Gods Response To Our Sinfulness Part 2
Previously in Titus chapter 3 we have learned a 7 fold definition or explaination of spiritual depravity of mankind. The spiritual condition of all people before God saves them. It is a list that decribes our sinfulness.
Foolish
Disobedient
Deceived
Enslaved To Various Lusts And Pleasures
Spending Our Life In Malice
Envy
Hateful or Hating One Another
Last Sunday we looked at Gods response to our sinfulness. It all stands in wonderful contrast to the human condition as described in Titus 3:3.
In verse four of chapter 3 Paul gives us a crash course in salvation. So in order to review these incredible elements of salvation, lets read it again.
Titus 3:4 through 7
But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, 5He 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, 6whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
God Meets Our Sinfulness With Kindness And Love. God Meets Our Sinfulness With His Mercy. Mercy is God NOT giving us what we deserve.
God Meets Our Sinfulness With Regeneration And Renewing. God Meets Our Sinfulness With Jesus Christ Our Savior.
Now last Sunday we learned that the big theological word for this is soteriology .
Today I want us to learn the Bible word for what God has done to save us.
That word is Grace.
Last Sunday we looked at Gods mercy.
Mercy is God NOT giving us what we do deserve. It could be said that Grace is God Giving us what we do Not deserve.
Definitions of grace abound.The standard one is Gods unmerited favor. My personal favorite defintion is this.God doing for us and in us what we could not do for or in ourselves.
John on Grace.
John 1:12 through 13
But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, 13who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
Jesus on Grace.
John 6:26 through 48
Jesus answered them and said, Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. 27Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you, for on Him the Father, God, has set His seal.28Therefore they said to Him, What shall we do, so that we may work the works of God? 29Jesus answered and said to them, This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent. 30So they said to Him, What then do You do for a sign, so that we may see, and believe You? What work do You perform? 31Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, HE GAVE THEM BREAD OUT OF HEAVEN TO EAT. 32Jesus then said to them, Truly, truly, I say to you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread out of heaven, but it is My Father who gives you the true bread out of heaven. 33For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world. 34Then they said to Him,Lord, always give us this bread. 35Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst. 36But I said to you that you have seen Me, and yet do not believe. 37All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out. 38For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. 39This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day. 40For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day. 41Therefore the Jews were grumbling about Him, because He said,I am the bread that came down out of heaven. 42They were saying,Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does He now say, I have come down out of heaven 43Jesus answered and said to them, Do not grumble among yourselves. 44No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day. 45It is written in the prophets,AND THEY SHALL ALL BE TAUGHT OF GOD. Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to Me. 46Not that anyone has seen the Father, except the One who is from God; He has seen the Father. 47Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life. 48I am the bread of life.
John 14:16 through 23
I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; 17that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.
18I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19After a little while the world will no longer see Me, but you will see Me; because I live, you will live also. 20In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. 21He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him. 22Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, Lord, what then has happened that You are going to disclose Yourself to us and not to the world? 23Jesus answered and said to him,If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him.
John 15:1-7
I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. 3You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 4Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. 5I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. 6If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned. 7If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
I think that if we were having a conversation with the Apostle Paul and we were to ask him to define grace, I think he would direct us to Titus 3:3 through 6.
Grace must be understood in the context of the list from Titus 3:3 and the doctrine of total depravity. Or, total inability. When we look at this and most of us are not all that bad we are not nearly as bad as we could be but in truth we can be very bad.
But maybe you are only 1 percent as bad as you could be or maybe you are only 1000th of 1 percent as bad as you can be. So when you compare yourself to how bad you could really be, or even when you compare yourself to how bad someone else might be, you look pretty good.
And there may not be anything wrong with that unless it causes you to loose sight of how spectacular and marvelous the Grace of God really is.
Perhaps you can remember from last week the glass of pure water with one drop of dirty water. Grace is God meeting us at our point of need and doing for us what we could not do for ourselves in order to save us.
Ephesians 2:8 and 9
8For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.
Grace is:
God Meeting Our Sinfulness With Kindness And Love
God Meeting Our Sinfulness With His Mercy
God Meeting Our Sinfulness With Regeneration And Renewing
God Meeting Our Sinfulness With Jesus Christ Our Savior
