FOUR WORDS CONCERNING GOD’S AMAZING GRACE – Part 1 of 2
Titus 2:11-15
INTRODUCTION:
A. Your worst days are never so bad that you are beyond the reach of God’s grace. And your best days are never so good that you are beyond the need of God’s grace.
1. The words of Jerry Bridges ring clear concerning Grace
2. Pleasant words indeed – Grace, God’s Amazing Grace
3. It is something we need to hear more about in our churches and practiced more in our communities!
B. Many definitions could be given to grace but let’s keep it simple
1. Grace can be defined as “free unmerited favor”
2. When attached to God, as in “God’s grace” it is the free unmerited favor that God shows towards man.
C. In speaking about grace Charles Swindoll recalls his last spanking when he turned 13 years old.
1. Chuck said, “Having just broken into the sophisticated ranks of the teen world, I thought I was something on a stick.
2. My father wasn’t nearly as impressed as I was with my great importance and new-found independence. “I was lying on my bed. He was outside the window on a muggy October afternoon in Houston, TX, weeding the garden. He said, ‘Charles, come out and help me weed the garden.’ I said something like, ‘NO, IT’S MY BIRTHDAY, REMEMBER?’
3. “My tone was sassy and my deliberate lack of respect was eloquent. I knew better than to disobey my dad, but after all, I was the ripe old age of thirteen.
4. Dad set a new 100-meter record that autumn afternoon. He was in the house in a flash and all over me like white on rice, spanking me all the way out to the garden.
5. As I recall, I weeded until the moonlight was shining on the pansies. “That same night he took me out to a surprise dinner.
- Earlier, he gave me what I deserved
6. The birthday dinner was a matter of grace (I did not deserve it). He showered his favor on this rebellious young man. And I enjoyed grace.”
D. Grace what an amazing thing! AMEN!
1. This morning we sang one of the greatest hymns ever written, as far as I am concerned – Amazing Grace
2. It was written by John Newton. A self proclaimed wretch, moral despot.
3. As a mid-shipman upon the man-of-war, H.M.S.Harwich (1744) he found the conditions intolerable and deserted
4. He was found, flogged, demoted to common seaman, and at his request traded to a slave ship, where as the servant of a slave trader he was brutally abuse.
5. In 1784 he was rescued by a captain who had known his father and was eventually promoted to captain of his own ship.
6. On May 10, 1748 John was saved after coming through a bad storm and while reading a book he had found on board ship entitled The Incarnation of Christ by Thomas a’ Kempis
7. Between 1755 and 1760, having left slave trading, he met George Whitefield and John Wesley, began to preach and became friends with the poet William Cowper
8. He and Cowper set a goal to write a new hymn for each service they held
9. Amazing Grace was probably written as one of these service songs somewhere between 1760 and 1770, no doubt as Newton contemplated God’s grace, amazing grace towards himself
10. At age 82, near to death and his memory all but gone he said, “My memory is nearly gone but I remember two things: that I am a great sinner, and that Christ is a great Savior.”
11. The grace of God is truly Amazing Grace!
E. And so this morning I want to bring the first of two messages that will take a look into this Amazing Grace of God .
1. Please turn in your Bibles to Titus 2:11-14,
For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, [12] Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; [13] Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; [14] Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works
2. In these four verse we can find evidence of Four Words Concerning God’s Amazing Grace and they are:
a. Salvation
b. Sanctification
c. Expectation
d. Consecration
3. So let’s ask God to open the riches of His grace as we delve into the first two words Concerning God’s Amazing Grace!
PRAY
We will begin with a wonderful Word Concerning God’s Amazing Grace
I. SALVATION - Titus 2:11 For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,… Here we have two observations from this word concerning God’s Amazing Grace
A. First, It Brings Salvation
1. Salvation is wholly of God, nothing and no one else can provide it.
2. Listen to the testimony of Scripture
a. Ephes. 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
b. Romans 3:24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:
c. Romans 5:21 That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.
3. It is only by God’s grace that we can be saved and that grace is found in Jesus Christ
a. It was John who proclaimed in John 1:14, 16 the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth…And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace.
b. By God’s grace we come to realize …there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. Acts 4:12
4. Grace is the avenue by which we come to salvation in Christ!
B. The Second Observation Is That It Has appeared To All Men, Titus 2:11 For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,…
1. The grace that brings salvation to man is available to anyone!
a. When we come to understand our lost condition – that is we are separated from God by sin, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
b. When we come to realize our wretched mortality, the wages of sin is death
c. When we come to realize our eternal destiny, to be cast into the lake of fire
d. That is when grace becomes so precious to any and all of us
2. It is available to all because it is a gift freely given by God to us
a. For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Romans 6:23
b. And whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved! Rom 10:13
c. The apostle Paul wrote, That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. Romans 10:9
3. Jesus died for our sin, that by the grace of God he might take our place and give us life
- For we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man. Hebrews 2:9
C. Here is a Word Concerning God’s Amazing Grace to you this morning – SALVATION - you can be saved from your sin, death and hell
1. If God is speaking to your heart this morning do not pull away, for even the drawing of your soul to Himself is an act of sovereign grace, for Jesus said, No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: John 6:44
2. I did not deserve it, you do not deserve it, but God by His most Amazing Grace is calling us into His family
3. And so I utter the words of John found in Rev 22:17, The Spirit [of God] and the Bride [His Church] say come!
The first Word Concerning God’s Amazing Grace is SALVATION. The second words is
II. SANCTIFICATION, Titus 2:11-12 For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, [12] Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;
A. John Newton is given credit for a quote that illustrates this point. He said: I am not what I ought to be. I am not what I want to be. I am not what I hope to be. But still, I am not what I used to be. And by the grace of God, I am what I am.
1. As new Christians we have been changed as pointed out in 2 Cor. 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
2. The way we think, our desires, our associations all change
3. We are on our way to becoming more like Jesus.
4. Again there are two aspects to this word of God’s amazing Grace - SANCTIFICATION
B. The first Mentioned Is In A Negative Form, Denying – Teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts….
1. The Greek word translated “ungodliness” was used in Judaism to speak of that which was a transgression of the law, both in attitude and action
a. And so when we talk about the negative aspect of sanctification we are to DENY that which will lead to breaking God’s law – not following His word
b. It shows a lack of true reverence for and devotion to God
2. We are also to deny worldly lusts
a. These are the desires that move us from God to the world
b. They could be sexual lusts, which are most commonly thought of, but they could also be lust for power, things, looks, position, and so on.
3. We are to deny these things – not let them into our lives – it is an act of the will that is spirited on by Grace!
C. Then There Is The Positive Aspect, Live - Teaching us that,…, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;
1. Soberly – self-controlled, a sound mind - controlling our passions
- John MacArthur states this could relate to the divine and continuing charge within us – that is keeping ourselves clean
2. Righteously – this is speaking of our relationships with others
- Living in such a way as to keep our relationships with others where God would have them to be
3. Godly – having our relationship with God as He would have it to be
4. We could look at it this way – by grace we are to live in such a way as to align ourselves, others and God into harmony with God’s will
5. The inward, outward and upward dimensions of life coming together as a whole to honor God.
D. We must understand that for this to happen GRACE must be active in our lives, we cannot do it by ourselves.
1. Remember the quote of John Newton, he probably had read the words of Paul in 1 Cor. 15:10 But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.
2. The Word Concerning God’s Amazing Grace that deals with our becoming more and more like Jesus Christ is Sanctification!
CONCLUSION: In closing let me say,
A. Praise God for His amazing Grace for it allows and empowers us to become more like our Savior and thus bring glory to our most gracious heavenly Father
B. Paul wrote in Ephes. 2:7 That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.
Oh. The amazing grace of God who saved a wretch like me
I once was lost but now I’m found, was blind but now I see.
Twas, that amazing grace, that taught my heart to fear,
and grace my fears relieved;
How precious did that grace appear, the hour I first believed.
C. The first two words concerning God’s amazing Grace: Salvation & Sanctification
1. Next week we will look at Two more words Concerning God’s Amazing Grace: Expectation & Consecration
2. And that will finish the Hymn of Amazing Grace, How Sweet The Sound. (Read the last three verses)
