WEBVTT 00:00:04.480 --> 00:00:06.799 Hopefully you have a copy of the scripture. 00:00:07.040 --> 00:00:13.119 If you don't, you can find it there in the Pew Bible, page 1058. 00:00:16.640 --> 00:00:21.199 Titus chapter 2, we're continuing on through this epistle. 00:00:25.199 --> 00:00:31.519 Text for this morning is Titus chapter 2, verses 11 through 15. 00:00:33.439 --> 00:00:35.039 Here's God's word. 00:00:38.079 --> 00:01:00.320 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, instructing us to deny godlessness and worldly lust, and to live in a sensible, righteous, and godly way in the present age, while we wait for the blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. 00:01:00.719 --> 00:01:11.280 He gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to cleanse for himself a people for his own possession, eager to do good works. 00:01:11.599 --> 00:01:15.280 Proclaim these things, encourage and rebuke with all authority. 00:01:15.439 --> 00:01:17.439 Let no one disregard you. 00:01:18.079 --> 00:01:20.159 Let's seek God's help again. 00:01:20.640 --> 00:01:22.560 Oh Lord, we need grace. 00:01:22.879 --> 00:01:26.319 We need the grace of Jesus Christ. 00:01:26.480 --> 00:01:29.120 We need his presence here among us. 00:01:29.359 --> 00:01:37.280 We need the grace to understand these words and not just to understand these words, but to apply these words to our lives, to our hearts. 00:01:37.519 --> 00:01:44.480 And we know the Spirit Himself is the author of this book and the very best applier of Scripture. 00:01:44.719 --> 00:01:48.719 So, Spirit of God, help us as we consider your word today. 00:01:48.799 --> 00:01:50.640 In Jesus' name, amen. 00:01:52.719 --> 00:01:58.640 We've all known people who always seem to be looking backward. 00:01:59.920 --> 00:02:05.200 They'll tell you all about where they used to live, what they used to do. 00:02:07.040 --> 00:02:12.719 We've also known people who always seem to be looking ahead. 00:02:13.520 --> 00:02:18.960 They'll tell you the plans they have for the future, the things that they hope to accomplish. 00:02:19.759 --> 00:02:24.080 Sometimes older people are more prone to looking backward. 00:02:25.120 --> 00:02:31.360 And other times, younger people are sometimes more prone to looking ahead. 00:02:32.479 --> 00:02:35.840 What about our lives in the here and now? 00:02:37.439 --> 00:02:49.120 Well, the the people that like to look back will say, if you don't know where I'm from and what's happened to me in the past, you can't really know what I'm all about right now. 00:02:49.680 --> 00:02:54.080 And the people who love to look ahead will say, Well, we don't have a goal in mind. 00:02:54.159 --> 00:02:58.639 If we don't know where we're going, life in the present doesn't really make any sense. 00:03:00.240 --> 00:03:02.560 Both of those perspectives are valuable. 00:03:02.800 --> 00:03:09.520 Both of them are necessary in some sense for living our lives in the day-to-day, in the here and now. 00:03:10.960 --> 00:03:12.479 But here's our problem. 00:03:13.919 --> 00:03:23.120 We're prone to fixating on what we've accomplished in the past, or maybe even how we've failed in the past. 00:03:24.000 --> 00:03:29.599 We're prone to fixating on what we are going to do in the future. 00:03:31.439 --> 00:03:42.560 The Bible calls us to center our heart on what God has done in the past and what God will do in the future. 00:03:43.439 --> 00:03:44.560 Look at our passage. 00:03:44.719 --> 00:03:51.840 Verse 11 says, the grace of God has appeared. 00:03:52.240 --> 00:03:54.159 Something's already happened. 00:03:54.319 --> 00:03:56.560 He's already accomplished salvation. 00:03:56.719 --> 00:03:59.280 And it's God's grace, it's not us. 00:04:00.240 --> 00:04:03.199 Verse 14 begins, He gave Himself. 00:04:03.439 --> 00:04:05.919 Christ did something in the past. 00:04:07.759 --> 00:04:12.000 Along with that past activity of God, we have His future activity. 00:04:12.159 --> 00:04:20.000 Verse 13 says, While we wait for the blessed hope, the appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. 00:04:20.160 --> 00:04:22.560 That's talking about his second coming. 00:04:22.720 --> 00:04:25.120 So it actually hasn't happened yet. 00:04:25.439 --> 00:04:28.160 He will return in power and glory. 00:04:29.199 --> 00:04:36.000 According to our passage, God's work in the past means everything for our lives right now. 00:04:36.480 --> 00:04:42.480 And God's work in the future means everything for our lives right now. 00:04:43.439 --> 00:04:48.639 We've got two weeks to cover these verses, verses 11 to 15. 00:04:49.279 --> 00:04:55.279 The title for the message this morning is Looking Back and Living Now. 00:04:55.759 --> 00:05:02.319 And the title for next week's message is preview, Looking Ahead and Living Now. 00:05:04.560 --> 00:05:11.680 In order for us to live for God now, we have to embrace what He has done in the past. 00:05:11.920 --> 00:05:13.199 Let me say that again. 00:05:14.879 --> 00:05:21.040 In order for us to live for God now, we have to embrace what He's done in the past. 00:05:22.560 --> 00:05:24.720 Two encouragements for you this morning. 00:05:24.959 --> 00:05:29.920 Look back to God's grace and live now in light of God's grace. 00:05:30.560 --> 00:05:35.120 First encouragement: look back to God's grace. 00:05:35.360 --> 00:05:40.240 Verse 11 says, the grace of God has appeared. 00:05:41.040 --> 00:05:43.120 Grace is God's unmerited favor. 00:05:43.600 --> 00:05:47.360 It's Him giving us what we don't deserve. 00:05:48.399 --> 00:05:51.600 He sends His rain on the just and the unjust. 00:05:51.759 --> 00:05:56.079 We say grace before our meals because even food is an undeserved gift from God. 00:05:56.240 --> 00:05:59.279 He sends breezes through open windows. 00:06:00.240 --> 00:06:02.000 That's God's general grace. 00:06:02.079 --> 00:06:06.480 But here in verse 11, Paul's talking about something more specific. 00:06:06.720 --> 00:06:10.399 He's talking about a specific revelation of the grace of God. 00:06:10.800 --> 00:06:14.399 And that grace isn't a thing, it's a person. 00:06:15.600 --> 00:06:23.680 The grace of God is revealed supremely in the coming of Jesus Christ the Son into the world to bring salvation. 00:06:24.079 --> 00:06:28.399 John says he came full of grace and truth. 00:06:28.480 --> 00:06:30.000 That's the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:06:30.240 --> 00:06:33.040 He came as the way, the truth, and the life. 00:06:45.680 --> 00:06:49.439 Whenever you need more, you just go get another scoop. 00:06:50.480 --> 00:06:52.160 There's something to that. 00:06:52.959 --> 00:06:55.439 God's grace is inexhaustible. 00:06:56.959 --> 00:07:02.639 It's sweet to those of us who have experienced it, but it doesn't tell the whole story. 00:07:02.959 --> 00:07:06.639 God's grace is not just leniency. 00:07:07.519 --> 00:07:11.040 God's grace is not a giant pixie stick. 00:07:11.360 --> 00:07:19.120 It's a person, the person of his son, the Lord Jesus Christ, when we experience grace in that saving way. 00:07:20.879 --> 00:07:30.720 We've got to spend time meditating on the undeserved kindness and the glory of Christ appearing in history. 00:07:31.360 --> 00:07:37.199 It's an amazing thing that God could take on human flesh. 00:07:37.759 --> 00:07:42.000 God could come through a woman. 00:07:42.959 --> 00:07:57.279 Spurgeon reminds us: though creation may be a majestic organ of praise, it cannot reach the compass of the golden canticle, the incarnation, word became flesh. 00:07:57.519 --> 00:08:05.839 There is more melody in Jesus in the manger than in the whole sublime oratorio of the creation. 00:08:06.959 --> 00:08:15.920 John 1, verse 18 No one has ever seen God, the one and only Son who is Himself God and is at the Father's side. 00:08:20.720 --> 00:08:24.079 Grace comes through the person of Jesus Christ. 00:08:24.160 --> 00:08:30.000 And the passage tells us when we look back to grace, we see that grace saves all kinds of people. 00:08:30.319 --> 00:08:32.799 Verse 11, you can see that there. 00:08:35.200 --> 00:08:37.360 God's grace is incredibly generous. 00:08:37.519 --> 00:08:39.600 No one deserves to be saved. 00:08:39.840 --> 00:08:43.039 And yet God offers salvation to all. 00:08:43.120 --> 00:08:44.159 The good news is for everyone. 00:08:44.320 --> 00:08:47.840 Whoever comes to me, Jesus says, I will never cast him out. 00:08:48.000 --> 00:08:50.879 If you're here this morning, you're part of that whoever. 00:08:51.120 --> 00:09:00.159 If you haven't trusted, you can trust in Christ and find grace and salvation, not from your own works, but from his glorious work alone. 00:09:01.919 --> 00:09:15.440 And although it's true that God's grace is freely offered to all, it's not true that every single person who has ever lived will experience saving grace and find eternal life. 00:09:16.320 --> 00:09:37.120 Second Thessalonians chapter 1 speaks of those who don't respond to the gospel, and it says they will pay the penalty of eternal destruction from the Lord's presence and from his glorious strength on the day he comes to be glorified by his saints and to be marveled at by all those who believe. 00:09:37.600 --> 00:09:41.120 You must trust and receive grace. 00:09:41.679 --> 00:09:44.320 Not every individual will be saved. 00:09:45.679 --> 00:09:51.519 Yet all classes of people will experience salvation. 00:09:51.600 --> 00:09:54.320 And that's especially Paul's focus here. 00:09:54.639 --> 00:10:05.600 He's just been talking earlier in the chapter about older women, younger women, bondservants, masters, older men, younger men. 00:10:05.840 --> 00:10:11.279 He's going to talk in the next chapter about rulers, authorities, citizens. 00:10:12.720 --> 00:10:17.919 Every class of people is reached by the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:10:18.159 --> 00:10:20.240 He didn't come just for Jew and not for Gentile. 00:10:20.320 --> 00:10:21.840 He didn't come for women and not for men. 00:10:22.080 --> 00:10:25.759 He didn't come for this tax bracket or that tax bracket. 00:10:25.919 --> 00:10:33.600 Every kind of person needs saving grace, and Jesus accomplishes salvation for all kinds of people. 00:10:34.000 --> 00:10:35.759 That's good news for us. 00:10:36.080 --> 00:10:44.720 It's good news in a world that we live in that sometimes tends to accentuate and set different classes of people over against each other. 00:10:44.960 --> 00:10:46.879 This gender is set against that gender. 00:10:46.960 --> 00:10:49.360 This ethnicity is set against that ethnicity. 00:10:49.519 --> 00:10:52.879 This age group is set over against that age group. 00:10:53.519 --> 00:10:59.759 Some of you, you go into the city and you come back a little frustrated. 00:11:00.240 --> 00:11:06.399 All the advertisements and the billboards, everything is all about youth, youth, youth, youth. 00:11:06.799 --> 00:11:08.960 They don't care about older people at all. 00:11:09.200 --> 00:11:15.120 And the things that are geared for older people, it's like they just want to make us somehow feel and look younger. 00:11:15.200 --> 00:11:17.759 Like old is this terrible category. 00:11:19.279 --> 00:11:23.919 I know it can feel like companies don't care about older people. 00:11:24.080 --> 00:11:25.440 It can feel that way. 00:11:25.679 --> 00:11:29.360 Here's the truth: they don't care about older people. 00:11:30.960 --> 00:11:32.399 You're already set in your ways. 00:11:32.480 --> 00:11:35.519 You're gonna buy what you want to buy, you like what you like. 00:11:35.759 --> 00:11:36.879 They don't really care about you. 00:11:36.960 --> 00:11:38.240 That's that's the bottom line. 00:11:38.799 --> 00:11:40.960 That's not the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:11:41.519 --> 00:11:45.440 He came for four-year-olds and for 94-year-olds. 00:11:45.679 --> 00:11:54.000 The spirit's at work in John the Baptist in his mother's womb in some mysterious way, and the Lord doesn't abandon you no matter how old you are. 00:11:55.039 --> 00:11:58.159 You might have heard the story of a man named Luke Short. 00:11:58.320 --> 00:12:05.200 He grew up in Britain, and as a teenager, he sat under the preaching of John Flavelle. 00:12:05.440 --> 00:12:07.039 This is a few hundred years ago. 00:12:07.200 --> 00:12:12.960 Not a story in the Bible, but a story that's reported as a true story by the publisher. 00:12:13.679 --> 00:12:21.519 He came to travel and eventually came to America, came to New England, settled down as a farmer, this Luke Short. 00:12:22.000 --> 00:12:28.799 God gave him longevity as a 100-year-old man, as the story goes, he's sitting in his field. 00:12:29.600 --> 00:12:34.240 He remembers a sermon he heard when he was 15 years old. 00:12:35.200 --> 00:12:39.039 That if you die apart from Christ, you'll be cursed. 00:12:39.519 --> 00:12:43.279 And he turned from his sins and trusted in Christ. 00:12:43.679 --> 00:12:45.120 God saved him. 00:12:46.559 --> 00:12:51.200 John Flavelle was long dead by that point, the preacher from his teenage years. 00:12:51.440 --> 00:12:54.399 So, as a side note, let that be an encouragement to you. 00:12:54.559 --> 00:13:00.159 You don't know when you testify of the grace of the Lord to somebody, you never know how God might use it in their lives. 00:13:02.000 --> 00:13:09.679 God's grace in Christ saves all kinds of people, comes with the person of Christ. 00:13:09.759 --> 00:13:14.480 And the text here in Titus tells us that grace redeems us. 00:13:14.639 --> 00:13:18.000 It's another more specific way of how it saves us. 00:13:18.159 --> 00:13:19.200 Verse 14. 00:13:25.039 --> 00:13:32.960 Mark 10, 45, even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. 00:13:33.120 --> 00:13:34.960 1 Peter 1, 18 to 20. 00:13:35.200 --> 00:13:47.440 You know that you were redeemed from your empty way of life, not with perishable things like silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of an unblemished and spotless lamb. 00:13:48.240 --> 00:13:51.120 To redeem is to buy something back. 00:13:52.080 --> 00:13:55.360 Slaves in this time could be redeemed out of the marketplace. 00:13:55.440 --> 00:13:58.320 They could have their freedom purchased for them. 00:13:59.200 --> 00:14:05.200 The Lord uses this language and imagery when he speaks of his rescue of Israel from Egypt. 00:14:05.360 --> 00:14:07.120 He redeemed them out of Egypt. 00:14:07.279 --> 00:14:08.080 He purchased them. 00:14:34.480 --> 00:14:38.159 Israel was sinning against their spiritual husband, the Lord. 00:14:38.559 --> 00:14:48.240 And so Hosea has to enact this kind of visual parable that reflects in some way Israel's sin. 00:14:48.559 --> 00:14:53.279 And he's and he marries a woman that would prove to be a prostitute. 00:14:54.399 --> 00:15:00.639 Chapter three of Hosea begins this way: The Lord said to me, Go again. 00:15:01.279 --> 00:15:04.320 This is after they've had children, some time has passed. 00:15:04.480 --> 00:15:15.039 Go again, show love to a woman who is loved by another man as and is an adulteress, just as the Lord loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods. 00:15:15.519 --> 00:15:22.000 So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and nine bushes of barley. 00:15:22.320 --> 00:15:30.320 I said to her, You're to live with me many days, you must not be promiscuous or belong to any man, and I will act the same way towards you. 00:15:30.639 --> 00:15:37.279 Then it goes on afterward, the people of Israel will return and seek the Lord their God and David their king. 00:15:38.080 --> 00:15:49.440 So apparently this woman had left, Gomez, the woman had left Hosea, and he has to go buy back his own wife. 00:15:51.120 --> 00:15:52.960 That's difficult. 00:15:53.679 --> 00:15:56.080 But he does it, he redeems her. 00:15:56.399 --> 00:16:01.200 And the Lord says, I'm gonna do that with my people, I'm gonna buy them back. 00:16:03.120 --> 00:16:12.480 When's the last time you just stopped for five minutes and said, Let me reflect on what has the Lord redeemed me from? 00:16:13.840 --> 00:16:18.960 That's one of the reasons we take time each week for our confession of sin. 00:16:19.519 --> 00:16:26.399 We want to just pause and remember what has God actually rescued me out of amazing grace. 00:16:26.559 --> 00:16:29.360 How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. 00:16:31.679 --> 00:16:35.679 Grace buys us back, grace also cleanses us. 00:16:35.759 --> 00:16:37.200 Look again at verse 14. 00:16:37.440 --> 00:16:48.320 He gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to cleanse for himself a people for his own possession. 00:16:48.480 --> 00:16:54.240 When Hosea bought Gomer back, there's a sense in which she's she's still a dirty person. 00:16:54.320 --> 00:16:55.919 She hadn't changed overnight. 00:16:56.159 --> 00:16:59.279 But the Lord goes above and beyond to cleanse us. 00:16:59.440 --> 00:17:02.879 And he gives another picture of that with the nation of Israel. 00:17:03.039 --> 00:17:07.279 So many pictures in the Old Testament of spiritual truths in our own lives. 00:17:07.599 --> 00:17:09.039 Ezekiel 16. 00:17:09.279 --> 00:17:16.240 The word of the Lord came to me, son of man, confront Jerusalem with her detestable practices. 00:17:16.400 --> 00:17:21.440 Once again, it's a nation sinning against God, just like we're all sinners against the Lord. 00:17:21.680 --> 00:17:29.200 And then Ezekiel is told, Your father was an Amorite, your mother a Heathite. 00:17:29.680 --> 00:17:36.640 And as for your birth, goes on, on the day you were born, you weren't washed clean with water. 00:17:36.799 --> 00:17:41.200 No one cared enough about you to do one of those things out of compassion for you. 00:17:41.440 --> 00:17:45.839 You were thrown into the open field and despised on the day you were born. 00:17:46.160 --> 00:17:47.359 Listen to this. 00:17:48.000 --> 00:17:52.480 But I passed by you and saw you thrashing around in your blood. 00:17:52.799 --> 00:17:56.640 And I said to you, as you lay in your blood, live. 00:17:57.519 --> 00:18:02.960 Yes, I said to you, live, and I made you thrive like the plants of the field. 00:18:04.000 --> 00:18:06.960 You're like an abandoned, bloody baby. 00:18:07.119 --> 00:18:08.640 No one's there to clean you up. 00:18:08.880 --> 00:18:11.759 I cleaned you up, I adopted you. 00:18:13.680 --> 00:18:23.599 What God did for the nation of Israel, He's done in an even deeper way in our own hearts by cleansing us from the defilement of sin. 00:18:24.160 --> 00:18:25.759 That is grace. 00:18:26.559 --> 00:18:27.599 Ephesians 5. 00:18:27.759 --> 00:18:32.799 Christ loved the church and gave himself for her to make her holy, cleansing her. 00:18:32.960 --> 00:18:38.240 There's our same words we have here in Titus, cleansing her with the washing of water by the word. 00:18:38.799 --> 00:18:46.319 He did this to present the church to himself in splendor without spot or wrinkle or anything like that, but a holy and blameless. 00:18:46.559 --> 00:18:47.839 I belong to the Lord. 00:18:48.079 --> 00:18:49.599 Oh, I am not my own. 00:18:49.680 --> 00:18:51.359 I belong to the Lord. 00:18:52.720 --> 00:18:56.079 I'm gonna press on to living now. 00:18:57.519 --> 00:18:59.920 Look back at God's grace. 00:19:00.400 --> 00:19:02.720 Think about the incarnation. 00:19:03.359 --> 00:19:06.480 Consider what God has brought you out of. 00:19:06.799 --> 00:19:09.039 Just sit with grace. 00:19:09.920 --> 00:19:15.119 And as you do that, you'll want to walk with your Savior each and every day. 00:19:15.359 --> 00:19:29.039 The more and more we consider what God has done in the past, and the more we look at that subject in Scripture, we'll see how often in Scripture the Bible connects God's past grace with our present living. 00:19:29.279 --> 00:19:32.559 And you can see that now in the passage as well. 00:19:32.799 --> 00:19:36.880 So look back to God's grace, but live now in light of God's grace. 00:19:37.039 --> 00:19:40.400 Verse number 11 begins with a for. 00:19:41.839 --> 00:19:44.559 For the grace of God has appeared. 00:19:44.720 --> 00:19:51.599 He's connecting God's grace in the past in Christ with what he's just been talking about. 00:19:51.759 --> 00:19:52.640 Well, what is that? 00:19:52.880 --> 00:19:56.480 He's just got finished telling bondservants, submit to your masters. 00:19:56.559 --> 00:20:00.400 He just got finished telling older men, younger men, this is how you live. 00:20:00.559 --> 00:20:02.000 Be sober-minded. 00:20:02.240 --> 00:20:06.799 Older women, teach younger women to love their husbands, to love their families. 00:20:08.319 --> 00:20:12.880 You could submit to your employer because you're a recipient of grace. 00:20:13.279 --> 00:20:19.119 You can love your family today because God's grace has already come to you in the past. 00:20:19.279 --> 00:20:20.960 You see those connection points. 00:20:21.279 --> 00:20:23.839 Verse 14 gives us the same pattern. 00:20:24.079 --> 00:20:26.720 Christ gave himself, he redeemed us. 00:20:27.119 --> 00:20:31.680 So the conclusion is we should be eager to do good works according to verse 14. 00:20:33.839 --> 00:20:37.119 We're not saved by our good works. 00:20:38.400 --> 00:20:41.519 But we are saved for good works. 00:20:41.759 --> 00:20:43.200 We've got to get the order there. 00:20:43.359 --> 00:20:44.480 The order's critical. 00:20:44.720 --> 00:20:49.519 If we say that we're saved by our works, we're confusing the gospel. 00:20:50.079 --> 00:20:54.480 But the Lord has redeemed us for good works. 00:20:55.359 --> 00:20:59.039 We should never conclude that God doesn't care at all about good works. 00:20:59.200 --> 00:21:02.640 Romans 6, 1, shall we continue in sin that grace might abound? 00:21:02.880 --> 00:21:04.160 By no means. 00:21:04.640 --> 00:21:13.200 This book of Titus is at pains to urge on us the importance of good works and to connect that with our life in Christ. 00:21:14.240 --> 00:21:16.559 Chapter 2, verse 7, you can look back. 00:21:16.720 --> 00:21:20.079 Make yourself an example of good works. 00:21:20.400 --> 00:21:22.799 Chapter 3, verse 1, look ahead a few verses. 00:21:22.960 --> 00:21:28.160 Remind them to submit to rulers and authorities, to obey, to be ready for every good work. 00:21:28.720 --> 00:21:30.240 Chapter 3, verse 8. 00:21:30.400 --> 00:21:32.079 This saying is trustworthy. 00:21:32.240 --> 00:21:42.000 I want you to insist on these things so that those who have believed in God might be careful to devote themselves to good works. 00:21:42.720 --> 00:21:51.279 Chapter 3, verse 14 Let our people learn to devote themselves to good works for pressing need so that they will not be unfruitful. 00:21:52.079 --> 00:21:59.759 True Christians should be known as those who preach grace more than anyone else, and those who love good works. 00:22:00.480 --> 00:22:02.319 More than anyone else. 00:22:03.119 --> 00:22:10.880 According to verse number 12, chapter 2, God's grace instructs us. 00:22:12.000 --> 00:22:15.839 So, yes, there's an element of grace that's God's forgiveness. 00:22:16.079 --> 00:22:19.359 Grace is also this power at work in us. 00:22:19.599 --> 00:22:29.599 Christ Himself, through the Holy Spirit, lives within us if we know Him, and He has transformed us, and He is transforming us. 00:22:30.319 --> 00:22:35.920 Some of your versions might say that it trains us or it teaches us. 00:22:36.799 --> 00:22:40.960 There is no school like the Academy of God's grace. 00:22:42.640 --> 00:22:49.599 And you can be a student of that academy, and we're all, if we know the Lord, lifelong students. 00:22:49.920 --> 00:22:52.640 There's no teacher like the Lord's grace. 00:22:53.839 --> 00:22:55.519 Let me give you an example. 00:22:55.839 --> 00:23:02.400 Let's say that you adopt a 12-year-old boy from a war-torn country. 00:23:03.359 --> 00:23:04.079 Bring him back. 00:23:04.160 --> 00:23:05.200 You get the paperwork. 00:23:05.279 --> 00:23:06.319 He's got your last name. 00:23:06.400 --> 00:23:07.279 He's in your home. 00:23:07.440 --> 00:23:13.839 And the first day he says, I just want to tell you, I'm going to work as hard as I can. 00:23:14.000 --> 00:23:19.279 And hopefully, by the end of my life, you will be willing to adopt me into your family. 00:23:20.240 --> 00:23:22.799 Say, no, no, no, no, you don't understand. 00:23:23.039 --> 00:23:24.559 You're already adopted. 00:23:24.720 --> 00:23:26.160 You're part of the family. 00:23:26.559 --> 00:23:27.519 We love you. 00:23:27.839 --> 00:23:30.160 You don't have to work and earn it. 00:23:31.039 --> 00:23:37.440 And let's say the next day you come home and he's got a gun and he's cleaning it out. 00:23:37.599 --> 00:23:38.640 He said, What are you doing? 00:23:38.799 --> 00:23:40.079 Where did you get that? 00:23:40.720 --> 00:23:44.240 And he says, Well, I'm hungry and I'm gonna go rob someone. 00:23:44.400 --> 00:23:46.079 That's how they do it where I'm from. 00:23:46.720 --> 00:23:48.400 No, no, no, that's not that. 00:23:48.559 --> 00:23:49.279 No, no, no. 00:23:49.359 --> 00:23:50.880 If you're hungry, just ask. 00:23:51.039 --> 00:23:52.400 We'll give you food. 00:23:52.799 --> 00:23:53.359 We love you. 00:23:53.759 --> 00:23:54.880 Put that away. 00:23:55.519 --> 00:23:57.599 Now let's fast forward 10 years. 00:23:57.839 --> 00:24:05.519 Let's say you come home, he's on the couch, he's on YouTube, 22 years old. 00:24:05.599 --> 00:24:07.680 Did I get the math there at 12 to 10, 22? 00:24:07.759 --> 00:24:08.079 Yes. 00:24:09.839 --> 00:24:12.960 And you say, What are you gonna do with your life? 00:24:13.279 --> 00:24:15.519 He says, Well, I'm gonna be famous. 00:24:16.079 --> 00:24:18.720 And you say, Well, how are you gonna be famous? 00:24:18.960 --> 00:24:20.720 And he says, Well, I'm gonna complain a lot. 00:24:20.799 --> 00:24:22.640 That's how they do it in this country. 00:24:23.599 --> 00:24:27.839 You say, No, no, no, no, no, no. 00:24:28.720 --> 00:24:32.559 Listen, go out and get a job, serve other people. 00:24:33.359 --> 00:24:38.880 You're wanting your love to transform him and transform the way that he thinks. 00:24:39.119 --> 00:24:40.559 That's what grace does. 00:24:40.720 --> 00:24:42.160 Christ freely accepts us. 00:24:42.240 --> 00:24:43.440 We're part of the family. 00:24:43.680 --> 00:24:54.000 He provides all our needs, but he wants to transform us so that our passions, our desires will reflect his passions and his desires. 00:24:54.240 --> 00:24:59.839 Not what we came out of, and not even first what's around us, but first and foremost, him. 00:25:06.960 --> 00:25:10.319 Grace does two things here in the school of grace. 00:25:10.559 --> 00:25:11.680 Only two tests. 00:25:11.839 --> 00:25:16.079 You gotta say no to certain things, and you gotta say yes to certain things. 00:25:16.319 --> 00:25:18.000 Look at verse 12. 00:25:23.200 --> 00:25:32.559 Grace instructs us to deny godlessness and worldly lusts. 00:25:32.880 --> 00:25:34.160 There's the no. 00:25:35.839 --> 00:25:43.680 And to live in a sensible, righteous, and godly way in the present age. 00:25:43.920 --> 00:25:45.440 There's the yes. 00:25:46.480 --> 00:25:49.359 And do you see how this is present tense again? 00:25:49.680 --> 00:26:06.319 Grace has come, it has appeared in Christ, but it's transforming our lives now because we're united to Christ, that we're gonna want to say no to ungodliness and say yes to godliness. 00:26:07.359 --> 00:26:13.119 Grace, truly understood, doesn't give us liberty to do whatever we want. 00:26:13.599 --> 00:26:17.440 It puts a power in us to actually be able to say no. 00:26:18.480 --> 00:26:21.839 Those living apart from grace, they don't say no to the world. 00:26:22.160 --> 00:26:24.079 Not from the heart, not consistently. 00:26:24.319 --> 00:26:25.759 They're slaves of sin. 00:26:26.000 --> 00:26:27.279 We were all there. 00:26:27.759 --> 00:26:28.880 We're free. 00:26:29.119 --> 00:26:33.440 We could we can say no by God's grace. 00:26:34.319 --> 00:26:36.960 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. 00:26:37.359 --> 00:26:39.440 Everyone else is bowing down to the idol. 00:26:39.599 --> 00:26:41.839 They're told you have to bow down. 00:26:42.400 --> 00:26:46.640 They say, no, we can't. 00:26:47.440 --> 00:26:50.960 Because we love and honor God. 00:26:52.160 --> 00:26:55.039 It's not just about saying no. 00:26:55.279 --> 00:26:58.160 Grace is not teaching us to be ornery people. 00:27:00.240 --> 00:27:03.759 But we say no because we love the Lord so much. 00:27:04.160 --> 00:27:09.599 For those of you who are married, you took a vow to forsake all others. 00:27:10.000 --> 00:27:12.160 That's a lot of no's. 00:27:13.599 --> 00:27:20.319 But it's for an amazing and glorious purpose so that you can say yes to your beloved one. 00:27:23.119 --> 00:27:46.720 Verse 12 mentions how grace trains us to live godly lives, and then it further describes what that looks like to say yes to godliness, living sensibly, term we've seen before in Titus, thoughtfully and righteously, living according to God's rule and standard. 00:27:48.160 --> 00:27:53.839 The word godly is not a word that's used an awful lot in our day and age, even among Christians. 00:27:54.079 --> 00:27:55.039 It's a great word. 00:27:55.200 --> 00:27:56.960 You find it there in scripture. 00:27:57.200 --> 00:28:08.960 Sometimes I think that word is not used because people have a certain idea of what that is that's kind of negative or limited. 00:28:09.599 --> 00:28:18.640 You know, sometimes people hear the word godly and they think, hmm, that must mean the more starch you put on your clothes, the godlier you are. 00:28:18.720 --> 00:28:20.319 That's probably what it is. 00:28:21.039 --> 00:28:24.640 And I mean, if you if you starch your underwear, that's like a super saint. 00:28:24.720 --> 00:28:27.200 You're like godly to the next level. 00:28:29.200 --> 00:28:32.319 Godliness is not austerity. 00:28:32.960 --> 00:28:35.359 And if you if you use starch on your clothes, fantastic. 00:28:35.440 --> 00:28:36.240 If you don't, fantastic. 00:28:36.319 --> 00:28:37.599 It's not about that. 00:28:37.920 --> 00:28:43.599 Godliness is loving God and loving the things that He loves. 00:28:44.720 --> 00:28:50.319 Godliness is living the way God wants us to live. 00:28:51.039 --> 00:28:53.039 It's a beautiful thing. 00:28:53.839 --> 00:29:00.160 And our God is a God of holiness, He's a God of justice and righteousness. 00:29:00.960 --> 00:29:06.400 He's not aloof, he's not austere in those negative ways. 00:29:06.720 --> 00:29:14.400 He's a God that beautifully has in himself perfect justice and righteousness, perfect grace and mercy and love. 00:29:14.559 --> 00:29:17.279 And the list goes on and on and on. 00:29:18.640 --> 00:29:27.920 So if we're going to live godly lives, we have to look at this book and see what he loves and what he wants us to do. 00:29:28.640 --> 00:29:36.000 We can't be looking to cosmopolitan or to Pixar for what God values. 00:29:36.319 --> 00:29:39.359 We got to look in this book for what God values. 00:29:42.000 --> 00:29:53.839 Let's pray that God's grace would be at work in our hearts so that we'd have a passion to love the mystery of godliness, that we'd have a passion to live like our Savior. 00:29:54.799 --> 00:30:01.920 For those that come tonight, I'll maybe ask: what are some ways that we can say no to ungodliness and yes to godliness? 00:30:02.000 --> 00:30:04.960 I'll leave you to think about how you can take this home. 00:30:05.119 --> 00:30:07.920 But in your own life, how can you say no? 00:30:08.960 --> 00:30:11.359 And how can you say yes? 00:30:13.759 --> 00:30:18.799 In order to live for God now, we have to embrace what he's done in the past. 00:30:20.319 --> 00:30:25.279 Look back to God's grace, live now in light of God's grace. 00:30:25.759 --> 00:30:30.720 Next week we'll come to looking ahead and living now. 00:30:31.200 --> 00:30:36.559 But I want to close with 1 Timothy 3.16 and go ahead and turn there if you would, please. 00:30:52.160 --> 00:31:05.359 While pushing us to consider that theme in relation to Jesus himself and especially his coming into the world, just like the passage in Titus did. 00:31:06.799 --> 00:31:09.599 1 Timothy 3, verse 16. 00:31:10.960 --> 00:31:17.200 And most certainly, the mystery of godliness is great. 00:31:18.880 --> 00:31:21.279 And then look what Paul goes on to say. 00:31:21.599 --> 00:31:26.319 He doesn't go on to say, Wow, that mother Teresa, how does she do it? 00:31:26.640 --> 00:31:28.880 That pastor Doug, how does he do it? 00:31:29.039 --> 00:31:40.960 Well, we do have godliness modeled by genuine Christians that we know and love in our lives, but he goes actually to the incarnation when he talks about godliness. 00:31:41.839 --> 00:31:47.039 He that is Christ was manifested in the flesh. 00:31:47.759 --> 00:31:50.160 You want to know what God is like? 00:31:50.559 --> 00:31:52.559 Look to Jesus Christ. 00:31:52.799 --> 00:31:59.039 Look to his appearing in the world, look to the way that he lived and act and talked and walked. 00:31:59.359 --> 00:32:01.039 That's what godliness is. 00:32:02.319 --> 00:32:16.559 Vindicated in the spirit, still speaking of Christ, seen by angels, preached among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory. 00:32:18.319 --> 00:32:22.240 Christ has shown us all that we need to see. 00:32:22.960 --> 00:32:27.039 May He be our teacher throughout this week and the rest of our lives. 00:32:27.279 --> 00:32:28.559 Let's pray. 00:32:29.839 --> 00:32:42.720 Father, how glorious and kind you are to reveal yourself in Christ, to reveal undeserved favor in so many ways. 00:32:43.839 --> 00:32:53.599 Lord, help us to take time to turn off distractions and to sit with your grace, to sit in the school of grace. 00:32:54.079 --> 00:33:06.640 The grace that saves, that redeems, that cleanses, and the grace that training us right now to say no and to say yes. 00:33:07.200 --> 00:33:24.720 We want our lives to be a glorious testimony of all of the yeses that we live before our Savior, the one who cleansed us with the washing of water through the Word, the one who gave Himself for us, the one who owns us. 00:33:25.039 --> 00:33:27.839 We delight to be able to belong to Him. 00:33:28.079 --> 00:33:35.839 And as we leave one another today, as we sing these songs and hear your words, would grace resound in our hearts all throughout this day. 00:33:36.079 --> 00:33:38.079 We ask this in the name of Christ. 00:33:38.400 --> 00:33:39.039 Amen.