Titus chapter number two, beginning at verse number 11. The New King James Version reads this way. 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 appearance 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 the church say amen. Amen. And for a few minutes today, as the Holy Spirit will give me ability, I want to preach from the subject. I want to preach from the thought, anticipating Christ's return. anticipating Christ's return. Our Father, we thank you for those who have gathered to the house of worship today, Lord. And I pray that you will take me as your clean vessel, cleanse me of sin, empty me of self, fill me with thy spirit. Help me to be a blessing of these thy people, Lord. But most importantly, Lord, help me to be a blessing to you. It's this we pray in the matchless name of our risen Lord and only Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen. Amen. anticipating Christ's return. Our subject passage today is found in Titus chapter two, verses 11 through 15, but it is preceded by Titus chapter number two, verses one through 10. In Titus chapter two, verses one through 10, make it clear that the church, that is the people of God, the church, the people of God, should conduct themselves in a certain manner. The way the church conducts itself, the way that the people of God conducts themselves, the testimony of the church matters so that the word of God will not be blasphemed. The conduct of the church, the people of God, the testimony of the church matters so that anybody who is an opponent of the Lord Jesus Christ and or his church, they might be ashamed that they don't have anything evil to say about you. And so that is why our conduct matters so much. Let me just give you one more. The conduct of the church matters. The people of God, the testimony of the church matters so that we may adorn the doctrine of God. that the church might put on the Lord Jesus Christ and put on his word, make him look good, so that it may happen that when others see your condor, and that is your testimony, so that when people see your condor, those who don't have saving faith might come to saving faith in Jesus Christ. And those of us who know God, we might be strengthened in our faith. That's why the condor of the people of the church matters. And that's what Paul is teaching to Titus here by way of letter in Titus chapter 2 verses 1 through 10. And so that message is connected to and it cannot be separated from our subject passage. The church being the church, the church being the church and functioning the way the church is instructed to function in Titus chapter two verses one through 10 is theologically founded upon these closing verses of Titus chapter number two. That brings us to our subject passage, Titus chapter number two, verse 11. Matter of fact, I'm gonna read verses 11 and 12. Verses 11 and 12 in the New King James Version reads this way. It says, for the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lust, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age. The first words of that verse there in verse number 11 says, for the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. Let's get something straight right out the gate. The Lord Jesus Christ is the grace of God. Let me say that again. The Lord Jesus Christ, he is the grace of God. The Lord Jesus Christ, the son of God, God the son, he is the grace of God that has appeared to all me. John chapter 1 verse 17 says, For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus is the grace of God. If you believe that, why don't you say amen. Amen. And Jesus did not just appear. He brought salvation with him. Salvation is in him. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth and the life. No man coming to the father, but by me. So let's go ahead and get the first thing straight. And the first thing that we need to get straight is that the Lord Jesus Christ, he is the grace of God that has appeared to all men. Alright, so now that we've gotten that out of the way, let's go ahead and talk about some other things. Now this verse is not saying that everyone will receive salvation. nor is it saying that Jesus physically appeared to all men, but rather this verse is saying that the Lord Jesus has shown himself, he has manifested himself in such a way that it is beneficial to all men and that all men can be saved, though we know that all men will not be saved. And when I say men, this is not a man and woman thing, this is mankind, all human beings. And so while the grace of God has appeared to all men and all men can be saved, all men won't be saved. Pastor, how do we know? How do you know, Pastor, that all people won't be saved? As usual, St. Mike, y'all own y'all game this morning. I'll go ahead and answer that question. As I always tell you, I'm not that smart. I'll just stick to the Bible. And so here's how I know how all people won't be saved. All people won't adhere to the tenets in verse 12. Look at verse 12. It says, we shall live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age. And so the people of God are to deny ungodliness and worldly lust. The people of God, we can't be godless, and we can't always give in to our sinful desires. Yes, we will fall short of the glory of God, and if you say you don't fall short of the glory of God, and that you never sin, well, you a liar, and you already sin. And so we all are going to sin time to time, but if you are a child of God, if you say that Jesus is your Lord and is your Savior, you cannot always just give in to your sinful desires. And so we know it doesn't take much to see. We know that there are godless people in the world, and we know that sin is rampant in the world. So we know all mankind won't be saved. The rest of this verse, and when I say this verse, I'm talking about verse 12, the rest of this verse says that the church should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age. In other words, the church ought to act like they got some sins. We ought to act like we know God. We ought to act like Jesus is our Savior. We ought to act like the Holy Spirit is our comforter. That's what we ought to act like. And so we should act like we have some sense. But the biblical term is wisdom. And what the Bible calls wisdom comes from God. Verse 13. Looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearance of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. Good God Almighty. That verse is so beautiful. Let me just read it one more time. Looking. for the blessed hope and glorious appearance of our great God and Savior. Jesus Christ Paul tells Titus and by application he is telling us that we ought to be looking for the blessed hope we ought to be Anticipating the blessed hope we ought to be anticipating Christ's return We ought to be eagerly eagerly looking and expecting the glorious appearance of our great God and Savior the Lord Jesus Christ And don't look over the fact that this verse affirms that Jesus is God and Jesus is Savior. And so if you are on the fence about this man named Jesus, Jesus of Nazareth, let me just tell you this. He is God and He is Savior. Amen? Amen. And so there's no denying the deity of Jesus by looking here in verse 13. Now, there are those who squabble over if this verse is representing the rapture of the church or when Jesus is physically ruling and reigning as King from Jerusalem. Let me say that again. There are those scholars, theologians, pastors, whatever they want to call themselves, they squabble, they differ if this verse is referencing the rapture of the church or when Jesus is physically, literally, bodily and gloriously reigning and ruling from Jerusalem. Well, to fully address that concern, it really matters what in time views that person has. It really matters what a person's eschatology is. And so I'm not going to get into that today because in the end, it really don't matter. The exhortation is that we look for the blessed hope. That is the exhortation. So whether it's Jesus rapture in the church or whether he's ruling and reigning from Jerusalem really doesn't matter. We ought to be looking. We ought to be anticipating. We ought to be eagerly expecting the Lord Jesus to come back even before we say the benediction today. That's what this verse is getting at. And so Jesus is coming back and we ought to be looking for him. We ought to be anticipating him. Verse 14. Verse 14 says, who gave himself us that he might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for himself his own special people. Zealous for good works. Zeus did not give himself for you. I said Zeus did not give himself for you. Buddha did not give himself for you. Zeus is not real and Buddha is not real. And I know some of y'all are smart and y'all read books. Allah. Allah means God. But not the same God we talking about. The Islamic God does not exist. There's only one God. There's only one true God. And that's the Father, Son, Holy Spirit, the one true God. So make sure you understand that. And so Zeus didn't give himself because he ain't real. Zeus didn't give himself because he's not real. Buddha didn't give himself because he's not real. Allah is not a real God. The Lord Jesus Christ, he is real. And he is the one who loves you and gave himself for you. And when I say gave himself, he gave himself on the cross of Calvary. Why did Jesus give himself up so willingly and so lovingly? Well, that's a loaded question. I can't answer all of that in today's sermon, but we'll just stick to what Paul is telling Titus. That he might redeem us from every lawless deed. that he might purchase for himself his own special people. Let me put that in layman's terms. Everything you've done wrong, ever done wrong, think about doing wrong, and will do wrong, Jesus has washed your sins away with his innocent blood. That is if you have trusted in him. And he did that, that he might purchase for himself his own special people. I like the way the King James says it. The King James says he was a peculiar people. And so, not only did he purchase for himself a peculiar people, a special people, but he said that they might be zealous for good works. It's one thing to do good works, it's another thing to be excited about good works. It's one thing to do good works, it's another thing to be enthusiastic. about doing good works. It's one thing to put the check in the box and say you did it. It's another thing that you actually wanted to put the check in the box. Verse 15. Speak these things. Exhort and rebuke with all authority. Let no one despise you and so Paul is talking to Titus and by application he's talking to all those who stand in pulpits all around churches in this world and so he's saying speak and proclaim these things this ain't my time to get up here and give you my opinion This ain't my time to get up here and tell you my preferences. What I am to do is speak and proclaim these things. Proclaim and speak the things that are in the Word of God. And so, keeping it in context, proclaim this entire letter, Titus. I need you to proclaim this entire letter. Namely, all that proceeds, verse 15, with a special emphasis on Titus chapter 2, verses 1 through 14. And then he goes on to say, let no one despise you or no one disregard you. because the doctrine that you are taught in this letter is your authority. Paul is saying, I'm an apostle, and I got my revelation from Jesus Christ. And so what I'm telling you is gospel truth, and you can take it to the bank, Titus. That's what he's telling him. So don't let nobody despise you. Don't let nobody disregard you, because you are telling the straight words from God's mouth. That is the sum total of our verses. And so today we are talking about anticipating Christ's return. Anticipating Christ's return. I have just two points of truth that I need to get crossed. And so if you're taking notes this morning, then write these down. Two points of truth that I need to get crossed. The first point, talking about anticipating Christ's return, the first point we need to make is be ready. You need to be ready. Be ready for Jesus to return. And if you are not ready, then you need to get ready. Because as I said, he could come back before we say the benediction of death. The glorious return, the glorious return of the Lord Jesus is imminent. Go back to Titus chapter two, verse 13. It says, looking, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearance of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. If we are told to look for the blessed hope, If we are told to anticipate the blessed hope, then we better be ready. And if we are not ready, then we need to get ready. And we need to get ready in a hurry. That's what it is that we need to do. And so we do a lot of things. We get ready for a lot of things. And I won't talk about you. I'll just simply talk about me. I get up in the morning. I get ready for work. And I go to that church. I get ready for work. I get ready for school. I get ready for church. I get ready for this and I get ready for that. Well, I best be getting ready for Jesus to come back. And I can't tell you what to do, but I would suggest to you, you better get ready for Jesus to come back because he is coming back. for his church. And we emphasize a lot of things. We love to talk about the impeccable life of Jesus, and we should talk about the impeccable life of Jesus. We talk about the blood of Jesus that washes our sins away. We talk about the death and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. But I'm not sure i'm not sure how much we talk about how much we emphasize the imminent return of jesus let me look everybody in the eye so if i look you in the eye i'm talking to you and if i missed you i'm still talking to you so let me just go ahead and say this we are not here for no reason We are not here for no reason. We are here to do good works. And those good works are the ones that God say we ought to do. I believe it's John chapter 6 verse 29 that says that the work of God is believing on Jesus Christ. And that's what we're here to do. Believe on Jesus Christ and help somebody else to believe on Jesus Christ. And so let me just say one more thing while I'm at this thing. Many of us, we set these goals and we have these ambitions. And there's nothing wrong with that. I'm not saying that you shouldn't set goals and I'm not saying that you shouldn't have ambitions. Matter of fact, I would tell you, you need to set some goals and you need to have some ambitions. But make sure that on the top of that list that your number one ambition, your number one goal, your number one goal is being ready for the imminent return of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so I could go on and on about this point, but I believe it is already made, and that is be ready. And I'll parenthetically state this, if you're not ready, get ready. Second point, last point. Talking about anticipating Christ's return. Second point, last point. Tell people about Jesus. Tell people about Jesus. Tell people about Jesus. Tell people about Jesus. We tell people about our new jobs. We tell people about our new cars. We tell people about the successes that we have in life. We tell people about our children's successes. We even tell people about our grandchildren's successes. And I'm not necessarily knocking any of those things, but what I am saying is, tell people about Jesus. And if I'm telling the truth, some of us tell business that ain't our business. And if you won't tell business that ain't your business, I'll tell you to stop doing that and tell somebody about the Lord Jesus. And you may say, well, Pastor, I'm thinking about doing that. Pastor, I just want to tell somebody about Jesus, but I don't know what to tell them. Tell Him that He woke you up this morning and that He started you on your way. Tell Him that He turned your midnight into day. Tell Him that He hears prayer and He answers prayer. Tell Him that He's a bridge over troubled water. He shouts to us in the time of the storm. Tell Him He's your battle ax in the time of battle. And you tell Him that when you call on Him, He answers you. Tell them that Jesus is the one who loved them and gave himself for them. Tell somebody about Jesus that God raised him from the dead three days after he died with all power in his hand. Tell people about Jesus. Now you saying, Pastor, you're doing all this talking, but you ain't putting no Bible to it. I'm glad y'all holding me accountable. Let me put some Bible to it. Right here in our subject passage, Titus chapter number two, verses 14 and 15 says, 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. You see that? Speak these things. Exhort and rebuke with all authority. Let no one despise you. Well pastor, that's just one spot. Let me give you another spot 1st Peter chapter 3 verse 15 said but sanctify the law of God in your hearts and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you with Meekness and fear let me translate that let me give you the short version tell people about Jesus and we can run our mouth about this and we can run our mouth about this and we can go run tell this and we can go run tell that run and go tell somebody about the Lord Jesus I believe the point is already made. I believe the point is already made. And so the last point, second point and last point is, tell somebody about Jesus. As I get ready to close this morning, let me just say what I already said. You ought to be anticipating Christ's return. You ought to be looking for him. You ought to be eagerly expecting him. And we should be ready. And if you're not ready, get ready. And if you want to tell somebody about something, tell them about the Lord Jesus. And then there is this matter of the gospel message. Always share the gospel message for God so loved the world. He gave his only begotten son that whosoever believe in him should not perish but have everlasting life. And you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart that Jesus Lord and God raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved. So for those of us who know Jesus, let us anticipate our return. And if you're a church member, if you belong to Jesus, why don't you tell somebody about Him? Amen? Amen. Everybody stand. Let us pray. Father, we thank You for the life, death, and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. And Lord, we know that He sits on the throne right now. But Lord, those of us who really know you, Lord, we know you're coming back. And so we ought to be anticipating, we ought to be looking, and we ought to be getting ready for you to return. Lord, have mercy on us and help us to be ready. So Lord, strengthen us in our faith. And Lord, it so happens, Lord, that someone here who doesn't know Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior, maybe they don't leave the same way they came. Thank you, Lord. Bless this invitation. Bless these people. It's this we pray. In the matchless name of our risen Lord and only Savior, Jesus Christ, amen. Amen. The doors of the church are open.