Amen, well if you'll turn with me in your Bibles to the book of Titus once again. Titus chapter two. I'm gonna read from verses 11 through 15. Our focus this evening will be on verse 14. Well let's read this group of verses once again together. 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. Well, this is the word of the living God and we say, thanks be to God. Amen. Let's please be seated. Let's go to the Lord in prayer together. Our Father, we thank you for the truths written here so clearly for us, your church, your beloved people. Lord, I pray for grace this evening for your people. Help us to walk away rejoicing that we are your beloved. There's nothing we should fear. We lack nothing, for you give us all we need. You've forgiven us in Christ, and you've given us a new purpose. What wonderful truths. Help us to live our lives in light of them, so we pray by the Spirit you help us. It's in Christ's name we pray, amen. Well, a few weeks ago, we looked at these glorious verses. We focused then, verse 11 through 13, and we saw, verse 11, this word appeared, this epiphany. Christ appeared some 2,000 years ago. Verse 11 and these following verses come after All of these instructions that Paul has thus given to the church, this book is full of instructions teaching us how we might please the Lord as his people. You can just look through and just look at all of the instructions, why we are to live the way we are to live, to put on holiness, to be sober minded. Typically, Paul, especially if you think of Romans and the book of Ephesians, typically, very much so, at the beginning of his letters, he proclaims the gospel. And then, at some point, there's a therefore in the book. Paul begins, often with the gospel, and then tells us how to behave in light of the gospel after he proclaims the gospel. Here in Titus, it's somewhat the opposite. Here we are, more than halfway through the book, and now we get the richest, clearest display of the gospel yet, and it's after the instructions. So take note of that. Whether Paul puts the gospel first or he puts it in the middle of the book, like he does here, he does the same thing. He's rooting Christian ethics. He's rooting Christian behavior in the gospel. So the message is always the same. Christ has died for you. Rejoice. Now live in light of it. We have this same pattern. It's just that here we have it, the gospel proclamation in the middle of the book. You'll notice here, verse 14, Christ gave himself for us. There's three implications, three results of his death. We know it's Christ because verse 13 says so. Three results, lawless deeds, no more. Reason one. Secondly, God makes you his holy people. He purifies his people. And thirdly, Christ gives this people work to do that they may glorify him. So we'll look at these point by point, but let's begin by following Paul's pattern. I want you to see that our ethics are rooted in the gospel. So our first heading is really just taken right out of the text. He gave himself for us. He gave himself for us. Notice each word. This is as simple as it gets and as beautiful as it gets. How much of the Bible is wrapped up into these few words? He gave himself for us. And this phrase is repeated in Paul, Galatians 1, 4, 2, 20, Ephesians 5, 2, 5, 25, 1 Timothy 2, 6. This is one of the ways in which Paul communicates the gospel. He gave himself for us. That is, Jesus Christ gave himself for us. In the background, of course, is that we are lawbreakers. We are sinners. We do not deserve his grace. We can read about that elsewhere. But here we are halfway through the gospel. We know that we're broken people. We know the people of Crete are broken people. We know that these particular churches are broken and they're messy. There's sin and there's gossip and slander. There's false teachers and people adding to the law. Now we get the gospel proclaimed. Nonetheless, Despite our messiness as a church Despite what's going on in Crete He gave himself for us You'll recall his phrase Galatians 2 20 Paul, one of the most glorious verses, I think, in Scripture. I've been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me and the life which I now live in the flesh. I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. There it is, same phrase. 1 Timothy 2. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man, Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all." There it is. When he gives himself, he gives himself as a ransom. There is a penalty for sin. And Christ, by giving himself, offers a pleasing aroma to God. That's Ephesians 5 too. Christ loved us and has given himself for us, an offering, a sacrifice to God, a sweet-smelling aroma. When Paul uses this phrase, he couples it with these other sweet gospel truths. Christ, the sweet-smelling aroma. There's a penalty for sin, and Jesus Christ paid it. And by faith, this church on Crete lives. By faith, they are saved. If you do not come to Christ, if you're listening this evening, and you are not yet a Christian, this offer is for you. You are a sinner. Every one of you. have rebelled against God, breaking his commands, even wanting to break his commands, delighting to break his commands, bragging, in some cases, that we break his commands. There's punishment for that. The punishment is eternal separation from God. It's hell. It is punishment. And the good news of the gospel are these five words. He gave himself for us. That is, Jesus died for you, sinner, that you may live. So this offer is for you. Come to him. It's free. Our salvation is not by works, it's by faith in this simple message. Now some, when they read the scriptures, at this point with a verse like this, they might want to pit the Father against the Son or against the Spirit. You can't do that. It is true that the Father sends the Son, and the Son accomplishes, the Holy Spirit applies, but God is one. Salvation is a triune work. The focus of this verse is indeed on the Son. He gave Himself for us. We can't say that God the Father sent God the Son against God the Son's will. But look at the Scripture and how plain this is. He laid down His own life for us. We cannot divide the will of the Father, Son, or Spirit. More could be said, but let our focus now be on the emphasis of this text. The emphasis here is that the Son loves you, believer. The Son died for you, believer. And this, in my view, is the height of the book of Titus. And now, there are implications to be had. If someone were to approach you and ask you why you thought it was so great that Jesus died for you, and you were to sit around the table with other Christians, how many reasons could we come up with? Dozens upon dozens. We would just have to go through the scriptures, wouldn't we? And then we'd have to think even in just how God has provided for us in our own lives, how he's met our needs time and again. How many reasons are there? to be thankful for Christ dying for us. Well, there's three here that Paul highlights. Three major ones. The first is this, our lawless deeds are redeemed. Our lawless deeds are redeemed. Lawlessness is wickedness. Another word for it, really. 1 John, This is everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness. Sin is lawlessness. So to be redeemed from lawlessness is to be redeemed from sin itself. So what is the implication of Christ giving himself for us? He redeems us from sin. Before, we were in bondage to sin. And those who are in bondage to sin are bound to the father of sin, Satan. They're bound to Satan. Sinners cannot help but do the works of Satan. They do the works of the flesh, the sinful flesh, because they are slaves to the flesh. In effect, if sin were to say to a sinner, go here, What must the sinner do as the slave? If Satan says, do this, the sinner does that. If the flesh says, do this, the sinner does that. That's what it means to be in bondage. Those are strong words, I think. And if we look, if you have your Bibles, you can see this truth. In the book of Romans, chapter 6 especially, read a few verses. Romans 6, beginning in verse 6. Our old man was crucified with him that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin. Verse 10, for the death that he died, he died to sin once for all, but the life that he lives, he lives to God. Likewise, you also reckon yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. And that is the same truth that Paul is picking up here in Titus. You are dead to sin. When Christ redeems us from lawlessness, he is redeeming us from bondage to sin. You are no longer slaves to sin. This is one of the sweet implications of the gospel, is that you don't have to sin. When sin comes calling, when Satan comes whispering, you do not have to oblige any longer, believer. That's the good news to you. And furthermore, we are freed up now. Now, We can do good works. We'll see more about that later. Every sinner is in bondage to sin. If you consider celebrities, often, they make a show of the good works that they might do. Fortune 500 companies, they'll publicly showcase the donations that they donate to, the charities they donate to. But all their works will account for nothing on the last day. For no matter what deeds they are doing, they are not good deeds. They are deeds of lawlessness. For they're bound to sin. They're not doing good deeds from good motives. Sinners have hearts of stone, according to the scriptures. And hard hearts work works lawlessness. So before coming to Christ, the only work that you could do was a work of lawlessness. The good news, as Ezekiel says, God will give us a new heart and a new spirit. God will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh, a new heart. So believers, they have new hearts. They're rescued from lawlessness. Their rocky hearts are gone. Sinners are cold towards God. When Christ comes into their life, he warms them towards God, and a new heart seeks to please the Savior who gave him such a new heart, a new nature. So this, the first implication that Paul proclaims here, is that once you see that Christ has died for you, you also see that he's rescued you from bondage. You no longer have to sin. Secondly, you'll see that God purifies his precious people. God purifies his precious people. This too is spoken of in all sorts of places in the New Testament. 1 Peter, for instance, when God rescues his people, He calls them His chosen generation, His royal priesthood, His holy nation, His special people here, His precious people. So when Christ dies for you, He doesn't just leave you alone. He actually brings you into the family. And that's what is talked about here. God doesn't leave you out there. He brings you in. He gathers you in. And now you're in the in crowd, if you will. You're part of His special people. You are His heritage. Beforehand, you were His enemy. You were an outsider. All sinners are. But once you're redeemed in Christ, you're brought into the fold. You are the sheep of Christ's pasture. And His people He gives His special blessings to. It's His people that will share heaven with Him. Zechariah says that his people are the apple of his eye. Elsewhere in Scripture, they're called the excellent ones. If you're hearing me and you are in Christ, you are part of this in crowd. You are in the beloved. But in order to be, you must be purified, and that's what Christ does. When Christ dies for you, he purifies you. He cleanses you up, for he's holy. And a dirty sinner has no familial belonging with a holy God. He must purify you first. And once he does, he brings you in. He rejoices even over you. And what do family members do? You think about what the in crowd does once they are in. What do they do? We've seen already in this book. You can look back, chapter 2, verse 1, also verse 9. Once you're in, you begin to adorn the gospel. You begin to proclaim the good things about your family. You don't talk bad about your family. You don't talk bad about your father. But instead, you adorn the gospel. You rejoice over it. You're happy. Because you're in. You also put on holiness. We saw that in the previous section. You put on those family traits. What are the character traits of the new family? Well, it's sober-mindedness, holiness, you're not gossiping, you're not slandering. They also become this new purified people. They become a people zealous for the family name. They are zealous for God's glory. That'll be our final heading. Another implication of Christ's death. He is zealous for works that God might be glorified. This is what his precious people do. They are zealous for for good works. Now later in this book, we're gonna come upon this theme again. Paul will just strictly tell the people to abound in good works. Do not stop doing good works. But this verse is more, it's focused on something a little bit different. It's about the heart. What kind of person are you? Are you a person who's zealous for good works? Do you desire That's what zeal really is. Zeal is strong desire, enthusiasm. It's a good question to ask ourselves. Are you enthusiastic for God's glory? Are you enthusiastic about doing good that others may honor him? This morning we heard a sermon about the 10th commandment. And we heard that to be covetous, is to have improper desires. To be covetous is to desire for yourself that which is not yours. But zeal for good works is the opposite of covetousness. Zeal for good works is not zeal for your own glory, it's zeal for someone else's glory. It's zeal for God's glory. Remember the woman who poured perfume on Christ's feet? this woman who had seen his beauty. That's a good work. To buy expensive perfume and do nothing but pour it on Christ's feet. Or Zacchaeus, once he sees the goodness of Christ, he goes and he begins paying people back for the wrongs that he had done. The lepers who were cleansed, remember 10 of them were cleansed, but only one returns with thankfulness. That thankfulness in and of itself is a good work. It's glorifying God, it's thanking God, it's acknowledging God. You are the one who's done this for me. You are the one who's cleansed me. That's what purified people do. They have a change of heart. The Pharisees were zealous. They were zealous of a different kind. They were not zealous for God's glory. Their zeal was of a selfish sort. When the Pharisees would pray on the streets to God, Christ says, they're not praying for God's glory, they're praying for their own glory. Their zeal was evident. but it was an improper zeal. Our confession talks about this very thing. Our confession has an entire chapter on good works, and it says this, good works are only such as God has commanded in his own holy word, and not such as without the warrant thereof are devised by men out of blind zeal or upon any pretense So it's possible to do works out of blind zeal for your own glory. Good works, according to the confession, are done in obedience to God's commandments. They are the fruits and evidences of a true and lively faith. That's right, that's agreeing with James, isn't it? Let our faith be met with works that we may honor the family that we are in, our father. At this point, too, don't neglect the order of events that we've seen so far. Just to remind you once more. First, salvation by grace. Now, after being purified, then you are zealous for good works. So we can't get ahead of ourselves here. First, salvation by grace. Secondly, God's glory through good works by the Spirit. Purified people do good works. No one else can. Purified people are motivated to honor God. They do not just sit around. We don't just eat meals together, as nice as that is. But purified people, in their new hearts, they want to do good. Spurgeon here says that we are to be red hot for them. Red hot for good works. We are to be on fire for everything that is right and true. We may not be content to be quiet and inoffensive, but we are to be zealous for good works. You should be zealous for good works. And I think that there might be times, especially for some young folks in here, that the world will say to you, like, calm down on the zeal. I was once reported to Human Resources for my zeal, me and a couple of other guys. It was reported that we were overzealous. We weren't zealous, we were Christians, talking, And I don't think we were being inappropriate or wasting time. But many will say that you're overzealous. Spurgeon says we are not to be content to be quiet and inoffensive. Instead, we are to be zealous for good works. And that doesn't mean that we go and just annoy people all day long or anything like that, but it does mean that we should strive every day to glorify God wherever he's put us. So one of the immediate applications of a sermon like this is that you, believer, walk away imagining, dreaming even, wrestling, praying, God, how might I glorify you in my station in life. How many of us simply grow weary of doing good? And so, for a season, we cool off. We cool off. Scripture says we are to be zealous. And zealous, again, it has to do with enthusiasm. And so many of us can excuse ourselves and say, Can't be enthusiastic 24-7, man. I wanna point to the simple nature of the verses that we're looking at. We're a purified people. And if you're a purified person brought into the family of God, what else do you want to do but good works for him who called you? Let us not grow cold, beloved. Let us not grow weary of doing good. There's a reason that verse is in the New Testament. Do not grow weary of doing good. Implies there will be times in your life, there will be times in my life where we just get tired. I just wanna break. And how Satan will take advantage of such times. So read these simple exhortations in Scripture. Do not gloss over them. I know the text is plain, and I know the sermon is plain, but the text says what it says, and I want you to walk away knowing that the Scripture actually commands me to be zealous for good works, and it's not done. We're not through Titus yet, and Lord willing, you're gonna get two more sermons of this. But this is a theme in this book. God has been good to you, Cretans. I know that you live in the midst of a crooked culture. It's wicked, I know. Abound in good works. That's the message of Titus. God has been good to you. Abound in good works. Halfway through chapter three, he just stops point blank and says, do not forget to remind the people to do good works. He just said that, Paul. Do you really have to tell me again? I think he repeats himself for good reason. So let us imagine, dream, wrestle with this a bit, pray, and remind yourself, remember John 15, Jesus tells us how his Father is glorified. My Father is glorified when you bear much fruit. It's not a bad thing to want to abound in good works. Jesus is telling us his heart here. My Father is glorified when you bear much fruit. For when you bear much fruit, you prove to be my disciples. It will make sense, Christianity will make sense to the world when Christ's people do good works. That's when the people of the world go, oh, I get it. I get it. They really believe this. They really believe that a holy God saved them even though they rebelled against them for 20 years. That's when the world wakes up. That's when you know that you are adorning the gospel. You're making the gospel look good at that point. Just be zealous. One more reminder. This, another book, 2 Timothy 1.6. I remind you to stir up the gift of God. Same idea. Paul, not telling Titus in this case, telling Timothy, stir up the gift of God. You've been given a gift, stir it up. The ESV says, fan into flame. I like that. God has put you where he has put you. Now, fan into flame whatever he's given you. He's given you a little bit of money, make the most of it. He's given you a lot of money, make the most of it. He's given you some talents, make the most of it. He's given you a lot of talents, make the most of it. Wherever you are, the exhortation is the same. Glorify God with your works. There are a number of practical questions, and we'll be able to get to more implications of this. Our confession actually has a lot to say about good works. I don't want to leave you with some practical questions to guide you, because my aim here tonight is to talk about how this begins in the heart. It begins with the gospel. Once you see that you're purified, Then, you will have the sort of heart that will do good works. Some practical questions as you wrestle and imagine, how might I glorify God? Firstly, what is in front of you? What is in front of you? Where has God placed you? It's a good question, maybe an obvious question, but a good question to start. We don't always have to think, oh, if I were here, then I could do this work. Instead, just think for a moment, where am I? Am I a student? Do I work here? Do I work there? Where am I? What is in front of me? What works are right in front of my face? Do I have a neighbor that's in need? Do I have a church member that's in need? Those are good places to start. God has placed you providentially to the area you are in. Start there. What is in front of you? Secondly, another practical question, what are your gifts? What are your talents? How has the Lord blessed you in that way? We should play to our strengths. If you have weaknesses, you have strengths, pay attention to those. You can ask others, what are my strengths, what are my weaknesses? Try to abound in works, in areas in which God has strengthened you, in which he's gifted you. Other questions? Go through these quickly. What's your financial situation? How old are you? That matters. What's your marital status? You may have more or less time. Do you have children? How many children? Are you in good health? Especially compared to those around you. There's some right now in North Carolina suffering after the hurricane, and those in good health are in especially a good spot to use their ability to help others. What needs are in your family, church, community? Think about the community we live in on the peninsula. What are the particular ailments that are crushing our community? We should think about those, pray about those, Once we think about the community, we can go further out. What needs are in the world that you could meet, even from here? Many other questions I think we could ask. We can pray, though, that we would do great works for the Lord's glory. We should work hard to the teenagers, to the young folks, to the children listening. Take your education seriously. If you focus now on your schoolwork, you will put yourself in a better position to bear more fruit later in life. School is important. Get good grades, try hard. I know you don't like it every day. But if you've seen the goodness of God, Take your education seriously. That is your job right now. And by taking your education seriously, you're gonna put yourself in good position to do even greater works in the future. So set yourself up well. You don't want to sin in such a way that you harm your opportunities later. Remember, we are salt and light in the earth. And Jesus tells us, That if we are the light of the world, we should actually take the lamp that we are and we should place it on a table. We don't have to shy away from doing good works. We place it on a table that all may see the light. Not that they see us, but that they see that we are the type of people who have bought in to the good news of the gospel. Pastor Ryan this morning talked about the cure to covetousness. We've heard that Watson quote, the Thomas Watson quote about studying contentment. So I'll close this evening with another quote from Spurgeon. Another implication of this text relates to what Pastor Ryan said this morning. Spurgeon said, if he who gave himself for his people will not deny them anything. So let me start back at the beginning. The first verse of this text for this sermon is he gave himself for us. So consider that. He gave himself for us. If he gave himself for us, like literally laying down his life for us, what else Will he not give you? Spurgeon says, he who gave himself for his people will not deny them anything. What more is there to give? He's already given his life. He will give you all you need. There is no reason to be covetous. We have no lack. God supplies all our needs in Christ Jesus. He gave himself for us, and therefore he will not deny us anything else. So as we close, let us consider that. There are many more implications of that simple verse, he who gave himself for us. Paul here lists three, and as we continue through the letter, Lord willing, we're gonna see even more implications, for the gospel's that rich. It keeps giving and giving and giving. So let's pray, hoping that we will see more of it. Our Father, we thank you for the good news of Christ. For he came appearing as our salvation, dying the death that we deserved. And I pray now that we would see all of the implications there are to see. What wonderful truths are uncovered in your word. Give us a zeal for your word. Give us a zeal for evangelism. Give us a zeal for your glory in the world. Give us a zeal, Lord, for good works. For you have purified us by the giving of your son. It's in his name we pray, amen.