You can turn in your Bibles with me to the book of Titus, Titus chapter 1. We're going to look at verses 1 to 4, but we'll read the whole chapter of Titus 1, verses 1 through 16. So this is the Word of God, Titus 1, beginning at verse 1. Paul, a bondservant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect, and the acknowledgement of the truth which accords with godliness, in hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began, but has in due time manifested his word through preaching. which was committed to me according to the commandment of God our Savior.
To Titus, a true son in our common faith, grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Savior. For this reason I left you in Crete, that you should set in order the things that are lacking, and appoint elders in every city as I commanded you. If a man is blameless, the husband of one wife, Having faithful children not accused of dissipation or insubordination, for a bishop must be blameless, as a steward of God, not self-willed, not quick-tempered, not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, but hospitable, a lover of what is good, sober-minded, just, holy, self-controlled, holding fast the faithful word as he has been taught, that he may be able, by sound doctrine, both to exhort and convict those who contradict. For there are many insubordinate, both idle talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision, whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole households, teaching things which they ought not for the sake of dishonest gain.
One of them, a prophet of their own, said, Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons. This testimony is true. Therefore rebuke them sharply that they may be sound in the faith, not giving heed to Jewish fables and commandments of men who turn from the truth. To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure, but even their mind and conscience are defiled.
They profess to know God, but in works they deny him, being abominable, disobedient, and disqualified for every good work. Amen. Well, let us pray. God, we thank you for this time in worship, the preaching of your holy word.
We do pray that you would bless our time now. Help us by your spirit to be focused upon the worship of the living and true God through the act of preaching. Might your word encourage the saints. Might your word attended by the spirit save those who are outside of Christ in damning unbelief.
And we pray that as we just heard, that many here would be brought forth from the deadness of sin to life and light in Jesus Christ, our precious Savior. And it's in his name that we pray, amen.
Introduction: Background to Titus
Well, the book of Titus is a letter written by Paul to Titus. Titus was similar to Timothy, what some have called a vice apostle. He's commissioned by the apostles, like Timothy, to go out into Asia Minor and other places to plant churches and to encourage those churches in the once for all delivered faith. And so Titus is, he's referred to 11 times outside of the book of Titus in 2 Corinthians, in Galatians, and in 2 Timothy.
And he's always, he's spoken of well by the Apostle Paul. And here we see he's referred to as a true son in our common faith. The letter itself is Paul directing Titus in the ordaining of churches, directing in the manner by which false teachers are to be dealt with, and directing in how to preach and how to live. It's written to Titus who is on the island of Crete.
We hear a little bit of Crete in the book of Acts, and the Christians on Crete most likely initially were those who were at the Pentecostal sermon that the Apostle Peter gave in Acts chapter two. There are persons referred to from many nations, from many provinces, from many areas, and one of them is Cretans and Arabs. Arabs. So he's writing to Titus on the island of Crete and it is these Cretans who came back from Pentecost and many who would have been converted under the ministry of the Apostle Paul and Titus.
So let's have a look at the text then, verses one to four.
The Commissioned Servant
The first thing we want to notice here is the commissioned servant. We see the language here, Paul, a bondservant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ. As Christians, we ought to never give up the opportunity to glory in the fact that Paul wrote Christian epistles. Remember who Paul is.
He's writing here, Paul, a bondservant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ. Before conversion, he was an opponent of the living and true God. Thinking that he was serving God, he was in opposition to God and an opposer of Jesus Christ and his church. Now he is Paul, a bondservant of the God whom he beforehand opposed, and an apostle of Jesus Christ whom he beforehand opposed.
It's a glorious, when we read verses like Paul, a bondservant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, we ought not to just read it and then skip past on to better things. We ought to pause for a moment and reflect upon the fact that this was one who dragged men and women out of their houses to prison and to be judged by Jewish opposers who was conquered by amazing and victorious grace and became one of the greatest advocates of Christianity. So it's a blessed time whenever we read these verses to reflect upon the one who is writing those verses. The same goes with David in the Psalms, with Peter in his epistles, and of course again here with Paul in his.
We read that he is a bondservant of God. Paul was most certainly a bondservant of God with regards simply to being a Christian. Christians are referred to as bondservants of God, bondservants of Christ. In Romans chapter six, we read that we were once slaves or bondservants to sin, to condemnation, to judgment for sin, but having been saved by amazing and victorious grace, we are now bondservants of God and of his Christ.
We serve our master with a joyful obedience, with reverence and with godly fear. But what this probably refers to is Paul as a commissioned apostle to go out to proclaim the truth and to advance the cause of the gospel in the early church. James, Jude, and Peter use the same language, and so this pertains to, or it is a designation that concerns primarily his being a minister of the gospel. The language of bondservants, again, is used by James, Peter, and Jude, and the recipients are referred to as saints and pilgrims of the dispersion.
And I love what Matthew Henry says with regards to this language. The highest ministers in the church are but servants. It should never be in the Christian church that pastors are elevated and put upon a particular pedestal sort of above and over the people. Now, there is a respect, obviously, and an honor that is to be given to elders.
The Bible speaks with regards to that. Bondservants, or apostles, or now elders in churches, the highest ministers in the church are but servants. Paul says that we are bondservants for your sake, for your good, and for the advance of gospel glory. So he is a bondservant of God.
And this phrase echoes the Old Testament title given to Moses, given to David, and given to the prophets. Moses was a servant of God. David was a servant of God. The prophets were, according to God, my servants, the prophets.
And so we have in the apostolic succession, if you will, they inherited this role, this particular position of bondservants of God from those men of the Old Testament. And he is not only a bondservant of God, but he is an apostle of Jesus Christ. He was a sent one, an ambassador, an emissary of God and of his Christ to herald forth the truth concerning Jesus Christ and His glorious Gospel. And he is that in a different way, of course, than ministers of the gospel today.
There are those who would believe that there still is the apostolic office in the current church, and they elevate men above in some sort of rank over lesser men in the gospel ministry. That was, of course, the apostolic office was something that was only given to those who had seen the Lord who were immediately called by him and who received the doctrine directly from him. And again, what a glorious and amazing contrast we have in this commissioned servant from an opponent of the church of Christ to a blessed advocate. of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
The Commissioned Course
And then we next see the commissioned course. So we have the commissioned servant, the Apostle Paul, and then we see the commissioned course according to the faith of God's elect. and the acknowledgement of the truth which accords with godliness." What is the Apostle Paul about? What is the course of his apostolic ministry? It has to do with the faith of God's elect or for the faith of God's elect. and for the acknowledgement of the truth which accords with godliness.
That is what we should all be about as well. We should be about the faith of God's elect and the acknowledgement of the truth which accords with godliness. While the apostle Paul was commissioned as a peculiar messenger and apostle for the advance of truth, we as the inheritors and the confessors of that truth nevertheless are to be about the same things, the faith of God's elect and the truth that accords with godliness. Now, some may read this language first according to the faith of God's elect.
Some may read that and take it to mean Paul's doctrine was in agreement with the elect throughout the ages. That's one interpretation or understanding, which is perfectly fine. Paul's doctrine was in accord with those elect throughout the ages. It's a wonderful thing, we read, concerning Paul that he witnessed in the book of Acts to both small and great, saying no other things than those which the prophets and Moses said would come, that the Christ would suffer, that he would be the first to rise from the dead and would proclaim light to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles.
So he was about the advance, saying nothing more than what the prophets had said, but now this side of the cross, this side of Calvary, this side of the glorious resurrection from the dead, this side of the glorious ascension to the right hand of the majesty on high. So it could be the case that he's The language refers to his carrying of the torch of truth throughout the ages, and it's a good thing. Vincentius on this particular reality. Well-established antiquity is being subverted by wicked novelty.
The institutions of former ages are being set at naught. Paul was an advocate for opposing this particular reality. Antiquity is good with regards to truth. Antiquity is glorious.
We are the inheritors of antiquity. We looked this morning at the Confession of Faith, noting that the confessors of the 17th century, our forebears, who published the Second London Confession of Faith, were doing themselves nothing new. They had no itch to clog religion with new words, as the epistle says, but they did readily acquiesce, they rested comfortably in the truth that they had received, the form of sound words that they have received. And so, Vincentius is right, Sozomus writes, nor does the spirit of innovation honor the doctrines of the innovation, excuse me, of the ancients. concerning God, but is always thinking out strange dogmas and restlessly adds novelty to novelty.
The Apostle Paul was not about new things, he was about the old things. He was about the Genesis 3.15 truth, the hero born of woman who would crush the serpent with his heel, and the fact that all that proceeds after that advances towards a Christ truth. The others may read this according to and take it to mean the manner by which he became an apostle, chosen by God and brought to belief in Jesus Christ according to the faith of God's elect. But this probably refers to the fact that Paul was a tool in the hand of God to bring his people to saving faith. the apostolic office was for or unto sinners believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, coming forth from the deadness of sin to life in him.
Christianity is advanced by the faithful proclamation of truth, trusting in the saving power of God to make dead sinners alive in Christ. Supporting this understanding that this language is speaking of Paul as a tool in the hand of God to bring his people to saving faith. You can turn with me to Acts chapter 26. Acts 26.
There we see this very thing, the commissioning of the apostle on his commissioned course by the risen Christ. Notice in Acts 26 at verse 14, and when we all had fallen to the ground, I heard a voice speaking to me and saying in the Hebrew language, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads. So I said, who are you, Lord?
And he said, I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But rise and stand on your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to make you a minister and a witness both of the things which you have seen and of the things which I will yet reveal to you. I will deliver you from the Jewish people as well as from the Gentiles to whom I now send you, to open their eyes in order to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in me. Amen, what a glorious Christ.
Our risen Christ commissioning men to go forth to preach to Jew and to Gentile the glorious gospel of the blessed God. When we read passages like this, and well, even when we don't read passages like this, when we're gathered together as a church and we're standing up to sing blessed psalms, blessed hymns concerning God and Christ and salvation and the blessedness of the gospel. We should reflect on the fact that we were once those who were in darkness. We were once those under the power of Satan.
And in some measure of apostolic weight, in some measure of proclamation, in some measure of hearing the blessed gospel of this Christ whom Paul formerly opposed, In hearing that, in reading that, in understanding that, we were brought forth by the Spirit from that darkness to light, from that power of Satan to God. What a glorious truth. What a wonderful thing to be a Christian, not because we're glorious, not because we're awesome, but because the triune God is, and because the Christ whom he sent is. Notice that in this passage, getting back to the book of Titus, when we read according to the faith of God's elect that this is the faith of the elect in contrast of course to any other faith, the faith of devils, the faith of heretics, the faith of the reprobate, the faith of hypocrites.
This is the faith of God's elect. This is that believing faith. This is that Christian faith. This is that faith that comes only as a gift from God by virtue of amazing and victorious grace.
And notice as well under the commission course,
Owning and Adorning the Gospel
his apostleship was unto the end of the people's owning of the gospel. We read, according to the faith of God's elect and the acknowledgement of the truth which accords with godliness. His apostleship was unto the end of the people's owning of the gospel that they would publicly profess it and that they would not depart from it. That is the commission, that's the Apostle Paul's commission.
What was he about? Again, the faith of God's elect, bringing those from darkness to light, from the power of Satan to God, and also that those so brought forth would publicly profess the glorious gospel and that they would not depart from it. And that's our charge as well. It's not only the apostolic charge.
It is in a special and particular way, but for Christians, that's what we are to be about. Publicly professing the gospel and not departing from it. With our mouths, we speak the glories and the riches and the excellencies of Jesus Christ, and we own that whole-souled and we do not depart from it. What a glorious thing to grasp in the hand of our Christian profession. the gospel of Jesus Christ, knowing the perfection of it, knowing the perfections of God, the damning imperfections of man, the glorious perfections of Christ our Savior, and the impenetrable hope and reality of salvation in Him.
What a glorious thing that we have as Christians. His commissioned course was about the bringing forth of sinners to faith. It is about people's owning of the gospel. And his apostleship was also unto the end of ensuring the gospel was adorned by godly conduct.
This is what we read here, according to the faith of God's elect and the acknowledgement of the truth, that owning of the gospel, and notice, which accords with godliness. Notice that the Apostle Paul deals with this in subsequent texts here before us. It is first the heretics that are marked by evil works. Notice again verse 16, they profess to know God, but in works they deny him being abominable, disobedient, and disqualified for every good work.
They do not have a doctrine that accords with godliness, but rather it accords with abominableness, disobedience, and ill or wicked works. But the people were not to be so marked, notice Titus 2 at verse 5, to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed. and not just by the older women and the younger women. But by all Christians, we are to be such who conduct ourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel. That is doing those things that are commanded us.
Those who love me, Christ said, love my commandments, do my commandments. They're given to us not as a covenant of works whereby to be justified, or condemned, but rather they're given to us as saved individuals in order that we might bedeck or ornament or adorn the gospel of Jesus Christ. Notice verse 9 of chapter 2, exhort bond servants to be obedient to their own masters, to be well-pleasing in all things, not answering back, not pilfering, but showing all good fidelity. Notice that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things.
It is to be such that we adorn the gospel. And Christ's coming into this world, the saving work of Christ, the intended effects of the saving work of Christ is unto this end. The perfection of the work of Christ is first and foremost unto the end that sinners would be saved. Our salvation rests, solely and alone, upon the triune God, who from first to last, midst and throughout, saves without a helper, by virtue of the perfection of the work of Jesus Christ, His life, death, and resurrection.
And it's unto the end, the intended effects of that is that by virtue of that truth and by virtue of that truth being for us and through us and in us, we are to adorn the doctrine of God the Savior in all things. The doctrine of God, the doctrine of Christ, the doctrine of salvation, they're all perfect in and of themselves. It's not that they're lacking and so that our good works somehow bedeck them such that they're now glorious. but rather to a watching world and before and within and amidst one another, we are to do those things that are acceptable and good in the sight of God, that the doctrine of God our Savior may be adorned in all things.
The Changeless Confidence
And we see next and thirdly the changeless confidence. Notice the language that we have still with regards to the Paul and a bondservant of Jesus Christ, he is, verse two, in hope of eternal life, which God who cannot lie promised before time began. This is the changeless confidence. First we see here eternal life and hope.
In hope of eternal life, which God who cannot lie promised before time began. Our salvation, this touches upon the reality of the assurance of salvation. Our salvation is rooted and grounded in the perfection of the divine decree. The perfection of the immutable, unchangeable love of God the Father.
In time, it rests upon, its foundation is, the work of Jesus Christ, the merits of Jesus Christ, and intercession by Him. In time, it rests upon, and its foundation is, the power of the Holy Spirit in His sealing us unto the day of redemption. It rests upon the perfection and the unbreakability of the covenant of grace and the oath of God. We have much hope in salvation, not in the strength of our faith, but in the power of God and in the strength and virtue and perfection of the work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Notice something, just back up to 1 Timothy 1 for a moment. 1 Timothy 1. Notice this language, Paul. This is the beginning. An apostle of Jesus Christ, by the commandment of God our Savior, and the Lord Jesus Christ, our hope.
Jesus Christ himself is our hope. I like how God under, God by inspiration or in inspiring and empowering the Apostle Paul to pen these letters exclusively links hope to Jesus Christ. Our hope is not in us. Our hope is not in the imperfection of the best of our works.
Our hope rests in Jesus Christ, who before the foundation of the world was decreed to take upon himself our humanity and to redeem and restore lost sinners. What a blessed thing. Our hope, and that's what sets apart our Christian hope from the hope so-called of the world around us. The hope of the world is a strong wish for something to come true that may not come true.
That's not the Christian's hope, though. The Christian's hope is the certain expectation that the promises of God are yes and amen in Jesus Christ, and when God says, when Christ says, when the apostles say, when the word of God says, he who believes in Jesus Christ will be saved, We can be certain and we can know that that is the blessed truth and that promise of God of the forgiveness of sins and the giving of a righteousness imputed to us, received by faith is certain and true and we are brought unto the end by the power of the triune God. We see as well here, divine immutability and divine purpose in hope of eternal life, which God who cannot lie promised before time began. If I was to ask you the question, can God do everything?
The immediate answer might be yes, because hey, he's omnipotent. Yes, he can do everything, but he cannot lie, the text says, in hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began. Praise God that he is immutable in his most holiness. Praise God that we have a God who is unchanging.
We're all around us beset and weighed down by ebb and flow, by change, by good, by wickedness, but God is pure in holiness. Perfect, He is infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in all of His glorious perfections, and we rest, and our salvation rests upon divine immutability and divine promise. Humans promise things, we promise things, and we don't follow through. But God is sure and true to His promise.
He cannot lie. When He says, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved, by empowered human mouths, that is true, God cannot lie. If you're here this morning, and you're hearing anything, hear that all have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God. Hear that Christ is a savior for sinners, and hear that those who believe in him will have everlasting life because of the perfection of Christ, who is our hope.
Your hope rests upon certainty, upon an unchanging God.
The Chosen Season
Fourthly, we see the chosen season. Notice as the text continues, verse three, but has in due time manifested his word through preaching. So we have the eternal divine decree, which is founded upon the immutable love of God. And then in time, we have the execution of that decree.
God, before the foundation of the world, determined that a multitude of sinners from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation would be brought forth from deadness to life by virtue of the perfection of the work of Jesus Christ. And in time, that comes about by the proclamation of the Word. Has in due time, that hope of eternal life in, if we can say, eternity past, has in due time manifested His Word through preaching. This highlights the importance of what's going on right now.
Not my importance, but
Preaching as Central Worship
the importance of the act of preaching. God has determined that through the proclamation of the word, through preaching, he would, by the attending spirit, bring forth sinners from deadness to life in Christ. And so the act of preaching is absolutely necessary. Very often you'll hear that from others, and by no real fault of their own, but in some churches they have the worship, which takes place very often for 45 minutes, and then they have the preaching.
We finished worship, and now we have the preaching, which sometimes is significantly less than the time that obtained for what they call worship. But the preaching of the word is an element of worship, and it is the central element of worship. By the preaching of the word, sinners are saved. By the preaching of the word, Christians are edified and lifted up in their walk.
Hopefully behind those frowns out there, you rejoice in the Lord Jesus Christ and you sing the praises of His grace. That we are right now in this act of preaching, rejoicing in God, our Savior, and hopefully sinner. As you're out there, the Spirit is working upon you that, God might bring you forth to rejoice in Jesus Christ, our hope. The divine timing according to God's eternal purpose and God's infinite wisdom in the fullness of the times, God sent forth his son, ordained before the foundation of the earth to assume our humanity.
In time he comes and he assumes our humanity for our redemption and recovery. And in time, the proclamation of the word of the living and true God is spread, is sent out, is executed throughout the world. And many by grace come forth by the proclamation of the word. That's what we see so much in the book of Acts.
And we should pray for that to take place today. The book of Acts is peculiar in the sense that it was the advent of the early church and things took place that won't take place again. You know, the casting of the lots for apostles, the healings by hems of garments and shadows and those sorts of things. But nevertheless, what does take place is the glorious thing that those things pointed to, the proclamation of Jesus Christ and his glorious gospel.
That's why we ought to pray for missionaries who are out there doing the work of the proclamation of the gospel, doing the work of what in due time has manifested, the eternal decree to bring forth sinners to life in Christ. Pray for missionaries, pray for pastors in churches. It's a weighty task to come up here and to proclaim the truth of the living God. It is at the same time a wonderful act and a glorious privilege, but at the same time, one of the most weighty and one of the most difficult things to do because souls are at stake.
It's not, again, it's not, you know, it's not just a speaking exercise or, or a lecture, hopefully it never comes off that way. You know, I'm not selling Skittles or ketchup chips up here. I'm not giving you a lecture on the newest flavors of cereal. This is the proclamation of the truth of the living and true God, the one and only God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and of the blessed Christ whom he sent in the fullness of the times to save guilty sinners.
We see in this language the execution of God's decree specifically as it pertains here to preaching.
The Committed Charge
And fifthly, we see the committed charge. The committed charge, which was committed to me, continuing in verse three, according to the commandment of God our Savior. The committed charge, we see Paul's task to preach the word. And what a contrast to his former career.
We've already noted that, but with regards to proclamation beforehand, it was a commission to proclaim against this Christ, to proclaim against the truth, to proclaim against the church, and even to persecute the church. to persecute the church and to seek to destroy it. That was Paul's commission before amazing grace came to him. Now his commission, that which was committed to him is the gospel and is according to the commandment of God our Savior. That speaks to what we've already read in Acts 26, the commandment of God our Savior.
And notice that language of the deity of Christ. by the commandment of God our Savior. Paul is recalling the Acts 9, the Acts 26, those occasions where he rehearses his conversion or where his conversion is narrated. He's recalling that and he's reflecting upon the fact that that one who came to him is very God of very God, light from light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, one in being with the Father. And so what a glorious, clear statement of the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Opponents of that blessed and necessary truth come to the Holy Scriptures and they are dashed figuratively into a thousand pieces by the sure clarity of the language of Holy Scripture.
The Deity of Christ in Titus
Notice that the The Apostle Paul transitions between God, our Savior, and Jesus Christ, our Savior. Notice here in verse three, we see God, our Savior. In 1.4, we see the Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior. Notice in 2.10, we read the doctrine of God, our Savior.
In 2.13, the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, we see in 3-4, but when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, and then we read in verse six, whom he poured out on us abundantly through, Jesus Christ our Savior. The Bible is not silent with regards to the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. The language, even in only this particular epistle, is loud. And it yells gloriously that Jesus Christ is God.
The Common Confession
We see next the common confession. The common confession, sixth, and then one more point after this, we see to Titus, a true son in our common faith, verse four. To Titus, a true son in our common faith. Paul's relationship to Titus as a true son.
What a wonderful thing for the apostle Paul to call you a true son. Titus was most likely under the ministry of the Apostle Paul, or certainly under the apostolic guidance and mentorship of the Apostle Paul, and the Apostle Paul calls him a true son. And this language of our common faith, I want to encourage us You know, when we're sitting here in church, whether it's, you know, it's during prayer or whether it's during the reading of the scriptures, or maybe even more pointedly, when we stand together and sing and we open up our hymn books, with regards to this language of our common faith, it should be the case that as we stand and sing, we look in front of us and we look beside us and we can consider behind us that we are together with a band of brothers and sisters who are marked by a common faith. What an encouraging thing to come in here because in our various callings, in our various vocations as we're out there in the world, we're in the world.
And we're surrounded by those who are the opponents of the Lord Jesus Christ, whether actively or passively, if we can say that. We're surrounded by wickedness, we're surrounded by unbelief, we're surrounded by reigning sin. But when we come into here, we are a band of brothers and sisters who are marked by a common faith. We have a common Lord, a common Savior, a common baptism, a common faith.
We are one together. And as we stand and sing, and as we now sit here under the preaching of the Word, We should have our hearts cheered that we have a common faith. We believe the same things. Every one of us here who is a Christian rejoices in a triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, rejoices in a God who is infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in all of his glorious perfections.
We confess and rejoice in the Son of God, the second person of the Holy Trinity, being very and eternal God, the brightness of the Father's glory and the express image of his person who in the fullness of the time took upon himself man's nature for our redemption and for our recovery. And that redemption and recovery rests upon his glorious life, his glorious death, his blessed resurrection, and his ascension on high where he now lives to intercede for us. We believe in justification by faith alone. We believe in those blessed doctrines of Calvinism.
All of those things that speak to the unmitigated and unrivaled sovereignty of God in the salvation of sinners. What a glorious common faith that we have.
The Consummate Blessing
Seventhly, and lastly, we see here the common, or the consummate blessing. Notice this language that closes this particular section, the salutation or the greeting. Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior. What wonderful language.
The apostle, the apostolic desire here is for, quote, the complete felicity of the addressee. the complete felicity of the addressee. For those who don't know what felicity means, it's an older word that we don't use so often. It is happiness in its fullest and highest sense, a settled state of blessedness or well-being, not a passing pleasant feeling. This is what we have as Christians.
This is what we enjoy. This is what we ought to join the apostle in praying for. Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Savior. The apostolic desire is for the complete felicity of those who confess the Lord Jesus Christ.
And it's this threefold word of blessing from the triune God. It's a package of wording that is very often used, grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Savior. Sometimes there's a flipping of those words, the Father and the Son, but it's a very common thing to see this threefold apostolic blessing, truly this threefold blessing from on high. that free favor and goodwill of God with all the spiritual gifts which proceed from it. Mercy, His compassionate, tender love, pardoning, relieving, supporting, and assisting us in our Christian course.
It's not only salvific at the point of our salvation that divine mercy is exercised, but God blesses us with mercy and we ought to pray for it because He does as we go about the Christian walk. that we would have mercy in our engagements, that we would express mercy to others, and that we would rejoice in the mercy that God pours out upon us, and peace. The peace of God, that divine, this is from Calvin, that divine calm of conscience, that tranquility and rest of soul, which proceeds from the assurance that God is reconciled to us in Christ, in our freedom by the sanctifying spirit from the tyranny of carnal lusts. This peace can never be to the wicked. We have peace.
You know, we said just a number of minutes ago, we read from 1 Timothy, that Jesus Christ is our hope. Paul writes elsewhere that Jesus Christ is our peace. Jesus Christ, our peace, in the book of Ephesians. He is the one who brings this complete felicity for Christians.
And we may ask, Where is the Holy Spirit in verse four? We said it's a Trinitarian blessing. Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Savior. We only see Father and Son there.
Well, the Holy Spirit, we could say here, is the bringer of the grace, the mercy, and the peace, and he is the one who has inspired the author, the Apostle Paul, to pen these words. We see, in fact, in Titus 3, verses five and six, we see something of this. Verse four, but when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, and notice, whom he poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior. The Spirit is the one poured out, bringing that grace and mercy and peace.
It is a Trinitarian blessing. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Blessed Trinity.
Application
In closing, just four quick notes, and then we can pray for the food and move up to enjoy some nourishment. We are to be about the love, proclamation, and defense of our common faith. We have received a heritage of antiquity and we are to carry that torch and pass it on so that our children and our children's children inherit that common faith. It is a blessed thing to grip, to hold.
It is a blessed thing to proclaim. And it is a necessary thing to advance. and to pass on to subsequent generations. Secondly, we are to be about the adornment of the gospel. We rejoice in Christ, let us walk in a manner that is such that adorns or bedecks or ornaments the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Simply, we conduct ourselves according to that blessed law of God given, not as a covenant of works, but as a pattern whereby we can express by joyful obedience our love to Christ and our love to men. We're to rest in our present felicity and to look forward to everlasting felicity. We have that perfect and unshakable happiness that grace, mercy, and peace from the triune God. That should uplift us.
That should cause us to smile. That should cause us to rejoice in our hearts that we are not the recipients of condemnation, but we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. And lastly, Sinners outside of Christ in damning out belief, damning unbelief, if you're here this morning, the opposite of felicity is what you have, misery. Misery.
As Calvin says, lost communion with God, you are under his wrath and curse and are so, actually, excuse me, this isn't Calvin. This is the Westminster Shorter Catechism. Those who are outside of Christ are the bearers of misery who have lost communion with God, are under his wrath and curse, and are so made liable to the miseries of this life to death itself and to the pains of hell forever. Don't stay in your misery.
Don't seek after the miseries of this life. Don't be those who will be the recipients of death and the pains of hell forever. The glorious clarity of the gospel of Jesus Christ is that summons, believe on Jesus Christ and you will be saved. I wanna say what a glorious thing we have in the Bible.
The clarity of a letter. We understand this, don't we? A greeting. A body of truth and an exhortation and we kind of navigate this world. every day, to John, I hope you are well, I hope this letter finds you well, but usually when we write those things, we're writing those things and we don't so much care about the salutation, but so much is packed into this greeting, Paul inspired by the Holy Spirit, about the faith of God's elect, about gospel truth, about conduct that accords with godliness.
Saints, rejoice in Christ and rejoice in the unshakable felicity that you have in him and sinners cast off your misery. Behold the Christ and believe in him. Let's pray.
Closing Prayer
God, we thank you for your truth. We rejoice in your goodness to us in this particular passage. We thank you that we can read of the gospel of Jesus Christ, of the certainty of eternal life, decreed before the foundation of the world, brought to truth and brought to fruition in time by the proclamation of the gospel and the attending spirit. We thank you for salvation.
We thank you for our Christ. We thank you for his gospel. And we would pray now, Lord God, that you would strengthen your people, that you would cause them to adorn the gospel by godly conduct, and that you would bring forth sinners by amazing grace to behold the glory of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's in His name that we pray.
Amen.