is an epiphany. It has physically appeared, manifested, and been made real in a person—not just a vision, but the actual physical person. The grace of God has physically appeared, like a great light shining in the midst of darkness.
We use the word grace often, but let’s refresh ourselves as to what it really is. Much of what we are going through today is very fundamental and basic. Most of us know it, but sometimes we need little refresher courses.
The Greek word for grace is charis. Looking at it from a Greek point of view, it means a favour freely bestowed without claim or expectation of any return. Nothing was done for this; it was just freely bestowed.
Aristotle talks about a bountiful motive—the free-heartedness of the giver. He has such bounty and such a loving heart that he freely gives to one.
In Greek culture and throughout that history, grace was always conferred on a friend. How precious that grace came forth to a friend.
But that last phrase causes the greatest contrast, because for us the grace of God was displayed to an enemy. We were His enemies, and the grace of God came forth and was displayed.
That was revolutionary in that time. The word grace was a normal word that they used back then. There was nothing religious or special about it. But all of a sudden, when this grace was bestowed upon enemies, it shook the world and turned it upside down.
The thought of loving your enemies—oh, this grace of God has appeared to us who were His enemies, alienated against Him. It is hard, I think, for us to appreciate the profoundness of this.
Something was done through our Lord Jesus Christ when He came upon this earth that was totally contrary to history and to the culture of the whole world at that point in time.
They were used to grace being shown to friends, but to enemies? Again, it was revolutionary. It was astonishing.
He brings salvation. It says, “bringing salvation to all men.” Jesus Christ was the Justifier. He brought salvation to all men.
It did not matter—through the diversity of people who were there, He brought that grace to all people, whether race, religion, or nationality; whether slave or free. Again, this was revolutionary.
Slaves were not even considered people. They were just property. But the grace of God was shown to these ones, and they were to become children of the living God. He died for them.
There was an equity that came forth from Him. He was no respecter of persons, whether male or female, young or old. Again, this was revolutionary.
The thought of the grace of God appearing to a woman was revolutionary. People might have accepted it appearing to a man, but to a woman? At that point in time, women were barely considered second-class citizens. They were largely confined to serving their homes and families.
For One to come and say, “No, I died for them too. There is equality between the male and the female”—yes, created with diversity of functions, but equality in life—that was revolutionary.
This was sweeping through at that point in time. Because Christ was inclusive, everyone who was born of Him was called into fellowship with His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. This was the Jesus revolution.
There have been many Jesus revolutions throughout history. We talk about one in the sixties and seventies; that was a Jesus revolution. This was the Jesus revolution that turned the world upside down.
We are thankful for how that grace was manifested, as recorded in John: the Word became flesh, and He was full of grace and truth. Praise God for our Lord Jesus Christ.
As we have said before, that grace was manifested through Him, and it comes out in love. Grace in a life manifests itself in love. Truth in a life manifests itself in light. We can go on. There was a reality there—not just a thought or a concept, but a reality that came forth and was seen.
This is what He is jealous for in us today. He wants His life to be seen through us and lived through us. We talked during the worship about how we are in Christ, and that is wonderful. But Christ is in us.
He is desiring to break forth out of us, to be seen as a testimony unto Him.
We are thankful that this grace, when it was manifested, was far more than just to save us. He had far more in view, even though salvation is so great—so great a salvation we have.
It is far more than just saving us. He also wanted to do that work of sanctification.
That is why, if you look at Titus 2:12, it says “instructing.” Depending on what translation you have, some say instructing, some teaching, some training, some discipling. It is all the same.
There is a discipling of the positive against the negative: denying ungodliness and worldly desires, and positively living sensibly, righteously, and godly in the present age.
Grace has appeared to teach us. Grace has appeared to work holiness within us.
Whether you are thinking about instructing, teaching, training, or discipling, it means you are under somebody. You are teachable. You are learning from a master, a tutor, a teacher.
There is an acknowledgment that it is not about you. They know it all, and they are going to convey it to us. He is our Teacher. That Holy Spirit within us brings things to life within us.
Thank the Lord how He does that work of sanctification. He sanctifies us and teaches us.
One thing about our precious Lord, the grace of God within us, and the Holy Spirit: He never forces Himself upon us. He is a perfect Southern gentleman.
He never forces Himself upon us at all, but He says, “Behold My love. Behold My mercies.” He is looking for us to have that free-will response, to give Him permission.
It is amazing how, if we do not give God permission to work within us, He will not work. No matter how powerful He is, we can stop the power of God from working in us by saying no. We will touch more on that next time.
But we see how that grace teaches us. By the grace of God, we learn to say from our hearts yes to living sensibly, righteously, and godly in the present age.
When everything around us, and everything within us, wants to say, “No, I can’t do that. I’m not going to do that,” there is a grace of God sufficient to say yes.
Sadly, today, most people, when they think about the grace of God, think it just means, “Yes, yes, you are free to do anything. Oh, the grace of God—you can do this, you can do that.” It is so misused and misapplied.
But there is, within the grace of God, a time to say yes. It is saying yes to Him and no to ourselves. There is that freedom. No matter how powerful that no is within us, saying, “I can’t do it,” grace says, “Yes, you can, by the grace of God—not I, but Christ.”
Yet not I, but Christ who lives within me.
It also teaches us how to say no in our hearts. It is no to ungodliness and worldly desires; no to self, the world, sin, and the enemy; no to all of that.
Again, it is just the opposite of what everything around us says. Everything says, “Say yes. Just go along with this. Give in to this. Give in to your emotions that want to get out of control. Give in to your vain thoughts. You have a right to those thoughts.”
Your circumstances may seem so against you. Your temptations may seem so much. People may say, “You cannot continue on because you are such a victim.” There is such victimization within society today.
But you can say, “No, I am not a victim. I can say yes to Him.” The temptation is for us to give in and say yes to our victimization.
Every one of us is a victim in some way, and the temptation is to give in to that. “Oh, my circumstances. You don’t understand my family, my history, this and that.” We can give in and use them as excuses.
But praise God, the grace of God is greater than our victimization. By His grace, we can say no to that and yes to Him. Praise God for that.
Grace teaches us. It is not a legalistic way of doing it, but it is by His life and His love.
When we fully understand and have a right concept of grace, there is a compelling within us. There is a desire within us for this holy life, this sanctified life.
It is coming from within: “Lord, I want to be like You. I cannot, but You can. There is a life within me that, if I allow it to come forth by Your grace, can do a transforming work.”
That yes or no that we share is constrained by the love of God—constrained by His love.
Even in tough times, I always remember a prayer that many have prayed. Margaret Barber used it, F. B. Meyer used it, and various others used it in situations they were wrestling through: “Lord, make me willing to be willing.”
That is a surrendering to Him. All of this shows us the yes and the no of His grace—how to live in this present age.
There is a purpose to that. As we see this grace of God and how to live in this present age, it also shows us, on the positive side, how we live in various relationships within our lives.
He wants us to live sensibly, righteously, and godly. As we look at these words, there are great crossovers between them, so I am not making these definitions absolute.
But living sensibly, with a sound mind, speaks of our own personal relationship within ourselves. Sometimes our minds can get so wound up that we have no peace within ourselves. But the grace of God can teach us and strengthen us not to allow our minds and emotions to go crazy.
To live righteously—to do the right thing—speaks of our relationship with our brothers and sisters, with our fellow man. How do we relate with one another?
Living godly, to me, speaks of our relationship with Him. Are we going to live the life that He calls us to live?
That is where He wants us to be: living in this present age. It is all about today—living today for Him and receiving that training.
It is by His grace that we live in this present age. I love that little phrase, “in this present age.” Not becoming like it or living for it, but living in it.
We are in this present age—in the world, but not of the world. That is where the grace of God allows us to live. He does this great conforming work, transforming us in the midst of an evil world.
The present age is an evil world, but God is not limited by the condition of the world. God can do this great transforming work.
As we have said, the grace of God was not there just for our salvation, and it was not there just for our sanctification. There is so much more.
This is where we come to Titus 2:13. We can see that there is a grace of God that puts hope and expectation within us, where we are looking for the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour, Christ Jesus.
We are looking with expectation. Hope and expectation are great motivators—great, to use a modern term, influencers. There are many influencers in the world today. Hope and expectation in Him are great influencers.
We want to be those who are looking for that glorious appearing. There is an expectation. There is a grace that causes that to become real within our hearts.
The natural man cannot imagine God coming back. But by the grace of God, He can cause that to become reality in our hearts. Even though we might not fully understand it, it can become reality in our hearts and press us into Him.
Then we can be those who are anxiously waiting for His return, expecting it, living for it, allowing it to impact the decisions we make in life and all that we have.
As we look at these verses, verse 14 really sums up everything: redeeming, purifying, possessing. It is how the Lord, through His grace, calls us according to His purpose.
That is the end in view. He has a purpose. His end is in view: a people for His own possession, a corporate expression of His life upon this earth and in the eternity to come, in the kingdom to come.
His possession—some translations use this phrase throughout Scripture as “special treasure.” We are His special treasure.
This is with that end in view: being His bride, that eternal helpmate, ruling and reigning with Him. This is what He has been looking for from the very beginning.
Think back to Genesis. Adam looked upon Eve and said, “Bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh.” Our Lord Jesus, in a spiritual way, wants to look upon us and say, “Oh, bone of My bone, flesh of My flesh.”
That is My character; that is My nature in them. That bride has made herself ready. Praise God for that.
The thing that keeps touching my heart about grace is that we sing so much about how amazing it is, but has the magnitude and amazing nature of grace really captured our hearts?
Is it there to answer the “But, Lord”? “No, but I can’t do this. I can’t do that. Look at me. Who am I?” God is not surprised by who we are.
There is an amazing testimony here. If we go back to the end of Titus 1, Titus 1:16 says that these ones were “worthless for any good deed.”
Other translations say they were unfit, reprobate, disqualified, worthless. This is who Paul said the ones in Crete were.
Yet what does the grace of God want to do for these dear ones, as it has appeared to them? It wants them to become zealous for good deeds.
They were useless for good deeds. They were worthless in themselves. But by the powerful working of the grace of God in their lives, they were now ready, as His own possession, zealous for good deeds.
What a transformation. What a miracle. He wants to do the same thing within each one of us, because that is who we were without Him.
He wants to do this work within us, that we too can be zealous for all the things He has for us—all the precious and magnificent promises that are in Him—as long as we will allow Him to do that.
How are we transformed? That is the big question. How do you get from Titus 1:16 to Titus 2:14? How does that work?
That is what we are going to touch on next time. I will give you three keys—how is that for a teaser?
Christ in us, the cross, and the Holy Spirit.
I am sorry—it is not that complicated. Christ in us, the cross, and the Holy Spirit, each of them working together. Lord willing, we will touch on these next time.
But thank the Lord. The grace of God has appeared to us, saving us, instructing us, sanctifying us, giving us hope, and making us His own possession.
He has appeared to all mankind. The precious grace of God, in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ, is wanting to work within each one of us. He is simply looking to us to say, “Yes, Lord.”
There is that little song, “I Surrender All.” There are various songs about giving ourselves to the Lord and wanting Him to work. But are they just songs?
Or are we those who can say, as that little chorus I referred to earlier says, “Yet not I, but through Christ in me”? That is our testimony. That is what it comes down to: yet not I, but through Christ in me.
I think we all have that desire. We know we have been so bountifully blessed with the grace of God appearing and being made manifest to each one of us.
But we do not want to stop partially along the way. We want to be those who allow that grace of God to motivate us, to be that hope, to be that influencer, to keep us pressing on all the way through to the end.
This is what I think happened in Titus’s life. He had a hidden life, but all through it, it seems like he ended well. The last we hear of him, he is in Dalmatia. Only the Lord knows what he was doing there and how he was pressing on and learning more.
That is our desire: that we too could finish well, giving Him permission to work within us. So, let’s end here for this morning.
Lord, we do thank You for Your great grace. We thank You for Your wonderful loving-kindness. We are thankful, Lord, for the life that You have implanted within us.
We are thankful that we have this table. It reminds us of the price that was paid for You to show forth the grace of God to Your enemies.
Thankful, Lord, that You have drawn us unto Yourself. You call us friends, and You have made that place for us to live and to dwell.
We have that simple desire that You could continue to have great freedom in each one of our hearts and lives, conforming us to Your image and setting us free from this world.
We confess that in this day and time, it is a challenge to live in this present age. But we are thankful for the amazing grace that makes that possible—not just to live in this present age, but to overcome in the midst of it.
We give our hearts to You, in Jesus’ name. Amen.