3 Realities of God's Grace

Well, good evening, Christ Community Church.

I invite you to open up your Bibles in the book of Titus.

We're going to be in chapter 2, verses 11 to 14, Titus chapter

Titus 2:11–14

2, verses 11 to 14. First, before we start our

message for tonight, I just want to give thanks to the Lord for

bringing me here. I think Pastor Lance and the

rest of the elders, Roger, Tom and Esteban for giving me this

opportunity to be able to bring God's word into you.

My prayer is that whether your answer is yay or no, I will be

able to minister to you through this passage.

And I pick this passage because I think it's in line with the

strategy of the church. I love the strategy of of Christ

Community Church. It's our passion to pursue

Christ, priority to proclaim Christ, and it's our purpose to

proclaim Christ, priority to portray Christ.

And it's our practice of praise, praise Christ.

And that's a great strategy. And upon praying upon the text

that I'm going to use for tonight, I think it's going to

be in line with that. We're going to be learning about

the grace of God in Christ. And so this letter, of course,

is written by Apostle Paul to Titus.

And after being released from his imprisonment in Rome, and

that's around 8060 to 62, Paul started preaching the gospel and

started establishing churches there with a young man, Titus,

in this Mediterranean island called Crete.

And this island of Crete, their people are known for being lazy,

glutton, being liars. So they're basically the the

worst of evils of the world. And this sinful society

basically craves the backdrop for Paul writing to them, to

Titus. And Paul left titers there to

create, to basically continue the work of planting churches

there. And after 3-4 years after he

left Titus, Paul writes to this young pastor and he says in

chapter 1, verse five, that his purpose for writing is for the

reason that he left him there in Crete, that he, Titus, would set

in order what remains and appoint elders in every city as

Paul directed him. So Paul's purpose in writing is

to basically enable and empower Titus in establishing the

churches on that island and to appoint elders in those

churches. So we can see from this letter

that Paul's concern is to make the believers there and creed

understand and grasp the interconnectedness of sound

doctrine and sound living. So in chapter 1, verse 9, he

tells Titus to exhort the elders to hold fast the faithful word

which is in accordance with the teaching, so that he will be

able to both exhort and sound doctrine and to refute those who

contradict. In the same chapter, Chapter

one, verse 13, he instructs Titus to address those who are

rebellious as saying reprove them severely so that they may

be sound in the faith. And then in chapter 2, verse

one, Paul instructs Titus himself and he says, but As for

you Titus, speak the things which are fitting for sound

doctrine. And throughout the book, we can

see that Paul stresses the necessary and practical

outworking of salvation in the daily lives of those who are

elders and the rest of the believers in that congregation.

See, Paul stresses the need for Christians to live righteously

because of its impact upon the testimony and ministry of the

church towards the sinful society within Crete.

And this whole epistle is relevant to us with what's going

on in our country. And so in our passage tonight,

chapter 2, verses 11, Paul gives Titus the foundational truths

that drive his previous instructions in verses 1 to 10.

And after instructing all kinds of people in the church on how

to behave, he now in this passage points to God's grace as

the purpose and the reason why they need to submit to

instructions. And he uses the conjunction for

to make that connection. And so our passage reads.

For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to

all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires,

to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age,

looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of

our great God and Savior Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us

to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to preify for Himself

a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.

And from this passage, I want to submit to you that God wants us

to grasp and to understand 3 realities about God's grace so

that we might be able to showcase the riches of that

grace through our lives. God wants us to rest three

reality realities about his grace so that our lives might

serve as a showcase of the riches of His grace, showcasing

3 realities about God's grace. And 1st, we will see the person

of God's grace from verse 11, the first half of verse 11.

And secondly, we will see the program of God's grace from the

second-half of verse 11 down through verse 13.

And then thirdly, we're going to see the people of God's grace

from verse 14. So the Pete, the person of God's

grace, the program of God's grace, and the people of God's

grace as showcasing the three piece of God's grace, the

person, the program and the people.

So let's look at the first one, the person of God's grace, verse

11, for the grace of God has appeared.

You see, grace is one of the attributes and perfections of

God. It's the special expression of

his kindness or goodness, and God's goodness is that quality

of his essence wherein he makes his profoundly general

generosity seen in all of his creatures.

Grace, then, is God's disposition to show kindness to

and improve the quality of life or the well-being of those who

there who deserve the opposite, those who are unworthy.

Then Paul says God's grace has appeared or manifested itself.

But God's grace here is not lost, and it's not just an it.

And God's grace appeared in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And Paul spells this out in verse 13 when he says that we're

looking for and anticipating for the blessed hope and the

appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus

Christ. So God the Son is God's grace

Incarnate. Christ is God's supremely

gracious favor and gift, the fallen mankind.

And Paul expounds on the identity of this grace Incarnate

in chapter 3, verses four to seven.

He says, but when the kindness of God our Savior and His love

for mankind appeared, He saved us not on the basis of deeds

which we have done in righteousness, but according to

his mercy by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the

Holy Spirit. And here it comes, verse 6, whom

He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior,

so that being justified by His grace, we would be made heirs

according to the hope of eternal life.

And the apostle John gives the same testimony when he says in

John chapter 1 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us,

John 1 · chapter mention

and we saw his glory, glory as of the only begotten from the

Father, full of grace and truth. And skipping to verse 16, John

says for his of his fullness, Christ's fullness, we have all

receive grace upon grace. For the law was given through

Moses, but grace and truth we're realized through Jesus Christ.

So God's grace has appeared in the person of the Lord and

Savior Jesus Christ. And I invite you to go to the

second Timothy verse chapter 1, verses 8 to 10.

And there Paul speaks of the same grace of God that he has

given to us. He also speaks of how this grace

has been made to appear in Christ Jesus.

He says in verse 8, Second Timothy chapter one, verse 8,

join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the

power of God who has saved us and called us with a holy

calling, not according to our works, but according to His own

purpose and grace which was granted to us in Christ Jesus

from all eternity. Here and here it comes, but now

has been revealed by the appearing of our Lord, say Lord

our Savior Christ Jesus. So Paul speaks of the same grace

of God that he has given to us and disgrace in Christ Jesus.

And his grace has been foreordained from all eternity.

And this grace is not just an afterthought, it's not just an

accident, but it's been planned. It's been predestined by God and

manifested in His Son. So going back to our text,

chapter 211 of Titus, for the grace of God has appeared in the

person of Christ Jesus. God has been gracious to you and

me by giving us life in this world for us to enjoy.

And the Lord Jesus says and confirms that in Matthew 545

when He says God causes His Son to rise on the evil and the good

and since rain on the righteous and the and the unrighteous.

And we know this to be God's common grace.

It's common to everyone. Everyone experiences that.

But what we have here is God's special grace in the person of

the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why we're calling Paul's

intent here as the person of grace.

The person of grace question is, have you experienced the Lord

and Savior of Jesus Christ? Have you experienced the

kindness of God through him upon hearing the gospel of salvation

as the Lord and Savior of Jesus Christ made an appearance in the

eyes of your heart? For the grace of God has

appeared. And that leads us to the second

reality of God's grace, the program of God's grace, The

program of God's grace. Paul continues verse 11, the

second-half, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to

God to deny ungodliness and worldly desires, and to live

sensibly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for

the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our

great God and Savior Christ Jesus.

You see, Paul wants to see that the program of God's grace it's

to save and it's to sanctify and to give us hope.

For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to

all men. You see, God's grace in Christ

came to bring salvation. Bringing salvation, you might

ask, salvation from what? Well, Christ came to live the

perfect life required of each of us.

He live to die the death that satisfies the God, the wrath of

God upon sin. He came to fulfill God's

promises in the Old Testament about the Savior and the

Messiah. He came to rise from the dead,

claiming victory over death. You see, God's grace in Christ

save came to save all men. All men.

What does it mean? Women are excluded, right?

It's a general term to mean mankind, right?

It's not necessarily teaching that everyone will be saved.

That would be the heresy of universal salvation.

Of course, that's not what it's teaching, but basically it's

teaching that God in His grace sent his Son and the person of

his Son, the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, so that he would

be able to send save mankind. It is for everyone.

It doesn't matter what part of the world you are in.

Christ came to save sinners. He's saved, He came to save

mankind. So the grace of the gospel is

for all kinds of people all over the world.

And Paul speaks of the gospel in 2nd Corinthians 519 and he says

God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not

counting their trespasses against them, the world

reconciling the world to him. So the first phase within the

program of God's grace is to save now.

The second phase within the program of God's grace is to

sanctify God's grace in the person of Christ.

Came verse 12, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly

desires to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the

present age and the world. And the word that Paul uses here

for instructing has that idea of a father training his son to

become more mature. You know, there's discipline

involved, there's teaching and sometimes correction,

chastisement, right? But the goal is to be able to

take that child and make him grow.

That's what the word means here in in by the word instructing

here that we have and this requires the necessary

discipline to be more like Christ.

You see from a baby Christian, a baby little Christ, we are being

trained and disciplined to be a more mature Christ like Christ.

And so the gospel involves the call to repent from sins.

It involves forsaking sin, rejecting them, and turning away

from them. And by God's grace, we've done

that when we responded to the goal of the gospel, right?

The call to repent of our sins, denying ungodliness and worldly

desires. And the word ungodliness here is

that sinful attitude by our selfish and sinful heart.

It's the attitude that leads us to go against God's law, His

commandments, and His will. It's to live as if God is dead.

It's basically practical atheism.

It's living as if there's no God.

Practical atheism. In practice, we live as if

there's no God. And worldly desires here are

everything that drives our sinful hearts and the

unbelievers to pursue what the world offers.

See in those desires that the Lord Jesus Christ said we would

know what worldly desires are. In Mark 721 to 22, he says that

from the heart comes evil thoughts, fornications, thefts,

murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting, wickedness as well as

deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness.

And there are those that Paul listed as parts of the deeds of

the flesh in Galatians 5921. Immorality, impurity,

sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy,

outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions envying,

drunkenness, carousing. See, it's any desire or lust

that starts inside the heart, which is we know as the Control

Center of our lives, right? Everything comes from the heart,

The heart that the issue is. The issue of the heart, which

then finds its fulfillment in the system that Satan sets up in

the world to enslave people in their sins.

That's according to Ephesians 22, when Paul says and talks

about the sense in which you formerly walked, according to

the curse of this world, according to the Prince of the

power of the air, of the Spirit that is now working in the sons

of disobedience. And so in the negative sense,

the gospel and the grace of God trains us to deny ungodliness

and worldly desires. But in a positive sense, the

gospel trains us to pursue Christ likeness.

And look at verse 12 again. It says that the grace of God is

instructing us to live sensibly, righteously, and godly in the

present age. See, to live sensibly is

basically to be sober minded in any situation.

See, it's being sensible or sober minded, not being

influenced by any substance that will cost you to be unstable and

to impair your judgment. Being sober minded basically is

the opposite of being drunk or intoxicated, is the opposite of

being reckless, irresponsible and self indulgent, is the

opposite of being unstable or distracted, asleep and inactive.

But in a positive sense, being sensible and sober minded means

to be clear in your mind and your thought.

It's free from clutter or pollution or distraction.

It's to be clear headed, mentally sharp and focus, self

controlled, self-discipline and stable so that you're always

active and always awake, alert and in charge.

Is to have the right thoughts about what you should do or to

let your mind guide your body in what it does.

Is to be sound in your thinking and in your behavior.

And living righteously here is to have a quality or character

of life wherein your thought and your behavior are done properly,

correctly and justly, A pridely manner.

It's to faithfully obey the Bible, God's Word, which is our

standard upon which we do and know what's right.

It's to live according to His character, God's character, his

ways, his precepts, his will to think like God thinks, talk like

God, and to act like God. So practically, it's to have the

mind of Christ, godly basically is to mean that you fear and you

reverence and love God. That's what he means to be

godly. It's practically to have the

mind of Christ. It's to ask yourself what and

how did Jesus think? Not what would Jesus think, but

what did he actually think? How did he actually think?

That's also to do the deeds and commandments of Christ.

What did Jesus do? Not, would not, what would Jesus

do? What?

What did actually he do? What did he do?

What did Jesus do? And it's in Scripture, right?

So you see, God's grace of salvation in Jesus Christ is

transforming. We are no longer slaves to sin.

Instead, we are now slaves to righteousness.

It's Romans 618 that indicates to us, you know, the Holy Spirit

drives us now. That means our lives are driven

by the fruit of the Spirit as we can see in Galatians 522 to 23,

which includes Lovejoy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,

faithfulness and self-control. So God's grace trains us to live

sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age.

We are to be like Christ right now.

Right now. You see, in the climate that we

live in, there is much need indications for true Christians

to be Christians. It's easy to coin to be a

Christian. The fact could mean you claim to

be a Christian. A sicker could claim to be a

Christian. But in this pressing age, we

need to be known as people who deny ungodliness and go by what

the word of God says regarding true righteousness.

You see, as believers and as Christians, we have been changed

and that there are things that we no longer think or desire

anymore. There are things that we don't

do anymore. We are now taking after Christ's

name, right? That's why we call ourselves

Christian after Christ. We're miniature versions of

Christ. We're the proteges of Christ,

this present corrupt and morally bankrupt age.

We're walking and living differently.

We have a different path. And that brings us to the third

phase of the program of grace, which is to give hope a future

glory. You see, while God's grace in

Christ trains us to pursue Christ's likeness in the present

age, God's grace also trains US, verse 13, to be looking for the

blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God

and Savior Christ Jesus. And what we're looking for here,

again, it's not something that's lost.

No, we're looking for it in expectation.

We're looking for it with great diligence.

We're looking forward to it with watchfulness and great

excitement. See the praise, the blessed

hope, and the appearing of the glory of our great God and

Savior Christ. Jesus refers basically to the

resurrection of our bodies, the resurrection of our bodies.

And when the Lord Jesus Christ returns to establish his reign

on earth, to establish his Kingdom, that's what's going to

that's what he's going to do, give us glorified bodies fit for

that Kingdom. So you notice how Paul

attributes God and Savior to Jesus Christ because he is,

right, Jesus Christ is God. And by the way, if you're

talking to a Mormon or Jehovah's Witness, whether God is or

whether Jesus is God, this is a great text to point them

towards, right? Because here is it's

specifically spelled out, right, the God and Savior Jesus Christ.

And we know that he's God because from John one, we know

him to be the word who was with God, who was God, right?

And John 5858, the Lord claimed that He was before Abraham,

before Abraham was alive. He said, I am claiming that he

is Yahweh himself. That and that He existed before

Abraham was. And that's a claim to His

preexistence, His deity, his eternality.

That's why his enemies wanted to disown him.

They knew what He was claiming preexistence eternally.

That means he's God. And then John 1030, He claims

equality with the essence of the Father.

If he is of the same essence as the Father, which no one had

claimed, it only means that he's also God right now.

That he's great just means that he is immense.

He's magnanimous, incomparable in his character, majesty and

power. Just as the Father is great and

his name, Jesus means God saves the title.

Christ means the Messiah, the anointed Savior and king.

It's not last name. It means something.

It means the Messiah, the anointed Savior and king.

And so we believe Christ to be God and Savior, and we're

looking for the blessed hope of our God and Savior.

And it's a blessed hope because it's going to be full of joy.

It's happy, and it's a privileged moment.

This hope is not just positive thinking or wishful thinking.

It's something good that will happen in the future, and we can

bank on it. It's almost as if we can grasp

it because the God who promised it is faithful.

It's a short promise waiting to happen.

And John one, if you can turn there with me first.

John 32 it says first. John 32 Beloved, now we are

children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be.

We know that when he appears we will be like him because we will

see him just as he is. Peter and first Peter blesses

God for this promise and he calls it a living hope.

He says blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

who according to his great mercy has caused us to be born again

to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ

from the dead. You see, because Jesus Christ

rose from the dead, we will also rise from the dead.

The blessed hope is receiving our resurrected bodies, physical

bodies, just like the Lords. Remember, he ate after his

resurrection. He could take on a physical

tangible fish and eat it. It's a physical resurrected

body. It's fit for the new heavens and

the new earth. Paul says in Philippians

3/20/21. For our citizenship is in

heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for our Savior, the

Lord Christ Jesus. And then it says verse 21, who

will transform our body of our humble state into conformity

with the body of his glory. It's going to be our glorious

body. You see, if you're here and you

have ailments and sickness and weakness, our glorious body is

the answer and the hope that we have been waiting for.

This is why we trusted in the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

We didn't just put our faith in Him so that we would be saved

from the judgment of God upon the wrath of our sin.

We have trusted Christ because we hope that our bodies, the

sinful bodies, will be resurrected someday and that

body will no longer be susceptible to sickness, to sin,

to weakness. We will have the body as God

intended it for us to have, perfectly worshipping with our

bodies, our Creator, our God, and our Savior.

We will no longer sin. That's the answer of Pastor John

MacArthur when he was asked, you know what?

Do you look forward to heaven when you get there?

The absence of sin? I mean, there's a lot of things

that we can say, right? But are you guys in favor of

truth and honesty? Christ Community Church, is this

your answer as well? I know it is mine, right?

So this blessed hope, it's worth the anticipation even in the

midst of suffering in this evil world, because it's going to be

full of glory, Paul says in Romans 818 to 24.

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time

are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is going to

be revealed to us. For the anxious longing of

creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God.

We're waiting to be unveiled. We're waiting to be revealed for

who we are really going to be. Then skipping to verse 21, Paul

says we ourselves having the first fruits of the spirit, even

we ourselves groan with ourselves waiting eagerly for

our adoption, our sons. And here we go, the redemption

of our bodies. See, we're looking forward to

that blessed hope of our redeemed and resurrected bodies.

For in hope Paul says verse 24, Romans 8, we have been saved.

But hope that is seen, It's not hope for who hopes for what he

already has or sees. But if we hope for what we do

not see, we persevere while we wait eagerly for it.

So we diligently and we watchfully look forward to it.

It's going to be a blessed time when Christ returns in his

glory. It's also going to be a time of

glorification. We were going to be exalting in

great joy for having followed Christ and obeyed Christ and put

our trust and faith in him. Listen to what Paul says in

First Corinthians 1555 to 54 to 55.

But when his this corruptible, this earthly body puts on the

incorruptible or heavenly body, and this mortal puts

immortality, then we'll come about with the word that is

written. Death is swallowed up in

victory. Oh, death, where is your

victory? Where is your sting?

And several verses before that, in verse 50, Paul speaks of the

believers immortal and resurrected bodies fit for the

Kingdom of God. He says, now I say this,

brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of

God, nor does the correct corruptible inherit the

incorruptible. And Paul again first Timothy 41,

once Timothy to take the appearing of Christ expectedly

and soberly. He says, I solemnly charge you

in the presence of God and Christ Jesus, who is to judge

the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his Kingdom.

Peter speaks of this same thought and reality in Second

2 Peter 3 · chapter mention

Peter chapter 3 says, But the day of the Lord will come like a

thief, in which the heavens will pass away with the war, and the

elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and

its works would be found out. Since all these things are to be

destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought to be in holy

conduct and godliness looking for in the hastening the coming

of the day of the Lord, because of which the heavens burning

will be destroyed and the elements will melt with intense

heat. But according to His promise,

we're looking for the new heavens and the new earth in

which righteousness rose. You see, this blessed hope of

having our immortal bodies fit for the new heavens and the

earth is something it's going to be undescribable.

It's like living the life that we have now, but without the

presence of sin, only righteousness and perfect

worship of our Lord, God and Creator.

And it would be irresponsible to me if I don't talk about the

immortal bodies that are also going to be given those who do

not trust in Christ. You see, because just as there

is the resurrection body that will be given to those who trust

in Christ, there will also be a resurrection body that will be

given to those who oppose God and call it the gospel.

In John 525 to 29, it says the Lord is speaking here truly,

truly. I say to you, an hour is coming,

and now is when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of

God, and those who hear will live.

For just as the Father has life in himself, Even so He gave the

Son also to have life in himself, and He gave Him

authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of man.

Do not marvel at this for an hour's coming in which all who

are in the tombs will hear His voice, and we'll come forth.

Those who did the good deeds through a resurrection of life,

and those who committed the evil deeds through a resurrection of

judgment. Doing good deeds is a reflection

of trust in Christ, and doing evil deeds deeds is a reflection

of rejecting Christ. So the righteous will be

resurrected, the wicked will also be resurrected.

Two kinds of resurrection, both eternal but different

environment. See Matthew 2546.

The Lord talks about how wicked people will go into eternal

punishment and Hebrews 1027, the author of that book, it speaks

of how for those who reject the gospel and continue in sinning

that there will be a terrifying expectation of judgement and

fury of fire which will consume the adversaries.

You see God's grace in the past. It's our justification.

It's past oriented. It saved us from the penalty of

sin. God's grace is also presence

oriented. It makes us wholly set apart

from the influence of sin now. And God's grace is future

oriented in that it will glorify our bodies when the Lord

returns, and it's ultimately going to set us free from this

body of sin, from the presence of sin.

So question is, has God really forgiven you of your sins?

Does God really save you from His holy, just and righteous

penalty of it? Is there a struggle, a fight and

victory over the sin that entices you?

Do you progress in becoming more like Christ, in your stature, in

your character, in your thoughts, in your speech, and in

your actions? Do you long for the future glory

of Christ? Or are you so much caught up

with what's going on in the world?

Do you long to see Christ? See, today is the day of

salvation. Wake up.

Wake up from your stupor. Make sure you grasp the program

of God's grace. So we've seen that God's grace

came in the person of Jesus Christ with the program to save,

to sanctify, and to give hope. That's the program of grace.

And that leads us to the third reality of God's grace, third

reality of God's grace, which is the people of God's grace.

See verse 14. Paul describes how the person of

God's grace gave himself for us. Jesus Christ is the one who gave

himself for us. Christ gave his life for us.

We are the undeserved, unworthy recipients of God's grace.

We are privileged. We are the privileged recipient

of God's grace. You see, that Christ gave

himself points to the reality that He gave His life as a

sacrifice before God. That's the primary reason why He

came the first time. In Matthew 20/20/28 He says that

the Son of Man did not come to say to be served, but to serve

and to give His life as a ransom for many.

He gave His life as a ransom, a ransom for us as part of that

many. But why would Christ sacrifice

himself for us? Why would He do that?

Now look at verse 14. And here's the purpose.

In order to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for

himself a people, for his own possession, zealous for good

deeds. See, to redeem is to release

someone from captivity with the payment of a ransom and the

ransom prize. The price that Christ gave was

his own blood. Think about that.

His own blood, his own life, paid to satisfy God's

requirement upon sin, which is perfect justice and lawlessness.

Here basically is contempt for God's law.

It's to act as if there's no law giver.

It's to be indifferent about God, the law giver.

So Christ gave himself not only to redeem us, Christ also gave

himself for us to purify for himself a people, for his own

possession. To purify means to cleanse or to

make clean. And we can see this purification

in Hebrews chapter 10 if you can turn there with me.

Hebrews 10 · chapter mention

Hebrews chapter 10, verses 12 to 18.

Hebrews 10:12–18

Here we see the God the Father declares, and He judicially

claims us as His own possession through the saving work of the

Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit applying to us the saving work

of the Son with His perfect life and His death on the on the

cross. Hebrews 1012 to 18 reads.

But he, referring to Christ having offered one sacrifice for

sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God the

Father, waiting from that time until his enemies are put as a

footstool for His feet. For by one offering He has

perfected or purified for all time those who are being

sanctified or made being or being made completely holy.

Verse 15 And the Holy Spirit also testifies to us.

For after saying, this is the covenant that I will make with

them after those days, says the Lord, I will put my loss upon

their heart and on their mind. I will write them.

See, that's the declaration and the stamp that we know that we

belong to God. He then says verse 17 and their

sins and their lawlessness, they're lawless deeds.

I will remember no more. See, God purifies us from our

sins and not only that, he claims us as his own.

It's one thing to be considered not a Sinner, but it's another

to be considered as righteous and part of God's family.

Of course, this this claim is something that God had planned

and prepared for even before the foundation of the world.

Listen to what Paul says in Ephesians 1, four to seven.

He says that God chose us in him in Christ before the foundation

of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before him in

love by by predestining predestining us to do adoption a

sons through Christ Jesus to himself according to the good

pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace

which he graciously bestowed on us in the Beloved.

In him we have the redemption through his blood, the

forgiveness of our sins, the forgiveness of our

transgressions according to the riches of his grace.

And now look again at verse 14 of our text, Titus 2, verse 14.

Titus 2:14

Christ gave Himself for us to redeem us, to purify us, and to

make us His own, and to make us zealous for good works, zealous

for good works. Being zealous is just being

overly passionate, overly excited about something.

And in Christ, God makes us to be passionate about good works,

doing good deeds, doing everything that we can to make

everyone's lives better, right? To improve their condition.

And this reality, of course, is again planned by God.

It's not an accident. It's not an accidental plan.

Ephesians 28 says that we are the workmanship of God, created

in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so

that we would walk in them. You notice that prepared

beforehand so that we will, we would walk in them.

We're not doing good works so that we might be saved.

No, we are saved so that we would do good works.

So I see Christ gave himself for us so that we would become God's

redeemed people, God's purified people, God's own people, and

God's zealous people. Where are the people of God's

grace? See, as God's redeemed people,

have you truly been saved from your sin?

As God's beautified people, are you walking and and and living

in holiness? As God's own people, do you

consider yourself as a slave of your master?

Do you obey the gracious Master? As God zealous people, are you

really excited to do what's good to everyone?

And do you do it for the glory of Christ?

So we've seen God's grace has appeared in the person of the

Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We've seen that the program of

disgrace is saved to sanctify and to give the hope of glory.

And we've seen that the people of grace are redeemed, purified,

owned, and made zealous for good works.

I pray that we here at Christ's community would be able to

identify with that as God's people of grace, zealous to do

good to everyone, as people who have the experience and are

living out the program of God's grace, people who love and long

for the person of God's grace, our Lord and Savior of Jesus

Christ. I pray that our lives would

showcase the richness, the richness of this grace because

God deserves the glory. Amen.

Amen. Let's pray Heavenly Father, I

ask that you would do the work that only you can do through the

word that you have inscripturated through Titus

Titus 2 · chapter mention

chapter 2 verses 1114. We ask, Holy Spirit, that you

would cause us to treasure the truth of your grace so that we

might be able to reflect the power of your grace that you

have, Lord, prepared before, beforehand in the person of your

Son, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, that we would be able to

live out the program of that grace and that we would be truly

a people of that grace. I pray all these things in Jesus

name, Amen.