Faithful in Good Deeds Pt 1

If you would open up in your Bibles to the book of Titus, chapter 3. Titus, chapter 3. Well, you know, I always like to make sure I invite you all into my life and the things that are going on. Because I want to not only declare the gospel to you, but also my own life. And so, this week I was up in Kansas City all week at a training camp that I had to go to for Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

And believe it or not, the International Headquarters. The International Headquarters for FCA is actually in Kansas City, Missouri, right across the highway from the stadiums there. So, it was a great time. It was a very refreshing time for me to be able to just sit with, I think there's about 75 of us there from all over the country. Just to take in God's word, to talk about what it looks like to be a good leader, what it looks like to have the right heart of a leader.

And it was so cool because I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that we were all from very different backgrounds. We were all from very different states. Some of us from very different denominations. But none of those differences really came up the entire time that we were there. We all knew that the word of God is the authority. Jesus is the only Savior. And we have to live our lives according to the authority of God's word with the power of Jesus in our lives.

And all of the other minor doctrinal differences that we might have had, they all kind of fell by the wayside. And we just worshiped together and we studied together. And it was a really beautiful thing. It was very, very encouraging to be with God's people like that. But like I said, we were with people from all over the country. We were with a bunch of boys from the South, too.

Now listen, I love Southerners, okay? I love them because they talk differently than we do. One of my favorite teachers in high school was Mrs. Jones. Mrs. Jones was from Atlanta, Georgia, and she taught all of us to speak Southern. And so that was one of my favorite things was listening to her speak Southern. Well, while we were there, at my table was guys from Tennessee and Georgia and all around me just a bunch of Tennessee and Georgia guys, right?

So every time the speaker, whoever it was, would say something that they really liked, they wouldn't amen. Amen. We do in Kansas, I guess, right? We amen. They would say, come on, right? Only they didn't say it like a Kansas boy. They didn't say, come on. They said, come on, right? And so every time the speaker would say something, they'd say, come on. And it was with different voice inflections.

Like if it was a really thoughtful moment, it was, come on. And if it was something really exciting, they're like, come on, right? And so that's what was being said. So here's my challenge for you. This is what I want to bring back to you. Listen, if your heart bears witness with something that I share, I just want you to shout out, come on, right? I can guarantee you one thing.

I can guarantee you two things. Number one, it's going to make me really happy. Number two, I'm probably going to preach a little harder. Like this is all that there is to it. There's this kid sitting next to me, this 23-year-old kid, right? Played baseball for the University of Memphis, Memphis University, however you say it. And I leaned over to him. I said, is this what Southern guys do every time they like something?

He goes, come on. And I was like, that's right. I told him, Tyler, this is for you, by the way. I told him I was going to do this. And he goes, I'm going to watch your live stream. Because I want to hear what you have to say to your congregation about this. Well, anyway, that's neither here nor there. But, you know, come on. So today we're in Chapter 3 of the Book of Titus.

We start the final chapter of the Book of Titus here. And the theme is faithfulness, right? Faithfulness has been our theme throughout this entire time. And as we come to Chapter 3, I've entitled it Faithful in Good Deeds. It's interesting because it was really hard for me not to just lump Chapter 3 in with Chapter 2. Because a lot of it still has to do with conduct.

But as I was reading it and studying it, I realized that the phrase good deeds is actually used three times in this chapter. And so I thought, that's probably an apropos sort of a theme to give to this chapter. And so there's actually five things he's going to teach us about good deeds. We'll look at three of them this morning. But before we do so, let's take a look at what the text has to say.

It says in Verse 1 of Chapter 3, Remind them to be subject to rulers, to authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for the day of judgment. For every good deed, to malign no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing every consideration for all men. For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. But when the kindness of our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us.

Not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior. So that being justified by His grace, we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. So the first thing that Paul is going to teach Timothy to tell the people is that if they want to live a life of righteousness, if they want to live a life of righteousness, if they want to live a life of good deeds, number one, they must respect the governing authorities. They must respect the governing authorities.

He starts off by saying, remind them. That indicates something to us. And what it indicates to us is that the instructions that Paul is about to give Titus, that he is now to pass along to the people of Crete, to the churches there in Crete, is nothing new. Paul wasn't about to give him some brand new revelation. This is something that had been talked about over and over and over again.

As a matter of fact, the main theme within the early church was being good citizens, was respecting the authority. It was said in the book of Romans, it was said multiple places throughout the New Testament, because Paul knew that if they were to truly live out the gospel, it was going to involve respect for the governing authorities. After all, all authority comes from God. We'll talk about that again in just a moment.

So it's not something new, but I can't brush by this without reminding all of us of something, and that's that when you become a believer in Jesus Christ, you learn all kinds of brand new things, right? Like if you're a new believer, you're just inundated with new stuff. But once that foundation for the new stuff is laid, you build on that by being reminded of all of the old things, right? It's a constant job of being reminded.

And really, my job as a pastor is not to deliver some brand new fresh revelation to you. That would get me outside of the bonds of Scripture. My job as a pastor is to remind you of the things that you probably already know, probably the things you know you should already be doing. It's just my job to remind you of them. It's kind of like being a parent, right?

I saw this thing one time that said, everything I really needed to know I learned in kindergarten. And it's true. By the time you're five, you've learned all of the basic things that you really need to know to be a good person in life. You then spend the rest of your life being reminded of those things. And that's what Paul does here. He said, I want you to remind them of these things.

And what he says he wants to remind them of is to be subject to the rulers and the authorities. To be subject to the rulers and the authorities. This word subject we've seen before. The first time we saw it in the book of Titus, it was in regards to husbands and wives. But now it's speaking in regards to the way that we treat those in authority over us. And the idea of authority here is not only physical, like governing authorities, but it's also spiritual authority.

It's an overarching view of how you handle authority. And it says this is what we're supposed to do. We're supposed to be subject to it. That word subject is a military term. And it means to be under. In rank. And the idea is to respect the authority that is above you. Now listen, I realize that in the world that we're living in today, this is probably one of the most apropos subjects we can deal with.

Because every four years, we get a new ruling authority in this country, right? And if your ruling authority comes into power, the one that you voted for, the one that you think is really good, then you have no problem showing them respect. Of course, I respect him. That's my guy, right? That's my person, and I can respect him. But four years later, you weren't.

Four years earlier, you weren't feeling that way. Matter of fact, two years earlier, I bet a bunch of you in this church did not feel like respecting the governing authority. Just like some of you, maybe in this church today, don't feel like respecting the governing authority. Because you don't like them. You don't like their policies. You don't like their procedures.

You don't like their approach. You don't like all of the things in life. Here's the thing that we have to understand. Whether you like it or not, we have to respect it. And I'll bring us all to the remembrance of the fact that when Paul is writing this, the nation of Israel is under the authority of the Romans. The Roman Empire. Roman Caesars who would go on to demand worship of the people.

And he says, you must respect that authority. You must respect those governing authorities. Because he knew that the tendency would be to want to overthrow. He knew that the tendency would be to want to revolt. But that wouldn't spread the kingdom of God. That would spread the kingdom of man. And so he tells him, you must respect them. He goes on to say, you must be obedient to them.

So respect the authority, be subject to the authority, and be obedient to the authority. Romans chapter 13 verse 1, if you want to write that in the margin of your Bible, is one of the other places where we see this mentioned. And we're told in Romans chapter 13 verse 1, again by Paul, that all authority comes from God and should be respected as such. Now the one question always comes up, when is it okay to not obey governing authorities?

Listen, this should not be your default. But you do need to know that there are times. And the only times it's okay to not obey the governing authorities is when it is in violation to the laws of God. For instance, when the Roman Caesars did begin to demand worship of themselves, the church then had to step back and say, not that far. I will respect your authority, but I cannot worship you as God.

Because that is in violation of what scripture has to say. The disciples themselves said in the book of Acts, we should obey God rather than man. So there does come a time. When that needs to be done. But I'm here to tell you right now, I don't study every single law we have in the country, but we don't have a ton of them that are opposed to God. We don't have a ton of them that are telling us you should do ungodly things.

If we do, you should not obey those. But for the most part, our justice system is based on a pretty good thing. So we need to make sure that we understand and we respect the authority that's given to us. Why? Why is it so important? Take a look at the end of verse 1. To be ready for every good deed. That phrase, good deed, could also be translated good works.

So if you want to do good works, if you want to do good deeds, it starts with the respect of authority. Ryan, I don't understand the connection between those two. It's really simple. If you are living in rebellion to the authority that's over you, then you are ultimately living in rebellion to God, which means that you are in no place to submit yourself to God's authority in order to do the good deeds that he has called for you to do.

You must first deal with your heart of rebellion. After. After all, what does Scripture say rebellion is the same as? Witchcraft. That's what Scripture says. And so you cannot be prepared to do good deeds if you are also not living in subjection to the authority that's over you. So he says if you want to live good deeds, if you want to live a life of good deeds,

number one, you must respect the governing authority. Number two, you must respect others. You must respect others. Notice what it says in verse 2. Verse 2. To malign no one. To be peaceable and gentle, showing every consideration for all men. To malign no one. Some of your translations may say to speak evil of no one. What that really means is slander or abuse,

particularly abusive speech. So you are to speak evil of no one or use slanderous or abusive speech against anyone. I think that we, have all seen in the culture here recently the effect of slanderous and abusive speech have we not you see what we saw take place a week and a half ago we saw take place a week and a half ago had to do with the overflow of too much abusive speech of too much slanderous speech of people speaking evil and convincing someone else that the best way to handle that is to take the law into their own hands and and try to deal with the evil that they'd been told that they needed to to deal with and we see this thank you and we see this all over the place right we we see this

happening everywhere we see this slanderous speech now now perhaps perhaps for those of us most of us sitting in this room today we're not slandering the the current authority because maybe you voted for that authority maybe not maybe some of you didn't but but i bet two and a half years ago you were slandering the authority weren't you you you were probably the one using the abusive speech against that authority it's interesting i listen to a lot of uh political talk radio and sometimes i like to listen to things that i agree with and i like to listen to things that i agree with and sometimes i like to listen to things that i disagree with if my blood pressure's too high i

listen to people that i agree with if it's too low i listen to people that i disagree with so you can tell how much i probably do each of those but but but i hear clips because each side says well you know what the other side said and i can play you just as many clips of conservatives saying evil things about democrats as i can liberals saying evil things about conservatives because that happens on both sides of the political aisle and and it's going to lead to more of what we saw take place a week and a half ago if we as the church don't start taking the lead and saying i will speak evil of no one do you notice that there's you notice that there's no qualifications there it doesn't say don't speak evil of the people that

you like it doesn't say don't speak evil of the people that are doing good things it says speak evil of no one now this doesn't just end with political leaders i'm watching this take place right this is what i'm seeing happening in the world i'm a kansas city chiefs fan you guys know that about me and listen it's a rough situation but we're going to get there and we're going to start to the year, right? Like, I'm definitely feeling 0 and 2 right now. And that's a Taylor Swift song. Anyway, but what I've seen is that everybody hates Taylor Swift, right? Now, y'all

know y'all some Swifties in here, and that's okay. I love you. I'm a Swifty too, right? I really am feeling 22, even though that's not how old I am. But I see all this hatred, right? And I see it on both sides. Like, the people that don't like Taylor Swift are like, I can't believe they just keep showing her on the TV. Like, really, she's a celebrity. They show every single celebrity that

shows up to a football game. You've ever noticed that? Clearly, you've not watched much football. If you've never noticed, they show celebrities on every single football game that shows up. She happens to be the biggest one in the world right now, so they're going to show her a lot. And all of these guys, all of these, I can't believe they just show her so much. She's so bad. Her music is

so terrible. You know, she's the devil. She's a witch incarnate. That's all that there is to it. That's hate speech, people. At some point in time, evil things are going to happen. But then on the other side, all the Swifties are just like, listen, she can do what she wants to do, right? You guys are a bunch of jerks, right? We've got to stop doing this to each other. I can't imagine what it would

be like to be one of these young kids that's on a large stage right now. I can't imagine what it would be like to be a 25-year-old athlete whose life hinges on how well you compete every single week. Because if you compete well and you do great, your Instagram is getting a lot of people blown up with positive comments about how awesome you are, about how great you are, about how happy they are that you're on their team. But the one day that you have that's bad, your Instagram gets blown up with how bad you are and how much you need to go die and how much you are just a loser of a human being. If you don't believe me, it happens all the time. This is a real issue in

the world that we live in today. How can a bunch of grown men and women treat a 25-year-old kid like that? Or any other human being like that? But listen, this doesn't just happen on the political scale or on the popularity scale. This happens individually too, right? You may not be out talking bad about some political leader. You may not be out talking bad about some famous

individual, some celebrity, some athlete. What do you say about the people that you don't like? What do you say about the people that hurt your feelings sometimes? What do you just say about people sometimes when you don't think anybody else can hear it? I'm here to tell you right now, that old adage, sticks and stones can break my bones, but words can never hurt me, is the biggest lie we've ever told ourselves. Listen, I don't want to give words

too much power, but at the end of the day, we remember things people say. I can tell you right now, I've had conversations with people that are my age and older that can take you back to a time when they were either in their early teens or younger. They can take you back to a time where somebody said one thing to them, and they have never gotten over it. Because it has defined who they are to this day. That's why Paul says, malign no one. And it's so

closely tied to others and the political leaders, and so he carries with him the idea of anyone. Listen, instead, what should we do? Instead, he says, malign no one, but to be peaceable and gentle, showing every consideration for all men. He says to be peaceable and to be gentle. And again, we're talking about how not only we treat people, but how we talk about people.

Now, I thought of two things when I read these two words. The first thing that I thought of when I read peaceable and gentle is I thought, well, that's Jesus, right? Like, if anybody handled themselves peaceably and gently in the face of all of the garbage that went on, it was Jesus, right? Just look at his trial alone as they're railing him with accusations, as they're physically abusing him, and he never once railed back. He never once even commented back. He just endured and continued to

show love and grace to the point where some of the people that were there, they were like, oh, that's Jesus. That's Jesus. Oh, that's Jesus. I thought of peaceable and gentle. But you know what the last words out of his mouth were, Father, forgive them, for they don't know what they're doing. See, I thought of Jesus when I thought of peaceable and gentle. But you know what else I

thought of? I thought of the fruits of the Holy Spirit, right? The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, right? And so what he just said here is live according to the life that Jesus lived power of the Holy Spirit as he produces that fruit in your life. You see, if you want to combat all

of the evil speaking, then you should start speaking things that are peaceable and gentle into the lives of people. One of the guys that spoke this weekend said that, I used to want to be a coach. And when I first started being a coach, I realized I didn't like parents. Listen, if you're a parent of an athlete, give the coach a break, okay? Your kid is probably not going to

the pros, okay? You just need to deal with that right now. And so quit maligning your coach all the time. You know, if he would just put my boy in, then I'm pretty sure we'd have won the game, right? And he said, first thing I didn't like was parents. He said, but the second thing I stopped liking is I stopped liking fans. Listen, I sit in a lot of sporting events, and I love sporting

events, and I can be one of these fans sometimes, okay? Full disclosure, I can get a little irritated because I'm a highly competitive human being. He said, but I stopped liking the fans. Why? Because they were jerks, and they were they treated me really bad. He goes, and then I started hating the refs because they started demeaning me too. This is what happens to us. Because when peaceable and gentle is not the

way that you handle yourself, eventually it creates a lot of discord. We've got to handle ourselves in a peaceable and gentle sort of way. And then he says one last thing about this. He says, showing every consideration for all men. Showing every consideration for all men. The understanding or taking in consideration for all men. This is what he said. Showing every consideration for all men. This is what he said. Showing every consideration for all men. The next thing I wanted to talk about was

unqualified consideration and courtesy to all. Unqualified consideration and courtesy. If you were to take that word consideration just at its bare roots, it can be translated true humility. True humility. The idea behind humility is to have that meek and and humble heart. Humility is such a hard thing to have in our lives, isn't it? Humility is so strange because it's the one thing that when you realize you've got it, you've lost it.

Because all of a sudden you started looking at yourself again. Listen, I've heard this quote assigned to about three different people, so I'm supposed to keep them humble. I won't name any of them. But humility is not looking down on yourself. Humility is not looking at yourself at all. That's the true idea of humility, is that you take your eyes off of yourself and have consideration

and courtesy for the people that are around you. In other words, treat other people like they've been created in the image of God. Treat other people like God died for them. Because you know what's true about every single person in the world? They've all been created in the image of God. You know what's true about every single person in the world? They all are people that

Jesus died for. And we have to start viewing people that way. Listen, there are a lot of people that I don't agree with. There are a lot of people that I disagree with their lifestyle, I disagree with their theology, I disagree with their religion. But at the end of the day, they've been created in the image of God. And I have to love them like that. I have to treat them

like that, because that's who they are. That's true humility. You know why it's so hard to treat people like that? Because my pride gets involved. And I think, how dare you disagree with me? How dare you not think like me? Right? And it strips us of that true humility. He says, approach people with true humility. And so he says, number one, we've got to respect the governing authorities. Number two, we have to respect

others. But how do we get to a place of respecting others? How do we get to the place of really having true humility? We have to remember what God has done. We have to remember what God has done. Look at verse three. For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our lives in malice and in vain.

Envy, hateful and hating one another. But when the kindness of God, our Savior, and his love for mankind appeared, he saved us. Not on the basis of deeds, which we have done in righteousness, but according to his mercy by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ, our Savior, so that being justified by grace, we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. So if we want to remember what God has done, the first thing we have to remember is who we were. We have

to remember who we were. This is what he says in verse four, or verse three. He says, for we were also once, number one, foolish and disobedient and deceived. We were foolish and disobedient and deceived. What made us foolish? Everything we did, right? No, what makes us foolish is that we didn't truly honor God. You see, I chose that psalm this morning specifically. People ask me

sometimes, how do you choose the psalm? And I say, I choose the psalm because it's the psalm that I love. I choose the psalm for the day. Well, I take whatever the date is. Today's the 21st. And I first of all look at Psalm 21, and I was like, nope, not feeling that one. And then I go every 30th psalm, and I came all the way to Psalm 111. I was like, oh, that one. Why? Because it says that

the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord. That would indicate to us the very opposite of what it says in Proverbs, that the fool has said in his heart, there is no God. Why are the people of the world living foolishly? And why were you living foolishly? Why were we living foolishly? Because we were living as if we had no God. And then he says they were also disobedient,

disobedient to everything God desires for us. But the other part of that first thing is that not only were we foolish and disobedient, but we were deceived. We were deceived. Do you know what we were deceived by? We were deceived by the original deception that came into the world. Do you know what the original deception was? You can be your own God. That's the original deception. And we're

all deceived by that because we're all told, you can be your own God. You can choose your own path. You can decide right from wrong. You can decide what fills you. You can decide everything for yourself because you can be your own God. You can be like God. And we lived our lives like that. And we were deceived. And because we were trying to be our own God and following that deception, we lived according to all of the garbage of the

world until one day we went, man, this doesn't do anything for me. This seems to leave me in the exact same place every single time. I must be being lied to. Because there must be more than this. And so the first thing he says of who you were is you were foolish and disobedient and deceived. And that led us into a lifestyle, which brings us to the second thing it says we are. Enslaved to various lusts and pleasures. Enslaved to various lusts

and pleasures. Do you know what the greatest deception is? Along with being your own God is that you're not really a slave. You're living in freedom because you're doing it your way. And look at you living in freedom. Not realizing that the freedom that you have created is the prison cell that you live in. Because you are now enslaved to lust. And you are now enslaved to

pleasure. There's all kinds of lusts and pleasures that people find themselves enslaved to. There are all kinds of lusts and pleasures you found yourself enslaved to. You were enslaved to the lust of power. You were enslaved to lust for money. You were enslaved to lust for sex. You were enslaved to lust for alcohol and drugs. You were enslaved to the lust of the material things of this world. As a matter

of fact, I can almost guarantee there's some of you sitting in here today and you're slaves. Maybe you're even a believer in Jesus Christ and you're still living as a slave. But I think that there's probably some people in here this morning that have heard the gospel their whole lives and you're still living like a slave. Because you're still enslaved to the lust of this world. Because the

lust is still what controls you. It tells you what to do. It's what you think about when you wake up in the morning. It's what you think about when you go to bed at night. And it's the only thing that controls every aspect of your day. And that's all that you can do because you are enslaved to it. And while you think you're living in freedom, you're ultimately living in a jail cell. And everybody else can see it but you.

And you've been told the pleasures of this world are the only thing that can fill you. But the problem with the pleasures of this world is that they're temporary. They'll only last for so long till eventually you'll sit down and say, dear God, there's got to be more than this. Because I am so empty from what this world has done to me. Do you know that there is an awakening

happening in the adult film industry right now? I read a short little snippet of an article this morning and they said people are leaving the adult film industry by the droves right now. Because they want to go find freedom. I read one testimony of a girl who said, I got involved in this because I didn't feel like anyone loved me. I didn't feel like I was pretty and I just wanted

someone to know me. I wanted someone to show me attention, so I got involved in this. And yeah, it earned me a whole lot of money, but it's left me so empty on the inside that I knew that the only thing that I could do is go find something to fill that. And the only thing that I have found to fill it is Jesus. And he has set me free. And they're leaving all that garbage behind so that they can go pursue Jesus.

You see, that's somebody who knew what it was to be enslaved by the lusts and the pleasures of the world. They knew who they were. Not only that, there's one more thing he says. He says, and we spent our lives in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. You see, when sin does its full work in your life, when you live according to deception, and then you're enslaved by lust and pleasure, it ultimately turns you into a bitter person.

A bitter person who unleashes hate and malice on everyone that's around them. That's why sometimes the closest people to knowing Jesus are some of the angriest people that you'll meet. You know why? Because they're fighting harder than anybody else in the world. Because they're fighting against that conviction that God is bringing into their lives. That's who you were.

That's who I was. And this is important for us to pay attention to for two things. Number one, if you're here this morning and you're not a believer in Jesus Christ, it's important for you to know who you are right now. It's important for you to know who you are apart from Christ. That you are deceived, that you are enslaved, and that you are bitter because of what sin has done in your life.

Because the only way that you can truly appreciate that sin is to believe in Jesus Christ. That's the only way. The good news is if you are absolutely wrecked with the bad news. You know how I know that? Because that's what I needed in my life. You know how else I know that? Because that's what it takes in everybody else's life. I was in charge of getting kids together.

We've got Fields of Faith coming up. I want you guys to be praying for this, okay? We've got Fields of Faith coming up October the 8th. Wednesday, October the 8th. And my job was to start lining kids up to give their testimonies. And so I reached out to some kids to give their testimonies. And it's fascinating. Some are from the depths. And some are. Some don't seem quite as deep.

But I know it's deep. But they all had one thing in common. And the one thing that they had in common is that they were lost in their sin. And they became aware of the fact that they were lost in their sin. You see, I think this is kind of Paul's testimony right here. Did you notice he used the word we? He didn't say you. He said we. He lumped himself in with everybody else.

See, every testimony has three things to make up a testimony. Who you were, who you are, and how Jesus got you there. That's it. So he says, this is who you were. So if you're here this morning and you're not a believer in Jesus Christ, I want you to understand, you've got a problem. And the problem that you have is sin. And that sin has deceived you, enslaved you, and is making you bitter in your life.

And there's only one place for freedom, and that's in Jesus. But you see, I think there's also a stronger word, maybe, for those of us that are believers in Jesus Christ here this morning. See, those of us that are believers in Jesus Christ, especially once you've walked with Jesus for a little while, you start to feel pretty good about yourself, right? You know, I think I've kind of done some good things in my life.

God's really used me in some powerful ways. I'm not who I was, but I'm doing pretty good now. And that makes us judgmental towards everybody else that's around us. And we start looking at the world, and we think that they're less than we are. We start looking at the world, and we think that they're dirtier than we are. We start looking at the world, and we shame them for the fact that they're just like we were.

Which is why you need to be reminded who you were. So that you don't look down on the world, but you look out with the world. So that when you get around the people of the world, you're not like, I can't believe you do that. Instead, you say, I did that. And let me tell you how Jesus saved me. Because that's what it looks like to have true humility. We have got to, as a church, stop looking down on sinners.

Because you are one. And what it takes is that true humility in our life. Because when that true humility takes hold of us, we look at everybody else very differently. I stop looking at people as the enemy, and I start looking at them as my mission. See, that's true humility. It starts off by understanding who we were. But the next thing we come to is the beautiful transition in Scripture,

but when. But when. Notice what it says. Verse 4. But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared. What beautiful words. Kindness and love, right? Like we were the most lost, dirtiest sinners you could ever imagine. But then the kindness and the love of our Savior. Appeared. When did that appear? Well, historically, it appeared when Jesus showed up on the scene.

Because He is the personification of the kindness and the love. Remember, it's all about Jesus. So we'll always go back to is it's Jesus. But I have a question for you, and I just want you to think about it in your own mind. I like to do this every now and then. I want you to think about when the kindness and the love of Jesus got to you. When did that begin to take its hold on your life?

And I can remember it. 1998. Right? A couple of days ago, 1998, on that night, driving home from working at a camp, washing dishes. And it just overtook me and it overwhelmed me. The love of God got a hold of my heart. The kindness of the Lord gripped me. And I knew I can't live like that any longer. I need to live for Jesus now. Not because I'm scared of judgment.

Although that's a really good reason. Not only because I'm scared of judgment. But because the love of God has been revealed in my heart. And that's what I want to pursue. It says, But when the love and the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us. But notice how He saved us. He saved us not on the basis of deeds which we have done.

Not on the basis of deeds which we have done. That's so important. This is what separates true Biblical Christianity from every other form of teaching that's out there. Right? It's what separates us from Catholicism. It's what separates us from Islam. It's what separates us from Mormonism. It's what separates us from Jehovah's Witnesses. The one thing that separates us is we realize is that we are not saved by our deeds.

Because in every other one of those I just told you, there's a deed that you have to do to have your salvation. Whether it's a sacrament, whether it's a work, whether it's a prayer, whatever it is. There's a deed that has to be done. But you see, according to the Bible, we are not saved according to deeds which we have done. Because there's never anything that could be good enough.

There's never anything that could be enough. We are not saved on the basis of deeds which we have done. So if we're not saved on the basis of our deeds, what are we saved on the basis of? We are saved according to His mercy. By the washing of regeneration and by the renewing of the Holy Spirit. We are saved by His mercy. Mercy is defined as not getting what you deserve.

And God in His mercy pours out salvation upon us. He withholds judgment and pours out salvation because of the work of Jesus Christ on the cross for us. I read this great quote by R. Kent Hughes. It says this, Salvation is a consequence of what is in God's heart, not what is in ours. Oh, he put it up there. Great. Thank you for catching up with me on that. Good thumbs up from you.

Salvation is a consequence of what is in God's heart, not what is in ours. That's why it's by His mercy. Because it is a consequence of the fact that God had so much love for us. That God had so much mercy for us. That God had so much grace for us. That He withheld His judgment and poured out His salvation because of the work of Jesus Christ on the cross. How does that take place?

Notice what it says next. By the washing of regeneration. By the washing of regeneration. That word washing is a beautiful word. A lot of people want to try to say that it's a beautiful word. A lot of people want to try to say that this is baptismal regeneration. You have to be baptized in order to be saved. That would literally violate the tenet of what he just said.

That it is not on the basis of deeds which we have done. And it's a different word. It's a different Greek word. It's the same Greek word that's used in Ephesians when he talks about the washing of the water with the word. The idea of washing here, listen, means to be bathed all over. It means to be bathed all over. Do you know what that means? It means that when you came to Jesus, He scrubbed you up really, really good.

You were covered in the dirt and the stains of all of the sin of the world. All of the we were was all over you. But He brought you into His family. And He washed you clean. He completely bathed you. And listen, I know every time I talk to a group of believers in Jesus Christ, I know that there is someone who is still living in the filth. The guilt of the filth that they had when they came to Jesus.

The guilt of the filth that they had when they came to Jesus. You are still living in that. You are still living with the shame of who you were before Christ. And you have not let go of it. And you are not really truly living in the freedom of the fact that you have been washed clean. That you have been set free from all of that stuff. And when God looks at you, He doesn't say, well, they're a pretty good person, except for that one thing that they did.

No, He looks at you and when you say, but Lord, this is who I was. He says, I don't know what you're talking about. Because He washed you clean. You have been bathed all over. And so if that's you, if you still live in that every single day, I want you to promise me you're going to do something. Every day you need to tell yourself the same thing. I've been washed clean.

Every time you wake up and you think about those sins of the past, because I know what that's like. I know what it's like to wake up in the middle of the night regretful over the things that you did before. I know what that's like. And every time you wake up in the middle of the night regretting the things of the past, you tell yourself, I've been washed clean.

I have been washed clean. Say it with me, everybody. I have been washed clean. That's who we are. And what have we been washed clean with? The regeneration of the Holy Spirit. The regeneration of the Holy Spirit. You know what the word regeneration means? The word regeneration means new birth. New birth. It's the production of a new life consecrated to God.

And this was my favorite definition that I read. It is the restoration to a pristine state. The restoration to a pristine state. I've been working with some college kids here lately. It's been really fun. And any time I start working with a new group of kids, I always try to start off with a baseline. The baseline I always start off with is in Genesis. I always like to start with Genesis 1-1,

because if you can believe Genesis 1-1, nothing else in the Bible is a struggle. If you can believe that in the beginning God created Bara, spoke into existence, the heavens and the earth, everything else in the Bible, pretty easy to follow, right? I can believe anything else it has to say, because the guy that created it wrote this word. Second thing that I tell them is that you were created with a purpose.

The purpose that you were created for is to know and to serve God. But there's one thing that has separated you from that purpose, and that's sin. Sin destroyed your purpose. There's only one thing that restores the purpose, and that's Jesus. And he takes that broken purpose, he takes all of that garbage and he washes it off of you, and he restores your purpose by washing you clean

and returning you to a pristine state. And now your purpose is restored. And that's who we are in Christ. We are restored in our purpose to Christ by the regeneration of the Holy Spirit. It says also the renewing by the Holy Spirit carries with it the same idea. Matter of fact, in the margin of your Bible, you might write 2 Corinthians 5-17. 2 Corinthians 5-17.

If you've not memorized this verse, I would highly encourage you to memorize this verse. Especially those of you that battle with feeling like you'll never be enough. Especially those of you that battle with those stains of sins from the past. Because this is what 2 Corinthians 5-17 says. It says, therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things have passed away,

all things have become new. I like hand motions, it helps me. Old things have passed away, all things have become new. Because that's who you are in Christ. A brand new creation. And if you're here this morning, and you're still living in the we were, then Jesus wants you to be a brand new creation in Him. Matter of fact, you could do it right this minute. You could just say, Lord, that's who I was.

Make me brand new. And in that moment, in the intensity of your heart, born again. That's what He does. Because what He'll do is He will send the Holy Spirit. Notice what this regeneration and renewing is by. It's by the Holy Spirit. He's the one who convicted you. He's the one who fills you. And now He's the one who empowers you to live as He has called you to live.

Whom, verse 6, He poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior. A brand new creation in Christ. Why? What's the result of that? So that, that's my next point, so that, verse 7, being justified by His grace, we would be heirs. According to the hope of eternal life. So that being justified by His grace, we would be heirs. The hope of eternal life. The word justified is actually,

it's a very legal term. Justified means, let me quote it correctly, to render or to declare righteous. To render or to declare righteous. It's fun to spread this word out. You've probably heard this before. If you have, please just indulge me for a moment. Just if I'd, justified, right? It's just as if I'd never sinned. See, when you come and put your faith in Jesus Christ,

He renders you sinless. He renders you innocent and declares you righteous. Just as if you'd never sinned. That's what it means to be justified and that's who you are in Christ. And that happens by faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross. So having been, so being justified by His grace, justified by His, there's the twin to mercy, justified by His grace

that's getting what you don't deserve, that we would be heirs according to the hope of eternal life. That we would be heirs, that you have the inheritance of the hope of eternal life. Everybody loves the thought of one day they're gonna have that rich uncle, right? I've searched my family history. I've looked for that rich uncle. That God bless him when he goes home to be with Jesus.

Will include me in his will. And he will give me all of the wealth in the entire world so that I can live the life that I truly was intended to live and have always wished that I could live.

Come on! I'm still looking for that rich uncle. I have not found him yet. But I have found that I have something even better than that. Because what I have are riches that will not rot. And rust. And be destroyed. That won't wear out someday. And I won't leave behind when I go to the other side of eternity. No. No, I have riches that extend beyond here. Riches that carry out into eternity.

And what I have on this side of eternity is I have a mission. A mission that I will spend my life wearing myself out trying to live out. And the mission is to make sure that as many people know who I was, who I am, and how Jesus got me there, I will wear myself out on this side of eternity because I know I have an inheritance on the other side of eternity. Don't get caught up in this world.

Don't get caught up in the things that the world says are important to you. Get caught up in the inheritance that you have and wear yourself out knowing that the inheritance is coming. That our true rest is waiting for us. Brothers and sisters, we need to understand something. If we want to respect others, if we want to respect authorities, if we want to live a life of good deeds,

it comes from a humble heart that is washed clean through God's saving grace. That's where it starts. It starts with the understanding of who I was, with the understanding of what Jesus did, and with the understanding of the hope that I have in Him. And so brothers and sisters, I pray that God's word does its good work in your heart today. I pray that God takes this message

and He turns it into a fire in your soul. That you go and live out in the world around us. Amen? Let's all stand. And if you'd bow with me. Lord, we come before you now and I praise you for the goodness that you show to us in just about every aspect of our lives, Lord. So much goodness and grace that we will spend all of eternity praising you for it and learning about it.

And so Lord, I pray that as we go out from here that the truth of your word would sink deeply into our hearts. Father, that like Paul, I pray that we would know and understand the height and the depth and the width of the love of Christ. That we would know the love of Christ that surpasses all knowledge and that we would be filled with all the fullness of you. Father, I pray for every person in here that you would overflow them freshly and newly with your Holy Spirit.

And God, that you would do your work in our hearts. Father, we just praise you. Lord, it just makes us want to say praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise Him all creatures here below. Praise Him above. Praise Him above, ye heavenly hosts. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. So Father, we praise you for who you are. In Jesus' name, amen. Be blessed.

I love you guys. Be his face, shine upon his tomb. Be gracious to him. Blessing over each and every one of us here, Lord God. That you go with us. That you go before us. That you go behind us and beside us, God. Bless each and every one of us here. As we leave today. We love you and we praise you in Jesus' name. Amen. You guys have a wonderful week. God bless you.