your Bibles to the book of Titus. Titus chapter 3, our focus will be on verses 4 to 8. Titus chapter 3, Paul's letter to a young ministerial colleague who was on the island of Crete, which was a sort of a pioneer missionary setting for that young man. And so the apostle writes to encourage him to emphasize gospel truth and to continue to Give glory to God in the gospel of His beloved Son.
Well, I want to read the entirety of the chapter, Titus chapter 3, and then, as I said, our focus will be on verses 4 to 8. So beginning in verse 1, remind them to be subject to rulers and authorities, to obey, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing all humility to all men. For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. 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, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace, we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
This is a faithful saying, and these things I want you to affirm constantly, that those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable to men. But avoid foolish disputes, genealogies, contentions, and strivings about the law, for they are unprofitable and useless. Reject a divisive man after the first and second admonition, knowing that such a person is warped and sinning, being self-condemned.
When I send Artemis to you or Tychicus, be diligent to come to me at Nicopolis, for I have decided to spend the winter there. Send Zenos, the lawyer, and Apollos on their journey with haste, that they may lack nothing. And let our people also learn to maintain good works, to meet urgent needs, that they may not be unfruitful. All who are with me greet you.
Greet those who love us in the faith. Grace be with you all. Amen. Well, let us pray.
Our gracious God and Holy Father, we thank you for this beautiful day. We certainly recognize the righteousness and the glory and the majesty of God revealed in the created order. We thank you for your handiwork. We thank you as well for your sovereign providence that you govern all your creatures and all their actions.
And as we gather here in the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ on the Lord's Day, we rejoice in the doctrine of salvation. We know, God, it's not we who have saved ourselves, it's not we who have helped you, or assisted you in that undertaking, but salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ Jesus alone. And we thank you for the privilege today to witness the baptism of two trophies of your sovereign grace. We pray that you would encourage each of our hearts and build us up in our most holy faith.
And God, for any and all who are here dead in their trespasses and sins, we pray, that your Holy Spirit would come, that they would know something of that regeneration and that renewal and that justification by God's grace through the redeeming work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Forgive us now for all sin and unrighteousness. Cleanse us in His precious blood and guide us by the Holy Spirit. And we pray in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Introduction
Well, as I said, Titus was stationed on the island of Crete to set in order the things that were lacking. If you notice in Titus 1 at verse 5, Paul expresses that particular concern. 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. And then in our text, if you look at chapter 3, specifically at verse 8, he says, this is a faithful saying, and these things I want you to affirm constantly.
I think the connection is simple. God calls men to function as elders in the capacity of the local church. We call them ministers of the gospel. And Paul's emphasis in verse 8 in chapter 3 is that ministers of the gospel need to minister the gospel.
That's the primary calling, that's the primary emphasis, that's what God is concerned with in the churches of the Lord Jesus Christ. The proclamation of His truth, the law, so that men may see their misery and their deadness before a holy God, and the gospel, that redeeming work of the Lord Jesus Christ to rescue needy sinners. So as we focus on this particular passage this morning in verses 4 to 8, the word washing there at verse 5 does not refer to baptism. So I'm not going to preach baptismal regeneration this morning, but what we have in the waters of baptism is an external communication of what God does internally recorded here specifically in verse 5.
We'll see that in a few moments. But as we map out our passage in verses 4 to 8,
Sermon Overview and Text
there's three emphases I want to look at. First, the appearance of the love of God in verse 4. Secondly, the application of the grace of God in verses 5 to 7. And then thirdly, the affirmation of the word of God in verse 8.
The Appearance of the Love of God
So let's look first at the appearance of the love of God in verse 4. Notice, Paul tells Titus what the people of God in Crete are supposed to do. So in verse 1 he says, "...remind them to be subject to rulers and authorities, to obey, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing all humility to all men." And then he highlights what he and they had been prior to their conversion to Jesus Christ. Notice in verse three, four, we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another.
In other words, there was a time when we could have never imbibed what God calls us to in verses one and two. We were that, that's sort of a before scene relative to the Christian life. And when we read that God pours out the Holy Spirit abundantly through our Lord Jesus Christ, keep verse three in your mind. If you ever had those seasons or occasions in your life where you realize that you've made a mess of things, that you're not what you ought to be, that you've got all kinds of sins and all kinds of issues and all kinds of problems?
Well, verse 3 pretty much encapsulates what is the problem with man prior to his coming to our Lord Jesus Christ. Again, notice what he says. And Paul here includes Paul. He doesn't say, you guys, you wretches on the island of Crete, all of you heathen out there, No, the apostle includes himself, which we would expect. 1 Timothy 1, he says, this is a faithful saying.
It's worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. So Paul never forgot the rock from whence he was hewn. Paul never forgot the before picture relative to his spiritual state. And so Paul includes himself in verse three and says, for we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another." In other words, that's a description of man outside of our Lord Jesus Christ.
There is that reality. When you look at the world around us, that's the problem. We try to blame politics, and I'm not suggesting there's no blame in politics. We try to blame economics.
We try to blame, you know, social status. We try to blame gender or race. It's a sin problem. That's what affects the world today.
And that's what makes what Paul says in verses 4 to 8 so wonderful. If all we had was verse three and no redeeming work and power of our Lord Jesus Christ, if we had no gospel, we would be of all men the most miserable. But it's in the context of verse three that God does the redeeming work in verses four to eight. So he introduces this love of God in verse four.
He says, when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, So what he wants to do is to show us that though we were verse 3, we by God's grace are now redeemed so that we have the power and the ability by the Spirit who lives and dwells in us to do verses 1 and 2. And again, that's the emphasis in verse 8. Notice, I want you to affirm constantly the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ so that those who have believed the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ in God should be careful to maintain good works. In other words, so that they may be the kinds of people that are described in verses one and two.
But back to this statement, when the kindness and the love of God our Savior appeared, He highlights the perfections of God there. Now, the perfections of God are those things which we speak about concerning God. God reveals himself in the Bible in a whole host of ways. He does so through his names, but as well through his perfections, or sometimes we call them attributes.
God is spirit, he's infinite, he's eternal, he's unchangeable in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth. Those are his perfections. But when the kindness of God, or rather when the love of God appeared, what does Paul highlight here specifically is that. He says, when the kindness and the love of God our Savior, the perfection of God's goodness, the perfection of God's love, it wasn't our goodness and it wasn't our capacity to love that brought God's saving favor down upon us.
That's not it at all. It's God's love, it's God's goodness, it's God's mercy, it's God's kindness that brings sinners out of death and darkness and depravity. Now, if you hear that this morning and you're not a believer in Jesus Christ, may I encourage you to listen, to pay attention, and to understand that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that God demonstrates his own love toward us, and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. In other words, the gospel reveals to us the love and the kindness of God toward needy sinners.
So if your condition this morning is described or summarized in verse 3, don't throw up your hands in hopelessness, but rather flee to the Lord Jesus Christ in faith, because that's the purpose for which the Son of Man came into this world, to seek and to save that which was lost. So Paul highlights that love of God that has appeared.
The Father's Love and the Trinity
But specifically when he speaks in verse four, I think he's referring to the Father. But when the kindness and the love of God, the Father, our Savior. Notice the way that Paul uses this language interchangeably. Look at 2.13, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.
He uses that terminology synonymously because every work outside of God is done by the one true and living God. But there are times and instances in scripture where certain works are applied to certain persons of the Trinity. Again, it's not like 33 and a third percent is taken up by the Father, 33 and a third percent is taken up by the Son, 33 and a third percent is taken up by the Spirit. No, the works of God are done by the true and living God.
The Bible at times appropriates specific works to one of the persons to demonstrate something to us about the glory of God Most High. So here when he speaks about the love and kindness of God our Savior appearing, I believe he's referring to the Father. We see similarity in that statement I've already referred to in John 3.16. God so loved the world that He gave.
Romans 5, 8, God demonstrates his own love toward us. As well, we see that reality in Ephesians chapter 2. Paul paints the picture in verses 1 to 3, what we looked like before we came to a saving knowledge of Christ. And then he says, but God, who is rich in mercy, Brethren, friend, that's the God that we have to do with.
He's not just a little bit merciful, a little bit kind, a little bit benevolent. He so loved the world. Now, the glory of that statement isn't seen in how good the world is. The glory of that statement is seen in how bad the world is.
He so loved this mass of humanity that in the midst of it, he calls out of darkness into marvelous light those whom he has set his love upon. And so Paul is rehearsing that here.
When God's Love Most Vividly Appeared
But then notice the time that this love appears. But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared. If you think about God's works in the Bible, it's good to sort of categorize them in three heads. First, He creates.
Just look at the world around you today. You ever met an atheist? Well, where's the evidence for the existence of God? Just do like that.
The sun, the moon, the stars, the globe, the earth, the universe, mankind, the human hand. Where's the evidence for the existence of God? Where isn't the evidence for the existence of God? So creation, God's sovereignty, God's power, God's wisdom, God's glory is manifested in the created order.
Then we speak about providence. This world is not haphazard. It's not chance. Justin Trudeau's prime minister because God is sovereign.
That may be tough to square with us at times, but we recognize that. God was sovereign over Ahab. God was sovereign over Manasseh. He governs all his creatures and all their actions.
God was sovereign over Nero. But the reality is, is that in that providence, he again demonstrates his wisdom and his power and his goodness. But it's in redemption. It's in salvation.
Again, we see power, we see wisdom, we see goodness, but we can subset goodness in terms of grace and mercy. So when does this love and kindness of God most vividly appear? It's at the incarnation of the Son of God. What Paul speaks of in Galatians 4.4, in the fullness of the time, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law.
So when does God's kindness and love most manifestly appear? It's in the babe in the manger. It's in the word became flesh. It's in the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
You want to see the love of God? Creation teaches. Providence teaches. But redemption teaches in a way that those other works don't get at.
Love is seen in the sacrifice of our blessed Savior. Love is seen in this mission of recovery and rescue and redemption that He undertook on our behalf. Love is seen in His life of perfect obedience. He was a man of sorrows.
He was acquainted with grief. He says to one in his earthly ministry, the foxes have holes and the birds have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head. In fact, prophesying prior to his coming, Isaiah says, he has no form, no comeliness. There's nothing about him that draws the eye, the physical eye.
He didn't walk around with a halo. He didn't walk around with 18-inch biceps. He didn't walk around with an armament on him. He was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
Why? Because of love. Why does he go to the cross? He has love for his friends.
He has love for his people, and he lays down his life for them. He says, no greater love is there than this, that I lay down my life for the sheep. And then that resurrection and current accession at the right hand of God. Scripture says, with reference to our beloved Jesus, that he ever lives to make intercession for us.
Why is that? Because of great love. He is our advocate with the Father, even Jesus Christ the righteous. Why?
Because of that great love. So the love of God, the kindness of God is manifested in creation, in providence, but supremely and superlatively in the doctrine of redemption, in the gospel of our salvation, in that empty tomb, in that risen Lord, in that blessed Redeemer, in that advocate with the Father. And that love is not just minuscule. It's not just a little bit.
It's not just a few people that may experience. The Scriptures tell us that there's a great multitude in the age to come that praise God Most High for the salvation that they enjoy. So don't vote yourself out or don't consider yourself, well, I'm unreachable. I'm an abundant sinner.
Well, bless God, there's abundant grace to be had in the Savior. So the apostle contrasts what we were, verse 3, and he now demonstrates what we are, and he predicates this or states this as connected to the love of God.
The Application of the Grace of God
But then notice the application of God's grace. So we ask the question, well, God's love was manifest. God's love appeared specifically and supremely in the incarnation. But let's just kind of flesh it out a bit.
Sometimes husbands or wives, they might say something like, do you love me? And I don't know that that's necessarily calling into question their credibility, but it's nice to hear once in a while. And then if they're a bit even more ambitious, well, why? Again, maybe it's that inner desire to be praised for something.
I don't think that's always a good thing. But, well, I love you because you take out the trash. I love you because you cook delicious meals. Those aren't bad things, brethren.
I mean, it's good to have some schlub to take out the trash and somebody good to cook a good meal. But we kind of like to know the answers or reasons or rather the descriptions or the demonstrations of that love. Again, generally, God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. Romans 5.8, God demonstrates his own love toward us and that while we were at sinners, Christ died for us.
So what Paul is doing now, he speaks of the love of God having made its appearance in the incarnation of the son. And now in verses five to seven, he gives us the details. He sort of, draws it out, he applies it for us so that we can stand in awe that what we were, verse three, has been overcome by the love of God in a particular and concrete way through the redemptive work of Jesus Christ. So that's what he does.
Now notice specifically three things here in verses five to seven. I wanna look at the fact of salvation, secondly, the basis of salvation, and then the means involved in salvation.
The Fact of Salvation
But note the fact. Verse 5, not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to His mercy, He saved us. Now, verses 4 to 7 are one sentence. Now, they're not, I don't think, in the English version, but in the Greek it's one sentence.
What's the simple sentence, taking all of you back to grammar school? Talking to kids who probably already know this. When you look at a big long sentence, what's the first task in trying to understand the big long sentence? Find the simple sentence.
Because oftentimes you have a simple sentence and you have a bunch of words around it just describing that simple sentence a little bit more. And that's what Paul is doing here, specifically in verse 5. The simple sentence is right about the middle of verse 5. Those three words, he saved us.
That's Paul's emphasis. The love and kindness of God appeared at the incarnation. The first concrete way that we know that he loves us is that he saved us, which in light of verse 3 is truly mind-blowing, isn't it? Remember, Jesus says, I didn't come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
Luke 15, all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to hear him. It's almost as if God has in his mind the salvation of horrible people. Yeah, that's exactly right. Ask anybody you're sitting around this morning that has faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Describe yourself prior to your conversion in one word. Horrible would probably be right at the top. They might even say, it's that way now, but by the grace of God, he deals with my sin, he supplies the spirit, and he keeps me on track. So the verse 3 backdrop is the context in which He saved us.
Now, this is a common refrain in Scripture. It's always intrigued me that people come to the Bible for some of the weirdest things. I remember years ago, there was a famous preacher, and not Reformed, but sort of, you know, in the broader evangelical world, and I think he wrote a book on the Daniel Diet. You know, Daniel, the prophet, was given a specified diet when he was there in Nebuchadnezzar.
Now, I'm not suggesting we can't learn something from what Daniel imbibed, but I would suggest that if you're getting diets out of the book of Daniel, you're missing the point. or you've probably heard David at the Valley of Elah facing Goliath. Well, there's a story calculated for you to overcome your personal giants. No, it's not. or we want the Bible to speak to quantum physics, or we want the Bible to speak to auto mechanics, or we want the Bible to speak to just about everything. You know what the constant refrain of Holy Scripture is?
He saved us. The Bible is a book about the redemption of God through his son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to bring glory to him. That's what the Bible, again, we can learn things about math and history and science and all those sorts of things, but if we're searching the scripture for non-redemptive ends, we're missing the entirety of God's Word. So this simple sentence is all over scripture.
Remember Jonah, chapter 2, verse 9, he says, salvation is of the Lord. or Jesus at the time when he calls Zacchaeus down from the tree. And everybody grumbles and they murmurs. Why? Because sinners were no different then than they are today.
We hear about a notorious sinner getting saved. Well, that doesn't seem right. He's a pretty bad guy. He's a horrible specimen of a human being.
Well, that's how they responded with Zacchaeus. So Jesus seizes upon the opportunity and says, the son of man came to seek and to save that which was lost. I didn't come for the righteous. Doctors don't visit the healthy.
They rather go to the sick. Jesus comes to the dead. The mission of God, the love of God is demonstrated in that wondrous work. Ephesians 2.8, for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves.
Revelation chapters 5 and 7, you've got these scenes where the saints of Christ are before the throne of God, and they shout out antiphonally praise to God. And specifically in Revelation 7, they say, salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb. They don't say, thank you for the Daniel diet. I was really able to curb my appetite and lose a few nasty inches.
That's not the point. The point is the salvation of God most high through Jesus Christ our Lord for the glory of God most high, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Bible is a redemptive book. The Bible has a specific focus.
The Bible is about the doing and the dying and the rising of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Old Testament. promises and anticipates, the New Testament brings the Savior and shows us what He does, shows us how He did it, and shows us His glory in the having done it. So Paul says, He saved us. But then notice those words around it now become very necessary to understand. He first gives a denial and then an affirmation.
So remember the simple sentence is he saved us.
The Basis of Salvation
Well, how did he save us? Did he do it because we were savable? Did he do it because we had a lot of good works accruing? Did he do it just to kind of meet us halfway?
No, there's a denial at the first part of verse five. Notice not by works of righteousness, which we have done. It's not by works of righteousness which we have done. There's no sort of cooperation in the matter of salvation.
Well, if I do 50 good works in 19 or 2024, 19, wow, where'd that come from? 2024, well, then God will reward me in December with this great salvation. We treat God as if he's a, you know, a bartering agent. We treat God as if, you know, we'll do, and then you do, and we'll sort of meet at the table here, we'll write it on the note, we'll pass it back and forth, and we'll come to the terms. No, He saved us not according to our works of righteousness.
Well, the first and most obvious reason is because there were no works of righteousness. There were none. Nada, zip, zilch. We were described very effectively in verse 3.
For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. What part of that do we bring to the table to barter with God? None of it. There's no good works.
Simple sentence, He saved us. Denial, not by works of righteousness, which we have done. It's not the good that we bring to the table. It's not the contribution that we give.
There is none. There is none righteous. No, not one. Speak of Paul in Romans chapter 3.
There's none who seeks after God. There's no fear of God before their eyes. What does the prophet Isaiah say in chapter 53? All we like sheep have gone astray.
We all have pursued these various lusts. We've all pursued those things that are contrary to God, that are rebellious in His sight, that break and transgress His law and lack conformity unto it. So you've got to understand, He saved us not according to our works of righteousness, not according to any good thing that we bring, not by works of righteousness, which we have done. But then notice this affirmation that He gives, or an affirmation.
So after this, not by works of righteousness, which we have done, he goes on to say, but according to his mercy, according to his mercy, just highlighting once again, the love and kindness of God that appeared in the incarnation according to verse four. So it's not our works, but it's God's mercy. It's not our efforts, but it's God's kindness. It's not our attempts, but it's God's efficacy.
Again, there is great hope in this passage. Perhaps you've grown up in a church. Perhaps you've heard the gospel all your life. Perhaps you still sit dead in your trespasses and sins and contemplating this idea that, well, there's just no hope for me.
There might be hope for everybody else in here, but there's no hope for me. Well, I would encourage you to reconsider that. Consider the fact that the apostle celebrates God's love, God's kindness, God's mercy, and God's grace. Now, he doesn't, just as I mentioned earlier, just, you know, apportion it out in little bits.
Well, you know, here's your little bit. In verse five, he's gonna talk about pouring out the Spirit abundantly. I was reminded of John Newton. He says, I'm a great sinner, but I serve a great Savior.
Or again, Paul in 1 Timothy 1, trustworthy, faithful saying, worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of what? Of whom I am chief. Brethren, friend, there is hope to be had in this God. There is mercy, there is grace, there is an abundance of it.
In fact, you can't tap it out. You can't exhaust it. You can't use it up. Turn over to Ephesians chapter one for just a moment and something of a parallel passage, just to see how Paul celebrates the abundance of God's grace.
Ephesians chapter one. He says, in him, Christ, we have redemption through his blood. And then he goes on to explain that in a particular way, the forgiveness of sins. And then note that next clause, according to the riches of his grace.
Not just a little bit of grace, not just a little bit of mercy, not just a little bit of kindness. But as the apostle says in many places in his writings, and here as well in Titus 2.5, but according to his mercy, he saved us. There's a passage in the prophet Micah, and the name Micah basically means, who is a God like you? And it's interesting because Micah ends his prophecy on that note.
He asks the question, who is a God like you? And then he fills in the response. And the response is a bit contrary to what we might expect. I think we might expect, who is a God like you who visits the wicked with punishment, who visits the ungodly with judgment, who visits the unrighteous with eternal hell?
That's not a perplexing question, is it? In a moral universe governed by a good God who is altogether just and righteous and holy, the punishment of sinful offenders doesn't evoke question, does it? I mean, Romans 6, for the wages of sin is death. Is anybody shocked by that?
Wait a minute, I can't believe that. No, that's perfectly acceptable. You commit the crime. This used to be a principle in modern Western jurisprudence.
You commit a crime and you do the time. I realize that's not always the case now, but in a moral universe, that is the way it's supposed to be. So when we come to this question by Micah, using his own name, Micah, who is a god like you, here's what comes from his lips. Who is a god like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over the transgression of the remnant of his heritage?
He does not retain his anger forever because he what? He delights in mercy. So again, if you're sitting there and you've not come to the Lord Jesus Christ, you might have this weird thing going, oh, I can't come, I don't wanna come, I shouldn't come, or I've always been told I'm not supposed to come, but he's rich in mercy. In fact, he delights in mercy.
There's no wanting or lacking or absence of it in the divine essence. There's not a bit where he comes up short. Everybody in the room believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. He's not going to say, well, you know what?
I got to get back to y'all because I got to go find some more mercy and grace. God is mercy and grace. He is his perfections. He is all that he is.
And it's most wondrous and glorious. And so the apostle tells us, he saved us. He makes a denial. It's not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but then he makes this affirmation, but according to his mercy.
And then notice the specific means involved.
The Means of Salvation
He speaks there of the act of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit. Again, this isn't water baptism. The ladies that go into the tank this morning, they're not coming through that to Jesus. They're going through that because they've come to Jesus.
It's an external display. It's an external sacrament of an internal reality. And the internal reality demonstrates, or rather the external reality demonstrates passages like this. So when we see these sisters go through the waters of baptism, this is the message we ought to hear preached.
Not owing to them. Congratulations, Sherelle and Becca, you've done it. You've really sided with Christ. No, no, no, no.
The one celebrated today is the God of Titus 3, 4-8. It's the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who sent the Son of His love into this world to live, to die, and to be raised again. So as we look at these particulars, notice in verse 6, at the end of verse 5, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit. Now, regeneration means what we often hear in common Christian parlance, the new birth, or to be born again.
Remember in John 3, Nicodemus comes by night to the Lord Jesus Christ And he says, teacher, we know that you're a man from God. We know that no one can do these great things unless God sends him. Jesus cuts right to the quick and he says, unless a man is born again, he shall not enter the kingdom of heaven. It's just not going to happen.
Why? Because we're dead in our trespasses and sins. We're the kinds of people that traffic in the muck of verse three in Titus 3.3. In order to get between A and B, we've got to have something happen to us from outside of us.
And the apostle indicates that here. The love of God is manifested in the regeneration of dead sinners, in the making of them alive. And it's not just John 3, because as Jesus continues with Nicodemus, Nicodemus starts to ask some odd questions and Jesus chides him. He says, are you a teacher in Israel and you don't know these things?
Why does Jesus do that? Because there was a promise in the prophet Ezekiel about the new covenant era. And God the Lord says, then I will sprinkle clean water on you and you shall be clean. I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols.
I will give you a new heart and a new spirit within you. I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and you will keep my judgments and do them. The washing of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit points to that divine work of God, wherein He causes a man, a woman, a boy or girl to be born again, so that they may pass from death unto life.
And when they, by grace, are born again, they're granted the graces of faith and repentance. And you see that movement in our very text. The renewing or the regenerating and renewing power of the Holy Spirit is then seen in justification by God's grace. Notice what the Apostle says there.
So we've got the Holy Spirit who regenerates us. We've got the Holy Spirit who renews us. He makes us alive. And then in verse six, he says, whom he poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ, our savior, that having been justified by his grace, we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
So we receive the spirit. We're made alive. We have now the ability by God's grace to believe the gospel. So when these ladies go into the baptistry, that's what's being declared.
That's what's being evidenced. And that God gives these good gifts shows His love. That God gives these good gifts prolifically shows His love. That God will station a great multitude on that day that no man can number argues there is hope for the most notorious sinner who hears the gospel of Jesus Christ our Lord.
That bit in Luke 15, when all the sinners and the tax collectors draw near to him to hear him. How do the Pharisees respond to that? The Pharisees, they look down their big noses and they say, this man receives sinners and eats with them. That's their complaint.
They don't like the thought that all the tax collectors and the sinners are drawing near to hear him. Well, I've often thought about myself being one of those tax collectors and sinners. I'd want to know how Jesus responds, wouldn't you? If he's accused of receiving to himself sinners and tax collectors, as a sinner, not a tax collector, but a sinner, I'd want to know what's his response.
What's he going to say? Is he gonna disown that claim? No, I don't. I don't receive sinners.
I don't receive tax collectors. I'm just like you Pharisees. They're filthy, vile scum, and I want them far, far from me. Is that how he responds?
No, Jesus responds threefold. He says, he's like a shepherd who loses one of his sheep and leaves the 99 grazing in the meadow to go find that one. If I was a sinner or tax collector, I'd say, wow, that sounds good. And when he finds that sheep, what does he do?
Does he give it a few in the side just to teach it that it never does that again? Does he? Does he pinch it? Does he hobble it?
Does he cut off a little sheep foot so that sheep can never wander astray? He puts it on his shoulders and he returns to his fold rejoicing. And then Jesus says, he's like a woman who loses a coin. What does she do?
Does she say, well, I've got nine others? No. She moves the furniture. She gets the broom out of the closet.
She starts looking for that coin. Why? Because that which was lost, I want to find. And when she does it, she tells her friends.
And what's the response? There's great rejoicing. And then Jesus says he's like a father who had two sons. And one of the sons says, Father, give me my share of the inheritance right now.
I want to go do my thing. I want to go out and sow my oats. I want to go. I want to do my thing.
He's basically saying to the father, you're better off to me dead than alive. Isn't that when an inheritance typically comes? So the father gives him that share of the inheritance. So what does the son do?
Oh, he goes out and he invests, he does good deeds, and he, no, he squanders it through wretched living, vile, wicked living. And he's at the point where he's, you know, with pigs and slopping the pigs and wanting to eat the pig's slop. Thankfully, I've not been at that point, but I think it's a point I want to avoid as far as I'm able, because pigs will eat anything, and I'm sure the smells emitting from that bucket were enough to suggest, I don't want to eat that, but if I was hungry enough, I guess it would look tasty. So what happens?
The boy comes to himself, not to Christ. The way he comes to his senses, not to God, and he reasons, as we often do. Well, first he goes to try to find some help that's not God. And then he says, I know what I'll do.
And typically we refer this as to his conversion. I don't think he's converted at this point. I know what I'll do. I'll go back to my father's house, I'll cast myself on his mercy, and I'll become one of the day laborers.
That way I get three hots and a cot. I'll at least be looked after. I don't have to, you know, crave or covet pig slop. So I'll just go cast myself on his mercy.
Again, not savingly, not salvificly, not because he's seen the error of his ways. No, his belly's pinched and he wants good food. So what happens? You know the story.
If you've been in our church, you know this story a lot. The father on the porch sees the son when he's a long way off. As Spurgeon says, he looks through the telescope of love. And what does the father do?
The father runs to him. Does he run to him to hobble him, to punch him in the stomach, to chide him for the public scandal that he's created in their little village? That's not what he does. He falls on the boy, he kisses the boy, he brings the boy home.
This is his conversion, and it's symbolized in that coat that he places upon him, that ring he puts on his finger. And then the other boy, the other son, he's the Pharisee in the story. What's his response? Well, I never got that.
I never got a fatted calf. I never got all these benefits. How does God the Father respond to him? It is right that we make merry.
My son who was lost is found. My son who was dead is now alive. This idea that God really isn't about saving sinners is unbiblical. God really is about saving sinners.
That love of God made its grand appearance in the incarnation of the Son of His love. That love of God is demonstrated every step of the way in the Messiah's life. We see it come to its pinnacle. It is death and resurrection.
So there's hope. That's the point. And justification is by God's grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. And that's what Paul is highlighting here.
We've got the love of God, and it is absolutely applied or concreted in this work of redemption.
Justification and Heirship
And then notice, he says that having been justified by his grace, we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. So what we were, Titus 2.3, for we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. And now what we receive, the promise of eternal life, again, it's not owing to our moral behavioral change, it's not owing to what we've accomplished, it's not owing to how we've performed, but it's through the washing of regeneration and the renewal by the Holy Spirit, who has poured out abundantly through Jesus Christ, so that being justified by His grace, we have this blessed hope of eternal life. So when these sisters go into that water, that's the message that's communicated.
Not kudos to you for deciding for Jesus and now going to get baptized, but glory to God most high, from whom all blessings flow. Namely, the powerful redeeming work of God seen and affected by the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Affirmation of the Word of God
And then notice the affirmation of God's word on the heels of this statement. So verse 8, this is a faithful saying. There are several faithful sayings in what we call the pastoral epistles, 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus. And some suggest that this is a faithful saying applies to what follows.
This is a faithful saying constantly affirmed people to do good words. I don't think that's the faithful saying. I think the faithful saying is verses 4 to 7. The faithful saying is the gospel of our salvation.
The faithful saying is that He saved us, not according to our works of righteousness, but rather according to the riches of His mercy. That's the faithful saying that needs to be proclaimed by faithful ministers. That gospel of Jesus Christ ought to occupy center place in any church of the Lord Jesus. Again, the Bible is a big book.
It does speak to a lot of things. There are principles of Christian ethics. There are practical applications of the gospel. We're working through that in our studies in the book of Ephesians there in chapters five and six, husbands and wives, children and parents.
I'm not suggesting those things are absent. but the central focal point of God's book is God's son and his life, death, and resurrection. So Paul says, this is a faithful saying, and these things I want you to affirm constantly. I've heard people before say, you know, at my church, I don't ever preach the gospel. Why is that your church?
It's like, I take my car to the mechanic, but he doesn't fix it. I go to the lawyer and all he ever tells me is, you're guilty. I go to the doctor and he diagnoses me and then says, well, too bad for you, which I understand is pretty much the case for lots of medicine today. Why would we go back?
The gospel is to be maintained constantly, not just for unbelievers such that they'll get saved. But brethren, is there anything more needy for you, needful in your life, than a good dose of Jesus Christ and his life and his death and his resurrection? Is there anything calculated out there to promote what Paul then goes on to say than that? And again, notice the specific order.
This is a faithful saying, the truths of verses four to seven, and these things I want you to affirm constantly, the truths of verses four to seven, so that those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works.
Gospel Order: Grace Before Works
Notice, not the inverse, go do good works and then you experience the love of God. Now, the gospel is you experience the love of God by God's grace through the regeneration and renewing power of the Holy Spirit. You're justified freely by God's grace through faith in Jesus Christ. That is the condition.
The consequent is then engaging in good works. See, man's religion puts good works as the condition. If I do such and such, if I go to such and such, if I stop engaging in such and such, then God will reward me with eternal life. That's the religion of the devil and man.
The religion of God's grace is, I save dead sinners, not me, God saves dead sinners according to the riches of His mercy, His grace, His kindness, through the effective power, or the work rather, of His Son, through the power of the Holy Spirit, He saves us, so that now we'll be careful to maintain good works. It's a consequent. It's a fruit. It issues from the fact that we have been justified by God's grace through faith in Jesus Christ.
So if you're a verse 3 kind of guy or girl right now, the answer isn't get better. Fix it. Stop doing this. Stop going here.
Stop seeing that. No, the answer is to look unto the Lord Jesus Christ in faith. to, with the open hand of faith, receive redemptive benefit in all of its blessed profuseness. This God of love and mercy and grace runs from the porch, falls on sinners, kisses them, puts rings on their fingers, robes on their backs, and orders the slaying of the fatted calf. There is everything in the scripture this morning to argue that you come to Jesus, you believe on Jesus, and you will be forgiven.
You will receive a righteousness by which you may stand in the presence of God. Paul's order is conspicuous, justified by God's grace so that those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable to men. I take the these things back to verses 4 and 4 to 7.
We don't need to be told that our good works done to men are good for them. No, if I hand you a bag of money, you don't need me to say, this is a good thing. Well, of course, I'm holding a bag of money. No, the things are the things of verses 4 to 7.
So this is the emphasis. These things are good and profitable to men. the fact that they hear of Christ, the fact that by God's grace they believe in Christ, and the fact that they now are inheritors of eternal life. In conclusion, we ought to appreciate God's perfections, we ought to appreciate God's triunity, the Father, the love of God the Father appears in the sending of the Holy Spirit, based on the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, one true and living God who exists eternally as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. All of the works outside of God are attributed to that one true and living God.
But there are times that the Bible appropriates to persons in the Trinity specific things so we can stand in awe and marvel and be amazed at our great God. And then as far as the doctrine of baptism, I want to make sure I'm sensitive to the occasion and to the young ladies that are identifying. I sometimes say ladies, I didn't want to call you girls, but as I've said in the past, and bless God, we've had a few baptisms recently, it is a privilege of the ministry in the church to be able to speak with converts, to talk to them about their testimony, to be encouraged in my own heart about that testimony, and then to hear them want to identify publicly with our Lord in the waters of baptism. It is a real blessed privilege.
Baptism and the Realities of Titus 3
With reference to baptism, As I said, when they go into that water, it's not so that they may receive the benefits of verses 4 to 7. They go into that water because they have received the benefits of verses 4 to 7. They have been regenerated. They have been renewed by the power of the Holy Spirit, and that because of the work of Jesus Christ.
They have been justified by God's grace through faith in that blessed Savior King. But the baptism of believers represents, in the language of our confession, the sorts of realities that we see here in verses four to seven. So our confession at chapter 29, paragraph one says, baptism is an ordinance of the New Testament, ordained by Jesus Christ to be unto the party baptized, a sign of his fellowship with him, in his death and resurrection, of his being engrafted into him, of remission of sins, and of giving up unto God, through Jesus Christ to live and walk in newness of life. So in other words, baptism is the external emblem or symbol or picture of what God does internally.
He has saved them. They did not save themselves. I didn't go and talk to them or hear from them and say, you know, I cleaned up my act. I started going to church.
I started reading my Bible. I started doing the right things. I stopped doing the wrong things. And lo and behold, God rewarded me with something.
No, that wasn't it at all. Grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, which is good news. If you're not a believer here this morning, God does it. He's doing it.
He's manifesting this power, this glory, this majesty in the saving of guilty, vile, helpless sinners. And remember this day, young ladies, now it's young ladies, with reference to the baptism and public identification with our triune God. Walk in that newness of life. Follow the trajectory of the apostle's words.
You've been justified by his grace. Now engage in those good words. Now engage in those things that are pleasing in his sight. Now bring glory to him.
That language of the Lord Jesus, let your light so shine before men that they may glorify your father in heaven. It's not, oh, what a wonderful person you are. No, you become a vehicle by which to shine the light of God's glory upon the object of that glory. So, when we see the baptism, think Titus 3, 4 to 7.
When you girls think baptism, think about the day that you identified as having died, been buried, and raised again for everlasting life.
Closing Prayer
Well, let us pray, and then we'll move to the water. Our God and Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for the clarity of Titus 3, 4 to 8 specifically, and what it teaches concerning the doctrine of salvation. And our heart's desire and earnest plea is that more and more people would come to a saving knowledge of our Redeemer.
We thank you for your work in Shirel and for Becca. We thank you for their confession of faith in the living and true God, their confession in the life, death, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. for their testimony and their consistency. We pray that you would bless them and their time at our church. May you encourage them, may you build them up in their most holy faith.
And as well, may they be prayerful and seek as well to encourage the brothers and the sisters around them. And may you indeed continue to be pleased to add such as should be saved to your churches throughout this world. And we ask this through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.