Teachings Of Titus #4

In the previous sermon, Titus 2:1-10, Paul gave Titus some good INSTRUCTIONS to give to all age levels, from the elderly to the young.

In this passage of scripture, he now gives them the MOTIVATION for why they should do these things.

He does this by sharing the message of grace with them. He gives them FOUR things to consider. Such as:

I. THE GRACE OF GOD SAVES US

Look at verse 11. We read, “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men.”

Illus: If I was to give a large Webster’s dictionary to everyone in this congregation, and ask you to pick out the MOST IMPORTANT WORD IN THE DICTIONARY, it would be interesting to see the many different words we would consider to be the most important in the dictionary.

But I know, beyond any doubt, what the most important word in every language in the world is; IT IS THE WORD GRACE.

• It is a word that is often mentioned in the songs we sing in our churches.

• It is a word that is often used in Sunday School lessons and sermons.

• It is a word that is used throughout the Bible.

• It is a word that many think they understand the meaning of, but some do not have the slightest idea of what it means.

The reason it is so difficult for us to understand what this word means, is because we mortals use the word incorrectly, over and over again in daily life

For example, a man might do a favor for a friend, and we say that he is “gracious”. IS HE REALLY? Most likely, he may not be gracious at all.

You see, when we do something for someone, sometimes we expect something in return. And anytime you expect something in return, you are not being gracious.

You are swapping favors! All of us are good SWAPPERS, but we are not all good GIVERS!

Illus: If I give you a Christmas gift, you had better give me one or next year you will not get one from me.

We call this a GIFT, but actually this is a TRADE.

Since we use the word incorrectly in this PHYSICAL LIFE, very often we will also use it incorrectly in the SPIRITUAL LIFE.

GOD’S GRACE and MAN’S GRACE are not the same.

• When man is gracious, he expects something in return.

• When God is gracious, He expects nothing in return.

This is why Ephesians 2:8-9 says clearly, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the GIFT of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.”

• The Bible makes it amply clear, our works have nothing to do with our salvation, NOTHING!

• Our works have everything to do with our rewards, but nothing to do with our salvation.

If we could do one thing to earn salvation, ONE THING, we would not be saved by grace.

Illus: Sometimes we hear people say, “I believe we are saved by grace, BUT you also have to do this or that to be saved.”

These who believe this way do not have the slightest idea what the word GRACE means.

• If they did, they would NOT say, “I believe we are saved by grace, butttt….”

• If they knew what the word Grace meant, they would say, “I believe we are saved by Grace, period.”

Those who believe that salvation is by GRACE AND WORKS, give more praise to themselves than they do to the Savior, the Lord Jesus.

For example, suppose a man claims he got saved at the age of twenty. But this man believes we are saved by grace AND works. He got saved at the age of twenty, but this same man goes on to live to be eighty years of age. If this man claims the Lord saved him at twenty, but he kept himself saved since then, he is giving more glory to himself than he does to the Lord Jesus. How is he making this claim?

• Because the Lord saved him when he was twenty years of age..

• But he kept himself saved for sixty years.

That would make him receive more glory than the Lord Jesus, because the Lord saved him only of twenty years of sinning, but he saved himself for sixty years.

But mankind can not save himself or keep himself saved. The Lord does ALL THE SAVING, we did ALL THE SINNING.

We do what we do because WE ARE SAVED, not because we are trying to ACQUIRE SALVATION.

The fact is, everyone who enters heaven will be there because of what Christ did on Calvary.

But there will be some who are saved by grace who will be there, but they will have no rewards.