We're going to continue our study as we've been walking through the letter that Paul wrote to Titus, and we're at the end of chapter two. As you turn there, I'll just remind you again where we are through this letter. It really falls into simple outlines here for us, and Paul is just writing a short letter to this young pastor named Titus. He began chapter one with a four-verse greeting, and it's a very theologically rich, deep greeting that he gives to him. And then he dives right into this reminder to Titus of why he had left him on this island called Crete. He says that I left you here for this purpose to ordain elders in every city as I commanded you. And then he says, and just as a reminder, here is what the elders should look like. Here is the qualifications you should be looking for in these men. So he reminds Titus of his mission. Then he says to Titus in chapter 1 verses 10 through 16, let me remind you why I was telling you there, telling you to stay there and ordain these elders. It's because there are people there who are false teachers and are trying to subvert the teaching of the true gospel and who are trying to disrupt the church. So you are supposed to put these elders in place who will protect the flock from these false teachers. Then we saw in the last two sermons and sessions that we met together that Paul launches in chapter 2 on this ethical code for the church. And he says, this is what you should be teaching the people in the church. You should be teaching the older men, that they be, and he gives this list of qualifications. The older women, likewise, list of qualifications. The younger women, that the older women should be instructing. And then we ended last time with this instruction to the younger men, as well as specifically to Titus. Titus, you're a young pastor, so this applies to you, and you should be an example to these other young men. Well, one of the questions we ask when we get to some of these portions of Scripture is, OK, Paul gives these do's and don'ts, if you will, or these character traits. And we're like, OK, so why? Why should these be true of each character that Paul highlights? The older men, older women, younger women, younger men. Why should these be true? We finally get to this evening, the section that I think is pivotal to the entire letter to Titus. In fact, I believe that this section, verses 11 through 14 in particular, are the key interpretive points to this entire letter. And if Paul wanted to get one thing across to Titus and to the people there on the island of Crete, it was these verses. Everything else he says is in relation to verses 11 through 14 of Titus. And so if you're in a habit of Memorizing Scripture or looking for passages to memorize, this is a fantastic one because these verses here are Paul's point that he's trying to get across to Titus and to us. And it's the basis for the ethical conduct. In other words, the reason why we have any kind of ethical code as Christians. is because of a foundation that is behind that ethical code. We don't just have a list of do's and don'ts for the sake of lists of do's and don'ts, for the sake of hoping that somehow God will then be pleased with us or that we'll be able to earn our salvation in any way, as some people teach. but rather that this basis that we see is the foundation underneath all of these ethical codes that Paul gives to each and every one of us today. So that's our goal for today is to look at verses 11 through, technically it's 11 through 14, but we will, I will include verse 15 because, well, I'll explain that in a moment. So the basis for the ethical conduct, I'm going to read verses 11 through 15 of Titus chapter two, and I'll have it on the screen here as well. Titus says, or excuse me, Paul says to Titus, for the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for himself his own special people, zealous for good works. Speak these things, exhort and rebuke with all authority. Let no one despise you. Let's pray. Lord, again, we come to your word and we know that these words come from you and have all of the authority that binds us to yield ourselves to it. And so I ask that this evening, as we read this text, you would encourage our hearts with the gospel foundation that we rest upon and that that gospel foundation would motivate and move us to live it out in a godly way. And I pray this now in Jesus name. Amen. So again, I believe the theme of this whole letter is living a life transformed by the gospel. In other words, your life should be changed, but it's not just do good things, be a good Christian for the sake of doing good things and being a good Christian. The reason is because of this gospel foundation, this grace that we have received from God. So let's look at these verses as we look at Paul's comments here to Titus. He starts out in verse 11 by saying, for the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. That phrase there, the grace of God, could be several different things, but I take it in a sense to be a summation of the gospel itself. That is to say, the grace of God has appeared in that Jesus, the embodiment of God's grace, his goodness to us, came to us in human form. I mean, God could have just left us as humans in our fallen estate, right? He could have just said, all right, you guys are rebels. I'm going to leave you as rebels. And when you die in your sins, I will rightly and justly condemn you and throw you into the pits of hell as righteous judgment for your sin. God could do that. But he doesn't. He shows us mercy. He shows us grace. And that grace was shown in the face of Jesus Christ, who came to earth, the second person of the Godhead. And this grace of God is that good news that has been spread about. In fact, Paul says that this grace of God, it has brought about salvation. Your salvation is because of this good news, this gospel of Jesus. It's the only way to experience new life, through belief in Jesus. And then he says this phrase, has appeared to all men. This grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. In other words, I believe it has been manifested to all people in the person of Jesus. Now, the question that we might have to ask is, okay, it has appeared to all men? Really? So why do we have to send missionaries anywhere? Like if the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, literally, if we take that phrase, to all men, extremely literally, we could say, okay, that means somehow, in some way, the gospel has been proclaimed to every single person on the face of the planet, and so, in my mind, it'd be very legitimate to question why are we even sending missionaries anywhere? Because the gospel has been, has appeared to all men. But I really think what Paul is getting at here is that he is manifested, Jesus is manifested to all people, and that that grace that has appeared is Jesus, and that we are called to proclaim that message of Jesus to all men. Not in, literally, in some magical way, God has given this revelation of Jesus to every person, including the most remote people groups of any region of the world you can think of. So, The scope of grace is that it has appeared to all in Christ. Now, the grace of God is not just this wonderful, lovey-dovey, feel-good thing. It moves us to do something. And so Paul then goes in the next verse to say that this grace of God is teaching us things. The grace of God is teaching us things. It teaches us two things. The first thing is it teaches us how to live. And Paul says it teaches us how to live in two different ways. There's a positive way and a negative way. It teaches us how to live in a negative way by denying ungodliness. And that word deny, you may have a different translation. For example, the New International Version translates that as say no to ungodliness and worldly lusts. That's the idea. Paul is saying that this grace that we have received in Jesus, when you trusted Christ as your Savior, It began to teach you and give you the ability to say no to these ungodly desires that are inherent in the culture around us. In fact, he goes on to say, denying or say no to ungodliness and worldly lusts. Or that's another way of Paul saying, things that are temporal and evil. That's not to say all temporal things are evil. But it is to say that this world system focuses on the here and the now. Look at any ad, whether it be an ad that shows up on YouTube, an ad that shows up on your streaming service of whatever kind, and what do you notice? that they're trying to entice you with temporal things, and often it has some kind of negative context attached to it. And Paul says to Titus, listen, the grace of God has taught you to live in two different ways. Number one, to deny or say no to all of these ungodly passions. But the grace of God teaches us a second thing positively. It teaches us how to live. And he says here that it's teaching us that we should deny ungodliness and should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present age. Soberly, that's the same word that he used when we were looking at the ethical conduct of people. And it's talking about how these young men in verse 6 are supposed to be sober-minded. The older men are supposed to be sober. The idea there is that they're under self-control. They have controlled themselves. And how is it that any of us can control ourselves? It's not like I'm just looking at you or Paul is just looking at me and you and saying, just do better. Just have self-control. Because in and of ourselves, we don't, right? We don't. But in the gospel of Jesus, there is a power source, a fuel that is given to you and to me that enables us to live with self-control. It's not you. It's not your innate ability. It is this power source found in the gospel of Jesus. When you embrace Jesus, then it gives you the ability to live with self-control. The second thing it teaches us is to live righteously. That is in accord with God's law. What is the purpose of God's law that Jesus summarizes? What are the two greatest commandments of the law? You could summarize them with these two things. Love God and love others. The grace of God that we receive in salvation teaches us to live with self-control, which also in turn teaches us to live with a love for God and a love for others. Which then, that third one there when he says we should live godly in the present age, he's basically saying live with a heavenly-minded focus. Remember, seek those things which are above. That's an emphasis of Paul over and over again. You're a citizen of heaven. Think of it like that. Think of yourself as a citizen of heaven, and you don't really realize just how much you identify with your citizenship than when you go somewhere else. I'll never forget. We first got here at Calvary, and Pastor Dixon and Mr. England asked us to take the seniors on their senior trip. And I had only ever been in the United States, and then when I was little and before they required passports, I had only ever been in Canada. That was the only other country I had ever gone to. So we were asked to lead the seniors on their trip, and we found out that it was going to be going to England. And most of you, maybe in this room, that may sound like an exciting thing, going to England. There's a lot of history wrapped up in that country. I mean, it sounds exciting. I'll be just completely honest with you. I was petrified, absolutely petrified. the thought of leaving the United States of America, which as diverse as it is, and I had traveled for four summers on singing teams for Maranatha. We had gone all over the country. I had seen, even with our own country, all the different microcultures and everything. But the thought of leaving the United States just petrified me, just being completely honest with you. And even though we're going to England, the motherland, if you will, the one we rebelled against, I was just, I know that we spoke the same language. I know that we had, in some ways, similar cultures. I was just petrified. I mean, I was petrified of the flight, because I just am petrified of flying in general. I was petrified of the fact that there were maybe culture customs that I wasn't aware of in that country. And we ended up leading them. We flew into Heathrow Airport in London. And I just remember, as we're walking through customs, hearing all of these British accents, and I'm not even going to try to do it, but I never in my life realized how alien I felt than when I started talking to everybody else who had this elegant, intelligent accent in Britain. It was absolutely amazing. And then the pastor there, Pastor David Moore, picked us up, and he has this accent. I'm trying to remember now where he's actually from. I can't remember if it was Scotland or if he's Irish. I don't remember. But he was from, he had this accent that wasn't British. And I just remember having a hard time understanding what he was saying. But he still sounded so intelligent and elegant with his accent. And I just sounded like this American hick who's walking in, you know. It just felt so foreign to me. Why? Because I'd never been in England before. I was around people and a culture and society that wasn't my own. And if any of you have ever gone to another country, you know what that experience is like. Well, imagine then how it ought to be for us as Christians. We are called to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present age. The world in which we live right now does not live soberly. There's no self-control. In fact, they want you to lack self-control. There is no people who are seeking after God and his law. Nobody is regarding God's name as holy. Nobody is living in accord with his law, seeking to love him and love others. And certainly, the people of this world in this present age do not have a Godward heavenly focus. How alien and foreign ought we to feel in this world now if this is the way we are called to live? we should feel in some ways not at home. That sounds weird for me to say because the United States is my home, but there's a sense in which this isn't our home. We are, as the song goes, this world is not my home, I'm just a passing through. Our citizenship resides in heaven ultimately. And in some ways, for me, the way I picture it is, I live here in Ohio. I've lived here now for eight and a half years in Ohio. But I still catch myself saying, you guys, when I refer to people in Ohio. Why? Because even though I've lived in Ohio for eight and a half years, I lived in Minnesota for 24 before that. And so to me, as much as I can in a sense say that Findlay, Ohio is my home, it doesn't really feel like my home. Every time I go back to Minnesota, whether it's on the Camp Swampy trip or I'm going back to visit my family, that feels like home. And so in some ways for me, that's what this reminds me of. I'm living in Finley, Ohio. I have a house on the south side of town. This is where my address is. If I get pulled over and have to give my license with my address on it, it's going to say Finley, Ohio. But in so many ways, I still feel like an outsider because my home still feels like northern Minnesota. That's what we as Christians ought to be like. Our residents, this world, planet Earth, But our true citizenship? Heaven, where we have a heavenly king. So, the grace of God teaches us how we are to live, and it tells us negatively that we are supposed to say no to the world, and positively to live with self-control in accordance with God's law with a heavenly focus. And we are to carefully live out our gospel transformation in this present age. That is to say, in the present day in which we live, our lives should reflect the gospel change in which we have spirited Christ. But I hasten to add, but that doesn't mean we have to be weird. You know what I'm saying? Like, there are these sects of religious beliefs that take their beliefs to an extreme. They have to completely isolate themselves away from society so that they create their own culture, in a sense. And most of those end up being labeled as cults because they have to remove, as much as they can, any of the outside influence so they can create their own little world, as it were, so that they are living, in a sense, in a world they made of their own. But we as Christians aren't called to be weird. We are called to be different. But we are still living in this present age, and so we utilize modern technology. We utilize computers and live streams and all these kinds of things because this is the present age in which we live. And a hundred years from now, should Christ not hasten to return yet, we live in that present age, whatever it might look like, cell phones as thin as paper, who knows? Whatever it looks like, we as Christians live like that. So the grace of God, first of all, teaches us how to live, but second of all, the grace of God teaches us how to look. Here's what Paul says here in Titus 2, verse 13. That phrase there, the blessed hope, I think is the exact same thing as the very next one, glorious appearing. That is to say, we're supposed to look for Jesus and when he comes back. That's what we as Christians should be doing. Will Jesus find us waiting? Will he find us watching? Or will he find us to be those virgins who had the lamps but weren't ready? This hope, by the way, is not a wish, but it's a confident expectation. This blessed hope, this blessed confident expectation is that Jesus is coming back. This glorious appearing of Jesus will come back. And Paul says, you know what? Don't listen to the haters. The haters are going to say, where's the signs of his appearing? It's been 2,000 years since he said he was coming back. Where is this Jesus? Maybe he wasn't real. Maybe he isn't here. Maybe he isn't actually coming. Maybe he wasn't God. Paul says, we're looking for a blessed, confident hope that we have. that Jesus will come. But notice how he describes Jesus there. He's our great God and Savior, which basically, Paul says to Titus, Jesus is God. And as God, he is our Savior. In fact, he describes more about this concept of Jesus being Savior in the very next verse. What did Jesus do? He gave himself for us so that he might redeem us from every lawless deed. So Paul explains how Jesus is the great God, he says Jesus is God, and he's the Savior. And what did he, the Savior God, do? He gave himself for us. What Paul is describing here is what we often call the substitutionary atonement of Christ for his people. He gave himself on the altar of God's wrath so you don't have to. The reason why you can look forward to Jesus coming back is because Jesus died in your place and then rose again. That's why. He gave himself for us so that I don't have to hop onto that altar. In fact, the purpose behind that work was so that he might redeem us. There's two purposes here. Number one, to redeem us from our lawless deeds, which is basically a way of saying our lives that we lived in selfish, reckless abandon without heeding or acknowledging God. I am thankful that I was saved at a young age, but that doesn't mean that I still don't sin. Imagine how much worse my life could be had I not gotten saved. It could be so much worse. Each and every one of us has been redeemed from lawless deeds. A lawless deed means you didn't care about the law. Like, I think me, maybe it was me and Brian were talking one day, we were just talking about like what goes through some of these people's minds when they're just like driving recklessly, when they're doing stupid things and leading these chases with police officers. In fact, I was watching a video. a day or two ago, and there was this car who was being chased by the police, and he was driving, and all of a sudden he stops because there was somebody waiting to turn left. And like, he's got like four policemen vehicles right behind him chasing him, and all of those vehicles stop. It was like something out of a movie. He like basically flashes his lights, let the other guy turn left, and then he continues on with the chase. Like, what are you thinking? What goes through these minds? It's lawless. They're lawless deeds. And but for the grace of God, there is where we would be too. But Jesus redeems us from every lawless deed. That's the purpose of why he gave himself, so that we might acknowledge God. But here's the second purpose. Paul says, and purify for himself his own special people. The second purpose Jesus redeemed us was so that he could make a people for himself who are unique and special to him, a people who are ardently in love with God, desiring to worship this God, consuming desire to worship this God. And here's what Jesus promised. He said, I'm going to build my church. And that church is this people, this special people who are zealous for good works. They're special to the bridegroom. And I want you to notice that last phrase there. They're zealous for good works. I think sometimes in some circles, because we're so careful to try not preach a works-based salvation, that we can emphasize so much the gospel and how it frees us that almost we become antinomian. And that word basically means don't say anything about what people should do. Like, just preach the gospel, talk about the gospel, don't ever really mention laws or things that Christians should do, because then you're kind of almost slipping back into legalism. But I humbly submit to you that while we should be emphasizing the basis being the gospel, 100% agree with that, yes, that does not mean that we as Christians should not be exhorted to work. to live out that gospel transformation. And Paul does that. He doesn't just say the purpose of Jesus dying on the cross was so that he could redeem you from lawless deeds and then make you his own special people that he's purified. He doesn't stop there. Paul says that special people is zealous for good works. They don't just sit there. They don't just have this pious, external, we're going to worship God here and do nothing in life. These people are zealous for good works. They live out their gospel transformation. It's just we have to be careful to make sure we don't put the cart before the horse, right? Because we don't want to be teaching people, hey, just go do this, go do this, go do this, go do this. But rather we say, listen, you have been redeemed by the blood of Jesus, the one who came to build for himself a people who are special to him, who love him. And if that is true, that Jesus has done that for you, you'll know. And you know how you'll know? Your loves, your affections will be to do exactly what Paul says. To live it out in life. To do all of those things that Paul exhorts Titus to tell these people to do. Tell these older men to be sober and reverent and temperate. Go do this. But it's because you have been changed. That's the reason. You don't change so that you become changed. But you changed because you have been changed by Jesus. So those who do good works, I think, really, are mirroring what Christ did. What did Jesus do, as we're seeing through the gospel of Luke, over and over again? It's like, he had compassion on this person. Here's a person who's blind, he heals him. Here's a person with a demon, he casts the demon out. Here's a person who's lame, he makes him walk. Here's a widow whose only son died, brings him back to life. I would dare say those are wonderful, mighty works, of course, that only God can do and signs of who Jesus was, but they were still good works. Jesus fed people with five loaves and two fish. I mean, Jesus himself did these wonderful good works because he is God and God is good and kind and generous. So we should be the same. Finally, verse 15, Paul summarizes by saying, So Paul continues to exhort Titus to exercise his position as an elder His responsibility was to teach all the instructions laid out in the letter, because he says, teach these things with all authority. Titus, you have people there in that congregation who are older than you. And it's natural in your culture to say, you know what? I'm going to give deference to these older people and let them be the leaders here. But Titus, you're the pastor. You have the word of God. You have the responsibility to exhort them to live out their lives. And when they are not living in accordance with the gospel that they claim to have experienced, you need to call them out. And it might be petrifying for you. I'm saying this as somebody who is petrified at the thought of having to do that. I identify with Titus. But Paul says, do this with all authority. Do it with this authority because Jesus has given you this authority. to be the shepherd of these people. It could be easy for some people to either despise Titus because he was a young pastor, which is why Timothy, who was a young pastor, Paul would say to him, don't let anyone despise your youth, Timothy. You have been given and taught many things in the gospel by your parents and by myself. Don't let people despise you just because you're young. Youth does not mean you don't have truth and wisdom. And maybe people would have despised Titus because here's a young man, a whippersnapper, having the audacity to tell me that I need to change this in my life. Or another reason people could despise him is because they didn't appreciate what he said. You're meddling here, Titus. You don't understand. I've lived so much more life than you. You just get back in line. But Paul says to Titus, You speak these things, you exhort from the pulpit. If necessary, you go to that brother or that sister and exhort them as you would a mother or a father, a brother or a sister, and you rebuke them. And you do it with all authority. Don't let anyone despise you because that's your responsibility. You're not doing it to lord it over them. You're doing it because you love them. That's why. So even though sometimes it can be difficult, For those of us who are younger in ministry to get up and say things that may seem confrontational or difficult, those who are called to speak the truth, whether they be people in positions of authority like elders or any Christian who's proclaiming the truth of Scripture or the truth of the gospel, You have to do so regardless of the hostile response you may receive. I'm saying this in the context of Paul talking to Titus, who was a pastor. But frankly, this is true of every one of us in this room. If you're going to share the gospel with somebody, I can guarantee you will receive a hostile response. You will have people who don't want to hear it. But can I exhort you, speak these things, exhort, rebuke with all authority, not the authority because you want to lord it over and show them that you're so much superior, but because you have the authority of the king of whom you represent. And let no man despise you. Do so winsomely, do so gently, but with the authority of Jesus himself. Speak the truth of the gospel. Don't be ashamed of it. As somebody who is young and can find this, frankly and candidly, to be a very difficult thing, these kinds of exhortations are very convicting because sometimes I think I can be tempted to sacrifice the truth on the altar of decorum. I would rather just keep things peaceful, don't want to ruffle any feathers, but in order to proclaim the gospel, in order to be a faithful Christian, You have to say things that you know will be hard for people to hear. And sometimes, if, for example, you're sharing the gospel with somebody, they're going to be upset with you. We got a letter in the mail here at the church that was addressed to me. And the letter was basically from somebody I've never met before asking me to reach out to their grandchildren who they are concerned about, who live here in Findlay, because their grandchildren don't know the Lord. And so this older lady wrote me this letter asking to reach out to them in some way and to share the gospel with them. And then on the back of the letter, she wrote this little extra note saying, please don't give up, even if she's really obstinate or even if she cusses you out, please don't give up. Petrified me like Rita what cussed me out. I don't want that But if we have the truth if we have the authority of and commission of our king to proclaim it We can't be worried about what other people are gonna say or think or feel about it We have to speak the truth regardless of the response and then just as a side note will be done and If we as Christians see each other and look at these lists that Paul gives and see that lives that claim to be transformed by the gospel but aren't living like it, we have to be willing to reach out to that person and say, hey, I love you. I want you to know that I love you, and I'm not saying this because I'm trying to attack you. Like, I see this and this and this, and that just concerns me. We have to be willing to do that. And it's uncomfortable. It's difficult. But if we have the authority of our king, we don't have to worry about the responses of other people to us. We are responsible to share graciously, as kindly and gently as we can, the truth with boldness. speak these things, exhort, rebuke with all authority. And I think the phrase these things is everything that he's been saying in this letter. Titus, you've got to do it. I know it's not going to be easy, but you've got to do it. And I think that should be true of us as well. So all of that to say, Paul's theme in this letter to Titus is that your life if you believe the gospel, should be transformed. The reason why your life will change and why you will be zealous for good works and why you'll do all of these things that Paul lists out in chapter 2 is because you've received and embraced the grace of Jesus. If you have done, then be zealous for good works. Look for Jesus' appearing and live like it. Let's pray. Lord, we know that there are often times in our lives where we are called to do uncomfortable things, and while it's not easy, we have the authority of our King, and we want to please you above all else. We want to please you above pleasing family ties or friendships. We want to please you above workforce relationships or whatever the case may be, Lord, we recognize that we are citizens of heaven, not citizens of the earth. And so I pray for each of us who has claimed allegiance to Jesus, who has been redeemed, who has been justified because of what Jesus has done on the cross. Help us to live it out. to show that we have been transformed by the gospel, by the way that we live, so that we might adorn it and make it look beautiful in the eyes of the world. And ultimately, Lord, we want your name to be exalted and glorified above all else. We pray this in our Savior's name, Jesus. Amen.