Titus 2:11-15 - Looking Ahead & Living Now

Titus chapter 2.

Titus 2 · chapter mention

You can look on there in the Pew Bible if you didn't bring a Bible with you today.

Hopefully many of you have scriptures.

We've been going through this letter.

We're in chapter two as we work through this letter, and the passage for this morning comes from verses 11 through verse 15.

Titus 2, 11 through 15.

This is God's word.

For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, instructing us to deny godlessness and worldly lusts, 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.

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.

Proclaim these things, encourage, and rebuke with all authority.

Let no one disregard you.

Seek the Lord's help.

Again, O God, we come to you.

We come with thanksgiving and we come with prayers.

Prayers that this word we so desperately need would be a word that you make effective in us, in us all collectively today.

We pray this in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Hashtag blessed.

Most of you have seen it.

Come on, Micah, that was like 10 years ago.

You're way out of it.

There's no hashtags anymore.

How about feeling blessed?

There's a picture of a sunset by the water, and a calmly reposed person is feeling blessed.

There's a family reunion, everyone's together, and they're feeling blessed.

There's the coworkers and launching a new product and feeling blessed.

There was a song written over 100 years ago.

Count your many blessings, name them one by one, and it will surprise you what the Lord has done.

It's okay to thank God for our blessings, to thank him publicly.

He's the one ultimately who provides for us every good thing.

It's not fortune or chance or anything like that.

We find a blessing right in the middle of the passage I just read, only it's not a blessing that we fully possess right now.

Look at verse 13 again in the middle.

While we wait for the blessed hope.

So we have a blessed hope that we're waiting for.

Some of you may have noticed the passage of Scripture this week is the same as the passage of Scripture last week.

I'm not trying to test you to see how well you can retain what was said by preaching the same sermon two weeks in a row.

But I said last week we focused on how the passage points us to look back to God's grace and live in light of God's grace.

And then I said this week we're going to talk about how the passage tells us to look forward to God's grace and live in light of his coming grace.

So you can see verse 11, the grace of God has appeared.

Verse 14, he gave himself.

That's looking back.

That was last week.

But here in verse 13, we're called to wait for the blessed hope.

That's looking ahead, and that's our focus for this week.

Verse 13 begins with that phrase, while we wait.

Or you might have a Bible that says waiting, same idea.

But we're kind of breaking into the flow of thought.

So let's track what's going on here.

Back in verse 11, God's grace appears and brings salvation.

And that same grace instructs us, according to verse 12, to deny godlessness and worldly lust and to live in a sensible, righteous, and godly way in the present age.

So that's the present, that's the here and now.

We're striving to live in a godly way in the present while we wait.

The waiting, the future blessed hope, is connected deeply with how we live in the present age, in the here and now.

I think for most of us, connecting God's past grace with how we live now is more common.

We're thankful that God has done so much for us in Christ.

He's redeemed us, he's rescued us by his blood.

We love him.

That's very common.

It's less common to look ahead to God's grace and live in the present.

It's not unique to Titus II.

It's all over the Bible, though, that expectation and connection.

And notice how all-encompassing it is.

Paul doesn't merely say here, okay, you're suffering now.

One day it'll all be over.

But he's not limiting that connection of future hope and living now.

He's not limiting it to just suffering now.

Saying yes to godliness, that's all-encompassing.

That's all of life.

That's getting out of bed in the morning.

That's stepping out your front door each day while you wait for the blessed hope.

So if last week was looking back and living now, this week is looking ahead and living now.

And I've got two encouragements for us this morning, two big encouragements.

Wait for the blessed hope and live in light of the blessed hope.

Wait for the blessed hope and live in light of the blessed hope.

First, brothers and sisters, we wait for the blessed hope.

Verse 13 tells us what it is: it's the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.

That's a reference to the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ when he appears for a final time to bring his own to himself.

We'll get to that in a few minutes, but first let's think about this concept of hope.

In the Bible, Christian hope is a confident and certain expectation based on God's promises.

I'll say that again.

Hope in the Bible, Christian hope, is a certain and confident expectation based on God's promises.

So when Paul's on trial in the book of Acts, he says he's on trial because of the hope in what God promised to our ancestors.

Acts 26, 6.

When God makes a promise, there's no uncertainty about it.

It's going to happen.

Acts 23, 6, Paul speaks of the hope of the resurrection of the dead.

Paul's not saying, I wish there could be a resurrection of the dead.

He's expressing confidence that there will be a resurrection from the dead.

Romans 5, verses 2 to 5.

Romans 5:2–5

We have obtained access through Christ by faith into the grace in which we stand, and we boast in the hope of the glory of God.

Not only that, we boast in afflictions, because affliction produces endurance, endurance produces character, and character produces hope.

This hope, Romans says, will not disappoint us because God's love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit.

Christian hope, friends, never disappoints.

Here in Titus 2, we're waiting for something.

We haven't received it yet.

That's why it's hope.

We're waiting for someone.

He hasn't returned in person yet.

That's why it's hope.

Hope looks ahead.

But it's a blessed hope because it will certainly come to pass.

Imagine you had a friend and you saw that she posted a picture of a diamond ring and said, feeling blessed.

And you called her and said, You're engaged, congratulations.

And she says, Oh no, I'm not engaged.

I happen to be in the jewelry store and I saw the diamond, and I was, I hope I get married one day, and that just made me feel really blessed.

Like, okay, um, wonderful for you.

I'll be praying for you about that.

We tend to express the blessings we have now, and our hopes are kind of wished-for hopes.

Let me give you another example.

I hesitate to use this example.

You hope, you hope the Knicks win the NBA finals.

Now, I'm afraid I might have just lost 20% of you for the rest of the sermon.

That's why I said I hesitate to use the example.

But it does work so well.

So even if I lost some of you, at least keep in mind, if nothing else, Christian hope is certain.

And that's the point of the example.

We hope for things that we want to happen, but we can't be certain.

You might have more hope now after two games than you had to start the series, but you still can't be certain.

That's not the case with Christian hope.

Christian hope is always going to come to pass because God inevitably will be victorious.

So, what is the hope that we can be so certain about?

What is this blessed hope that we're waiting for?

Verse 13 again tells us it's the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.

A lot packed into that description.

One of the things it shows us is that Jesus Christ is truly and fully God.

You hear the connection there, he's not a mere man.

So again, when he promises something, it's certainly going to come to pass because he has all the power of Almighty God to bring it to pass.

He's the eternal Son who in time took on human nature.

He is not a mere man, he is the blessed and only God.

Notice also, though, when Paul speaks here, he doesn't speak of Christ's return.

He speaks of the glorious appearing.

Yes, that's going to take place when Jesus returns from heaven.

But his focus here is not just on an event that will take place, it's about the glory of that event.

We're waiting for something awe-inspiring.

2 Thessalonians 1:10 speaks of the day when Jesus comes to be glorified by his saints and to be marveled at by all those who have believed.

2 Thessalonians 1:10

The same idea here.

People don't eagerly wait for Halley's Comet merely because it's rare once every seventy-six years.

I mean, the Knicks winning a championship is rare.

They wait for Haley's Comet because it's special and to some degree spectacular.

The appearing of the glory of Christ is going to be spectacular.

Long beach sunsets, northern lights, Grand Canyon, none of those spectacular things will compare with the glory of Christ when he returns.

We're going to see God in theological terms, it's called the beatific vision, the sight that makes one happy, or you could even say the sight that makes one blessed.

This is the hope of the saints throughout the years.

You see this in scripture.

We read about it in the scripture passage this morning.

Moses prays, God, show me your glory.

Psalm 27, 4.

I have asked one thing from the Lord.

It's what I desire to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, gazing on the beauty of the Lord.

Matthew 5, 8.

Blessed are the pure in heart.

Blessed are the pure in heart.

Why?

Because they will see God.

1 Corinthians 13, 12.

Now we see only a reflection as in a mirror, but then face to face.

Now I know in part, then I will know fully as I am fully known.

Revelation 22, 4 summarizes the future hope.

They will see his face.

R.C.

Sproul says, This is the ultimate prize, the ultimate goal for every Christian.

Yes, we're called to live godly while we wait, because the ultimate goal and hope is this experience of God that is still in some ways yet future.

Another person from church history says, This vision of the glory of God in Christ surpasses all earthly beauty of gold, of silver, of groves and field, the beauty of sea and air, the beauty of the sun and moon, the beauty of stars, of angels, surpassing all things, because from it all things are beautiful.

Jonathan Edwards, this will be the most glorious sight that the saints will ever see with their bodily eyes.

There will be more happiness and pleasure from this sight than any other.

He says this the eyes of the resurrection body will be given to us chiefly to behold this sight.

The disciples got just a small taste of this beatific vision, this blessed hope of the appearing of the glory of Christ.

They got a small taste of that on the Mount of Transfiguration, those three.

And what do they say?

Lord, it's good for us to be here.

Let's set up some tabernacles right here.

Let's just, let's just never let's just worship here.

And that is our hope for eternity.

The glory that we're going to encounter when he appears, it it ranges beyond not just visible beauty and splendor, it includes that, but there's another vantage point of this glory.

Verse 13 says, His glory will appear.

Verse 11 already told us his glory has appeared.

Look at the connection there, same word.

When Christ came into the world, we saw God's glory.

Only then it wasn't visibly awe-inspiring.

I know you see the medieval artwork, and Mary's holding baby Jesus like a halo and is radiant and light.

He probably just looked like a baby.

The scripture says there was no, to use the King James lines, there's no form or comeliness that we should desire him.

But there was still a glory, the glory of his character, showcasing the humility of God with the power of God brought together in one.

Righteousness and mercy meeting together in one.

The harmony of all of God's perfections.

And when Christ returns, it will be all these glories wrapped into one.

The visible beauty combined with the harmony of beautiful perfections all together in our Savior.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, wait for the blessed hope.

And if you don't have that hope in Christ, come to Him now, and you can have that blessed hope.

So that's the first big encouragement for us today.

Wait for the blessed hope.

And here's our second encouragement.

Now, live in light of the blessed hope.

Verse 12 tells us to do something while we're waiting.

We should deny godlessness and worldly lusts and live in a sensible, righteous, and godly way in the present age.

These are not two separate and unrelated things.

Like, wait for the hope, and while you're at it, you might as well try to do some godly things.

Like I'm waiting for my Uber driver, so I might as well play Candy Crush for a while while I wait for the Uber driver.

That's not what God is saying here.

He's connecting those two things intimately so that the gaze of our souls is fixed on this future hope, and that's gonna move us to live in a godly way in the present age.

Last week I gave you a little homework.

I said, why don't you take this passage and go home and think about how the past grace of God helps you to say no to ungodliness and yes to godliness?

How does it help me say no to the things God doesn't care for and doesn't live out, and say yes to the things that God loves and desires and lives out.

This week I'm gonna give us several specific illustrations of what it looks like to live in light of the blessed hope.

This is not an exhaustive list by any means whatsoever, but want to give you some handholds to think about and to try to show that connection for us.

So several applications.

Here's one application.

Remember that everyone you encounter has a destiny of eternal glory or a destiny of eternal judgment.

The blessed hope for believers means that when he comes, we'll be like him because we'll see him as he is.

The most annoying Christian in your life right now, one day will be revealed in such glory that you will stand amazed.

So treat them now like what they will be, not what they are.

The waitress that seems a little slow in getting to your table.

If she's not a believer, that appearing of Christ is an appearance of judgment and everlasting shame.

You don't need to add on your ungodly berating words in the here and now.

Leave that for Christ.

Here's another application.

This relates to the first one.

Be wary of a judgmental spirit.

First Corinthians 4 5.

So don't judge anything prematurely before the Lord comes, who will bring to light what's hidden in darkness and reveal the intentions of the hearts.

The appearing of the glory of Christ means that he will set everything right.

That's part of the confident hope that we have.

But we don't have his infallible wisdom, so we should be slow to judge.

It doesn't mean we should never make judgments in any sense.

The Bible calls churches in some cases to make judgments.

But a judgmental spirit is different.

That's when we're just regularly Looking to picket people and find the worst in them and assume the worst in them.

Don't judge anything prematurely before the Lord comes.

Here's another application.

Be excited about worshiping God together as a church right now.

When Jesus appears, he's not going to appear for this believer or that believer.

In the Old Testament, he sometimes appeared to Moses or to others individually.

He's appearing for all of his people together to be gathered to him.

We get a little foretaste of that each week.

It's not visibly here, but he's present among his saints.

So in light of the future, great gathering at his appearing, we can worship now in the meantime.

Help one another, say no to ungodliness and yes to godliness.

This is kind of a throughout the week application of that last idea.

The grace of God in Titus 2.12 instructs us to say no and yes.

You hear that language.

The grace of God doesn't just instruct Bob or Jen or Janet or David to say no and yes, but us to say no and yes.

It instructs us while we wait.

We're all in this together.

So help one another.

Part of our church covenant for the members of this church is our desire to demonstrate a Christian lifestyle as evidenced by holiness, the fruit of the Spirit, and obedience to all of Christ's commands.

That's what we strive together to do.

Another application.

I told you I had several here.

Live as citizens of another place.

Live as citizens of another place.

Next week, Pastor Doug's going to lead us into Titus chapter three, where we're told to submit to earthly rulers and authorities.

We can do that because we're waiting for the king of beauty.

We don't have ultimate certainty in earthly political leaders.

They're going to disappoint us, but we can submit to them because we're submitting to a greater king.

Philippians 3, verse 20.

Philippians 3:20

Our citizenship is in heaven, and we eagerly wait for a savior from there.

The same language of eagerly waiting for Christ appearing, knowing our citizenship ultimately is there.

We're New Jerusalem people, first and foremost.

He will transform the body of our humble condition into the likeness of his glorious body.

No earthly political transformation can have that kind of ultimate effect.

So we're living as citizens of another place.

I'm not saying you shouldn't be patriotic.

Some of you are looking at me very suspiciously.

It's great to be patriotic for your country.

We're coming up on the 250th anniversary of this particular country.

The World Cup is coming up.

I mean, I'm going to be flying a flag more hardly than anyone during those World Cup soccer games.

If you come to my house, don't come with another country's flag for a World Cup match.

But whatever countries you might be from, as much as you can love and enjoy and be thankful for those countries, our ultimate, I'm using that word intentionally, our ultimate citizenship, far and above those earthly loyalties and allegiances, is the kingdom of heaven.

Another example in application.

Preach as a dying man to dying men.

It's a quote from Richard Baxter.

I throw it in for myself a little selfishly, but listen to the connection Paul makes in 2 Timothy 4.

I solemnly charge you, Paul's writing to Timothy, before God in Christ Jesus, who is going to judge the living and the dead, and because of his appearing, same connection as we see in this passage, because of his appearing in his kingdom, preach the word.

Be ready in season and out of season.

Correct, rebuke, encourage with great patience and teaching.

When you preach, it can be tempting to think you're not really doing anything.

Some of you go to work, and at the end of two days, an entire house has electricity.

You can flip on the light and boom, there it is.

It's amazing.

Some of you go to work and you make a meal, and people eat the meal and they say that was delicious, and they walk out the door and they have the rest of their day.

Sometimes when you preach, people say thanks, great sermon, and they come back the next week and it can seem like nothing really happened.

That's not very godly thinking.

You're right, it's not.

That's why I need this encouragement to preach, not merely because of any human response or lack of a response, but to preach because the judge of all people is going to appear.

And I'm I'm have to speak on his behalf.

That's overwhelming but urgently necessary.

Just a couple more here for us.

Grow in your spiritual gifts by eagerly waiting for the blessed hope.

You might think, I just I'm not that useful in the body.

I'm not preaching.

You are hopefully giving the word to people.

You can have the hope there.

But I I don't know what my spiritual gifts are.

Are you eagerly waiting for the blessed hope of the appearing of Christ?

What does that have to do with it?

Yeah, yes, I I I'm doing that.

I should do that.

How does that help my spiritual gifts?

Listen to 1 Corinthians 1:7.

1 Corinthians 1:7

So that you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ.

I I told you this connection is all over the Bible.

It's not just here in Titus chapter 2.

Titus 2 · chapter mention

If you're eagerly waiting for the Lord to come back, you want to see him.

And the more you think about that, the more you'll want to serve him.

And the more you jump in and serve, the Lord will sort out your gifts.

You don't have to have an angel come and tell you precisely what your spiritual gifts are.

Look for needs.

And because you love the Lord and you love his body, see a need and jump in and seek to serve.

And the Lord will start sorting out your gifts and your passions, and others can help you in those things.

And there's a lot more we could say about it.

But wait for the blessed hope and step in now in light of that blessed hope.

Last one for us today.

View all your relationships in light of your eternal relationship to Jesus.

We have hit on that in other ways here in these applications, but all the best you have, or wish you could have, or wish was different.

There is someone coming who's described in Revelation as a rider on a white horse who is faithful and true.

It's described as the marriage supper of the Lamb.

That's why Paul can say in 2 Corinthians 11, 2 to the Church of Corinth, I'm jealous for you.

I'm jealous with a godly jealousy, because I promised you in marriage to one husband to present you as a pure virgin to Christ.

Then the skies will part as the trumpet sounds.

We sing that song, hope of heaven or the fear of hell, and the bride will run to her lover's arms, giving glory to Emmanuel.

That day is coming.

That relationship is already secure.

We can begin to experience it now, but one day it will be even more glorious.

So thank God for those echoes of that relationship.

Be patient in the uncertainties or pains that fall far short of that relationship.

But we all share this glorious destiny as the bride of Christ.

That's just a small, I know I gave you a lot, that's just a small sampling of the many ways Scripture says, live now in light of the blessed hope to come.

Dear friends, John echoes what Paul says here.

When he appears, we'll be like him because we'll see him as he is.

That takes time.

Waiting takes purposed attention and focus of heart.

John Owen said, No one will ever behold the glory of Christ by sight in heaven who doesn't behold it by faith in this world.

So come to the Lord, say, Lord, I believe.

Help my unbelief.

I have that spiritual sight, but I want, I want more of that spiritual sight.

I have that hope, but I want more of it.

Take time daily to just lay aside the cares of this world, sometimes legitimate cares, but to lay those aside and say, Lord Jesus, come quickly.

And be assured, have the confident expectation, the blessing that He'll come quickly.

Let's pray.

Oh Lord, we want to spend our days in prayer.

We want to spend our days in patient labor, in a blessed hope.

Thank you for the assurance that we have.

Thank you for the freedom it gives our hearts, the freedom we have to live in the world.

Because the end of all things is certain and it's near.

And we're not merely waiting for an event, we're waiting for the sun from heaven.

Christ, we long for your return.

We long to see you face to face.

We long to be fully transformed.

We want to see the King and his beauty.

Lord, open the eyes of our hearts more now.

Open the eyes of our hearts this week.

Open our hearts as we as we, with spiritual eyes, gaze on these visible elements you've left for us.

Not glorious in comparison to the visible coming of our King, but glorious because they visibly teach us and show us much about our good and gracious King.

Give us glorious joy and peace of mind and heart as we participate together now in singing and in your supper.

In Jesus' name, Amen.