I remember my first day at the gym. The gym had a workout centre about a 1/4 of the size of this building. It was owned by a Roman Catholic. It was populated, I think entirely by Roman Catholics. When I came in, the gym owner said to everyone, this is David, he’s new, he’s a Protestant. So be careful of him. Thus began a number of years of good friendship and Q and A’s. And on one occasion, a number of occasions, things were on at our nearby Bible College and I’d invite them to come along. And one night one of them came along, and the next morning after the workout we went for our normal morning coffee. I said to this man, What did you think of last night? He said, “I thought it was brilliant”. I said, “What did you think was brilliant about it?”
He said when you said that 2 comes before three.
What was brilliant about that? 2 comes before 3. I was talking about Exodus 20 which you will remember is the statement of the 10 commandments. And the first commandment is there in verse 3 That is, you shall have no other gods before me. But it is preceded by verse 2 in which God said, I am the LORD your God who redeemed you, now, verse 3, you shall have no other gods before me etc. In other words, God says if you keep the 10 commandments then I will redeem you. No. 2 comes before 3. Now that I have redeemed you. Now you live this way. In other words, redemption comes first and the fruit of that redemption is a particular lifestyle. Not the lifestyle as though it can earn the redemption. Verse 2, this is the why, verse 3, this is the what.
And so the Ten Commandments have never been the way to get to heaven, they were the way for the heaven bound in the Old Testament. That is the basis of redemption.
Now yesterday we saw that Chapter 2 of Titus is all about living in the home, but today in the reading that Robert has just given to us, it’s all about our living in public life. Look at Chapter 3 verses 1 and 2, remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good. Now I take it therefore, that we are to be good citizens no matter which party is in power, we are to be good citizens. Verse 2 to slander no-one, be peaceable and considerate and always to be gentle towards everyone. Now what is interesting in this chapter if you look at verse 1 there, it says to be ready to do whatever is good, and if you go down to verse 8, it says those who have trusted in God must be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good.
And then verse 14 our people must learn to devote themselves to doing what is good. Our sons went to a school where the principal had been bullied as a young boy, and so he set-up a bullying hotline. If you suspected that your child, your son was being bullied you could get on that hotline and it would get straight through to the principal’s office and he made it clear that after office hours, that hotline would come straight through to his home. He didn’t want anybody ringing up about their child’s academic progress. It was only to report bullying because he wanted to stamp out bullying in the life of the school. Now if you look at history, the great bully of history is religion. Religion which demands, demands which cannot be met and it threatens terrible punishment if those demands are not met.
So I find when I take a taxi and I speak to the driver, who is generally a Muslim from Bangladesh or Pakistan, I say do you love Allah? I’ve never yet had a driver, who says that he loves Allah. He fears Allah, he reveres Allah, he worships Allah, but Allah is not a lovable figure because Allah is full of demands. And that’s why Martin Luther said do you love God as an Augustinian monk. He said no, I hate God, because when he looked at God all he saw was demands, this is what he must do. And then he came to understand that the true nature of Christianity was not a moral code telling us what to do, and knowing that we can’t do it. But Christianity is all about what God has done. It’s all about provision, rather than demand. It’s all about what God has done, rather than what we must do.
Now Paul, here in verses 1 and 2, tells us what we must do. And then in the long verse, verses four to seven. We saw yesterday that, Chapter one has a long verse, 1 to 4, and chapter two has a long verse, 11 to 14. And now here in chapter three, verses four to seven, is the long verse. But Paul proceeds at verse three by giving us a perfectly focused photograph of ourselves. At one time we too, he says, were foolish, verse three, disobedient, deceived and addicts, enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. And, of course, the secularist will not accept that. It is offensive to the secularist because the secularist always has an overly optimistic view of the human condition. Go to a secularist funeral and all you hear is the good things about this person. And you think, is this the person I knew? It is never realistic and the secularist therefore is surprised by dreadful behaviour, but the Bible is always far more realistic.
Jeremiah said the human heart is deceitful and it is desperately sick. And the Apostle Paul said that the wrath of God is expressed now on the brains of unbelievers because they have a debased mind. Do we believe it? There it is, there’s no right for any of us therefore to come with moral superiority. At one time we were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions. We’ve already sung it today. Nothing in my hand I bring simply to thy cross I cling, Naked turn to you for dress, Helpless look to you for grace. Foul eye. That’s what you’re saying. The fountain fly. Wash me saviour or I die. Do you believe it? The Bible says that’s the realistic assessment of us, the human condition. John Wesley wrote in his journals that after a meeting, a lady came to me and said, “Oh, Mr. Wesley I am a sinful woman please pray for me”. I said, “Indeed you are madam and indeed I shall”. How dare you speak to me like that she said?
We take her up on her own assessment. Paul says at one time, you see we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived, addicts, passions and pleasures. Nothing in my hand I bring.
A new physiotherapist one time who lived 40 minutes away from home. He and his wife had five young children. He had an app on his phone which when it geographically knew that he was heading towards his house, the app would spring into life and it would use his name and say: remember you deserve nothing, expect nothing and count everything as a blessing. Very realistic isn’t it? Not forgetting his wife living with the five kids all day. Oh, I’ve had a heck of a day, too. No, you deserve nothing, expect nothing, and count everything as a blessing. I have nothing to merit God’s concern or love. That’s when Luther was asked, “Who is your greatest enemy? He says I am my greatest enemy”.
John Newton who wrote Amazing Grace. Who’s your greatest enemy? The Pope, he said. A pope self. Me. I am my greatest enemy.
And yet our fellow Australians say, when I stand before God, I’ll stand with my record. Your record is your problem. Nothing in my hand, simply to your cross. Well here’s the long verse. Verses 4 to 7, let me read it again. But when the kindness and love of God our Saviour appeared, what appeared in Chapter 2? It was the grace of God. But now the kindness and love of God appeared, and He came deliberately, why? He saved us, He came to rescue us from the wrath of God, which is the just wrath of a holy God against our sin. Not because of righteous things we had done. We had nothing to merit God’s kindness and love. Verse 3, but God came to do this because of His mercy.
We’ve been broken into. When we lived in Wee Wah, at three o’clock in the morning, I heard the back door close. We’d been broken into. I checked the family. Everybody was there, went through the house and came to the visitor’s room right at the back, the light was on. I could see under the door that there was movement in this room. We had invited no one into our house. And here at 3 o’clock in the morning someone had broken in. Rather gingerly, with my heart in my mouth, I opened the door and I pushed it open and there was a perfect stranger. I said,” you’ve broken into our house”. He said, “Oh I’m in the wrong house. Am I?” Yes you are, and I’m going to call the police, because you’ve broken and entered into my house, and you’ve broken eggs outside and carved cheese up on the table. I’m going to put you in. Oh please don’t put me in Father. Please don’t put me in. I said, because God is merciful to me, I’ll be merciful to you. What is mercy? It is withholding the punishment that is due to this person. Mercy is withholding the punishment due to us.
That’s God’s mercy. Do you know what he said? He said, “Oh thanks very much, thanks very much. You wouldn’t have $10 on you, would you?” About that point he’s asking me to be gracious. To go the extra step. And to reward him for doing the wrong thing. That’s grace. But mercy withholds punishment that’s due. And look at that verse, verse five it says, but because of God’s mercy withholding the punishment that is due to me, He saved us. How did He do that? Through the washing of rebirth and the renewal by the Holy Spirit. God does something within us that we feel. He gives us His Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit gives me a new heart. The Holy Spirit unstops my deaf ears and uncovers my blind eyes so that I see the truth of my standing before God and of my need and I know I’ve been changed. I’m a new person.
And this Holy Spirit, look at verse six, He poured on us generously through the work of Jesus Christ our Savior. Because God came in Christ and He did the work, the Holy Spirit has been poured out on us and He makes us new from within. Verse 7, look at it, so that having been set right, God does something outside us, something objective. Something which we don’t feel, having been justified, set right with God, by His grace contrary to our deserving. Wouldn’t have $10 on you, would you? That we might become heirs, sons and daughters, sitting at the family table, in the family home. And that is something which we don’t feel, but my status has been changed.
Imagine seeing a new settler in Australia and they’ve applied for citizenship. And one day they go to the town hall and they receive their certificate of citizenship. Do you feel different now? Do you feel more Australian? I don’t feel any different, but you are different because your status has changed. You’ve got a certificate of citizenship.
And so it is in verse 7. We’ve been set right with God. Do you feel different? Yes, I feel different, the Holy Spirit has come to me. Now you are different in your standing before Almighty God. You are justified. You are right. So what’s the source? It is the kindness and love of God. What is the action? He saved us from the wrath of God from deserved judgement. What is the foundation? His mercy not to punish as I deserve. What does this involve? It involves God’s work in me. The new birth, I’m made alive, before I was dead to God.
God’s work for me, He justifies me, justified right before I was condemned. No condemnation now in Him I find, Jesus and all in Him is mine, alive in Him my living heir, and clothed in righteousness divine. That’s your status. And the goal? Well verse 7. That you should be an heir in the family. That you sit at this table not as a dysfunctional family. You don’t sit there as a slave, you don’t sit there as an employee. You sit there as a daughter and a son, adopted, because of the work of your elder brother, the Lord Jesus.
Now I’m old enough to remember what it was like being a Christian in the 1960s. And I remember going to Bible college in those days, and the big doctrine was the doctrine of God and revelation. Because the attack was on the integrity of the Bible. And I can remember living through the 70s and 80s and being involved in the Charismatic Movement, where the emphasis was on the great doctrine of the Holy Spirit. And I can remember in the 90s being encouraged by writers like John Stott to preach more about the doctrine of the Church. But what about now? What about the 2020s? What about 2024? What is that doctrine that we need to be thinking about more today? Surely it is the doctrine of identity! What do we believe about ourselves? What is our doctrine of what used to be called humankind and sin? What do we believe about ourselves when we say, well, what’s your pronouns? What is your identity? See, look at verses 4-7. What is my identity?
I’m newborn. I’m adopted. I’m rescued. I’m justified.
And Packer, J.I. Packer, in probably the greatest book, in my opinion of the 20th century, page 256, he says, Say this to yourself over and over while you’re waiting for the bus or the train or whatever, Say these six things about your identity: I’m a child of God; God is my Father; Heaven is my home; everyday is one day nearer to heaven; my Saviour is my brother and every Christian is my brother or sister too. Do you see? That the Apostle Paul in verse 5 takes us to the bathroom. He says you’ve been washed, you’re a new person. Look at verse 7, He takes us to the courtroom. You’ve heard the Judges verdict of judgement justified. He takes us to the dinner table. And He says you are an heir, daughter or son of the Father. Why? verse 4, because of the kindness and love of God.
Because of His mercy withholding punishment due. Verse 7, because of His grace, leaving you contrary to your deserving. And your contribution? Addiction, malice, envy, hatred. That’s what it says, malice, envy, hatred. We lived in malice, envy, verse 3, being hated and hating one another.
In our family grave site in Sydney we have taken the headstone and we’ve had that great Horatio Potter hymn on our family headstone.
Upon a life I did not live
Upon a death I did not die,
Upon another’s life another’s death,
I stake my whole eternity.
Jesus Christ, the all.
I couldn’t live the perfect life, he did. I couldn’t die the substitutionary death, He did. Another’s life, another’s death, I stake my whole eternity. Isn’t verse 8 a wonderful verse? This is a trustworthy saying, and I want you to stress these things so that those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good. This is trustworthy, this is profitable, get out there and be good. But don’t be sidetracked, look at verse 9, but avoid these foolish controversies, avoid them, all these conspiracy theories just avoid them, you know they’re out there. We live in the arena of certainty, genealogies, arguments, quarrels about the law. These are unprofitable, and they are useless. Leave your political genders outside, whatever they are. So here are these verses. Verse 3, that’s you, that’s me. Verse 3, malice, envy, hatred. Don’t forget verse 4-7, that’s what God has done, that is why. And then verse one and two, that is the what, here is how I am to live.
And then the apostle gives his closing, personal greetings and he comes to verse 14, how people must learn to devote themselves to doing what is good, in order to provide for urgent needs and not to lead unproductive lives. Everyone with me sends you greetings and grace to those who love us in the faith and grace be to you all.
I think that we de-emphasize the importance of good works, because we know that we’re not saved by them. But your being good has an important place in God’s economy. Remember that great verse, Ephesians 2, eight to 10, you probably memorized it: It is by grace you’ve been saved through faith, and this is for good works that God has pre-prepared, that God has prepared for us to do to walk in them.
And I think it’s very helpful for me and it may well be helpful for you to remember this great truth because it’s a fundamental truth. And I think we often forget it. I’m right with God. I have the verdict of judgement day. I am right with God, and there is no condemnation for me. But justification does not mean that on on judgement day, there will be no examination. Every one of us will be examined. Oh, there will be no condemnation for those who are in Christ, but you will be examined. And you will be examined according to the pre-prepared good works that God has set for you to do. Have you done them? And there will be rewards and there will be rebukes, so you better get ready for that examination. But you know the final verdict is no condemnation. But it seems to me that in our thinking about justification, we have eliminated the issue of examination. There will be an examination.
And in Sydney, right now, I’m on the board of a large institution where people ring up and offer to pay money, offer to give money. And they give money, a big donation on the condition that my name will go on the building, I want my reward now. But at Bible College we received more money than that, and it always came with the condition I will give only if this is an anonymous donation. Because I know that when the day of examination comes, not public now, there will be rewards. I want my reward now, I want my name on the building. No, I want it to be anonymous because the reward is coming. Dear friends, there’s an examination coming. If you’re in Christ, no condemnation. But there are rewards and rebukes. Are you living in good works?
I said last night that we were part of a pastoral team in a Chinese church in Sydney for 4 years. Lots of banquets. One day, being invited to a banquet in George Street, a main street of Sydney, though George Street had been closed because they were putting the light rail network in. We sat at a big table, I’m here, my wife Maxine’s here, I think the lady’s name next to Maxine was Catherine and there’s a lady sitting next to me here. And this lady is talking to me and I’m listening to her but I’m actually listening to Maxine talking to Catherine as well and Maxine says to Catherine, how did you get in here today? Oh, it was really hard to get in, I’m staying at North Sydney, the cab had to drop me and I had to walk in. And then I heard Maxine say, How are you getting home? Oh no, don’t ask how she’s getting home. Don’t and then with great difficulty. And then there’s a tap on my shoulder Dave, can we give Catherine a lift home? No, no, it’s a Saturday, I’ve got to preach tomorrow, you know, it’s all this, can we give Catherine a lift home? No, a pre-prepared good work but it’s not convenient but I’m busy, by grace, through faith for pre-prepared good works, which God has prepared for us to do.
I used to drive our sons to school occasionally. And recently I’ve been driving our daughter’s sons to school. And I’d say, let me pray for us before you get out of the car. I’ll pray, I’ll keep my eyes open. But as we approach the school gates, we’ll pray. And I would pray exactly the same prayer every time with my sons and grandsons, Oh God, give us minds which are clean, give us minds which are humble, give us minds which are alert to the good things which you’ve prepared for us to do in kindness. In Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen.
Real transforming change? 1st century Crete? 21st century Mitchellton. Four appearances. The entrusted message has appeared. The grace of God has appeared. The loving kindness of God has appeared. Our great God and Savior will appear.
So be ready, be found in Him, and be living for His glory!
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