Sunday Morning Service 10:30AM- Faithful Conduct pt 2 - Titus 2:1-18 - Pastor Ryan Nichols

All right. Good morning. Can you unmute? Thank you. Good morning. Good to see you guys. I'm glad you're here. I just want to invite you to stand with us and we'll get this party started.

Father, we just thank you for this day. We thank you for another time that we can be in your house this morning. Thank you that we can spend some time in your word and spend some time praising you, Lord God. Lord, I know it's been a tough week for a lot of folks. Lord, I do want to take a moment, lift up the family of Charlie Kirk, Lord, and just ask that you be with them and

bless them, Lord God, and just comfort them, Lord, and bring healing where there needs to be healing, Lord God. And Lord, we ask your blessing upon this time and help us to focus on you and lavish praise upon you this morning. In Jesus' name, amen. Can you unmute, 10? Here we go. We'll try that again. And sisters, pray that you'll be with us as we pour out our praise to you.

Let it be a beautiful sound to your ears that we do and say before you and not about us. I pray that you'll give us a fresh refilling of your spirit that we can go out and show your love and grace to the people around us this week. And you're coming and you're going. Lord, I pray that each of us will just live to glorify you in the way that we are made to do.

I just thank you that walk in newness.

Take what you've given us and return praise to you this morning. Move mightily in this place this morning. I give Pastor Ryan the words to speak. Give us ears to hear and hearts to receive. And more than that, Lord God, give us a heart to act upon your word. Let this not be just another Sunday, another regular Sunday, God. Let us leave change. Let us leave on fire for you, Lord. Give us a fresh feeling this morning,

God. We love you and we praise you in Jesus' name. What God's people said? Amen. Let's have some fellowship. Good morning. That's hot. If you could begin to locate your seat. Now that you're all shocked. What are you supposed to do? Find a seat and grab a bulletin. That's what you're supposed to do. We'll get ready to get going. Okay. I think the pads are still playing.

There's like some sweet organ music there. Okay. That's good. It's like that's going to create some dramatic effect, which would be fun, but it would be odd too. All right. Welcome to Calvary Chapel. I'm glad that you have joined us this morning. A handful of things to take note of in your bulletins. Over on the left-hand side, as always, are the things that go on throughout

the week. So please take note of those. Find yourself a spot to get plugged into. Over in the middle section of your bulletin, a couple of things to take note of. Just a reminder that if you're looking for a spot to get plugged into, please come talk to me. I would love to get you plugged into a place where you can serve here. There's lots of opportunities. And so come see

me about that. Also, just a reminder that if you have signed up for church directory pictures, those started today. So those will take place back here. Wait, are they taking place afterwards? I'm looking for the person that's in charge of this. Yeah, true. Yeah. I don't know where to go. Are you making an announcement this morning? Oh, I'm sorry. My wife is going to come make an

announcement. Come on up.

Communication. That's fine. Yeah. Pictures are right behind the sanctuary. As soon as church is over, if you signed up for today, head back there at your given time. Let's see. As soon as service ends, we'll start taking pictures. And there's still some places to sign up. So if you've not signed up for the directory, you can see me in the foyer after church and get signed up.

Spots are filling up fast. So if you haven't done it, do it today. And I think that's it.

Okay. And then let's see. The last thing is, fellows, we have a men's breakfast coming up this Saturday. So come join us for that. Eight o'clock Saturday down at the other end of the hall for some breakfast and some good biblical discussion. So those are the things that are going on. If you would make sure that your mobile device is silenced. And for our responsive reading

this morning, we're going to be in Psalm 124. Psalm 124. We'll look at the New American Standard for this part, just so that hopefully we all sound the same. If you need a copy of a New American Standard Bible, there should be one in a row around you. If there's not, it feels like a right time to make a friend. So, and as you're turning to Psalm 124, if you are able, please stand in the honor of the reading of God's

Word. I will read the odd verses, if you will follow along with Pastor Allen, and the even verses. Psalm 124, a song of a sense of David. Had it not been the Lord who was on our side, let Israel now say. Had it not been the Lord who was on our side, when the Lord rose up against us. Then they would have swallowed us alive, when their anger was kindled against us.

Then the waters would have engulfed us. The streams would have swept over our soul. Then the raging waters would have swept over our soul. Blessed be the Lord who has not given us to be torn by their teeth. Our soul has escaped as a bird out of the snare of the trap. The snare is broken and we have escaped. Our help is in the name of the Lord who made heaven

and earth. And Father, we do thank you that you are truly our help, Lord. The place where we can find refuge. And Lord, we know that if you hadn't been on our side, we would be swallowed alive. And so, Father, help us to find that refuge in you today. And so, as we take time to learn about your grace this morning, the grace that keeps us and saves us and sustains us. Lord, I pray that

you would minister to us. I pray that you would overflow me with the gift of teaching. I pray that you would overflow your people with the gift of hearing. That we would take the truth of your word. And Lord, may it change the fabric of who we are into who you want us to be. Father, we thank you and we praise you in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. If you would open up in your Bibles to the book of Titus,

chapter 2. Titus, chapter 2. Well, it's been an interesting week. It's been a heavy week. And I can't tell you how fitting. I feel like the message for this morning is, and I didn't intend it this way, this is just what God's Word does. It's really good. The Holy Spirit's really good at making sure we're in the right place at the right time. Because as I look at the landscape of our nation, as I look at the

landscape of the world right now, I think one of the things that I realize the most is that what we really need is we need to be believers who are authentic in our Christianity. We need to be believers whose faith, whose conduct is faithful in the way that we handle ourselves. And the only way that we can do that is if God is with us. And I think that's what we need to do. And I

think God's grace is flowing through us. Because we truly need God's grace for every aspect of our lives. To be who He's called for us to be for ourselves, but also to be who He's called for us to be for the people that are around us. And we have a greater need than I think I've ever seen before for the grace of God in our lives right now. Because as we watch the events of the world

around us, like I said, what the world needs to see is authentic Christianity. And the only way that we can give them that is if God's grace is at work in us. And so, as we came into Titus chapter 2, we gave it a title because all of the pastoral epistles have had the idea of faithfulness connected with them. And so, in chapter 2, we said that the title was faithful conduct. We said there was two things Paul would teach us in chapter 2 that he would

teach to Titus and to us as well. The first thing that he would teach us is the instructions for faithful conduct. But the second thing that he would teach us is about the grace that we need for godly living. And that's what we pick up today. Last week, we had presented to us all of the all of the standard that God desires in our lives. And we're going to talk about that in a moment.

And I don't know about you, but I could kind of leave teachings like that. I can leave studies like that and think, oh man, that's a lot for me to do. I don't know that I can actually live that out in my life. And the fact of the matter is, you can't, and neither can I. We cannot in and of ourselves live out the conduct that God would have us to live. We cannot in and of ourselves be who

God has called for us to be. If we try in our own strength, we'll always find failure, which is why we so desperately need the grace of God in our lives. And so, picking up in verse 11, he's going to talk about the grace of God for godly living. It says in verse 11,

And so, there's four things Paul is going to teach to Titus, and four things we should pay attention to out of this section of Scripture. He's going to teach us about grace for salvation. He's going to teach us about grace for sanctification. He's going to teach us about grace for expectation. And then he's going to give an exhortation to tell them these things.

So, let's start with this. Let's pick up with the first one. Let's look at grace for salvation. Look at verse 11 again. It says, Grace. What a beautiful word, right? Philip Yancey in his book, What's So Amazing About Grace, says that grace is the last pure word that's left. It's unadulterated by the things of the world because grace is truly one of the purest words in all of Scripture. Grace in the Greek simply is

stated as charis. And that word is the word that is used to describe the grace of God. And that word means unmerited favor. Unearned or unmerited favor. It's interesting to do a word study on this because if you were to follow the word grace all the way back through the beginning of Scripture, you would find that the first time that the word grace is used is attached with Noah.

Right before God chose to flood the world, he laid out all of the indictments against planet Earth. All of the indictments against humanity at that point in time. And it was horrific sin that was taking place, which by the way, we're told that as it was in the days of Noah, it was in the days of Noah. So it will be in the coming of the Son of Man, which we'll address in just a moment. But in the midst of all of that chaos and all of that sin that was so great that God said,

the sin is so great that man's days will now be 120 years. In other words, from the time that God gives this indictment on humanity, there will be 120 years until the flood comes. And after that, we find this phrase, but Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Some of the translations say, but Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. In other words, in the midst of impending judgment, in the midst of impending doom that was coming on planet Earth,

there was one family that found favor. The only way that they would escape the judgment is because they had found grace in the eyes of the Lord, which is a perfect picture of exactly what grace is for us when it comes to salvation. Because God has an impending judgment he's going to bring upon sin. God has doom for humanity apart from the grace of Jesus Christ. And yet,

we as believers in Jesus Christ have found grace, grace in the eyes of the Lord. You'll find that the Greek word charis is used over 148 times in the New Testament alone. And so it's an important word in scripture. And as I dug a little bit deeper into it, one of the word studies that I did said this, grace, according to the Greeks, was a gift that was to be given without being deserved on the part of the receiver and with no expectation of return on the part of the giver. In other words, the person receiving the gift doesn't deserve it,

and the person giving the gift doesn't expect you to do anything in return for him. It is just simply a gift given without merit. It is unearned favor. And that's what God shows to us. He says, but the grace of God. He says, the grace of God has appeared to all men. That word appeared means to become visible or to make an appearance. It actually carries with it a very forced,

truthful statement, and it carries with it the idea of something that just happens upon the scene. Well, I hope you ask yourself a question right now, because I asked myself a question. When did grace appear? What does he mean grace appeared to us? Was it like a neon light? Just some neon light in the sky? It was like grace, right? No, that's not what he means by when grace appears. One of the

commentators that I read put it like this. He said, what we have to understand is that grace is not a thing. Grace is a person, and it finds its personification in none other than Jesus Christ himself. And that's what grace is. And that's what grace is. And that's what grace is. And that's what grace is, brothers and sisters, is when grace appeared. Grace appeared when Jesus appeared upon

the scene. Do you know what we're told in John chapter 1? We're told in John chapter 1, no one has seen the Father at any time, but the Son, Jesus Christ, has revealed him to us in all of his glory full of grace and truth. If you go down in John chapter 1, you'll find that what John goes on to say is that the law came through Moses, but grace came through Jesus Christ. Why? Because he is the

personification of grace. And so if you want to know what grace looks like, if you want to, if you want to know what that appearance looks like, you'll look at the life of Jesus, and you'll find that the life that he lived was a life full of grace. And so we realize that if we understand grace, it requires us to understand Jesus, because he is the giver of all grace. And notice what he says. He says, the grace of God that brings what? Salvation. Salvation in the Greek is the word

soterios. As a matter of fact, if you want to know a fun word, I won't charge you for this one. If you want to know a fun word that you can impress your friends with, you can tell them the study of salvation is soteriology, right? You can impress your friends later with that one. Just, you can thank me. It's fine. Let me know later. Send me a text. I used it. They were impressed. They're

going to love it. Because it's the study of salvation. And I would love to give you some greater meaning to it, but it's exactly what it means. It means that you have been saved, which would indicate that you needed saved from something. You know why most people don't really, truly understand the study of salvation? Because it's the study of salvation. It's the study of salvation.

They don't really understand salvation. It's because they don't really understand that they need saved from something. They don't really understand that there is judgment that is awaiting them. Just like it was for Noah in his day. Just like it was for everyone living on earth in Noah's day. And that the only thing that will save them from that coming judgment

is the salvation that comes through grace alone. But most people don't realize that they've been living in sin. They don't realize that the immorality that the rest of the world calls normal is actually an affront to the face of God. That it's opposed to the holiness of God. And that immorality is not just something that is an action done. It is, an attitude of the heart that is opposed to the holiness of God. They don't realize that the anger

that they're filled with it oftentimes spills into murder. It makes them just as guilty of murder as anything else. They don't realize that using the name of the Lord as a swear word and bringing it down and putting it on a common level with everything else actually makes them guilty before God. But all of us stands guilty before God. And if we were to stand trial before the Lord,

he would have to declare that you're guilty and you're worthy of judgment. But that's where the grace of God comes in. The grace of God that brings us to the place where we are, that brings salvation, has appeared to all men. And do you know who's, notice who it's appeared to? It's appeared to all. Meaning that there is a universal call for salvation. It doesn't

mean everyone's going to accept it, but it does mean that it's available for everyone. The great equalizer of humanity is sin, and the great savior of that equalizing sin is salvation. The grace of God. And it puts us all on the same plane. Because in God's eyes, you're one of two people. It has nothing to do with your color. It has nothing to do with your economy. It has nothing to do with

your culture. You're one of two people. You are either out of Christ and facing judgment, or you are in Christ and being saved by his grace. Those are the only two groups of people that there are. And that, my friends, is grace for salvation. But oftentimes we view grace as only that. It's just the thing that saves us. And we think, once I'm saved, grace is done doing its work in my life.

Thank you, God, for your grace. I can handle it from here. But grace does not just stop with salvation. As a matter of fact, I would tell you that grace begins with salvation and continues with the rest of our life. Because I want you to notice what it says about grace for sanctification. Paul says that it is instructing us, and given this subject in verse 11, we know that that's the same subject for verse 12, instructing us, meaning God's grace instructs

us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live sensibly and righteously and godly in this present age. That word instructing can also be translated training or teaching. The Greek word is actually that of a household slave whose job was the instruction of a child. That's what that word actually means. And so it carries with it the idea of teaching, encouragement, correction,

and discipline. It is an all-encompassing word for the whole training of an individual. And what trains us? What instructs us? What teaches us? The grace of God. But what did we say grace is personified in? Jesus Christ himself. That means that what is teaching you in your everyday life? What is instructing you? What is training you? What is giving you the whole

education that you need to become who God has called for you to be? The grace of God that comes through Jesus Christ because he is that personification of grace in our life. We always come back to the same thing, don't we? That if you really want to live righteously and godly in this present age, it requires a daily walk with the one who gave us grace himself because he is the of grace himself and that's none other than Jesus Christ. And he said this grace of God

instructs us or teaches us and it teaches us two different things. First of all, it teaches us what not to do and then it teaches us what to do. First of all, it teaches us what not to do. It teaches us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts. Ungodliness and worldly lusts. Listen, the word ungodliness can be translated or is identified as this, that which is irreverent.

It deals with not only actions but it deals with the heart of the actions which is the attitude, right? Listen, I've worked with kids for a really long time and I've worked with kids since I was a kid and I have an incredible amount of grace for kids until it comes to one thing, bad attitudes. Listen, I love y'all, I love you kids, but I feel the same way about adults now that I work with adults. I'm talking to the kids now, okay? I feel the same way about adults now as I love working

with adults because I started working with them. Well, I haven't really become one yet, but I've started working with adults and you know what irritates me more than anything in adults? Bad attitudes, right? Why? Because it's irreverent behavior. It's an irreverent attitude that we have towards God and that irreverence leads to all of the other things. You see, when my attitude

is such that God is not really that holy and sin doesn't really matter, then it doesn't matter how I live my life because that irreverent attitude flows into all of the other aspects of my life, which is why I have to deny that bad attitude in my life. I have to deny that irreverent attitude in my life. And so it teaches us to deny ungodliness. But the second thing that it teaches us to deny is it teaches us to deny worldly desires, the lusts or the desires of this present age, worldly or immoral desires. This is one of the things missing from the teaching in

the church today. Everybody wants to talk about the grace of God for salvation and that Jesus was raised from the dead. Nobody wants to talk about the grace of God for sanctification. You know why? Because it's going to involve you denying your flesh. It's going to involve you denying the worldly desires that are around you every single day. The idea of the phrase, the things of this age

carries with it the idea of everything in the world that's around us right now that stares us in the face every single day, that is calling for our attention, that is calling for our affection, that is calling for us to live it out because it's what the flesh wants for us to do. And we're surrounded with it every single day. We're surrounded with it every single day. We're surrounded with it every single day.

And so you have a choice every day. Indulge in all of the things of the world or deny all of the things of the world. And I'm here to tell you right now, if you want to walk with Jesus, you can't indulge in the things of the world because he's in the opposite direction of that. He's in the opposite direction of the things of the world. So if you want to know Jesus, you have to deny yourself. If you

don't want to deny yourself, you can't know Jesus. There is no happy middle ground on that. Jesus is very polarizing when it comes to this, which is why guys like Charlie Kirk got themselves in a lot of trouble because he presented the polarizing truth of the word of God. He presented the polarizing truth that God's word has to say. And because of it, people hated him. I hear people say this all the time. They're like, you know, if

you would just act a lot nicer like Jesus, people wouldn't hate you so much. Really? Do you know what they did to Jesus? They crucified him and they hated him. I'm pretty sure me acting more like Jesus is probably going to make people hate me because he came into his own and his own did not receive him. He came into the world and the world rejected him. And so if we want to live

godly, if we want to live as God has called for us to, first of all, we have to deny ungodliness. Second of all, we have to deny worldly lust. But it is the truth of Jesus training us, the grace of God that empowers us, that gives us everything we need to do those things. But God's word is so good, it doesn't just teach us what not to do. It teaches us what we're supposed to do, right? Have you ever

tried not to do something? And what's the one thing you think about all the time? It's the one thing you think about, right? It's the one thing you think about all the time. It's the one thing you think about, right? I was talking to a group of athletes the other day, and they were like, our coach keeps telling us, just don't make mistakes. And they're like, the more he tells us, don't just make mistakes,

you know what we end up doing? Making mistakes. Why? Because that's all you can think about. See, God knows that, and so he turns it into the positive. He says, this is what I don't want you to do, but don't focus just on what you're not supposed to do. Focus on what you are supposed to do. And so he says, he teaches us to deny us these things, but he also teaches us how to live.

And he says three things. Number one, we're supposed to live sinfully. Have you noticed how many times this word is used in the pastoral epistles? I've counted that this is at least the fifth time, and I'm not very good at math. This is at least the fifth time this word sensible is used in the pastoral epistles. One would think that it's an important thing for us to pay attention to,

because the word sensible means to be sober or to have wisdom. In other words, if you want to live as God wants you to live, you have to live with wisdom. And wisdom comes from God, right? Anybody? Have you ever read through the Proverbs? And have you noticed that Proverbs uses wisdom and it personifies wisdom? Well, do you know who the personification of wisdom is? It's Jesus, right?

Because the grace of God, which is personified in Jesus, gives us the wisdom of God, which is personified in Jesus. It's almost like Christianity is not about a religion. Christianity is not about a book. Christianity is about a person. It's about following Jesus. It's almost just like that. And he says that it teaches us to live sensibly, to live sober and to live with wisdom. The second thing it tells us is that we are to live

righteously. The word righteously means upright and in accordance with the law. In other words, don't just focus on what you're not supposed to do. Focus on how you are supposed to live. Don't just focus on not hating people. Focus on loving people. Don't just focus on not being angry. Focus on forgiving. Don't just focus on not being immoral. Focus on being pure.

Don't just focus on not using bad words. Bless people with the words that you use. And you will find that if you do that, you'll view things completely differently. Because now you're not trying to not sin. You're trying to glorify God. And listen, it's the grace of God that teaches you how to do that. But the third thing it tells us is not only are we supposed

to live sensibly, not only are we supposed to live righteously, but third, we are supposed to live godly. The word godly means reverently. Reverently. In other words, living our lives in reverence. To God. I find the older that I get, the easier this starts to be because I start to become more and more aware of God's work all around me all the time. The older I get, the more I become

reverent of who the Lord is in looking at creation. Partly because I'm older and I'm slower than I used to be. But partly just because I just look and think, God made all of that. He spoke all that into existence. And I see God at work in situations. And I go, it's just amazing that God takes the worst of situations and He makes something beautiful out of them. It's been kind of fascinating this week. I don't know if you guys listen to David

Jeremiah ever or not. I don't always get to listen to the radio, but every now and then I'll have a little bit of time to listen to one of the radio broadcasts. I try to make an effort to listen to somebody so that I'm taking in for myself. And I've been listening to David Jeremiah and he's been teaching on Joseph. And it's been great to listen to him go through and talk about Joseph's kidnapping

and ultimate sale into the world. And I've been listening to him go through and talk about Joseph's slavery and being sent to prison and being falsely accused of rape and facing the temptation of Potiphar's wife and facing being forgotten there in prison and finally rising to power within the land of Egypt to be second in command of everything. And this week it just happened to be that he was talking about Genesis chapter 50 verse 20. And if you don't know what Genesis chapter 50 verse 20 is, Joseph's brothers come to him and they say, hey, remember that time that we sold you into slavery?

First of all, our bad. Second of all, dad said, don't hold it against us. Dad said, you should forgive us. Please forgive us. And Joseph says, listen, it's not my job to play God. What you did, you meant for evil, but God intended it for good to bring about the salvation of many people. I'm watching that happen right now. And I'm in reverence towards God about what I see happening

right now. The Wednesday after Charlie Kirk was assassinated, tragic, tragic, day. I don't care which side of any political aisle you sit on. Anytime a public figure is assassinated and cold-blooded in front of everybody's face being filmed, knowing that his wife and kids are going to have to experience fatherlessness and to be a single mother the rest of their lives, it's just a tragic thing. But his message will continue to spread. I got a text from

a college kid that night and the text said, hey, listen, can you send me some of that Bible study material you were telling me about, I am more inspired than ever to get the gospel out on my campus. Because you see, that causes me to be in reverence of God, because I realize that God takes the worst things in the world, and He does something good with them. God can take the evil in the world, and He can turn it into something good. You see, I've learned something in my life as I've dealt with tragedy in my own life, and I have walked some of you through tragedy in your lives. I've learned, stop asking why, and start asking what. Don't ask, why would God allow this

to happen? Because the secret things belong to God, the revealed things belong to me. Sometimes the why is a secret thing, and I don't need to know on this side of eternity. I can learn that on the other side of eternity. But the revealed things belong to me, and that's the what. What does God want to do with it? What does God want to do with this situation? What does God want to do

with this tragedy? And what does God want to do with me in the midst of it? Because if I can answer what, the why goes by the way. I can see what God is able to do, and He is able to take evil and turn it into good. He is able to take the worst of situations and bring something beautiful out of it. And I'm here to tell you right now, as I watch His grace do that, His grace teaches me to be reverent of Him, because I

realize He is God, and I am not. One of my favorite verses in all of the Bible is at the very end of the book of Job, when He says, I heard about you through the hearing of the ear, and I heard about you through the ear. But now my eye sees you, because He's so in reverence of how God brought something good out of something bad. Well, as we look at this, one of the commentaries that I read pointed something out. It said, this aspect of teaching us how to live deals with every part of

our lives. First of all, it deals with our inward life. Living a sober, self-controlled life deals with our inner man. In my inner man, I live sober and self-controlled in my life. The second thing that it deals with is my outward life. It deals with my inner man. I live sober and self-controlled in my life. Being upright and righteous in my relationships with others deals with my relationship on the

outside. But not only does it deal with my inward life to live soberly, not only does it deal with my outward life to live righteously, but it deals with my upward life, because as I live godly, I live fully devoted to God in reverence and obedience. You see, it deals with the whole part of me, my inward life, my outward life, and my upward life, and it is a complete teaching through the grace of God. I want to remind you of one more thing. It says that the grace of God teaches us. And the reason

why I want to point this out to you is sometimes we need to realize that it's God's grace that's teaching us. You know what that means? It means sometimes we need to show ourselves a little grace. Sometimes in our lives, we have to show ourselves a little bit of grace, because sometimes we expect things of ourselves that we're not mature enough for yet, that we're not ready for yet. Or sometimes

we make mistakes, and we need to say, man, I made a mistake because I'm a human. There's no reason to live in it. But we do show ourselves a little bit of grace, because it's the grace of God that is teaching us. It's the grace of God that is teaching us to deny and to live. And so we show a little bit of grace with ourselves. But do you know what else that means? I mean, sometimes we need to show a little

bit of grace with each other. See, in the body of Christ, we're really good at eating our own, aren't we? We see somebody fall, and we pounce on them, and we pour on them, and we devour them, and we say, how could you ever do that? And we need to show a little bit of grace with each other. Because the grace that I want in my life is the grace that you want in your life. So I need

to learn to be patient with you, just like you need to learn to be patient with me. And it all comes about because of God's grace in us. And so we see that grace is for salvation, in that God's grace has appeared, bringing salvation to everyone else. We see that grace is for sanctification. It instructs us how to deny certain things and to live as God has called for us to do. But number three,

there is grace for expectation. Look at verse 13. Looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Christ Jesus, who gave himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed and to purify us for himself, for a people for his own possession, zealous for good deeds. The first thing he tells us is what we're looking for. We are looking for the blessed hope of the glory of our great God and Savior

Jesus Christ. That word, looking, for means awaiting and confidently expecting. Awaiting and confidently expecting. We've talked about it before. I'm going to talk about it again. Think Christmas time, right? Like it's almost Christmas morning. Think back to when you were a little kid. Some of you, that's a really long ways back, but that's okay. Think back to when you were a little kid and the expectancy of Christmas.

And there was this awaiting and this expectancy of the fact that this day was coming. I love Christmas Eve service for that reason, because there's just a bunch of little kids here and they just can't wait for it. And they just can't wait for it. And they just can't wait for it. And they just can't wait for me to stop talking. So I like to talk a little bit longer. It's okay, kids.

I've got another hour and a half to go in this study. And they get angry with me. But that's the idea. You are awaiting and confidently expecting, only we're not awaiting and confidently expecting Christmas. What are we awaiting and confidently expecting? Jesus. We're waiting for the appearing of Jesus. There's a whole lot of different thoughts out there about eschatology. If you know what

eschatology is, that's the study of end times, like when Jesus is going to come back. There's a whole lot of different thoughts out there. There's the thoughts that I have, and then there's all the wrong thoughts, right? And so there's all these thoughts out there about eschatology. But we can always agree on one thing, because Scripture is incredibly clear on one thing. Jesus

is coming back. And we're looking for it. It's called the doctrine of eminence, right? There's another fancy phrase for you. The doctrine of eminence. It means that we live with the expectation that Jesus could come back at any point in time. And to live expectantly, to have the grace of God to live expectantly, means that God's grace produces in us, first of all, that constant desire. That constant desire to go home. That constant desire to

want to see His coming because we get so tired of the things of this earth, right? One of my favorite historical characters of all times, Robert E. Lee, I'm pretty sure that gets me canceled in just about every culture, but he was a fantastic man of God and a fantastic military leader. And one of his famous quotes was, it's good that war is so bad, lest we love it so much.

And I think the same thing about the battle that we fight on this earth. It is so good that the battle on this earth is so hard, or else we could end up loving it too much. Like sometimes we look at life and we go, it's just so hard. Why is life so hard? Well, because if life was easy, we would probably want to just stay here all the time, living in our sin, living in our flesh, living in the destruction that comes with it. And so

the grace of God produces in us that longing, but the grace of God also produces in us the desire to occupy. And so the grace of God produces that expectation in us of the appearing of Jesus Christ. But I love this because Paul kind of gets distracted. He's like, I've talked about this before. Let's talk about Jesus. He says, we are looking for the coming of Jesus. And then he begins

to describe Jesus. In verse 14, who gave himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, to purify us, and to make us his. His own special possession. I want to go through that list of phrases because it kind of almost goes back to the grace of God for salvation, right? What Jesus are we looking for? Why are we so excited to see Jesus? Well, because first of all, number one, he's the one who gave himself

for us. He's the one who gave himself for us. It carries with it two different ideas. Jesus gave himself for us, first of all, through the incarnation. Jesus said, I love you so much, I'm going to lay aside all of my glory so that I can come and put on the clothes of a man and walk on earth and experience everything just like you have experienced so that not only can I

understand to be your faithful high priest, but so that I can be your faithful savior. And so he gave himself for us by coming down to dwell among us and to live a perfect life. But the second way that he gave himself for us is he gave himself for us on the cross. Matter of fact, we're told in Romans chapter 5 verse 8 that God demonstrates his own love for us and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

That's how he gave himself for us. And sometimes we talk about the cross so much that we can fail to remember and apply the depth of what Jesus did for us on that cross, that it was truly him giving himself for us. You know, one of the things that always gets me the most about seeing sin in my own life and sin in the lives of other people is that, yes, sin separates us from God, and that's horrific. But sin brings shame into the lives of people.

Sin causes us to want to hide ourselves. It caused Adam and Eve to want to hide themselves from God. It caused Adam and Eve to want to cover their sin, and it does the exact same thing to us. It causes you to want to hide yourself. It causes you to want to cover yourself, and pretty soon we can't be honest with ourselves. We can't be honest with God, and we can't be honest with each other.

And we live in a prison that we've built for ourselves, and the prison that we've built for ourselves is shame. And the reason why we live in that prison of shame is because we forget that all of my sin was lived for us. And we live in a prison of shame. And we live in a prison of shame. And we laid upon Jesus Christ on the cross and is no longer mine to carry

because he gave himself for us. But the second thing that it says that he did, not only did he give himself for us, but number two, he redeemed us. The word redeemed there means to release upon the payment of a ransom. To release upon the payment of a ransom. Picture, if you will, someone that's been held captive. They've been taken captive and now they've been sold on the slave market

and Jesus says, I want that one. Well, what will it require for me to have that one? Well, it's gonna require your life for his. And Jesus said, I'll take it. And the ransom that he paid was not silver and gold. According to your vain tradition, as we're told in 1 Peter, the payment that he made was with his own precious blood because the only ransom payment

that could be accepted for sin was a life for a life. And that's what Jesus did for us is he redeemed us from every lawless deed. He redeemed us by giving his life for us. The third thing it says that he did is that he purifies us. He purifies us. The word purify means to make clean or to wipe clean. Isn't that beautiful? It's a beautiful thought, isn't it?

Like I picture somebody showing up and they're covered in stains, right? They're covered in all the garbage of the world and they go in and they get cleaned up and they come out looking brand new. Like, whoa, what happened to you? Well, I got cleaned up. Only Jesus cleans us in the perfect way possible. We're told in the book of Acts, the book of Isaiah, great verse out of, I think it's Isaiah chapter one.

He says, Come now, let us reason together, you and I, declares the Lord. Though your sins be as scarlet, they will be as white as snow because that's what he's able to do. Cleaner than any launderer could ever purify them. Pure and white as snow. And I want to talk to those of you in here this morning that always live in shame and you always live feeling still like you're stained

by the things of the world because I know so many of you, so many of you, still feel stained by the things of the world. You've come to Jesus. You've come to Jesus for salvation. You've come to Jesus to wipe you clean and while in his eyes you're as clean as you can ever be, in your eyes you still see stains. And I want to tell you, you need to start viewing yourself

the way that Jesus views you. You need to start looking at yourself the way that Jesus looks at you because when Jesus looks at you, he doesn't see stains. When Jesus looks at you, he doesn't see sin. When Jesus looks at you, he doesn't see shame and guilt. What he sees is purity. He sees you clothed in the righteousness of himself that he gave to you on the cross

and you can live in that purity. And so those of you walking around in guilt, those of you walking around in shame, those of you walking around feeling unclean either because of sins you have committed or because of sins that have been perpetrated upon you, perhaps by some abuser, I want you to know you are clean because of the blood of Jesus Christ. You have been wiped completely clean and no one can ever see those sins again. And if the enemy brings them up, you just have to remind him of the truth.

Yes, that's who I was, but it's not who I am because who I am is purified by the blood of Jesus Christ. And if you're an unbeliever in here this morning, if you've never put your faith in Jesus, if you've never come to the place of really accepting that, I want you to know you are wearing that on you right now and the only way that you can be washed clean is through the blood of Jesus Christ and that means you coming to Jesus and declaring all of your sin to him and accepting what he did for you on the cross because that's what he wants to do. He wants to make people brand new. He wants to make you brand new in Christ.

And so he says he gave himself for us. He redeemed us and he purified us. But number four, he made us his own special possession. I always like to hit on this really hard because sometimes I grew up feeling like there were things about me I didn't like. There were things about me I actually kind of hated and I thought, why would God make me this way? I want you to know something.

God looked at the landscape of humanity and he said, I need one of you and so he made you. God looked at the world and he said, this world needs one of you and so he made you. And then, even though when he made you, you were stained by sin, God said, and I don't want to just make one of you, I want to redeem one of you so that you can be my very own. I love you enough to make you and I love you enough to save you and all I want you to do is follow me and you become his own special possession.

A little stamp on your back that says, I belong to Jesus. That's who you are. You're his own special possession. Someone that he claims as his own. And I don't think we always glory in that the way that we're supposed to, that I am a child of God and I belong to Jesus. Not because I have to, not because he had to, but because he wanted to. Simply because he wanted to.

And that's who you are as his own special possession. But you weren't just saved so that you could enjoy the fact that you could be saved. You were saved unto good works because did you notice the last thing it says? It says that they would be a people set apart to me who are zealous for good works. That are zealous for good works. And that's who God has called for us to be.

His grace saves us. His grace sanctifies us. And his grace gives us the expectation of the coming again of that great God and Savior who loved you enough to give himself for you. Well, the last thing that he does with Titus here, look at verse 15. He says, These things speak and exhort and reprove with all authority. Let no one disregard you. These things speak.

One of the other translations that I read, it was either the Amplified Bible or the New Living Translation. I don't remember which and I didn't write it down because I'm a loser like that. But I belong to Jesus. That's the important thing. It says, Tell them these things. Tell them these things. And I like that. I like that statement. I like the authority. I like the authority behind that statement.

And don't just tell them these things but tell them these things with authority because you have the authority of God and the authority of the Holy Scriptures behind you. Why does he have to exhort Titus to tell them these things? Well, the first thing we need to answer is what does he want Titus to tell them? Well, I think it talks about the whole body of everything he's given to us in chapter 2.

He's told us what godly conduct is supposed to look like and he's told us how we can live that out in our lives. Meaning that if Titus is to tell them these things, he has to tell them what sin looks like. He has to tell them what holyness, looks like. He has to tell them what salvation looks like, and he has to tell them what sanctification looks like, and he has to tell them that Jesus is coming again, and that they need to be ready for it. You know what's an unpopular thing to tell people in today's world? To tell them what sin

looks like, to tell them what salvation looks like, to tell them what holiness looks like, and to tell them that Jesus is coming again. You know what was unpopular in Titus's world? Same thing. And so he had to tell them, Titus, tell them these things. Make it your mission. Make it your goal. Make it your life to tell them these things. Titus, set up a table and say, prove me wrong. Be bold. Be

strong. Be immovable. Because the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. Therefore, tell them these things. He had to be exhorted. Do you know how often in Scripture we see this exhortation? Me neither, but it's a bunch, right? It's all over Scripture. Why? Because our flesh wants to stay quiet. Our flesh wants to just sit back and let things happen because it's easier

that way. Because we don't rock the boat that way. Because we don't make people uncomfortable that way. Because people still like us that way. The only problem is people can like you on their way to hell. And so he says, tell them these things. And maybe there's a little bit of an exhortation for us there. Ryan, I'm not a pastor. I don't care. My name's not Titus. I don't care.

You've still been given a great commission to go out and make disciples. And I'm going to tell you the same thing that Paul told Titus. And I'm telling myself at the same time. Tell them these things. Tell them these things. Because now more than ever, we need boldness in the body of Christ. Now more than ever, we need determination within the body of Christ. Now more than ever,

we need the grace of God to teach us to be bold. And I'm going to tell you the same thing that Paul taught us. How to live authentically. But to teach us how to deliver truth authentically and fearlessly. I was having a conversation with somebody right before church. And I agreed with him. And listen, I don't want to make this all about Charlie Kirk. Because he kind of reminds me

of Paul. He said, I bet if he knew a year ago that this was what was going to happen, I don't think he'd change his course. And I agree. I don't think he would change his course either. You know how I know that? Because if somebody told me today, Ryan, a year from now, you're going to lose your life. And take you out. Because you keep telling the truth. I can't stop. Right? What happened when

Jeremiah tried to stop telling the truth? It burned inside of him. Paul says, the love of God constrains me. And all I can do is tell the truth. Otherwise, I have to answer to God for it. And so I'm telling you. Tell them these things. There's a little plaque on the outside of our church. And it says this. I haven't put it up there. Look at me. I'm responsible.

I'm responsible. I don't have anything. Can somebody tell me what the callout is? It was true. Did you get this? Do you have anyercite? Yes you do. You are the one who gave up Coke before you sleep. That's it. That's all. That's finance, Craig. It's all about patience. And love man. Love man. Love man. but they all lived according to this. They all lived according to this philosophy in their lives.

One life will soon be passed. Only what's done for Christ will last. I lived my life watching my dad do this. I lived my life watching my dad live this out. I was sharing with First Service. I remember going on vacation one time when I was a little kid. I was about seven or eight years old, somewhere in that general range, so, you know, just a few years ago.

And so we got, my dad grew up going to the school for the blind up in Kansas City. He actually went away for school for his almost entire life. And the guy that ran the school when he was older became like a father figure to a lot of these guys. And a lot of them reconnected with him as they got older. And he became almost like an adopted grandfather to me.

And so at some point in time, around that age for me, seven or eight years old, my dad reconnected with this guy. And he invited us to his place out in Colorado. He had horses. He said, come out. Right. Horses in the mountains. It'll be great. So we go out there and we go on vacation. And I remember one afternoon, my dad and the guy that I affectionately refer to as Doc,

they went on a horseback ride and they were gone forever. And I remember as a little boy, I never sat still, which clearly has not changed. I wasn't good at sitting still. We just had to sit and wait on them. And I was like, what has taken them so long? Where are they? They have been gone forever. And so they get back from their horseback ride. I don't think too much about it.

We go about our lives and we're on our way home. And it was finally the time when mom and dad could talk a little bit. And they start talking about that horseback ride.

And on that horseback ride, he led Doc to the Lord. Because he lived his life according to this. One life will soon be passed. Only what's done for Christ will last. Tell them these things. Brothers and sisters, we live in a time that is pivotal. What happened on Wednesday will change the course of history. Just like on September 11th of 2001, it changed the course of history.

Do you know what happened right after September 11th of 2001? Churches filled up. It was short-lived, but they filled up. People heard the truth. And you can see what's going on today. We can see it going on all over our country. Churches are filling up. Social media is full of posts of, I didn't really read the Bible before, but I just bought one for the first time.

I can't wait to see what it has to say. I haven't been to church in a really long time, but it's time for me to get back to church. I've never been to church. I've never been to church before, but this Sunday feels like the right time. And everybody's saying it feels like a really good weekend to start telling people about Jesus. Why? Because there's only so much time.

You just have one life. What's it going to mean? What's it going to mean? Because you can focus on all the things of this world, and you can achieve the things of this world. Or you can focus on living for Jesus, and He'll not only give you the things that you need, but He'll give you eternal rewards as well. Amen? I'd like to invite the worship team to come up.

Get ready to sing this last song for us. And as they're getting set up, I just want you to bow your heads with me, and we'll get ready to pray.

Father, we come before you, and Lord, I thank you for what your word has to say. As always, Lord, I praise you that your word is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path. Lord, that it speaks to us exactly as we need, and that your Holy Spirit is faithful to give us what we need every time we come to it. And Lord, I believe you did that for us this morning.

I know you did for me. And so, Lord, I want to lift up every person that's in this congregation this morning, and every person that's watching online, and God, I want to pray that you would move in them according to the power of your Holy Spirit, Lord, and that this would not just be another message, but that it would be a starting point. A starting point to say, I want to walk. I will no longer live a nominal Christian life.

I will no longer sit by the wayside. I will no longer sit back and let everyone else live it out while I cheer them on from the sidelines. I'm going to get in the game. I'm going to get in the battle. And Lord, I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that if we're going to get in the game, if we're going to get in the battle, it will require the grace of God, because it's not just some will of man that does this, Lord.

It is truly the grace of God empowered by the Holy Spirit in our lives. And Lord, I know that that's what we need. So, so, Father, do that work in us.

And now I'm going to call on all of you to respond. It is incredibly evident to me that if we are to continue to live as God has called for us to live, it will require an overflowing abundance of God's grace. And so I'm going to ask you with every head bowed and every eye closed to just make a stand. I want you to stand up and say, I need a fresh filling of God's grace to be who God has called for me to be.

I need a fresh, a fresh overflowing of the power of the Holy Spirit to be who God has called for me to be. And so if that's you right now, I just want you to stand up because I want to pray for you. I want to pray that you would be filled with God's grace. I want to pray that you would be filled with God's spirit. And so if you need that power for your life,

if you need that power for living, if you want to get in the game and do what God has called for you to do, then I just want you to stand up because I want to pray for you.

I want to see God's people filled with God's spirit, empowered by God's grace, doing what God has called for them to do. And so just stand where you are, praise God, all over the place, amen, filled with God's spirit. And so Lord, I lift up each of these people that has stood here this morning, Lord. And God, I pray that as they are saying, I need God's grace in my life, I need that power in my life, I need that spirit in my life, I need that work in my life, I just pray that you would overflow them, God, with the power of your Holy Spirit.

Lord, overflow them with the grace of God, not only the grace that brings salvation, Lord, but that grace that brings sanctification. Empower them to live as you have called for them to live. Fill them with boldness, Lord, we pray. But Lord, I also feel prompted to say that I know that there's some in here this morning that don't really know you. Lord, they've heard about your grace,

but they've never experienced your grace. And so I'm gonna ask you if that's you this morning, and just join the rest of the people that are standing. If that's you this morning and you need to find Jesus, you need to come to Jesus for the very first time, I just want you to stand up right where you are. I just want you to stand up and say, today is the day that I wanna make Jesus my Savior.

Praise God. And so Lord, continue to do your work in the hearts of these people. Lord, be with us as we go out from this place. Fill us with your Holy Spirit. In Jesus' name, amen. Let's all stand and sing this last song. Amen.

Today we, Lord God, we know that you're coming again soon. Lord, there is an urgency to tell people about you, so give us the courage, Lord God, to do that, to tell people the truth unashamedly. Father God, we love you and we praise you and we thank you. And all God's people said, you guys have a wonderful week. God bless you.