WHAT THE GRACE OF GOD TEACHES US
Titus 2:11-15 (KJV)
For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,
Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;
Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;
Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.
These things speak, and exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise thee.
I am going to go out on a bit of a limb.
The Bible says that, “…the grace of God… appeared, …teaching us.”
The title for this message is, What the Grace of God Teaches Us.”
There are lessons we can learn from inanimate things.
· Weather patterns
· Life struggles
· Life victories
And there are certainly many things we can learn from the concept of grace.
That God is gracious teaches us much.
But in this case, the grace has a number of specifics:
· It is the grace…. of God
· It is the grace….that bringeth salvation
· It is the grace…that appeared to all men
And I want to suggest that this grace could be Jesus Christ Himself.
Notice some of the Biblical connections between Christ and grace:
John 1:14 (KJV)
And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
John 1:16 (KJV)
And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace.
John 1:17 (KJV)
For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
The Bible says, Ephesians 2:8 (KJV)
For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
I do not propose to change the Word of God.
The richness of the words in our King James Version should never be tampered with. But it is this very richness which leads me to ask, could we not accurately say, “For by Christ are ye saved, through faith?”
Grace is unmerited favor – or gift.
Is not the most undeserved gift any man has ever received, Jesus Christ?
John 3:16 (KJV)
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
And is it not Jesus Christ who has appeared to all men?
· Through the text of the Word of God
· Through the preaching of men anointed of God
· Through the witness of faithful believers
There is hardly a place in this world where the Word of God has not gone and
There is no one in this world that Jesus Christ would not save through faith.
The message is, What the Grace of God Teaches Us
But I am of the opinion that we might as easily call this message, What Jesus Christ Teaches us.
This that said, grace teaches us
I. TO DENY UNGODLINESS AND WORLDLY LUSTS
Titus 2:12 (KJV)
Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;
I note that there is both a negative and a positive message in this verse. If you will, some “do’s and don’ts.”
People who don’t like to hear a bunch of “do’s and don’ts” just don’t like to hear from God.
I understand that there are those abuse and misuse rules, regulations, and standards. But it was God who told Israel in the wilderness that He set before them a blessing and a curse.[1]
· Blessings if they obeyed
· Curses if they disobeyed
A. Denying ungodliness and worldly lusts
The grace that saves teaches us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts.
I want to focus for a moment on the word deny.
It means to disavowor reject.
It is a strong term. John Gill says,
“to "deny" …, is to abhor and detest them, and to abstain from them, and have nothing to do with them”
The Greek Tense of this word means to “deny once for all.”
It is an absolute rejection – not to be negotiated ever again.
Jamieson, Fausset and Brown writes, “We deny … when we withhold our consent from them, when we refuse the delight which they suggest, and the act to which they solicit us, nay, tear them up by the roots out of our soul and mind”
But it would never do to rid ourselves of ungodliness and worldly lusts without replacing it something better.
B. We should live soberly, righteously and godly
Jesus taught
Matthew 12:43-45 (KJV)
When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none.
Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished.
Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation.
The word godly is an interesting one, isn’t it.
· It means more than good
· It means more than moral
· It means more than honest
· It means more than virtuous
It means associated to or related to God.
The godly person is known for his relationship to God.
Secondly, grace teaches us
II. TO LOOK FOR THAT BLESSED HOPE
Titus 2:13 (KJV)
Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;
I want to argue tonight that godliness and the blessed hope are inextricably tied together.
In other words
A. At least one characteristic of the godly person is that they constantly watch for Jesus’ coming.
It is not the only characteristic, but it should be an obvious one.
· They talk about His coming
· They believe in His coming
· They long for His coming and
· They pray for His coming
We know that this is not true of the ungodly.
2 Peter 3:3-4 (KJV)
Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,
And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.
Some of you will remember me telling you about the call-in show on KPDQ in Portland.
Years ago, this Christian talk show invited people to call in and tell him what their pet peeve about their pastor is.[2]
One lady called in and complained, “All my pastor ever wants to talk about is Jesus coming again. Why can’t he be more positive?”
When was the last time you actually prayedfor Jesus to come quickly?
On the flip side,
B. Those looking for the blessed hope will purposely strive to be godly.
1 John 3:1-3 (KJV)
Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.
Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.
When a person really believes that Jesus is coming again, they get pure.
· They get right with God
· They confess their sins
· They repent and turn from wrong and
· They get pour themselves into the things of God
One of the reasons I know that most professing Christian don’t really believe Jesus is coming again, is because they don’t live like it.
I didn’t say it, God did.
The grace of God
· Teaches us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts
· Teaches us to look for the blessed hope
Thirdly, the grace of God
III. TEACHES US TO BE ZEALOUS OF GOOD WORKS
Titus 2:14 (KJV)
Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.
Zealous in the key word in this passage.
It is associated with the idea of warmth.
Is means to be passionate, ferventor earnest.
The Bible says,
1 John 5:3 (KJV)
For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.
A. We should not feel constrained or forced to good works
1 Peter 5:2 (KJV)
Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind;
B. We should be willing participants in good works
Exodus 25:1-2
And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring me an offering: of every man that giveth it willingly with his heart ye shall take my offering.
Moses was told be God to tell the people to bring and offering.
But he was only to accept those offerings given from a willing heart.
C. We should be cheerful contributors to good works
2 Corinthians 9:7 (KJV)
Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.
· We’re not supposed to give grudgingly.
· We are not supposed to give because we have to.
God loves those who give cheerfully.
Do you suppose this only applies to money?
Don’t you expect that He loves it when we give not only our treasure but also our time and talents cheerfully?
D. We should be whole hearted doers of good works.
Matthew 22:36-38 (KJV)
Master, which is the great commandment in the law?
Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
This is the first and great commandment.
I’m just saying that if we are to love God with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our mind, that is most likely how we are supposed to do our good works too.
Conclusion
Grace is a powerful spiritual concept.
The grace of God is so much more powerful.
But I don’t know. I think there is a strong case to be made that, in this context,
· that grace of God that brings salvation
· that grace of God that appeared to all men
· that grace of God that teaches us
Is Jesus Christ Himself.
And He teaches us
· To deny ungodliness and worldly lust
· To look for the blessed hope and
· To be zealous of good works
[1]Deuteronomy 11:26 (KJV)
Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse;
[2]In my mind this is about as wicked a concept as could ever be – especially in the professing Christian community. No pastor is perfect. But this is not easy work. We can’t please everyone and the Bible teaches us not to try to please anyone. 1 Thessalonians 2:4 (KJV)
But as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel, even so we speak; not as pleasing men, but God, which trieth our hearts.
