This is Living Waters of Grace, the teaching ministry of Lewis
Harold, assistant pastor of Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland
County in Greensburg, PA. Now here's Pastor Lewis as he
continues teaching through God's Word.
Ephesians 4 and 22 says that you put off concerning your former
conduct the old man, which. Grows corrupt.
According to the deceitful lust and be renewed in the spirit of
your mind and that you put on the new man which was.
Created. According to God in true
righteousness and holiness, and we do that in this present age.
And it's important that we do it in this present age because
there's so much darkness, there's so much evil, there's so
much wickedness, and they need to see.
God's light. Do you know what it's like to
walk out of a dark movie theater midday and the sun just blasts
you away? You might feel like a vampire,
like you're going to burst into flames and all that sunlight.
It's a huge contrast coming from being in the darkened room as
you step out directly under the sunlight.
In Pastor Lewis's message today, he shares with you that the
world needs to see the contrast between your life and a life of
sin. When you're around others, can
they tell the difference that Jesus has made in you?
Now here's Pastor Lewis in Titus chapter 2 with today's edition
of Living Waters of Grace. He was the Lamb.
He was the one who was the blem, who was the that was without
blemish and without spot or wrinkle.
He was the perfect sacrifice. And he presented himself that
way on Palm Sunday. And I just wonder, you know, in
my own life, have I allowed? Jesus.
To have a triumphal entry in my life.
Does he? Sit as King on the throne of my
heart. Do I acknowledge him as King?
Do I call him king? Do I submit to his kingship, to
his Lordship in my life? And one of the ways that we can
show that. Is through our good works that.
Timothy or Titus continues. To talk about.
Here in the book. Of Titus.
But not only did he come to establish those things, but the
Bible said in verse 12 that he's teaching us that denying
ungodliness and worldly. Lust.
We should live soberly, righteously.
And godly Jesus coming to give us salvation was not just so
that we can be saved and then sit down like we have now.
We don't have nothing else to do.
But it's for good works which is the.
Evidence to unbelievers that a change has happened in our
lives. The power of God.
Working in our hearts. Is through the good works that
we offer to others or that we show others, he said.
We should. Deny ungodliness we should deny.
Worldly lusts and. And and and and we should.
Live soberly, righteously, or upright.
And godly or? God like.
Back in Ephesians. Chapter 4 the Bible talks about.
Putting off the old man. So when Jesus comes into our
life, there's a change and we take off those things that were
old, those things that. Used to be.
Ephesians 4 and 22 says that you put off concerning your former
conduct the old man, which. Grows corrupt.
According to the. Deceitful lusts.
And be renewed in the spirit of your mind and that you put on
the new man, which was created according to God in true
righteousness and holiness. And we do that in this present
age. And it's important that we do it
in this present age because there's so much darkness,
there's so much evil. There's so much.
Wickedness and they need to see God's light.
So it's more important. It's even more important now
that we live. A life that shows that there's.
A difference, A life. That shows that the power of God
is. Working in.
Our lives. The world needs.
To see that. And you know, we may not
understand, we may not know it, but a lot of the people in the
world want. To see that because the opposite
is so hopeless. Suicide attempts are.
Up. People are desperate.
And don't have an answer. They need to see our good works
so that they can see the God in us that they may have something
to trust in, something to believe in.
And we need to do it in this present age.
And then we go on the verse 13. Now he's going to talk about the
second coming, he says, looking for the blessed hope and
glorious appearance of our great God and.
Savior Jesus Christ. Now I want to also mention that
there's a couple times. Here where Jesus is equal.
Is is named as God in this in this verse, in this chapter.
The first time was back in verse 10 when he said.
That we should be that they. Adorned the.
Doctrine of God our Savior. In all things, that was a
reference. To the deity of God.
To the deity of Jesus Christ. And then here we see it again,
looking. For the Blessed.
Hope and glorious appearing of our great God and.
Savior Jesus Christ. So when people try to tell.
You that. What?
The Bible never says that. That that Jesus is God.
The Bible never says that. Well, this is one place you can
bring them. He said it twice, they said it
twice. There's one place you can bring
them. So he's talking about that
second coming that that time when we are looking forward to
him coming back and that's our hope.
As believers, that's our hope. As Christians, it's our.
Hope as those who live for the. Lord that we're going to see him
again, that we're going to see him, we're going to, we're going
to, we're going to be able to love his appearing.
Paul talked. About the fact that when he sees
him, he knows he's going to receive a crown of righteousness
and not only him, but everyone who would love his appearing
will receive a crown of righteousness.
So this coming this this second coming is is something that we.
All look forward. To And that's our hope.
That's our hope. For the appearing of the future
return of our. Great God.
And savior, you know what, If it happens in the next 5 minutes,
I'll be happy. I'd be OK with it.
That we never have to go to our cars again and drive anywhere.
Else if it. Happens before I even get to my
car. I'll be OK with it.
I just want to see him. I just want to be with him.
I want this to be over. But then again, He has a plan
and a purpose for keeping us here, and that plan and purpose
has to. Do with the good works that He's
calling us to do and to be. So while we're here, abode and
abide. And occupy.
So then in verse 14 he goes back to talking about what?
He does. The first time that he come, he
comes back to talking. About his sacrifice.
So he says here in verse 14, Who gave himself for us?
That's who we're. Looking for We're looking for
the one who gave himself for us. So that's why we can't be
looking for no other king. We can't be.
Looking for no other God, because it was only one who gave
himself for us, and that's Jesus Christ.
There's no other. There's no other to look for.
The one who gave himself. For us, he sacrificed.
Himself for us, that He might redeem us, and were redeemed
that purchase that He. That he purchased.
Us and and if we. Look at just.
You know, you know out of. School you always had glossary
right where you had these. Words that you can look up to
find the meaning of them. Well, the word redeem really
refers to the payment of ransom the.
Purchase of our. Freedom from sin and its
consequences through. The blood of Jesus Christ, you
see, we were. Redeemed.
But we weren't redeemed with corruptible things like gold and
silver. We were redeemed with
incorruptible the. Blood of Jesus Christ the.
Lamb. Without spot or.
Wrinkle We were redeemed with the.
Blood, the precious. Blood and that same blood that.
Flowed over 2. 1000 years ago. Is still.
Efficacious enough today. To save those.
Who will believe on him? It can still cleanse from every
sin. So he said.
He 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.
That. Is what's?
Hard for me to get my head around because I know what I
did, I know how I lived, I know the sins that I've committed and
he is saying. That we.
Are redeemed from every lawless act, everything that I've ever
done that I'm not proud of now. It's washed.
It's. Cleanse.
I'm redeemed from that. He doesn't hold that against me
anymore. That right?
Just to have that in my mind every morning when I get up, if
I can have that. At the.
Forefront of my mind every morning that I get up, how would
that impact my life? I am redeemed.
And I just want to say that if there's anyone here that is not
redeemed. Today.
Today you can be. Forgiven and cleansed of every
sin you ever committed. I don't care how.
Bad it was. I don't care how long you've
been doing it. He's here to.
Redeem us today, that He might redeem us from every lawless
deed, and purified for himself His own special.
People. Zealous.
That means devoted or diligent. For good work.
And then in verse 15 he says, speak these things.
Exhort. That means encourage.
The people with these? Things comfort.
The people with. These things I know it comforts
me to hear. These things comfort me.
It blesses me to know that I'm redeeming to.
Hear this over. Again, all of it.
Whether? It be the.
First coming his first announcement of him coming to
the world announced by the angels to the.
To the. Shepherds who were in the field
as they announced the coming. Of the Lord Jesus Christ, the
Savior, who would take. Away the sin of the.
World, that was. Announced and even on the
triumphant entry when he came in and was.
Established or they or they? Called him king.
He came in as king, as a Messiah.
All these things, they give me comfort.
They give me comfort. And he says, speak these things,
exhort and rebuke. That means they point out the
sin, point out the heresy, point out the things that needs to be
changed, that we need to give and we need to confess to.
The Lord Jesus. Christ, that we need to repent
of and do it in all authority, and let no one.
Despise you? Let no one despise you.
And then he goes on and he starts over here in Chapter 3
and he says remind them. So he said this is something
that you need to do over and over again.
Bring this up over and over again.
Remind them to be. Subject to rulers and
authorities to obey, to be ready for every.
There's that word. Again, every good work, every
good work. So he's saying that we have to
submit to the rulers and authorities.
Of the other civil leaders, the. Government leaders, the.
Local leaders, the state leaders, the federal leaders,
the local law. Enforcers enforcement that we
need to submit to the authority. Submit to the authority.
You know we're not there to. Always try to.
Protest something that they're that they're doing, but to
submit to the. Authority as.
Long as it doesn't go against the word.
Of God. Because anything that is
suggested to us, commanded to us, mentioned to us, that goes
against the word. Of God, God is.
Our ultimate authority, he is our ultimate authority.
In fact, even even Peter himself, he said.
We ought to obey God rather. Than man, not that he was asking
for protests. He wasn't asking for people to
go against the grain or to go against the system.
But when God speaks, when God says we need to do this, then
that's what we need to do, then that's what we need to do.
And if that goes against. This age.
If it goes against the worldliness of this age.
So be it. But we are.
Under the authority. Of our Lord and Savior.
Jesus Christ. So he says, remind them to be.
Subject to rulers. And authorities and and in fact,
to be. That way to.
To be someone who? Who?
Doesn't always cause us think
when it's something that doesn't have anything conflict in
conflict with the word. Of God, but to follow the rules,
to follow the laws, to obey the. Ordinances, again, these things
bring positive influence for the people of God, and it brings.
Glory to God. And it says then be ready to do.
Every good work, so we should be good.
Community people, we should be good citizens.
We should be. Good citizens doing good works
in our neighborhood, in our communities as well as in our
churches, and he says. Speak evil.
Of no one. But be peaceable.
And gentle, showing all humility to all men.
So to be so, he says, Speak. Evil of no one.
We should not be out speaking evil against anyone, and I know
that sometimes that can be hard to do when you know somebody
speaking evil against you. That can be hard to do.
That can be hard because sometimes in just telling people
the truth. They said.
It comes across that you're speaking evil, but he says speak
evil of no one. The Bible tells us that our
words should always be. About grace and season with
salt. We should let no corrupt thing
come forth out of our mouth. So we really shouldn't be those
who backbite or those who who talk about people, those who
gossip. We shouldn't be those who say
things to damage somebody's reputation.
It's basically what he is. Saying here speak evil of no one
but be. Peaceable God is.
Calling us. To be peaceable.
In, in, in the. 5th chapter of of of of.
Of Matthew. The Bible said that blessed.
Are the peacemakers? For they are the.
Children of God, the peacemakers, the peacemakers,
we're the children of God, the children of God Jesus Christ was
a peacemaker. He came as a peacemaker, and
then we know that peace is one of the one of the nine fruit of
the. Spirit.
James 3 and 18, says Now the fruit of righteousness is sown
in peace. By.
Those who make. Peace.
And then Hebrews 12 and 14. Says that we are to pursue peace
with all people, with all people, with everybody, those
who like. Us, those who don't like us.
Those who hate. Us, those who don't hate us.
Those who talk about. Us, those who don't talk about.
We are to pursue peace with all people, all people without.
Without which no one. Will see the Lord.
So we need that peace and holiness.
Peace and holiness is what we are to pursue obedience.
And then he goes on down to verse the bottom of it and he
talks about being gentle. We're showing moderation to all
people and showing all humility to all men.
And then in verse three, he just wants us to remember that part
of the reason why we do these things is because he wants us to
remember who we. Used to be.
You see, you know when we get. Saved, we are.
Supposed to change. But we are supposed to also.
Remember. That the people who are out.
There, acting the way we. Used to act.
They need. Jesus Christ.
Too. They need salvation.
They need a heart change as well as well.
So we pray for the Lord to touch their hearts.
The way someone prayed to touch ours.
So he says, remember what you. Used to be right, he said.
For we ourselves. Were once foolish, disobedient.
Deceived we were. Serving various lusts and
pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one
another. You know, when I went through
all these, I said at one time in my life I was every one of
these, every one of these. And sometimes I can even be this
way now. And some of these things, every
one of them, there's times. That we serve our laws there's.
Times that we live in malice or we have envy, There's times that
we can be hateful, I said. Wow.
Lord. Have mercy, have mercy.
And then he goes on and he says the thing that we all.
Love to hear. And everyone of us who believe
in Jesus Christ. God bless you has had this
experience. He said, But when the kindness
and love of God. Our Savior.
Toward man appeared when the kindness and love of God.
Our Savior. Toward man appeared the moment
that someone shared the. Gospel with you.
And you were? Able to see how desperately.
You needed exactly. What they were sharing.
The moment you were able. To say yes.
I am a Sinner and I need the Savior you're talking about
because I can't save myself. The moment you saw that and we
realized, Oh my God, this is a loving God.
When I think about everything I've done against him,
everything I've done that was in disobedience to Him, and yet he
is showing me this kindness and this.
Love he's. Going to redeem me and take away
all my sins and cleanse me from all my sins.
That's the good news. The love and kindness, love and
kindness that he showed. To us.
What an awesome thing. And I have a note here that I
said here that we don't realize how kind and loving God is
until. We first realize.
How much we need his kindness and his love.
That's when we realize just how. Kind and how loving he is.
And then he goes on and he says here about how that happens.
He said now that kindness didn't come because of anything you
did. It wasn't by your works of
righteousness that you've done. It wasn't by any of that.
But it was. By his mercy.
His Grace it was. According to his mercy.
That he saved. Us his mercy, there's nothing
that. We ever did.
No matter how good it may. Appear that.
Earned the mercy and the love that.
Jesus Christ gave us. I don't care what we've done.
The Bible says that our righteousness.
Is what Filthy rags the best of what we try to do is, but filthy
rags? It's like filthy rags.
And then he talks about the regeneration, he said the.
He said it's through the. Washing of regeneration and
renewing. Of the Holy Spirit this.
Regeneration that he's talking about.
Here is a. Is an awesome thing because in
in regeneration we're talking about a supernatural act that
comes when. Jesus Christ through the Holy.
Spirit comes into our life and washes us clean of all of our
sins. It cleanses us of.
All of our. Sins, and it changes us on the
inside. That's a supernatural.
Act It's through the work of the Holy Spirit that that's.
Done. The work of the Holy Spirit.
That washing of regeneration, that washing away your sins,
It's not baptism. Some people think that it's
baptism, that these things happen.
No, it's not through baptism. It's a supernatural work.
Of the Holy Spirit that. Comes in and cleanses me
Cleanses. You washes you.
Clean from your iniquities and your lawlessness and your sins,
and not only does he wash away those sins, but he also washes
away the consequences of it. The consequences of those things
are also. Washed away they're.
Gone. They're gone and therefore.
We are justified by His grace. Now then, that's happened
through the Holy. Spirit that has.
Poured out on us abundantly through Jesus.
Christ our Savior. And then in verse 7 it talks.
About the fact. That having been.
Justified by His grace, we should.
Become heirs according to the. Hope.
Of eternal life, and with this hope of eternal life as we.
Live our lives we realize that the way that we.
Show the evidence. Of the hope.
That we have. The way that we show the.
Evidence of the change that has happened on the inside of us.
Is through the good works that people see.
In our lives, they see the change in our lives and how.
We are different. Than what we.
Used to be. And how God is working in us.
For. Peace and love and righteousness
and to do good things in a Bible study and a brother made a
statement that was profound. It was a great statement, he
said. It seems now that when we say.
That we are saved by faith. It seems that that.
People get the idea that we are divorced.
From good works and I thought about it and I thought about
that and that's exactly true. For some reason, we still think.
That to say that we have good works.
Is a bad thing, but we're not saying that we have.
Good works which? Results in our salvation.
We don't earn our salvation. With the good works, we have
good works because God loved us. And showed kindness and has
given us salvation. And as a result.
Of our. Salvation it produces in US.
Good works. And we should.
Have those things. This has been Living Waters of
Grace, a ministry of Pastor Lewis Harrell of Calvary Chapel,
Westmoreland. Today's message has been on the
book of Titus. This book is a master class in
how Christians should live in modern culture.
Titus was ministering to the people of Crete, an island off
the coast of Greece, but he was facing many challenges.
The Cretans who came to know Jesus seemed to assimilate Jesus
into their existing culture instead of allowing themselves
to be transformed by the Holy Spirit inside of them.
Others were fully devoting themselves to Jesus but shutting
themselves off from the world around them.
The Apostle Paul encourages Titus to help his audience find
a middle ground where they can live in this world while still
following a different way of life in Jesus.
If you would like to learn more about what it means to
faithfully follow the teachings of Christ in a world full of
darkness, we'd love to get connected with you in person.
If you are in Greensburg, PA, we'd love to invite you to join
us at Calvary Chapel Westmoreland.
We need every Sunday at 10:30 AM at 400 E Pittsburgh St.
Ste. 6B. Also, if you visit us at
calvarychapelonline.com, you'll find links to our mobile app,
our giving page, and our contact form where you can leave a
prayer request if you have one. Before we go off the air for
today, we ask you to invite someone to tune in next time
right here on Grace FM 91.7 or streaming online at Grace Radio
dot FM. Word of mouth is the best way to
spread the good news of the Gospel with those who are hungry
to hear. Until next time, this has been
another edition of Living Waters of Grace.