Three Motives for His Sacrifice
Titus 2:11-14
Intro
The motive that precedes action is supremely important. We all wonder about the motives that people have as they interact with us from day to day. They wonder about ours. The motive behind an action adds significance to that action.
It is encouraging to study the Word of God to discover the motives of our Father God. One can look through the New Testament and discover that our precious Lord had many motives that moved him in his ministry to bring salvation to a needy race. Our text focuses on three of these actions.
READ TEXT
I. The Proclamation of the Good News
a. As Paul spoke to Titus, he proclaimed the gospel in a sentence: “Jesus Christ gave himself for us.”
i. Jesus expected to die on the cross.
1. Death by crucifixion was not a last minute emergency action on the part of Jesus Christ to bring about our salvation.
2. A study of the prophetic Scriptures of the Old Testament indicate that somehow in the plan of God, the Messiah who was to be Prophet, Priest, and King, was also to be a suffering substitute for us.
3. Isaiah 53:4-9
Surely our grief’s he himself bore, and our sorrows he carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was pierced through, for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; but the Lord has caused the iniquities of us all to fall on Him. He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; like a lamb that is led to slaughter, and like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, so he did not open His mouth. By oppression and judgment He was taken away; and as for His generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living for the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due? His grave was assigned with wicked men, yet He was with a rich man in His death, because He had done no violence, nor was there any deceit in His mouth.
ii. Jesus chose to die for us.
1. Jesus was not a draftee who rebelled against his faith.
2. Rather, he saw himself as a loving, obedient Son who chose to give his life.
3. John 10:17-18
For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life so that I may take it again. No one has taken it away from me, but I lay it down on my own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father.
iii. Jesus’ death on the cross for us reveals to us the length to which his loyalty to the Father went.
1. Jesus death for us shows the depth of the Father’s love for us.
iv. The good news is that Jesus died for each of us.
1. By his death he bore the punishment that sinful people should have suffered.
2. In doing so he opened the door to God for us.
3. He permits us to enter the kingdom of God, where we are brothers and sisters to each other.
4. Everyone is included in the offer.
II. The motives for his substitutionary sacrifice
a. There were many motives our Lord to the cross, but our text speaks of three that we will consider today.
i. Christ died for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity
1. Isaiah was overwhelmed with a sense of his own wickedness and iniquity when the eye of his soul was opened and he saw the Lord. (Isaiah 6:1-6)
2. These words may seem strange in this modern day when so many people lack a consciousness of sin.
3. Christ’s atonement has many repercussions:
a. His death sets us free from all wrongdoing.
b. His death rescues us from our evil, self destructive ways.
c. His death frees us from the wickedness that comes from living away from God.
i. To redeem someone is to purchase a person who occupies the role of a slave. It means to rescue someone from self destructive attitudes, aims, and actions. Jesus liberates us from a lawless way of life that disregards the laws of God and pursues selfish disobedience.
ii. Christ Jesus gave himself that he might “purify for himself a people that are his very own.”
1. Our Lord did not die on a cross to save us and then preserve us in a sinful state.
2. He came that he might bring about wonderful changes within us.
3. The conversion experience involves confession and forsaking the old way of life.
a. Isaiah 1:16-18
“Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from my sight. Cease to do evil, Learn to do good; Seek justice, reprove the ruthless, Defend the orphan, Plead for the widow. Come now, and let us reason together,” says the Lord. Though your sins are as scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they will be like wool.
4. Our Lord works to bring about this purification by making us aware of the imperfections in our lives.
5. The apostle John encourages us to confess continually and forsake the ways that are contrary to the will of God.
1 John 1:7
But if we walk in the Light as He himself is in the Light, wee have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin
.
a. A part of God’s plan for bringing about our purification is the bestowal of the Holy Spirit at the moment of our conversion.
b. God has also given to us his Holy Spirit, by which it is possible for us to learn how to live a clean and holy life.
c. The Father also uses chastisement to turn us from ways contrary to his holy nature and will for us.
iii. Our Savior gave himself for us to produce a people zealous to do good.
1. Jesus did not die merely to rescue us from going to hell when we die; he did not give himself for us solely that we might go to heaven when we die.
2. Rather, he gave himself for us that in us and through us he might bring a heavenly way of life to the here and now.
3. A part of Christ’s motive for giving himself for us was to produce a special people to do what is right.
a. He wanted to produce a people with real enthusiasm and ambition for doing good and noble deeds; he would have us set our hearts on living a life that is good.
4. Our Lord wants us to be characterized by enthusiasm for doing kind things for others.
a. God, our Father, is very good and wants us to do good.
b. Our Savior is described as one who went about doing good.
c. Paul wrote to the Ephesians, “We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works.” (Eph. 2:10)
i. One of Jesus’ great motives for us was that we might be busy doing good deeds for the glory of God and for the welfare of others.
Closing
Christ chose to die for me and for you. His motives behind the choice are clear. He desires to redeem, rescue, and deliver us from all that enslaves, harms, or disappoints. He also wants to be pure and unstained in this wicked world. He yearns for us to be enthusiastic about doing good in the world today. Because of the grace that has appeared in Jesus Christ, let each of us decide to let him do his good work within us. Let us make that decision now and live the rest of our lives seeking to cooperate with the motives behind his death for us.
