 You're welcome back. Just before we went for a break, we completed our study on Chapter 2 of Titus. So anyone has any questions, any doubts, anything you'd like to ask? Or anything that you want me to explain again, reiterate? No questions, no doubts? Okay, thank you, Jeffina. Okay, I'll take the silence for a no and we'll move on to Chapter 3. Okay, where Paul is talking about respecting authority in the first and the second verse. So can one of you read verses 1 and 2 please? Remind them to be subject to rulers and authorities to obey, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing all humility to all men. Thank you, Rosalind. So in Titus, basically in Titus Chapter 3 verse 1 to 8, Paul is speaking like a kind father in the faith to his son Titus. And also to the believers at Crete, he's reminding them of basic ways that they need to behave in relation to this godless world. And he says remind them, the grammar for this word remind in the ancient Greek is actually the ancient Greek text says reminding, which means is the present tense go on reminding. So Paul is telling Titus, keep on reminding people to be subject to rulers and authorities. Now why is Paul telling Titus to go on reminding people to be subject to rulers and authorities is because the Jews they basically said or they believe whether they were Jewish believers or just Jews by faith. They said that no believer in the true God had any responsibility to the civil government and its laws because these things were purely human, these things were of the world. So we do not conform to these laws, we do not adhere to these laws, we do not respect those in governmental authority. Or we don't come under them, we are not subject to them, but we are only subject to God's laws commands his authority and his rule. So Paul is here writing and telling Titus, keep on reminding them that they need to be subject to rulers and authorities. I see Paul writing about this even in Tim, when he writes the church at Ephesus, the church at Rome, he's telling them, we studied how they need to be subject to rulers and authorities and obey them, obey the earthly masters and those in governmental authority. So Paul says that, you know, when we subject ourselves to rulers and authorities, then we become a witness. So to be powerful witnesses in this present world, it requires us that we need to be subject to rulers and authorities and that we must show respect for them as individuals. We need to respect their office that they hold, excuse me. So he says that we must show respect to them as individuals and respect the offices that they hold. We must also obey the laws of the land, the society, unless, you know, those laws go against what God has commanded us in his word. Now we've studied this, when we studied the book of Romans and also when Paul writes to Timothy. And then he says to be ready for every good work. So he's saying, apart from being obedient to the laws of the land, apart from being obedient to the government authorities, he says Christians also need to take an active role and active part in promoting the welfare of their community. So to do good works in the community, so the community can be helped and to help in the welfare of the community. So we see that Christians by and large have done great tremendous work that has helped in the welfare of our community and the world around us. Then he says to speak evil of no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing all humility to all men. So Paul is telling us and he's writing to the Church at Crete, who are known for their, you know, notorious behavior. We already saw this in the introduction, the background of the Cretan people. The Cretans were known to be notoriously turbulent, quarrelsome and impatient of all authority. And so he's writing and he's saying as Christians, we ought to resolve differences with our neighbors, with people we're living with in our workplace and make peace. And he says it's very important to maintain good relationships with our neighbor than to stand up for our rights. Okay. Now, you know, he says showing all humility. Sometimes we think humility is you shouldn't show humility as people override us. People take advantage of us. What humility is translated as meekness, meek meekness and meekness is not necessarily or does not mean weakness. But meekness rather means, you know, strength under control. So even when you are being meek to somebody who is hurting you, who is troubling you, your irritating neighbor who is troubling you, you know, or your coworker, your employer, your boss, you know, is irritating you, troubling you, being difficult people in the family as well, you know, we need to show humility, which means we need to be meek. And basically, we can only show humility, we can only be meek when we are under the control of the Holy Spirit. Okay. That's when we can under strength. That means we can control an anger, the words that we want to lash out with, revengeful behavior, we did for that, you know, speaking things against them, pointing out their mistakes, all can be done. But, you know, meekness is having the strength to control, to practice self-control. And we know that, you know, meekness, kindness, self-control are all the fruit of the Holy Spirit. So we need to respond graciously, kindly, even when we are wrong, which is very difficult for me. I find it extremely difficult. But, you know, just reading this, preparing this yesterday, you know, it's just kind of God has been working on me as well. You know, how we need to respond and be gracious and be kind. So, Paul goes on to mention what should inspire us to, you know, behave in this way. He says that, you know, we ourselves, once upon a time, we were like those people who will be in this world, or your irritating neighbor, your coworker, your friend, or, you know, people you travel with on the bus, or, you know, or in your flying, or you're in the train. You know, yes, there are people who are worldly, they, you know, they don't know how to be humble, meek, kind, loving, gracious, self-control. So he's saying that, you know, there's a reason why we can be meek. There's a reason why we can, you know, exercise strength under control show humility is because we ourselves, once upon a time, even before we accepted Christ, you know, we were having that sinful nature. We were bad by nature as any one of them that we encounter in our world today. And God, in spite of our shortcomings, in spite of our sinful nature was kind to us, he treated us kindly and saved us even when we did not deserve it. So he goes on to mention what should inspire us to behave in this way. That is what he will read in verses three to eight response to the Saviour. So can one of you please read verses three to eight, please, of chapter three? For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. But when the kindness and the love of God, our Saviour, toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to his mercy, he served us through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit. Whom he powered out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ, our Saviour, that having been justified by his grace, we should become heirs according to the hope of internal life. This is a faithful saying and these things I want you to confirm consistently that those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable to men. Amen. Thank you, Luvega. So in verse three, Paul is reminding us of what we used to be. He says that, you know, we, here we signify as Christians, believers. He says it's easy for us to become angry, impatient with unbelievers who act selfish. But if you want to behave as Godly people towards them, if you want to treat them in kindness, humility and meekness, then we need only one thing can help us to have the strength and the control. Of course, the Holy Spirit, but also remind us that who we were before we met Christ. We too acted in the same way these people do. That's what we read in verse three. Before we met Christ, we were living in our own sinful lustful passions, we were foolish, disobedient, deceived, we were living for pleasures. But he says, keeping in mind how we used to, will be able to enable us, you know, to treat ungodly people with grace and compassion. Knowing that, you know, hey, when we were like this, God showed us his grace and compassion. So when I exercise grace and compassion towards these people, what is going to happen? You know, it's basically that they are going to be led to the Savior. They're going to say, hey, I shouted at this person. I said such mean things, such rude things, such annoying, disrespectful things. But the way this person is reacting towards me, the way this person is treating me, show me so much of grace and love and kindness and compassion. And then they might even ask you, you know, how can you react like this or how is your attitude so different towards me? You can lead them to Christ. And that is, you know, a sign, a miracle and a wonder that you can actually do apart from just doing your healing miracles or other miracles. Why did people come to Jesus? You know, even though he was sometimes tired and running away from people, people reached the spot even before he did. And what does the Bible tell us? You know, when Jesus saw the multitudes, the crowds, he was moved with compassion and he healed them all. So he did not say, hey, tell his disciples, I'm tired. I need a break. You know, these people are simply following me. Tell them to wait. Let me just take a nap, at least a power nap and come back. He doesn't say all that. He just ministers to them because his heart is moved with compassion. So that is why people follow Jesus because of his love, his forgiveness, his compassion. And yes, of course, because he did science, miracles and wonders. And what does Paul write when he talks about the gifts of the Spirit in verse Corinthians chapter 12? Well, he says the greatest of all this is love. If you don't have love, you can't flow in the gifts. So to flow in the gifts of the Spirit, you know, some of you are wanting to flow in the gifts of the Spirit, manifest the gifts of the Spirit. You're praying for that. The basic thing is love. You know, if you don't have love towards people, then the gifts are not going to operate and flow freely through you. So Paul lists seven characteristics of unbelievers. He says we were foolish, which means, you know, a spiritual wisdom or we did not have spiritual wisdom or understanding. We did not know God, you know, we were disobedient to God's laws, his ways, the gospel of Jesus Christ. He says we were deceived. Third one, deceived means basically to roam or to go astray from the truth, to wander from the right way. Why do we wander away from the right way? Because of our ignorance, because we were spiritually foolish, we had no spiritual understanding because of our unbelief. And because of the false religious teachings that we were listening to and our own lust that were leading us away from the truth. The fourth thing he says is serving various lusts and pleasures. Paul says we were slaves of all kind of lust and pleasures. And the word pleasure here generally used in New Testament is in the sense of evil pleasures. And the fifth one he says we once spent our lives in malice. Malice is a general term that is used for wickedness or all kinds of evil. But here it's basically it's a desire to harm to others as it stems from the root of selfishness and wanting our own way, even if it means harming someone to get it. So that is what he says and he mentions here about malice. He's saying that we have this desire to harm others because it stems out of our own selfishness and wanting our own way, even if it means harming someone to get it. The sixth characteristic of unbelievers he says is we spent our lives in envy, which means basically envy is when you're not pleased with when you see others happy, seeing others prosperous, seeing others doing well. You want what someone else has or what someone else desires. You want to be in their position that they are in. So that is envy. And then he says we were once hateful, which means we lived in a lot of hatred. But verse four it says, but when the kindness and the love of God as Savior toward man appeared. The word, but basically reminds us of who we were sinners and shows us there's nothing in us that is deserving of salvation. We only deserve God's wrath and judgment, but because of his great kindness, love, grace, merceness, goodness towards us, he saved us. So this verse gives us the basis or the cause of our salvation. It's God's kindness, his love and his mercy towards us that has given us salvation. So the kindness of God as Savior and his love for mankind appeared when Jesus Christ, the eternal God became flesh, took on human flesh. He entered this world and, you know, he died in our place. He became that sin offering, that sin bearer, that lamb that took upon our sins, a substitute for our sins. And we in return personally experience his mercy, compassion in our very pitiful condition in which he saved us. Verse five, not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to his mercy, he saved us through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit. Now this verse basically talks about the effects of our salvation. So what is the effects of our salvation? The effects, the previous verse we looked at so gives us basis, the basic idea of the cause of our salvation. It's God's kindness, love and mercy. And verse five gives us the effects of our salvation. So what is the effects of our salvation? Regeneration, renewal and justification, you know. And they give us the means of salvation. It's the power of the Holy Spirit to the work of Jesus Christ to which we receive regeneration, renewal and justification. So Paul states that we are saved not as a result of our works of righteousness, not because of our righteous good or right deeds or acts, which we have done, but we are saved because of his mercy, kindness and grace. Now what is this phrase through washing of regeneration mean? Now many commentators basically interpret this washing of regeneration to refer to baptism. But that is wrong, that is mistaken because in the New Testament baptism happens only after a new birth. And it's a testimony of what God did in saving us that he saved us from all our sins. So we're testifying to that fact. We are telling the world that, you know, hey, I have asked you this for forgiveness of sins. I have believed in the Savior and I'm testifying to that fact. But the Greek word here used is a Lutheran and is mentioned only here and in Ephesians chapter five verse 26. So the word means primarily a vessel for bathing. So washing the Greek word Lutheran is basically meaning a vessel for bathing. So in Titus chapter three verse five, you know, Paul must be basically thinking about what the prophet Ezekiel wrote in Ezekiel chapter 16 verse four, where God speaks metaphorically of Israel's birth as a nation. And then he says in Ezekiel chapter 16 verse four that as for your birth on the day you were born, your naval cord was not cut. No way you washed with water for cleansing. You were not rubbed with salt or even wrapped in clothes. And then he goes on, God goes on to say that no one took pity on you, but you were thrown in a field and left to die. So he's basically talking metaphorically of the nation of Israel, but talking about the birth of a child. Okay, then in the same chapter, chapter 16 of Ezekiel verse six, God says that, you know, God is saying I passed by. Okay, and saw you squirming in your blood and said to her and live. And later in verse nine of the same chapter, he tells how he bathed her with water, washed her of her blood and cleansed her. So it's basically a picture of how, you know, we were born spiritually when God washed us off our filth of our sins. So the whole picture here of regeneration refers to new birth or us being born again. When God saves us, you know, he basically raises us from spiritual death to life. That means we were squirming, we were left to die in our sinfulness, in our misery, in our pity. God saw our misery, our pity and our pain, how we were dying. And then, you know, he came and saved us and through his blood he washed away all of our filth, our sins. And, you know, he raises up from us from spiritual death to life. And the new birth is God's doing according to his will. Okay, so here is basically not talking about baptism, but it's talking about what this whole picture in the Ezekiel chapter six. Paul must have had this in mind and hence he is talking about how God saved us in our misery, in our sin, in our filthiness and how he gives us spiritual life when we were spiritually dead. Renewing by the Holy Spirit. So here, another effect of our salvation is renewal by the Holy Spirit. This refers to the ongoing process of inner renewal that occurs after regeneration. Regeneration is basically, you know, when we're born again. So in Romans chapter 12 verse 2 we read, you know, the renewal of the mind is basically an ongoing process that takes place after we present our bodies as a living sacrifice. Also, we read in Ephesians chapter 4 verse 23 and Colossians chapter 3 verse 10 where Paul is referring to, you know, he talks about putting on the new man who has been renewed according to the images of the dead. Adding to the images of the one who created him. Okay. So while God creates the new nature by the power of the Holy Spirit, we must also yield. We must also be, you know, submit and surrender. And we must also be willing to be led by the Holy Spirit, walk in the Holy Spirit and live in the Holy Spirit and be transformed through God's word in order to experience this ongoing renewal. Yes, the Holy Spirit sanctifies us after regeneration, but the sanctifying process happens only to the extent that we allow the Holy Spirit to sanctify us. So for that, we need to submit, surrender on an everyday ongoing basis, you know, and we must be willing to be led by the Spirit, walk in the Spirit and live by the Spirit and be transformed through God's word in order to experience this ongoing renewal. So this is what he talks about in verse 5 about the effects of our salvation. And he gives us the means of our salvation is to the power of the Holy Spirit that works through Jesus Christ. Any questions? Any questions before we move on to verses 6 and 7? So first of all, good pastor. Okay. Thank you, Lubega. So again, someone read verses 6 and 7 please. He pulled out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace, we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. Thank you, Rosalind. So Paul is mentioning how can we, you know, live the way God wants us to live? You know, how can we, you know, do good deeds or live a life that is honourable in God's side in the world that we are living in? Paul says that, you know, God has pulled out on us abundantly through Christ Jesus our Savior. Abundantly basically means richly. So what has God pulled out on us? What is the means of our salvation? You know, the means of our salvation is the power of the Holy Spirit that God has pulled out the Holy Spirit upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior. Okay. So Paul says in Romans chapter 8 verse 9, you know, however, you are not in the flesh but in the spirit. If indeed the spirit of God dwells in you, but if anyone does not have the spirit of Christ, he does not belong to him. So God has pulled out his Holy Spirit richly through Jesus Christ on all of us. So our text says that we are not, we not only have the Holy Spirit in small proportion or in small portion, but God has pulled out or he is lavished, you know, or he's richly pulled out his Holy Spirit through Jesus Christ. Verse 7, having been justified by his grace, we should become his according to the hope of eternal life. So Paul says here that justification comes to us by God's grace and it's no way meditated by our faith. Okay. I'll repeat that. He says justification comes to us by God's grace. It's God's grace. Because of God's grace we are justified. It's not because we have put our faith in Jesus Christ that we are justified. Yes, faith is important. Faith leads us to receive the grace of God and leads us to be justified, to be made righteous in his sight. But it's the grace of God that brings justification and it's no way meditated by our faith. So this verse mentions the goal of our salvation. So what is our goal of our salvation to be his according to the hope of eternal life? Okay. So in verse 4, we saw the cause of our salvation that is God's kindness, love and mercy. In verse 5, we saw the effects of our salvation that is regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit. And also in verse 5, we saw the means of our salvation which is the power of the Holy Spirit that is working through Jesus Christ. And one of the effects of our salvation is also justification. And also here we see in verse 7 that the goal of our salvation is to be his according to the hope of eternal life. Just like I said, eternal life is not something that we experience all of its fullness here in this life that we're living. We experience it in a bit in a part, but we will experience it fully. And so the hope here, the word hope does not convey any uncertainty, but rather the fact that our inheritance is still in the future and it's not fully realized. But through eternity, we will not get to the end of experiencing our richness in Christ Jesus. And then Paul moves on to talk further. But why does Paul go on in this great discussion about our salvation? Or why is he talking so much in depth about salvation? Or why is he getting into this great discourse about our salvation? We look at what he says in verse 8. So can somebody read verse 8, please? Verse 8. This is a faithful saying and these things I want you to affirm constantly that those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable to men. Thank you, Rosalind. So Paul is saying in verse 8 that, you know, this is a faithful saying, which means, you know, this is something that, you know, we need to preach and teach. And people should know the highest degree of importance about salvation and everything about salvation is entirely worthy of belief. And these things is what Paul has mentioned thus far. He's told Timothy. Sorry, Titus. He wants Titus to continuously preach with confidence the truth of the gospel so that believers will engage in good deeds. And then the word careful, like I said, was something, means the verb careful in Greek, basically means to reason, to consider carefully. And it's a word that is used only here in the New Testament. So if we need to understand the doctrine of salvation by God's sovereign grace, you know, it will motivate us to take thought about how we engage in good deeds. So when we consider the entirety of salvation, if we look at salvation as the highest degree of importance there and we look at it something as worthy of our honor, our recognition of us, you know, being thankful for what God has done and purchased for us, then, you know, it will motivate us to take thought about all that he has mentioned, all that we studied, and how we can engage in good deeds. And then he goes on to say that believers must constantly think about and take lead in living godly lives for the sake of the gospel. So, you know, Paul is affirming here again that people, you know, are right. Yes, Godly good deeds are important. It's important for us to do good deeds. It's important for us to engage in community activities which will help enhance our community. All that is very important. But Paul is telling people that they cannot be made righteous, you know, with their good deeds. But yes, the goal of every believer, apart from receiving salvation, apart from living a pure life, should also lead them. Salvation should also lead believers in doing personal good works. And then he goes on to talk about all of the foolish controversies that people are teaching, you know, all of these foolish doctrines, genealogies, disputes. And so he goes on in verses 9 to 11 to tell Titus how he needs to reject these foolish controversies. So we look at this in our next class, next Friday we'll study this last bit of chapter 3 and then we'll move on to Philemon and we'll be good enough to finish our course on. Any questions, any doubts? Anyone has anything you want me to help you understand again? Nothing? Okay, I posted the assessment tool on 2nd Timothy last evening. You can submit that on Monday evening. I hope that's okay. Is that fine? Okay. Okay, thank you everyone for joining class. I'm so sorry for all the inconvenience, but thank you for your patience and have a blessed and refreshing weekend. I'll see you next week. Thank you.