 In Titus chapter 2, we're going to look at verses 11 through 15 as we continue our series here in the book of Titus. I'll begin reading at verse 11. I'll read to verse 15. And we're going to be looking at the grace that brings salvation. And so Titus 2 verse 11, for the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for himself his own special people, zealous for good works, speak these things, exhort and rebuke with all authority, let no one despise you. And so this portion of Paul's letter is extremely powerful because what he's doing here is giving us insight into the grace of God has revealed to us through the Son, Jesus Christ. Now remember as we begin, and let me give you a synopsis, kind of an overview and return you to this passage in just a moment, remember how that Paul had begun the letter by commending Titus, and he had referred to Titus as being his true Son in the faith. Now it's commonly accepted that Paul wrote 13 letters, 14 if you include the book of Hebrews. And in all of his letters that he wrote, which is basically half of the New Testament, in all of his letters he only refers to two men as his sons. One of those men is Timothy, the other is Titus. When he referred to him as a true son, Paul was saying that he had been converted under Paul's own ministry, that he was his spiritual father. In 1 Corinthians in chapter 4 verse 15 in what is called the Contemporary English Version, in 1 Corinthians 4 15 it reads, 10,000 people may teach you about Christ, but I am your only Father. You became my children when I told you about Christ Jesus. And so Titus was one of his true sons, only two mentioned in the New Testament, Titus as well as Timothy. And Paul had a conversion relationship with him and loved him deeply. So as his genuine son, Titus was to safeguard the message of eternal life that Paul was preaching. Remember in chapter 1 verses 2 and 3, Paul had said that the hope of eternal life is manifested through preaching, the preaching of the gospel. The message of eternal life is to be given uncorrupted to the churches in Crete. So many of the churches were then being infiltrated. So Paul told Titus, you need to set things in order to protect the church. A system of church elders had to be set in place and these were to be men of character. So Paul, as he was speaking concerning these men's qualifications, Paul gave a list of character traits and these character traits were important because badly lived lives undermine the gospel. The traits that were listed, as I've gone through this more than once, were actually traits every Christian can possess. So with the foundation of character, they were to be men of the word. That's what I believe makes them a bit different. Every person should have these character traits because we can have them in Christ. But the gifting that went along with these particular character traits is what is going to make them capable of being elders and leaders in the church. And so with this foundation of character that he had spoken of, they were also to be men of the word of God. They were to be holding fast to, but Paul said, is the faithful word as they had been taught. So we all have character, but not all of us are equally capable of teaching the word of God. And so the elders are to be capable of by sound doctoring, he said, to convict those who are contradicting, speaking of the infiltrators. They're to be gifted spiritually so that they might be able to communicate the message of the gospel clearly. In the book of Romans in chapter 12 verse six, that portion speaks of gifts that differ according to grace and proportion, he said, to our faith. And then in verse seven, he went on to say that our gifts are exercised by faith in our ministry as well as our teaching. And so they had a foundation of character, but they also had gifts that had been distributed to them, and they are capable of taking the word of God and communicating. So with that in mind, the elders are to be men of character and men of the word of God, because that enables them to represent Jesus and the church properly. In first Peter three verses 15 and 16, the apostle Peter had said, sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, but with gentleness and respect and keep a good conscience so that in the thing in which you are slandered, those who disparage your good behavior in Christ will be put to shame. So be capable and able of communicating doctrine and live that doctrine in such a way that if somebody should disparage you speak down upon you, call you into question, they're going to be ashamed because they're lying. And so this new way of life that transforms people is found in the word and occurs by the power of the Holy Spirit. And so as we've gone through this, we saw that this new way of life, this word of God, the power of the Holy Spirit makes older men sober and temperate, sound in faith, love and patience. It makes older women reverent. It makes them not be gossips, not addicted to wine. It gives them the ability to teach younger women good things such as loving their husbands, loving their children, being discreet, which means to be wise or discerning, to be pure in behavior, and also to be one who builds a home. It teaches younger men to be sober-minded. When he speaks of being sober-minded, this is what the word of God does, it teaches younger men to control their thoughts. It's been said that our emotions follow where our minds go and drives our behavior. And so as younger men, you're to have a sober-mindedness. And how does that take place? Ephesians 4.23 says, by being renewed in the spirit of your mind. So there to be emotionally stable, spiritually strong. And so Romans 12.2 says, do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. That you may prove what is that good, unacceptable and perfect will of God. And so he's speaking concerning how this word of God and how the spirit of God is transforming people. And because a new way of life is actually modeled, he went on to say, Titus is to be an example of a believer. He's to be a pattern, he said, of good works, so that people can see what a Christian life actually is. When Paul was saying goodbye to the elders of the Church of Ephesus, they were in a place called Miletus and he had called them to meet with him. And as he was speaking to them, because it was the last time that he would see them face to face. He said in the book of Acts chapter 20 verses 18 through 20 that when they arrived, he said to them, you know how I lived the whole time I was with you from the first day I came into the province of Asia, I served the Lord with great humility and with tears and in the midst of severe testing by the plots of my Jewish opponents. You know that I have not hesitated to preach anything that would be helpful to you, but have taught you publicly and from house to house. Paul could point to his own life and he could say, imitate me insofar as I imitate Jesus Christ. And he's simply saying the same thing to Titus. He's saying, you need to be an example. You need to be a model. You need to be a model Titus of good works of doctrinal integrity. Titus you need to be a model of reverence and incorruptibility because that's going to be the pattern the elders will need to see and that's the pattern they need to follow. He went on as we've seen and he spoke to the bond servants, the bond servants who had been saved and he was saying you too will be used by God. And if you want to have an impact, be respectful, be hard workers, be honest because that's going to adorn the beauty of God's message of transformation. And so with all of that that he's been saying up to this point, Paul now moves to share how this is going to be made possible. Notice verse 11, he says, the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. How is this going to be possible by the incredible grace of God? Grace from God towards us motivates our lives to live graciously towards other people because that which we have received, we are to freely give to others. And this grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to us when he says grace, that speaks of God showing his undeserved favor towards us. Grace is the way that he influences our souls and turns us to Jesus Christ. Paul is saying that the hope of heaven and a transformed life begins with the grace of God. And this grace has been revealed to us by Jesus Christ. And so the grace of God that brings salvation notice he says to all has appeared. That word appeared means to become clearly known. It speaks of becoming clearly evident. God saving grace has become evident in the incarnation of Jesus Christ. Now, when you when you read the writings of the apostle John, John speaks concerning God and gives to us certain things about him to help us to know what God is. He said in John, for example, John 424, he said God is spirit and those who worship him must worship him in spirit and truth. God is spirit. In 1st John in chapter 1, verse 5, he said God is light and in him is no darkness at all. So God is spirit, God is light. In 1st John chapter 4, verse 8, he said God is love and the one who loved not know not God, he said because God is love. And so he was speaking to us and giving to us things of the Lord, God is spirit, God is light, God is love. Well, all of those things are fulfilled in the incarnation in life of Jesus Christ. There's something else that has been manifested to us in Jesus. And that is God's grace. In John 114, John said the word was made flesh and dwelt amongst us. And we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the father full of grace and truth. And so God manifested to us his light, his spirit, his love, but he also manifested in the incarnation of Christ his grace. Someone said in the sin stained darkness of men's lives, God's grace as the morning sun has risen. This grace that brings salvation has become clearly known. It's been manifested. The grace that brings salvation is clearly known by sending his son. We have been saved, as Scripture says, by grace. In Ephesians 2, 8 and 9, it is by grace you have been saved through faith. This is not from yourselves. It's the gift of God, not by works so that no one can boast. If there's anything that every religion that I'm familiar with, that I've ever heard of or read concerning or studied, it's that salvation in every religion that I'm aware of will come through self-effort. That's what they say. You have to try. You have to work. Within the Jewish religion, you had to keep the law of Moses. In every religion you look at, it's based on man's efforts. There's really not even a sense that you can be sure that you can be saved, except for Christianity. In Christianity, the Bible teaches us very clearly that it's not by works of righteousness which we have done. According to his mercy, he saved us by the washing of regeneration, the renewing of the Holy Spirit. It's by grace that you've been saved through faith that not of yourselves. It's the gift of God and not by works, less than a man should boast. What we have done is we have been given the opportunity of seeing grace manifested. The God who is spirit, the God who is light, the God who is love is also the God who is grace. Jesus Christ revealed or manifested openly declared and showed us what God is like. What God is like is he's loving, he's merciful, and he's gracious. And that has been made manifest to us through Jesus Christ. And by the way, that is the true Christmas message. In Matthew 1.23, it reads, Behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear a son. They shall call his name Emmanuel, which is translated God with us. And so God took upon himself human form, dwelt amongst us, manifested these things to us, laid down his life on a cross in order that we might have salvation. And it is God's grace that brings salvation to us. It's his grace revealed to us in Jesus Christ and it's his grace that is proclaimed to us through the gospel. So we receive salvation through personal faith in Jesus by believing the gospel. At the age of 20, I have a friend whose name is Bill. Bill usually watches on Wednesday night, so he's very well watching right now. I don't like you, Bill. And I've known him since we were in kindergarten together. So it's been a long time. He's probably too old to remember that, but it's true. And when the Jesus movement had begun, and he had begun going to a place called Calvary Chapel in Costa Mesa and was trying to get me to go with him, I kept refusing to go because I believed that because I had been raised in my personal testimony, I had been raised as a Catholic, I believed that he being a Protestant was completely wrong. He just didn't, you know, he's just wrong. That's all there was to it. And so I didn't respect what he was saying. Even though I didn't live out my own Catholic faith, I believed that what I had been taught was right because after all, your mother wouldn't lie to you now, would she? And so I believed that what my mom told me concerning God and why my mom had me go to the Catholic Church and be baptized and the sacrament of penance and communion and confirmation and all those things. I thought that that had secured me in a certain direction in life that ultimately when I got tired of partying and things and got older and got married, that I would outgrow my sinfulness and find a good Catholic woman, get married. And that's pretty much my plan in life. That's what I expect to do. Like many of my generation did. This is no knock on my religious experience or training or whatever. The sincerity of my mother and those who trained me in that faith. It's just that I didn't have a relationship with God. And now I have a friend telling me about Jesus Christ and I had a problem with that because Bill had never gone to church in his life. As a matter of fact, I had taken him to church the only time I ever knew he went to church and I had taken him to church, to the Catholic Church and all. And now this guy is telling me about God and I didn't like it. And so I went to my parish priest, one of the priests there at St. Pires, the 10th church in Santa Fe, Spring. Some of you may be familiar with that. And so I went to my parish and I spoke to one of the parish priests there and I remember sitting in his office and I had made an appointment and I went in to speak to him. And I said, I need to talk to you. And he said, what do you need to talk about? I said, I have a friend. And I used the word Protestant as like it was a dirty word. I said, I have a friend. He's a Protestant. You know, it was like I was swearing, you know, and clean my mouth after saying it. And then he's telling me about Jesus Christ. And I said, I need some answers. I need some answers to give to this guy because he's so insistent that what I've learned is wrong and that what he knows is right. So can you help me? Can you give me some answers to tell him what the truth is? I was very sincere. I wasn't wanting to fight. I didn't want to argue, you know, out of that fleshliness. I wanted sincere answers because I was at that point in my life that that I knew I needed. I needed something I didn't have. And I was considering at that time what faith really is. And so I went with sincerity and I'll never forget the priest. Don't remember his name, but I do remember what he said. He said, and he leaned back in his chair and he crossed his feet and kind of in a relaxed pose. And he says, yeah, I've tried other things. I've tried Eastern religion. I've tried the meditation and things like that. And that was his attitude. And he said, and I came back to my Catholic faith. So will you? That was it. That was that was his answer. And you got to put it. I got to put it like this. I was 19 years old and not yet 20. And I remember I remember looking saying to myself, he doesn't know he doesn't know what truth is. I remember thinking that I'm no philosopher and I'm no genius. God knows that. But I said to myself, he doesn't know what truth is. It was just obvious. What do you mean? I'm going to float on. What do you I got really inside upset? Because I said, if you really ask to myself, if he really I didn't want to argue with him, I was taught to respect religious leaders. But in my heart, something's wrong here. Because if he really knew and he really believed and if heaven was really real and how was real, he'd have at least the same emotional feelings my friend Bill has when he's arguing with me. And Bill's bill doesn't know anything. You know what I'm saying? Does that make sense? Bill didn't know anything. And yet he's telling me I'm wrong. And you, you spent years in seminary. You're a parish priest. And you don't. And I walked out of that place. And that's what actually opened me up to hear what truth actually is. Because when the representative of truth could not give it to me, I went to the one who could. And that came out of the word of God. Grace and truth come through Jesus Christ. That's how it comes. It's the message of the gospel. And it's this grace that has been manifested to us by Jesus. That is available to everybody. It's available to the aged men. It's available to the aged women. It's available to the young women, the young men, the slaves, all are welcome. It's like what it says in Revelation 22.17, the spirit and the bride say, come, let him who hears say, come, let him who thirsts, come whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely. God's grace brings salvation. God loved the world. God sent his son to save any who would come to him. Psalm 348 says it like this, taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man who trusts in him. And so God is gathering his people from all mankind. In 1 Timothy 2 verse 4, Paul had said God wants all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. And so God's grace is manifested to us. Verse 11 again, the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. The grace of God he's speaking about that brings salvation is Jesus Christ in his incarnation and communicated to us by his message. And grace is to teach us, notice verse 12, grace teaches, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lust, we should live soberly, righteously and godly in the present age. And so grace teaches us. The word teach speaks of guiding. It's a word that is used often when it speaks of training children. So to be taught is to be instructed. It speaks of learning. It also speaks of correcting when necessary. And grace is that which is used by God to mold the character of others. And so through God's grace we are walked step by step into maturity. And that's why Paul is so concerned about these false teachers who are entering into the churches of Crete because it's going to undermine the work of grace because God's grace trains us to live holy lives, not unholy lives. You see even in our day as was true during that, some can still live sinfully. But they say, well, I'm just, I'm just living in, in, in grace. In the case of some, they'll, they'll live in a sinful way because they're, they're young and, and they're, they're still growing. Don't even understand certain things. When I first got saved, you know, I, I, I didn't have a problem with some things that later on I learned were wrong. It's just that was my lifestyle. I had yet to learn that some things were forbidden by the Lord. Some things were unhealthy for me. And it took a while for me to start realizing these things. And those things began to fall away as I yielded them up to the Lord by hearing the word of God and then making a determination that I was going to obey what I was learning. Well, sometimes people are, are, are young in the faith and they haven't been saved for long. So they're learning what pleases God. But there are others that continue in sin willfully, even though they know better. And that's a different matter. When you have been taught and you've heard, then you are now accountable for the things that you've heard and the things you've learned. It's not as if you're ignorant of those things and said, oh my God, I didn't know that was wrong. Now I do know it's that sometimes people have heard it. It's not right to do these things. And, and they want to continue in that. And, and they say, well, I'm still under grace. But no, that's, that's not correct. Paul in Romans chapter six, verses one and two said it like this. He said, what shall we say then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means. We are those who have died to sin. How can we live in it any longer? No, are we to continue in sin? Because the greater the sin, the greater the grace, therefore grace will increase? No. If you know what is right, then do that, which is right. In 1st John chapter two, verses five and six, John said, if anyone obeys his word, God's love is truly made completing him. This is how we know we are in him. Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did. And so God's grace trains us. God's grace changes us. So we're not saved out of sin to return to it as a lifestyle. It is understanding God's grace that teaches us this. So what does it teach us? Verse 12, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lust, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lust. Since grace in Christ is incarnated, his life reveals to us how we live. And his grace teaches us to deny. That word deny means to abstain from or reject. It speaks of having nothing to do with certain things. His grace teaches us to reject certain things. His spirit who indwells us gives us power to reject sin and have victory over it. That's something I want to emphasize for just a moment tonight. You have not been left without help. Jesus said it like this, I will not leave you orphans. I will come unto you. I'm not leaving you without aid. This is something the Lord has been trying to teach me now for a very long time. So I'll share it with you so you can join in the struggle with me. In Christ, I can have victory. No, I'm not saying in Christ, I'm perfect. No, I'm not perfect. Yes, I am. No, I'm not. I'm not. Of course, I would never present that sinless perfection. No, but just because I know that my flesh still wars against the things of the Spirit does not give me permission to continue in sin either or to excuse it as being, well, that's just the way I am. Because there are a lot of people who say, well, that's just the way I am. You know, you know, when I get depressed, I drink, but that's just the way I am. If somebody provokes me and I pop them in the head, well, that's just the way I am. No, you know, that's not the way it is. I have no excuse. I have to grow in my faith and love for the Lord to realize that whatever it is that I do, I don't want to do something that adds to the sins that he saved me, that he took from me when he died on the cross. I don't want to be adding to that, if you will. I believe that when we came to faith in Christ, our sins were cleansed by the blood of Christ. The Bible teaches that, but that doesn't give me permission to make excuses for continuing in the things that he had actually washed me from. I need to reject those things. Romans 6 tells us in verses 12 through 14, therefore, do not let sin, do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life. Offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness, for sin shall no longer be your master because you are not under the law, but under grace. So, grace sets us free. Why go back to that which we have been set free from? And that's the point. And so, what do we do? Well, he says, well, grace has been given to us so that we might deny ungodliness. Ungodliness is simply living as if God doesn't exist, because it's like denying the existence of God. There's no God, ungodliness. It's living as if God doesn't exist. It reveals a lack of devotion to him. You see, no one living a habitually ungodly life could ever truly be saved. In 1 John 3, verse 10, it says, this is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are. And he says it like this, anyone who does not do what is right is not God's child, nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister. So he says, if you don't do what is right, you're not like your father. He says you're not God's child. So we are to habitually be aware of the fact that we're to live for him. And he said, we are to habitually deny worldly lust. Now, worldly lust. These are the sins that we may not be guilty of practicing, worldly lust, but they're the ones that we wish we could. If we knew nobody would catch us, they're the sins, the lust, the worldly lust, that Pina Colada looks so good. It's that thing. What would you do if you knew you wouldn't get caught? That's the worldly lust. It's the things that draw you to do the things that are wrong. You may not be doing that, but you may not be doing that because you haven't been given opportunity. So they're what are called the sinful cravings of our flesh that entice us. And these are desires that we may recognize, so we intentionally need to reject them and resist them. Because we've been saved, we do have the power to reject ungodly things. In Romans 6.19, Paul said, I put this in human terms because you are weak in your natural selves, just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever increasing wickedness. So now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness. When I first got saved, we treated Bible studies. And again, we were 20 years old. I wasn't married yet or anything like that. So I had an open calendar. I wasn't yet with the ball and chain. I'm in trouble. Anyway, when I was 20, before I was saved, all you'd have to do is say, and this is, I lived in Norwalk, so they'd say there's a party in Whittier. And so we'd jump in cars and go to the party, right? There's a party in Pico. So we'd go to Pico River. That's where the party is, right? So wherever the party was, La Habra, you name it, that's where we would go. There's a party in. Jump in the car, bang, we're there. That's the way it was. We were always ready to party, always. When I got saved, they would say there's a Bible study in, we'd get in the car and we'd go. It changed. The way I had yielded myself to my party life, I yielded myself to my new life. I think we should still do that, by the way. I really do. There's a Bible study in La Habra. There's a Bible study in La Marada. There's a Bible study in Costa Mesa. There's a Bible study in Long Beach. I can still remember those early days where we would jump in the car. We'd fill the cars up and off we would go to the Bible study. We'd get the word of God. Why? Because we'd been saved. Because God had transformed me. Because God had forgiven me. Because I had a new life in Christ. I had hope. I had joy. I had peace. I was forgiven. And I want to grow in my knowledge of God. I want to serve the Lord. I want to be a part of the team. I don't want to be the person who sits on the bench chewing on the glove wishing I was in the game. I don't want to be that guy. I want to be the guy who dirties his uniform plain. I want to be the guy who's out there giving it my all. And at the end of the game dusty, dirty maybe with ripped knee because of whatever I fell or slitter. I played baseball for years. When Marie and I were dating, I played one on three teams. She would come with me on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday. I was on teams. Going to college and working. And going to church and Bible studies. And so when people say, I don't have time. Oh, come on, please. I eventually taught three Bible studies a week and still was going to work. Still was going to school. Still, you know, I was and married and raising children. No, you, every one of us has been given by God 24 hours. And it just depends on how you use those hours. And what I decided to do is to try and use them for him. And it worked that way for me. And it always has. So I've been doing this when I'm doing right now in this church for over 40 years. And Wednesday, some of you wish I didn't, but I have. I've been doing it for 40. Why? Because what else is better than talking about Jesus and what changes your life? Right? I mean, that, that's just the truth. And so what you do is you learn to habitually deny these things and, and you reject those things and you resist those things. And so as I'm reject, rejecting these things, this, this worldly lust and this ungodliness, I'm also to embrace things. And so he says, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lust, verse 12, we should live soberly, righteously and godly in the present age. We live soberly. The word soberly obviously can be used as not being drunk, that guy's sober, but it speaks of being with a sound mind or sensible to live soberly means to avoid distractions. And to avoid bad influences. Your pastor in your life is not necessarily me and I know that, but you may not know who your pastor actually is. Your pastor is the one who influences you in how to live your life. That's your pastor. You go to a Bible study, even like this one, and you leave and you talk to your friend and your friend says, he said this, he said this, he said this, I don't agree with that because I think this, there's your pastor. He's the one who's influencing you. He's the one who's telling you how to live or she's the one who's saying, no, those things are wrong. I heard somebody else say this. And that's how influence works in you. So what we do is we deny those things that will take us away from the Lord and we live sensibly. We live in a way that we understand and reject those things that are bad influences. It says in a 1st Thessalonians chapter five verse eight, let us who are of the day be sober, put it on the breastplate of faith and love and for a helmet, the hope of salvation. So we live soberly. We live righteously. That word righteously speaks, living right before God or upright. We live righteously. We live honestly. We live justly. We live with integrity towards other people. We live with integrity. That's a word that I think needs to be brought back to our modern vocabulary because sometimes there's, there really seems to be an obvious lack of integrity today being a person of your word. You know, oh, I'll do that. And then you just don't show up that kind of thing. There are a lot of people who do that. Psalm 15 verses one and two says it like this, Lord, who may abide in your tabernacle? Who may dwell in your holy hill? Then he gives the answer. He who walks uprightly works righteousness and speaks the truth in his heart. This is the person who will abide with me. And my father many years ago, and you'll tell by this illustration how old it is, the minute I say it, some of you, my dad had hired someone, my dad had been in here in my church. My dad was actually my first person I ever prayed with to receive the Lord in my mom. And when I got out of the army, my dad and my mom and my sisters and a couple neighbors were the first people who attended Bible studies with me. And so my dad and mama were part of my spiritual life from day one, from day one and part of my spiritual ministry from day one. And so my dad was speaking to me on one occasion. And it's, we were here already in this property when we were used in this church building here as our main sanctuary. So it was a number of years ago now. But I'll never forget my dad speaking to me because he said, and again, this is about 25, maybe almost, almost, almost 30 years ago. But my dad said, I'm very disappointed son. And I said, Why is that? Why is that dad? He says, Well, he said, I was speaking to one of the men in the church who does brickwork construction. I said, Yeah. He said, I needed to put a fence up. And my dad had half acre parcel in Ontario. And he had a lot of space in the front of the house that needed to have a fence. And he says, Oh, I hired one of the men in the church to build a fence for me. I said, Well, that's, that's good. You know, hiring a brother to do the work and and blessing him. It's a good thing, dad. He says, Well, yeah. He said, The problem is, he said, When you look at the gate, if gate is, is not hanging straight, my dad and I are the same. And this he taught me this, it's got to be straight. If it's not straight, that's the only thing you see. You know, and my dad, he said, It's not straight son. I said, Oh, and it wasn't just the gate. It was the brickwork. And it was not level. My dad, that's all he could see. And he said, I've spoken to him and and he won't come and fix it. He won't repair his work. And then he said this to me. I'll never forget. And this is where the illustration is dated. He said, I get better service from Sears than I do from brothers and the Lord. Think about that for a minute. You know what brothers and the Lord did to my family more than once as they would say to them, Well, you know, I'm just I'm having a hard time. You need to understand. They always plead grace when in fact, but the money I gave you, I gave you to do a job. And you didn't do the job. And now I'm supposed to be gracious to you because you weren't a man of your word. And so I'm not knocking anybody because there's nobody in here that supplies to is there. No, there's nobody. So I'm not making this personal. What I'm saying is, but that's true, isn't it? That is true. I've seen that. I've seen that. Oh, I'll be there at such and so time, never show up, never call, just don't come. No, we're supposed to be in Godly and righteous. We're supposed to have integrity. We're supposed to live in such a way as it is a demonstration that we understand the grace of God. We're to live Godly. The word Godly speaks of a life that is earmarked by reverence and respect for the Lord. In 1st Timothy four, seven and eight, it says, having not have have nothing to do with Godless myths and old wives tales, rather train yourself to be Godly. Physical training is of some value, but Godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and life to come. So we're to have this Godliness, he says in verse 12 in the present age. So that speaks of the time that we're living in as we await the return of Christ. And this is the kind of life a person who knows Jesus is coming soon will live. What is the motivation to live like this? Verse 13, he says, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for himself his own special people, zealous for good works. Looking for it that when he says looking for it, the blessed hope looking for speaks of anticipating and longing with the with expectation in the hope that he's speaking of this blessed hope, that speaks of a confident certainty. Looking for anticipating with a confident certainty the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. That's a very clear reference to the divinity of Jesus Christ. In Romans 9 verse 5, speaking of Israel's advantages, we read, there's are the patriarchs and from them is traced the human ancestry of the Messiah who is God over all. Forever praise, amen. Hebrews 11 3 speaks of Jesus in this way, the Son is the radiance of God's glory, the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty in heaven. So awaiting the great God and Savior Jesus Christ, this refers to the second coming when Jesus returns to planet earth. So God's grace trains us to live separated lives as we await Jesus Christ who is our hope and the anticipation of being with him motivates service for him while we await. In 1 John 3 2 and 3 it says, dear friends, now we are children of God and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is and all who have this hope in him purify themselves just as he is. Your grace trains us to be prepared for the return of Christ. And then he closes in verse 14, speaking of the one who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from every lawless deed. As a voluntary ransom for us, he redeemed us from, as he says, every lawless deed. His redemption sets us free from the power as well as the habit of a sinful life. And the freedom that is found in the gospel and made possible by grace is what has set us free. And Galatians 1 4, who gave himself for our sins that he might deliver us from this present evil world according to the will of God, our Father. And notice, he says, we are now verse 14, his own special people, zealous for what? For good works. We're not saved by good works, but by grace we perform good works to his glory. We are according to 1 Peter 2 9, chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God. He says that you might declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light, called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Isn't that great? Think about it. Called you out of darkness. I know our lives are lived in sinful darkness, darkness, you know? And then God by his grace just turned on the light. And when he turned on the light, everything changed. I see things clearly now. I see things the way he would have me to see them. How do I do that? By giving myself to his word. Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way by taking heed there to according to that word? That word have I hidden in my heart that I might not sin against you. What gives me light, Jesus Christ? When light in my darkness, Jesus Christ, what is the word of God? It's a lamp into my feet. It's a light into my path. And so God has given to us freedom to resist sin and have victory over it and to await the coming of his son, Jesus Christ. And finally he says, verse 15, speak these things. Exhort and rebuke with all authority. Let no one despise you. Titus, your responsibility as a pastor is to consistently reinforce these things and live up to the message, Titus. But don't let people ignore or bypass what God is saying. Don't let people get away with living in sin. That's why I reminded you in this letter that there is a message you have been given that is the message of life. There are false teachers who are entering the church. They are influencing the older men, the older women, the younger women, the younger men, and even the slaves. So you need elders who are men of character and the word who are capable to convict and convince those who are bringing in false teaching and who are doing it or in order that they may profit from you, get rich off the sheep. And therefore he says you be an example to them and teach them to be looking forward to the coming of Jesus Christ, that they might live lives that are prepared to be with him and to see him, that they will deny ungodliness and will be less. They'll live soberly, righteously, and justly in this present age and they will live with an anticipation of the return of Christ. And you tell the church over and over again, and don't let anyone despise you. Don't let anyone make you feel inferior because you are a man of God. So you live for God and you tell the people what God wants. Titus, that's your job. And that's the job, by the way, of every pastor. Do not be afraid of the congregation. Love them, but tell them the truth. Because if you do so, they will be safe. And that's what shepherds are to do. And so Father, we ask that you would