INTRO.- ILL.- Preacher Dwight L. Moody loved to study the Bible topically, and it occurred to him one day that he had never studied the subject of grace. Setting aside a day, Moody gave himself to the study of God’s grace. But a second day was required. Even on the third day Moody had not finished his task.
By the late afternoon of the third day, however, Moody was so filled with his subject that he had to go out on the street and talk to somebody about it. Stopping a complete stranger, Moody said, “My friend, do you know anything about grace?”
Surprised at the question, the man replied, “Grace who?” “Why,” Moody responded, “the grace of God that brings salvation.” (Titus 2:11) Moody then left the stranger standing on the street wondering about the grace of God.
I’m sure that all some people know about grace is “Grace who?” That is, it’s only a name of a woman and it doesn’t have anything to do with God, but in reality, it has a whole lot to do with God, because He is the God of all grace! And He is a gracious God!
I Peter 5:10-11 “And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen.”
Our God is the God of all grace because He is gracious and extends His grace, His unmerited favor toward us in so many different ways!
I think perhaps there are a great many people in our world who feel like they deserve every good thing they get in life. But in reality, every good gift comes from the grace of God, not because we deserve them or we authored them.
James 1:16-17 “Don't be deceived, my dear brothers. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.”
We shouldn’t be deceived about our good gifts by saying we deserve them or by thinking we made them happen. I think the truth is, we all deserve hell because we have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory but because God is full of grace He blesses us with good things and offers to us eternal life through faith in His Son!
Our text in Titus 2 is rich with God’s grace. It’s a gold mine of God’s grace and we need to dig out those gold nuggets and treasure them.
PROP.- Our text tells us about the grace of God and what it does for us.
1- The grace of God brings salvation
2- The grace of God teaches how to live
3- The grace of God gives hope
I. THE GRACE OF GOD BRINGS SALVATION
11 For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men.
Ephesians 1:7 “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace.”
ILL.- I read about a noted author who was not a believer but attended a revival meeting out of curiosity. When the invitation time came a man approached him and encouraged to go forward confess faith in Christ. The author refused. The man asked, “Don’t you want God to forgive you of your sins?” The author replied, “No, I like my sins.” I think this may be true for some people today. They are having too much fun to give up their sin. And some sin may well be “fun” to some people.
Hebrews 11:24-25 “By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh's daughter. He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time.”
Some people think it’s fun to drink and get high. But the after affects may not be so much fun.
Proverbs 23:29-32 “Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaints? Who has needless bruises? Who has bloodshot eyes? Those who linger over wine, who go to sample bowls of mixed wine. Do not gaze at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it goes down smoothly! In the end it bites like a snake and poisons like a viper.”
Anyone who has suffered from a hangover may not say that drinking, getting high or getting drunk is much fun. And the same is true of the after affect of abusing drugs.
But some sin may be pleasurable, things that seem to bring delight to the physical body such as sexual sin or perhaps overindulgence in eating food or the addiction to certain hobbies that keep people away from the Lord.
ILL.- I knew a Christian young man many years ago who enjoyed truck and tractor pulling. He built a big horsepower truck just for that purpose. Soon, he found himself traveling almost every weekend to compete. There was nothing wrong with truck and tractor pulling. The problem was he began missing worship all the time. He was devoting his attention, time and money to the things of this world. He was focusing on his gifts and not the Giver.
Matthew 6:24 “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” And you cannot serve both God and the things of this world whether they appear sinful or not.
11 For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men.
Because God is love, He is gracious enough to save us from our sins, which separate us from Him. How has His grace brought salvation to all men? John 3:16. His grace is in the person of Jesus who became sin for us on the cross so that in Him we might be saved from our sins and become righteous in God’s eyes. IT’S ALL ABOUT JESUS. He is the personification of God’s salvation and God’s grace.
And God is not a respecter of persons. His salvation is offered to all mankind. God is not willing that any should perish that all should come to repentance.
Before people can be saved, there must be a recognition of sin. People need to be broken over their sin before they will ever look up, bow down, confess Christ, surrender to Him and be saved from their sins. There should be both recognition of sin and repentance from sin. But many people don’t think they’ve sinned. Why? Because they’ve never been taught. They’ve never heard it preached like preachers used to preach. You won’t hear it from many modern “feel good” preachers whose emphasis is only trying to make “feel good.” The only way people can really ever feel good about themselves is when they repent and get right with God.
Romans 6:23 “The wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
II. THE GRACE OF GOD TEACHES HOW TO LIVE
12 It teaches us to say "No" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age...”
Did your mom or dad ever say “No” to you when you were young? Why, of course. We were taught that certain things were dangerous for us and we were told, “no, no!” As in “Don’t touch hot stove. You’ll get burned.” Or “No, don’t play with matches.” Who uses matches any more?
Or there were times when mom took us shopping and we wanted this or that and we were told, “No, you can’t have that!” Or “No, we can’t afford that!” Or “No, you don’t need that!”
Proverbs 3:11-12 “My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline, and do not resent his rebuke, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in.” A loving parent will say “no" at times to their children. And a loving parent will also discipline a child for being naughty or nasty. And so with God our Father. God says “no” at times.
ILL.- The late Dr. J. Wilbur Chapman used to tell about a Methodist preacher who often spoke on the subject of sin. He minced no words, but defined sin as “that abominable thing that God hates.” A leader in his congregation came to him one time and urged him to stop using that ugly sin word. Said he: “Dr. Blank, we wish you would not speak so plainly about sin. Our young people will be more likely to indulge in sin. Call it something else, such as “inhibition,” or “error” or a “mistake,” or even “a twist in our nature.”
“I understand what you mean,” the preacher remarked and going to his desk brought out a little bottle. “This bottle,” he said, “contains strychnine. You will see that the red label here reads “Poison.” Would you suggest that I change the label, and paste one on that reads, “Wintergreen?” The more harmless the name the more dangerous the poison will be.”
It may be that one of our problems today is that we don’t label “sin” as sin. We like to make it sound like it’s no so bad. I really think this has happened in our world. It’s happened in our schools, in the movies where sin is socially acceptable. And many times it has happened in our churches. We have not called sin by its first name! And that’s one reason why people don’t fear God and don’t recognize sin and don’t fear what it can do to them.
12 It teaches us to say "No" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age...”
Some things in life are sinful and scripture is clear about them and God says, “No” to us about engaging in them.
Colossians 3:5-10 “Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.”
The scripture is full of “do nots.” And God clearly says “No” to certain things in life or to the way of the world. What part of the word “no” do we not understand?
Sadly, many people, including many Christian go the way of the world, thinking it doesn’t matter what they do in life. But it does matter and that’s because God says so. We need to allow God and His grace to teach us how to live and a part of that living is leaving certain things alone.
ILL.- My dad always smoked. He smoked cigarettes and occasionally, he would smoke a pipe. Smoking was the “in” thing for kids to do or try back then. I don’t remember the first time I ever tried smoking a cigarette but I do remember imitating my dad by smoking a grape vine or two from our back yard. And they were awful. That should have told me something right then. We often learn the hard way, but it took a while longer for me to learn that smoking wasn’t that great and that it was something my body didn’t want in it. The same with alcohol.
Why don’t we just learn from God’s grace by listening to His Word? God’s grace in scripture tells us what to do and what not to do. He tells what is good and what is evil. WHY NOT LEARN FROM GOD’S GRACE?
III. THE GRACE OF GOD GIVES HOPE
13 while we wait for the blessed hope--the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, 14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good. That blessed hope.
ILL.- Elaine and I have for many years watched the popular reality TV show, “American Idol.” We have enjoyed watching the singing talent of young people. We have also enjoyed watching the “X Factor” talent show. We, like many, appreciate good singing talent. But what is it that motivates these people, mostly young people, to try out for these shows? IT’S CALLED MONEY!
When American Idol came on the scene they were offering a million dollar singing contract to the winner. Then the X Factor came out offering a five million dollar singing contract. Wow! Even bigger money and more motivation. The hope of many people in our world is to become wealthy. And yet Jesus said in Matthew 16:26 “What shall it profit a man if he gains the world and loses his soul?”
I Timothy 6:9-10 “Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”
One old saying is: “There is nothing wrong with having money as long as money doesn’t have you.” Meaning control you, control your thinking and control your whole life.
Our true hope is in the Lord who provides for us every day. He gives us every good and perfect gift. He should be our hope in life, not making money or acquiring more material things or anything else.
I John 2:15-17 “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.”
Anybody with half sense and one eye can see that this world will someday cease to exist. It will cease for us either at our death or the Lord’s return. Either way, the only hope for life beyond this life is in the Lord Jesus.
We wait for the blessed hope--the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. What’s so great about the return of Jesus? We get to go home to glory where there is no pain, no sorrow, no crying, no death. Only peace, comfort, security, joy, eternal joy!
CONCLUSION------------------
ILL.- John Newton, on being asked his opinion on some subject, replied, “When I was young I was sure of many things; there are only two things of which I am sure now: one is, that I am a miserable sinner; and the other, that Jesus Christ is an all-sufficient Savior.”
And that John Newton was the man who wrote, “Amazing Grace. How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.”
Did Newton know something that we don’t? Did he recognize something that we don’t?
11 For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men.
2 Corinthians 8:9 “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.”
Steve Shepherd, Cape Girardeau, MO
shepherd111@hotmail.com
