Good morning. How is everyone doing?
Once again, I want to Echo. Steve, thank you for being here
this morning. Thank you for coming out this
morning. If you're turning your Bibles
back to the book of Titus will be back in Titus Chapter 2 once
again today. We'll say a quick prayer before
we begin and as we pray, join with me in praying for pastor
Kyle. He's not feeling well this
morning. So that's why he is not here
Ministry to us this morning. So let's, let's take this, take
this time to go to the Lord and prepare our hearts for this
morning. Father, I praise you.
I magnify your worship, your name.
I give you glory and praise. Thank you for Thank you for this
opportunity that we have to come and to minister.
And Be with each other fellowship with one.
Another father is your word says and that we haven't forsaken
that father, we're here and we're, we're fellowship and
father were communing with one. Another father.
I pray that you will be with us today as we go through your
word. Lord.
I pray that you will speak speak through me.
May they not see or hear me but that may they see and hear you
father. And Lord, we all we all come
together. We come into agreement father,
praying for pastor Kyle that you would just strengthen him bless
him father and that he will be 100% on the manned up.
Pray! Amen.
Okay.
So Here we are in Chapter 2 of tadas.
We're going to be going over verses 11 and 12 this morning
quick recap we've seen in taught us In the first chapter where
Paul has he says, this is why I left you in Crete talking
toutatis there were two, two things, two instructions that
taught us was given by Paul and that those were that he would
set in order and what remained to be put in order.
And all the churches that Paul had established in Crete and to
that, he would appoint Godly Elders in each Church.
So that's that, that's the why Titus was left in Crete to up,
to put in order what's left to be put in order that Paul hadn't
had time to do? And to was a point Godly Elders
in every Church location and we found out in the end of chapter
1, why? That's so important, because
there had been some false teachings false teachers rising
up. Teaching erroneous teachings,
trying to get the people to follow as their word of God
says, Jewish myth trying to get people to still think they have
to abide by the Old Testament law, instead of Basking in the
grace of Jesus. And then in Chapter 2, he gets
into the teaching of sound. Sound Doctrine, and that what
that meant and what that look like for men and women for the,
for those that called themselves, the children of God,
there in these churches, the how that the these men and women
should should live. They men were to be
sober-minded, they were Supposed to be self-controlled.
Sound in faith, love and steadfastness and women.
Likewise, he says, irreverent and their behavior, not slaves
to Wine Not slanderers. And that both they were supposed
to be teaching, the younger generations and then he spoke
directly again to taught us that remember, Todd.
It's you are the model. You are to me the model and
verse in verse 7. Chapter 2, it says show
yourselves and all respect to be a model of good works and in
your teaching show integrity and dignity and in verse 8 it
follows and sound speech that cannot be condemned.
So taught us was going to be the model for these people in these
churches to follow and the model for the elders that he was going
to raise up in a point in these churches to follow.
So that's that kind of brings us to our to our text this morning
and in Titus, Chapter 2 in verse 11.
And 12 says, for the grace of God has appeared bringing
salvation, for all people training us to renounce,
ungodliness and worldly, passions, and to live,
self-controlled upright and godly lives in the present age.
So TARDIS. Had given instruction of how
Christian men and women are supposed to look like what the
children of God are supposed to look like last week.
We heard about how we are, how we are supposed to present
ourselves and conduct ourselves as as employee as employees, in
our work environment. How that we're supposed to be
still, you know, have that? He has as Christian men and
women in the different areas of our life, whether it's at work
or at school, how wherever we are stage in life that we are to
be subject to those that have authority in that in, you know,
workplaces and not to not to be occupied argumentative, not to
not to pilfer or or steel, you know, Tha more resources from
the company. But we are, it says so in.
Anything it says, in verse 10, it says not pilfering, but
showing all good faith. So that in everything, they may
Adorn, the doctrine of God our savior.
So everything that that we are to do the men and women in our
workplaces, in our schools is to Adorn ourselves as children of
God, that people can clearly see that.
We are children of God and today in verses 11 and 12.
We get into Plaque, practical application.
Okay, this is what we are supposed to look like, how is
this accomplished? And that's what we're going to
get in. Today, in verse 11, it says, for
the grace of God has appeared bringing salvation for all
people, The grace of God is what makes it possible for you.
And I to live out Godly lives. The main, the main point for
today's lesson is through the grace of God.
We have been brought close to him and have been given the
ability to live Godly lives. So Tardis is has given the
instruction of men and women. Two employee employee and
employer relationships. How we're supposed to present
ourselves how we're supposed to live in a Godly manner?
How to as tadas was, put your supposed to be the model so that
those that you're teaching your leading or supposed to come
after you and they can model that we are supposed to be
modeling after Christ in our in our, in our lives, in our homes,
in our workplaces in And everywhere that we find
ourselves, we are supposed to be a model of what Jesus looked
like and we are able to do that through and only through the
grace of God. It is not.
We cannot do it on her own. We cannot do it just by trying
to be good enough. It is only through the
empowerment that you and I received through the grace of
God. Okay, ma'am.
Thank you in Second Corinthians chapter 13 verse 14.
It says, for the grace of Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the
communion of the Holy Spirit. Be with you all, I love this
verse because not only is it a beautiful illustration of the
Trinity. It's also it reveals how each
person of the Trinity relates to us.
And we to them, we have the grace of Jesus because he came,
he lived, he modeled and he died for our Salvation.
He came and he did all that because we have the love of God,
the love of God. God loved us so much that.
He sent his own son to die for you and I to be that substitute
that we could never be on our own.
We can never be good enough. We could never do enough good
things. We cannot we could never say
enough. You know, he'll Mary's, we can
never do you know give enough money away.
We can never read our Bibles. We never pray enough to attain
Justification in the eyes of Father.
God. But Jesus came.
Why? Because God loved us so much
that he sent his son. Jesus, loved us so much that he
came and he died and then the Holy Spirit loves us so much.
According to James chapter 4, verse 5, that he's to the point
of envy and won't into fellowship with you.
And I So we have, we have all three elements of the Trinity.
The love of the Father, the love the sun and the love of the
spirit with us all. And when you relate this back to
here, you see that we have the grace of God which is all
encompassed in that we have. The love of God that sent his
son. We have Jesus, who has been a
model Paul was was has has had the Revelation then been knocked
down blinded bluntly by Jesus Christ, and sent on his mission.
He whence he goes and he plants these churches and he raises up
individuals like Timothy and Titus and others and he sends
them out in Print out as he sends them out to to continue
that Ministry to help extend a bluish and putting concrete what
Paul had started. And all because of the grace of
God, it says that the grace of God has done several things in
these verses. The first one is says the grace
of God has appeared. If you look over in your Bibles
to the Book of John. Chapter number 1.
The first thing, the great, the grace of God, it appeared first,
John chapter 1 verse number 1. It says, in the beginning was
the word and the Word was with God.
And the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God
and all things were made through him.
And without him was not anything made, that was made in him, was
life, and the life was a lot of me in the line. shines in the
darkness and the Darkness has not overcome it and then you
skip forward to verse number 14, And it says, in the word became
flesh and dwelt among us. And we have seen his glory glory
as the only son from the father, full of grace and truth, John
bore witness about him and cried out.
This was he of whom I said, he who comes after me ranks before
me because he was before me. And in verse 16, for for from
his fullness, we have all received Grace upon Grace.
So, here we see that Grace appeared when when Jesus came
and he became flesh. Jesus appeared Jesus gave us
Grace instead of law, a man. It says, in in verse 17, it
says, for the law was given through Moses, Grace and Truth
came through Jesus. So Moses gave us the law.
He gave us rules that were to produce a state of being
approved by God, but it was a continual thing that needed to
be continually approved by God. There were sacrifices, that was
done twice a day. One at 6:00 in the morning, one
at 6:00 in the evening, to make atonement to not Let me rephrase
that it was a continual sacrifice every day for the, the
sins of Israel. And then on the day of
atonement, the one day of the year that the high priest was
allowed into the holy place, he would go in and make the
atonement. And sprinkle the blood upon The
Mercy Seat of Christ in the in the holiest of holies and that
was to appease the Judgment of God upon Israel.
Why? Because they were sinful just
like you or not. You and I are sinful.
We're born in, in this sinful State, according to the word of
God. But just as Sin came into the
World by one man, it says through Adam.
Justification comes through one man, and that's Jesus Christ.
Amen. So Moses gave us the law which
was rules producing this state to be approved by God.
But Grace is eternal, it's Everlasting, and it's once and
for all amen. It's not something that has to
be earned. It's not a set of rules that we
have to live by about you can't do this or you're supposed to do
that. One of the one of the most
freeing things I ever heard. I grew up in a very legalistic
home, a very legalistic Church. A very legalistic, Framework in
my life and one of the most free and things I ever heard how to
administer. Say this, he said quit telling
people what they can't do and start telling people what they
can do, because those, a lot of things that in the word of God
Says, with it, what we can do, we can walk by faith.
We can walk in love, we can walk in humility, we can love people.
We can treat people, right? And the thing is, when we start
doing all the things we Can there's less and less a pool of
the things that we're not supposed to do.
Amen. So it's not about rules and
regulations. It's about a relationship.
I know that's, you know, a cliche, but it's true.
It's a relationship that you and I have with Jesus Christ.
Amen. That's what gets us into this
grace. That we are approved by him
once. And for all it's not something
that Is continual, like, the daily sacrifices, or the day of
atonement. Jesus came once and he died and
he died for all, and when he died the word of God says sin
died. And now it's, you know, it's
salvation is free, Grace is free.
All we have to do is believe and accept that.
Amen. Let's, let's continue this.
Second thing, which I've already kind of touched on, is the grace
of God, brought salvation for all people, it released us from
the law. Let's look over to the Book of
Romans. Now, chapter number 7.
Romans chapter 7, and we're going to look at verse number 1
through 6 at the moment. It says, or do you not know
Brothers for I am speaking to those who know the law that the
law is binding on a person only, as long as he lives for a
married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives.
But if her husband dies, she is released.
She is released from the law of marriage accordingly.
She will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man,
while her husband is alive, but if her husband dies, she is free
from that. Law and if she marries another
man, she is not an adulterous likewise my brother's.
You also have died to the law through the body of Christ so
that you may belong to one another to him who has been
raised from the dead in order that we may bear fruit for God
for a while. We were living in the flesh are
sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our members
to bear fruit for death. But now, we are released from
the law having died to that, which held us captive.
So that we serve in the new way of the spirit.
And in the old way, the written law.
So we no longer serve the written law because Jesus came,
and he died to free us from that.
Now, we can live in, in the new way of the spirit.
Hey man, we live in the new way and how do we do that the grace
of God? We live, we live free and in
this in the spirit by the grace of God.
And why, why is that, is that we may bear fruit.
That verse 5, it says the work of the flesh brings death but
the things of the spirit brings life, amen.
So we have Salvation that they're grace of God appeared
through Jesus Christ. He gave us not only his life but
he gave us instruction. He gave us his model of what it
is or what we are supposed to look like.
And it brought salvation for all people.
We are no longer under the legalistic law of the Old
Testament. We are now under under grace,
Jesus said in John 16 verse 7, I believe.
He said it is more, is more important that I go away and
stay. He says, it's better for you
that I leave. Because if I don't leave the
Holy Spirit won't come. But if I leave, Jesus taught
them when I leave, I'm going to send the spirit which was
promised by my father. One version said, it's expedient
dial leave. So that the spirit will come.
Why? Because Jesus knew that, when he
left the Holy Spirit would come, which is our helper, our
comforter and went that those words.
According to John 14 means the one who walks alongside so it's
just as Jesus walked alongside men.
Now, we have the Holy Spirit who walks alongside of us.
Jesus said he was with us and will be in us.
Or holy the holy spirit is our God.
He is our leader. He is the one that leads us in
this new way of the spirit and he does it through the
sanctification process. We are Justified because what
Jesus did we are Justified, we just just as, we've never
sinned, we are clothed in Christ because of what he did and our
acceptance of him. And when father, God looks at
us, because we are clothed in Christ, he doesn't see us.
He sees only cry. He doesn't see him Perfection.
He sees sees Perfection. We can be a mess here on Earth.
We make mistakes, we mess up, we get mad, we say things, we
shouldn't we sin, but you know, Because we we are actively
engaged. All he sees is Jesus.
Hey man, it does it. Like Paul said, it doesn't give
us a free rein to sin. Hey man, it doesn't mean we can
just live any way we want, but when we accept Christ and we
start that discipleship process of becoming more and more like
him, like it says in 2nd Corinthians chapter 3 that we
are changed into his image from glory to glory or from from you
know step by step little bit by little bit with changed into the
image of Jesus. We are justified in a moment.
When we accept Christ, we are Justified.
He sank he justifies us. Our sin is no more.
He takes care of sin. But we had, we are Sanctified as
we go in this new way of the spirit.
According to Romans chapter 7 verse 6, it says that we now
serve in the new way of the spirit and not in the old way of
the written law. So now we are Justified once and
for all we don't have to continually do do the sacrifice
again. Came, and he died once.
And so we're Justified but every day we can get more and more
like Jesus every day. We can be more and more Godly.
Why? Because the grace of God, the
grace of God is not just some thing that it takes in a way.
Grace is an empowerment for us to walk out that salvation.
Amen, the third thing that the grace of God does Is it trains
us to renounce ungodliness. Let's look back over to the book
of Titus child is 2:12.
The grace of God. It says that it trained training
us to renounce ungodliness And worldly, passions.
The word ungodliness means disloyalty to the king or
unrighteousness by virtue of not obey and worshiping God.
The word, the phrase worldly passions is desires or cravings
for what is forbidden in this corrupt age.
So the grace of God appeared through Jesus.
The grace of God, brings us salvation.
It, frees us from the written code of the law and now we are
in the law of the spirit, the new way.
And and as we do this, as we walk being led and guided by the
Holy Spirit In Our Lady life, it helped teaches us to renounce
ungodliness and worldly passions.
So what is it doing? It is allowing us to become and
look like the men and the women and the people of God that Todd,
it's talked about here, that Paul talked about about toutatis
here that we went over. Over the last few weeks, the
grace of God, it appeared, it brought us salvation.
And now it's starting that training process so we can look
like what Todd has chapter to the men and women that you and
the children of God are supposed to look like.
So it's leading us that way. So the the for thing it does it
trains us to live out what we're supposed to be.
It says training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly,
passions and to live, self-controlled upright and
godly lives in the present age. Men and women, both are supposed
to be self-controlled. In verse verse 2, I would have
men are supposed to be self-controlled in verse 5
older. Women are supposed to be
self-controlled in verse six, young men are supposed to be
self-controlled because most of the time young men are what
Stupid. As we as we were instructed.
Amen. Because and we talked about this
in homegroup that that you know, older me.
And when it have the ability it says here, let me find this
word. It was part of sober-minded.
I believe. Yes, it means the one of the
words in the meaning is circumspect of, which means the
ability to look at all the possible consequences.
And evaluate them. Young men don't have that
ability. Amen.
So yeah. Young men, stupid.
Yeah. And most of the time we, you
know, we grow up and we're just still old and stupid, but
sometimes, we don't grow that, but yeah.
Men and women, young men, young women are supposed to be
self-controlled. We can't do that on our self.
Amen. We it says that we have not been
given a spirit Fear, but of power and love.
And a sound mind that second Timothy 1:7, help me out
somebody. Yes, second Timothy 1, verse 7
for God, has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and
love and self-control. And we do this how through the
spirit of God in the new way. Why, and how through the
empowerment of the grace of God? So it gives us the ability to
make Godly decisions to be upright.
And this means to be a model just as like tadas and verse 7
here in Chapter 2, he is supposed to be a model.
We are supposed to be models of what Christians are supposed to
look like. And the result is that we can
live Godly lives and we can do it in the present age.
And we do it through the grace of God.
Through the grace of God, we can walk worthy in our world as we
wait for our Eternal Destiny of being with Jesus forever.
Amen. And well, we'll get into more
that next week. So the grace of God appeared in
the form of Jesus, his life, his teachings.
His leadership. We have eyewitnesses that we can
read what they wrote in the Bible.
We have their teachings based on the teachings of Jesus, how
Jesus lived. We have.
The knowledge that Jesus died for us.
Why? Because father God, loved us.
He sent his son. We have Jesus brings us Grace
because he loved us so much that he died for us and we have the
Fellowship of the holy spirit because he wants he Longs, he
Longs you look up, James chapter 4 and verse 5 and and study at
that scripture the Holy Spirit longs to the point of envying to
commune with our spirit. So how do we do this?
What how do we apply this to our lives?
It's only in the result of closeness, you see?
Jesus said in John 10:10, He gives to mission statements in
that verse the first one is the mission statement of Satan or
adversary. He said, the thief comes only to
steal kill and destroy, but I've come to give you life and life
to the for life more abundantly. You have to Jesus gives us two
distinct promises in his mission statement.
He came to give us life salvation but he also came to
give us life to the for Life abundantly it's totally up to
you and I, if we allow ourselves to live in the fullness of
Jesus, We can be saved. We can be justified.
We can be on our way to heaven. But not, but not be living in
the fullness of Christ. We can live miserable
unfulfilled lives. Depressed lives. lives of
frustration. If we want to.
Jesus gives us the ability to be stupid if we want to. obviously,
we weren't stupid enough because we brought come to him for
salvation, but if he We can be as close as close to him in that
in that daily walk as we want to.
We can come, we can have salvation but but Jesus wants to
give us so much more he wants. He wants us to live to the fall.
He wants us to be that good Model A man.
I mean if you live in and if you're always depressed, if you
are always Melancholy. If you're always, you know, what
was me? Or you always something's always
wrong. How does that attract people to
Christ? And I know, because I've been
there. I've been there.
Maybe I am. And it's only in that closeness.
That we have the ability to have that really self-control to make
that good Godly decisions. We should live out our lives in
this self controlled manner because the grace of God that
saves also instructs. So we can, we cannot truly claim
to be a recipient of Saving Grace with also without also
being a pupil of training Grace The grace of God appeared
bringing salvation. But it also appeared to train a
man. It brought us salvation.
We should be ecstatic for that. But we have to, we have to live
our lives and walk at our lives daily, allowing the training of
Grace, amen. If we have that closeness, and
which with Christ, and we can be as closer as we want to be.
Jesus had had 12 disciples but only three in his inner circle.
And now that three only one was was really, really close.
The other 12 were one of them wasn't even really a disciple.
He was just in the mix. But the other, the other, the
other ones they were there, but they wouldn't allow to go in
certain places certain times. He only took Peter John and
James. Amen. so, We can be as close to
him as we want to be we can live out our lives with self-control.
We can live out our lives as a model for Christ which attracts
other people to him. Amen.
Saving Grace.
Teaches us to say no to sin and yes to Godliness but training,
Grace teaches us how to resist ungodliness and to embrace Godly
and upright. Living, let's flip over to the
Book of Romans, their worship team wants to come were I'm
wrapping up. Book of Romans chapter number 6.
We word, we read the first six verses of chapter 7 earlier and
this is what led up to those verses.
Romans chapter 6 verses 20 through III, it says, for when
you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.
But what fruit will you getting at that time?
From the things of which you are now ashamed for the things of
the, for the end of those things is death.
But now that you have been set free from sin and have become
slaves of God, their fruit, you get leads to sanctification and
his end. Eternal life.
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is
eternal life in Christ. Jesus, our lord.
The fruit is says the fruit of sin is death, and it brings
shame. But the grace of God.
Brings sanctification and eternal life. so, I encourage
you as we have walked through of what The children of God is
supposed to look like over the last few weeks, how men are
supposed to conduct themselves, how women are supposed to
conduct themselves, how we're supposed to conduct ourselves in
the work environment to be those, those models of what a
Godly person is supposed to look.
Like, I encourage you to not only Embrace Saving Grace, but
Embrace training, grace allow. All the Holy Spirit as you're in
this new way, you're no longer under the written code.
Now, you're in the new way of the spirit.
I encourage you to let the Holy Spirit, teach you, and to train,
you how to live in a Godly manner, in a model way that you
represent Christ. And that you represent a
Welcoming environment for those around you to say hey I want
what you have. Amen.