In Trent Moody's sermon based on Titus 3:1-8, he emphasizes the importance of reminding believers in Crete of their duties as recipients of God's grace. He underscores the need to be subject to rulers, ready for good works, and to display peace and humility. The sermon highlights the transformation from being foolish, disobedient, and driven by lusts to becoming heirs of eternal life through the mercy and regeneration by the triune God. Moody stresses that salvation is not a result of human righteousness but is solely the work of God, involving the Father, the Holy Spirit, and Jesus Christ. He urges believers to maintain good works as a testament to their faith and the transformative power of the gospel. The sermon encourages treating unbelievers with respect, giving glory to God, and being devoted to good works, reflecting the grace received.

Titus chapter 3, beginning with verse 1 through 8. Titus 3, 1 through 8. Paul exhorts Titus, 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. 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 Savior toward man appeared, 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, whom he poured 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. This is a fateful 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. Let's pray. Our gracious Heavenly Father, we thank you and praise you for your word, these ancient words.

Oh God, would you please instill them upon our hearts. Lord, would you bring us to remembrance today that we would remember all of the glorious words that you have spoken to us, your people, how you have called us out of darkness. You have made us a people unto yourself. Lord, we were by nature children of wrath and enemies of you, but through your abundant mercy you have called us to be your own, to be your children adopted through the sacrifice of your son and for that oh God we praise you. So give us ears to hear this day and may we rejoice in the God of our salvation We pray in Jesus name.

Amen. You may be seated. Well this morning, what an honor. I appreciate this opportunity to stand before you and to open God's Word. And in this passage, I want us to focus on three things specifically.

I'll show you those in just a moment but as far as a title goes I want us to be thinking about this theme. Some helpful reminders to motivate God's people how to live as recipients of grace. And I'll say that again, that's a little long. Some helpful reminders, reminders to motivate God's people to live as recipients of grace. You know One of the challenges of preaching one sermon in the midst of a series of sermons and also just having this opportunity and jumping right into near the end of a book is to grab that context so that we can understand and fully understand what God's Word is saying to us so that we could really take this and imply the truth of God's Word to our hearts.

Not a text out of context but a text in context. So I want to attempt to do this quickly before we jump right into the passage. As we look at this, I want us to focus on this passage at hand and at the same time I want us to have a good understanding of the book of Titus. Just briefly, Paul is the undisputed author, pretty much the undisputed author of this book and he's writing to a young man named Titus whom we are told that he left on the Isle of Crete. Now Crete was an island southeast of Corinth.

Out in the ocean is a large island, not the largest but a very large island. I think it's the fifth or sixth largest island there in the area. In this island, Titus was left. Titus was described by Paul as being his true child in the common faith. Paul had confidence in this young man.

He believed and understood that Titus was a true believer. Paul tells him in chapter 1 in verse 5, he says, For this reason I left you in Crete, that you should set in order the things that are lacking and appoint elders in every city. And then in verse 10 he says, for there are many insubordinate, both idle talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision whose mouths must be stopped. So, Cretians were described even by their own people. One of their own poets said that Cretians were liars, they were evil beasts, and they were lazy gluttons.

What a commendation. So as you can see Titus was not given a cushy pastorate. He was not given a easy job to go and or to stay here. Paul went and established the church but this church was still without much that it needed. It was without elders.

Titus was there for that very purpose. Paul tells us that, that you would appoint elders. They needed shepherds of the flock because there were evil beasts, there were lazy gluttons, and there were liars on this island. And so they were going to be attacked from without and we understand that they are always just like we are attacked from within. Their nature.

And so thinking and keeping in mind that these Christians, these believers were once liars, evil beasts, and lazy gluttons much like many of us. So it was not a cushy job but he was left with a work to do. There was a church without elders and there were sheep without shepherds. That is a dangerous situation. And so Paul leaves Titus there to establish elders, to set things in order, And this was a difficult job.

One, I'm sure, of discouragement. One of trials. One of probably being mocked, being lied about. However, it was one also with great rewards as he saw these who were formerly liars, evil beasts, and lazy gluttons become children of the Most High God, just like we. And so there are many similarities between this book and whom Paul is writing to Titus about and us and all churches and all Christians.

We were all, and brother Mike hit it, hit the nail on the head, the parallel passage to this is Ephesians chapter 2, 1 through 10. It is a beautiful parallel of what was actually found right here in these passages. So I find it always interesting, at least I have, when I come to the scriptures and God is constantly calling us to remember things. So what I want to do is, and the reason I went back to verse 1 is to really grab a grammatical helper for us and it's that first word, remind, well first two words, remind them. And that's really going to be sort of our raft to carry us through these deep waters of these deep doctrinal issues that we're going to see here.

But I find it so amazing that God uses these reminders for us. Preaching the Word of God is not about coming to you with something new. I have nothing new to share with you. I have only reminders to bring to you. I have only things that God has already told you, maybe that you haven't read or maybe that you have read but that you have forgotten, that I have forgotten.

And so as we look at this this morning, I want us to think about that. This is nothing new. This is a reminder. This is something that we need to hear again. I find it amazing.

God constantly is calling his people to remember. He does this also in 2nd Peter. He says, Peter writes this, for this reason I will not be negligent to remind you always of these things, though you know and are established in the present truth. Yes, I think it is right as long as I am in this tent to stir you up by reminding you, knowing that shortly I must put off my tent, just as our Lord Jesus Christ showed me. Moreover, I will be careful to ensure that you always have a reminder of these things after my decease." So that is my job this morning.

As Peter says it three times in just a few verses, you will hear this word many times today as a reminder. So, nothing new. So three things that I want us to focus on, these three points that I want us to remember, we're going to look at this. I'm going to remind you of these three things. Number one, who you were without Christ.

I'm going to remind you of who you were without Christ. Number two, how you were transformed by the work of the triune God. How you were transformed by the work of the triune God. And number three, and finally, how you are to live as recipients of grace. How you are to live as recipients of grace.

How you are to live as recipients of grace. So nothing new only reminders. So let's jump right in and as I said I'm going to begin with verse 1 but only briefly, 1 and 2, and then jump right to verse 3. He tells us, 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. Four, grammatical key.

I love grammatical keys because they help us so much. This is telling you the purpose of the reminder. Four, we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lust and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. As we look and begin primarily with these verses, verses 3 through 8, this jumping into midstream and deep water, this life raft of remember is going to carry us through this. He was reminding them over and over again.

Verses 1 and 2, it is a reminder, one, that they be subject to rulers and authorities to obey, to be ready for every good work. And then verse 2, what he says there, but he's wanting them to put them in remembrance of three things, how to think, act, and speak. He's wanting them to remember these things because they are recipients of grace. They have been receiving the good graces of God and this is what Paul is wanting them to remember. Think they were liars, evil beasts, and lazy gluttons And God by His grace has saved them and He wants them to remember what they were.

Because we need to remember who we were without Christ because we are taking a gospel to people who do not have Christ. They will be like this description here. They will be like the description that Brother Mike read in Ephesians chapter 2. They will be dead in their sins and trespasses. Just like many of the Cretians were foolish and liars, so many of us were foolish and liars.

They were lazy gluttons. They were those who desired to have these things, the worldly things, not only is it talking about gluttony of the flesh of eating food, but they were lazy gluttons in the sense that they wanted to indulge their flesh to the extreme. And that's what we see all around us. There are nothing but lazy gluttons in this world who just want to feed their flesh and they never want to get into the things of God. They don't want to put anything aside.

They only want to feed what their flesh is telling them to eat. So there's always this temptation that we see as we minister to the gospel, to this world. We see the wickedness of this world around us and we want to draw in to our huddles and we do not want to go out and remember that we were once just like them. Are you disgusted at the things that you see in our society today? I know that I am.

I look at these things and I think, how could anyone, how could anyone believe these things? How could anyone act in these ways? How could they do that? Well verse 3 tells us, We pick up our text here, Paul exhorting Titus, remind the believers of what they used to be before God's goodness and loving kindness appeared to you, or appeared to them. I want you to stop just for a moment and think.

We are not those who want to dwell on the past, but my friends, the Bible continually calls us to remember what we were. Think of what you were. Think about it. Think of what you were like. What I see today is not what you were like, nor am I like what I was.

I'm a different man. You are different people. For we ourselves were also once foolish." You ever acted foolishly? Boy, I have. Disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures and living in malice and envy.

Hateful? Were you hateful? Were you hating one another? I think these descriptions here are not to be exhaustive, but they are to show these generalities of what we all were like. Maybe you to some degree in one area then another, but my friends we were all like this.

Remember, he is reminding them as Calvin notes here, in order that believers therefore may not be haughty and cruelly mock at others who are still held in ignorance and blindness. Paul brings back to their remembrance what sort of person they formerly were. Think about it. Could you imagine making fun of a blind person stumbling in their blindness and forgetting that you were once blind? That's what we do sometimes.

When we see people around us in this world who are living to the fullness of their flesh and we condemn them thinking how can they live like that? How can they think like that? How can they do like that? My friends stop and remember who you were without Christ. You see this lost world around us is like that.

The God of this age, keep in mind the God of this age, the devil has blinded their eyes and they cannot see. They need us to lead them to the light. You remember the purpose of Jesus Christ coming. He came as a light to those who sat in darkness. He came to you who sat in darkness and he brought the light of the gospel into your heart and he showed you a better way.

He was the way and is the way the truth and the life. He brought light into your dark estate. You see some of you Remember, some of you are uncomfortable remembering. I am. Some others of you sitting here this morning have grown up in the church.

You've grown up in a homeschooling family. You've grown up in a very good environment and you may be sitting there this morning thinking to yourself, you know what, I understand some people were like that. I even understand mom and dad were like that, but I've never been that way. I want to assure you that every seed of every sin that you know is in your heart. Every known sin that you can think of is in your heart because you are by nature a child of wrath.

You were born that way. You may not have acted out on those things, but those things are still there and all they need is a little watering and those seeds will grow. Those things will come forth and they will produce bad fruit if you allow that kind of filth to continue. If you water those things that will be what comes forth. You may be thinking in your pride, I've never been that bad, not recognizing that all your right behavior right now without Christ is nothing but filthy rags.

Romans 8 says this, so then those who are in the flesh cannot please God. Cannot. That word cannot shows the ability to do something. You have not the ability to please God apart from Christ. If you are in the flesh and not in the Spirit, you cannot please God.

All of your obedience, all of your doing what you were told to do, all of these niceties that you have, all of this morality that you may have, and think to yourself and your pride, I'm not like that. It takes less grace to save me than it did them. No, my friend. It takes more. Because you are hearing the gospel on a daily basis and you are continuing to reject the Holy Word of God calling you to repentance.

That is a dangerous place to be. Who was Jesus more stern with? The prostitute or the Pharisee? And that is where you could be and may be and I pray that you will not be after today. Remember in the first chapter of Romans, Paul lists disobedience to parents in the same list with murder and homosexuality.

So these are hard things. The extent of your sin may have not been as noticeable, but the penalty of it is just as damning. Let's be honest, we were not much different than the Christians. And there's a warning here. Beware of thinking too highly of yourself.

So I feel pretty sure that there are some of you saying to yourselves, Trent, surely I'm nothing like that. Surely you are. Surely you are. Look at that cute little baby that you may be holding in your arms. What a beautiful little depraved sinner needing the grace of God just as much as the prostitute and the homosexual.

Needing the grace of God to save them just like them. So I want to encourage you this morning to remember who you were. We often think that we're not as bad as others but my friends compared to the holiness of God we are just as bad as others if not worse because we do it in self-righteousness so when we see these people that we need to be ministering the gospel to let us go remembering who we were But remember they're blinded by the devil. The devil has blinded their eyes. What amazes me is not that the world acts like the world.

That's not amazing. What amazes me is when Christians professing believers of the Lord Jesus Christ act like the world. That's the amazing thing. They are spiritually dead. The world is spiritually dead.

They have not the power of the Holy Spirit to strengthen them in the fight against sin and in fact they've not even been given the desire to obey the Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians 4, 3 and 4 says this, but even if our gospel is veiled, it's veiled to those who are perishing, whose mind the God of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them. In 1 Corinthians 2 14, but the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness to him nor can he know them because they are spiritually discerned? They can't know these things because the light of the gospel is not shown in their hearts. And so when we take the gospel to them, we need to remember who we were and we need to remember who they are and we need to remember that the gospel is the power of God unto salvation and that is what they need.

They don't need you to help clean up their life and help them stop doing bad things. They need you to lead them to the rock that is higher than you. They need you to tell them of the Lord Jesus Christ and that he can save them and deliver them from their sins. Remember who you were. Next I want us to remember how you were transformed by the work of the triune God.

Now that's a big long point I guess you would say, sounds very theological and it is, but that is what the scripture says. Look with me in verse 4. But, now let's back up and read verse 3 again because this is another but God situation here. For we ourselves, Verse 3, for we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, deceived, and serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another, but the divine conjunction. But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, you realize that is the only thing different between you and the world but God.

That is it. That is the only thing that makes you differ. That is the only thing that has changed you from being like them but God. But God. But when the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared.

That is the difference my friend. That is what God has done. But I talked to you about and I mentioned to you it is the work of the triune God. I want to show you that quickly and then look at it more in depthly. Firstly he says but when the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared.

In the latter part of verse 5 he says, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit and then in verse 6 through Jesus Christ our Savior there's the Trinity. He is talking to us and showing Titus to tell them, remind them of the work of the triune God in their life. Why do they need to know that? They need to know right doctrine of who God is. They need to understand how it is that they have been changed from darkness to light.

They were changed because of the work of the triune God, just like you. Every saved person is saved because they were transformed by the work of the triune God. Salvation is the work of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Don't miss this wonderful truth. Don't ever forget that the only thing that makes you differ from unbelievers is the mercy and work of the triune God.

That's what makes you different. It's not your goodness, it's not your beauty, it's not your strength, It's not your wisdom. Think of it. Romans 5-8 says, but God demonstrated his love towards us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. This is the wonderful truth that Paul wants you to remember.

What it is that made you to differ. So let's unpack this. Three things we're going to look at. God the Father, the Holy Spirit, and God the Son. Your salvation in verses four and five, your salvation is the result of the mercy of God our Savior.

Paul interestingly here gives God the Father a title that is usually used to describe Jesus Christ. However, remembering that Titus is a great, in a great part, is having to deal with Jewish false teachers. He's dealing with liars, those who would want to bring people back into the Jewish faith and so he's telling them that God is Savior, God the Father. In the Septuagint, Theos here translated with few exceptions the Hebrew word for Elohim. Elohim the Savior is what he is talking about.

God the Father is the Savior. We also see that this title of God as Savior is accompanied with Jesus Christ the Savior later on in verse 6 and therefore distinguishes the Father's part in our salvation in Christ's part. God the Trinity is our Savior. There's the work of the triune God and So he goes on from that and we look at what the Holy Spirit is doing. Note intently the divine conjunction but in verse 4, but when the goodness and loving kindness of God, much reminiscent of what Mike read this morning in Ephesians 2.5, but God being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us.

What changed you from being like you were to like you are? It's not your intrinsic goodness, It's not your wisdom, but it was the work of Almighty God in his goodness. His goodness to you. But God demonstrating his love towards you and that while you were yet a sinner, Christ died for you. Think of this, you were running headlong into sin, but God.

You were foolish, but God. You were disobedient, but God. You were being led astray, but God. You were a slave to various passions but God passing your days in malice and envy but God you were hated and hated by others but God my friend there is no room for you in this statement. This statement is a statement of God is your salvation.

You are saved by God, not by works of righteousness which you have done. The only things that you contributed to your salvation is the sin that Christ died for. That is what you contributed. It is the goodness of God, the loving kindness of God that saves you and not you yourself. Have you ever wondered what motivated God to have love toward man?

What motivated God to love us? Now you talk to worldly people and even people who profess to be Christians who are in more mainline and they think it's because they were so lovely. It's because you know I've got a lot of wisdom and God needed my wisdom. I'm really gifted at speaking and so God just needed me to do this. No, he did not need you to do that.

Just keep in mind God did use a donkey to deliver his message anytime that you think that you are something when you really are nothing. God doesn't need you. So 1st Corinthians 1 26, for you see your calling brethren not many wise according to the flesh not many mighty not many noble are called but God has chosen the foolish things of this world to put the shame the wise God has chosen the weak things of the world to put the shame the things which are mighty and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen and the things which are not to bring the nothing to things that are that no flesh should glory in its presence. There will be no boasting. There will be no glory in the presence of God except regarding God's glory.

So what motivated God, this God, to save you? Paul reminds us first by telling it telling us what it is not. God does not, did not, does not love you because of your righteousness. And let me say seen or foreseen. Not, he says here in verse 5, not by works of righteousness which we have done, not by works of righteousness, children, God does not love you based upon the righteous works which you have done.

Mom and dad, God does not love you, nor Did he save you because of works of righteousness which you have done? Seen or foreseen? He doesn't look down the portals of time and say, boy, that one is really going to love me. I'm going to save him. No.

That one would never love me unless I saved him. That's the difference. It is all of God. It is what God does not what we do, not of works of righteousness which we have done. Every work that you have after salvation is only because of what God does in you before and after.

It is God who works in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. See your BC works, your before Christ works only added to the guilt and more ripened you for judgment. So what is it? God was motivated by his desire to display the riches of his own glory upon unworthy sinners. He delights to save the most defiled.

He delights to save cretian-like people. Liars and evil beasts and lazy gluttons. Hallelujah. That's what we all once were. And God delights in that because we can't say, hey God saved me because look how good I was.

No, look how nasty and perverted and lazy and gluttonous I was. God saved me and he changed me and transformed me into a son. Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us that we, that we should be called the children of God. What love is this? What love is this that he would call us his children?

Think about it, what Romans 9, 15-18 says, For he says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. So then it depends not on human will or exertion but on God who has mercy. For the scripture says to Pharaoh, for this very purpose I have raised you up that I might show my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth so then he has mercy on whomever he wills and he hardens whomever he wills." Now listen to what verse 23 says, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy which he has prepared beforehand for glory. If that does not motivate you to fall on your face and worship God, I don't know what will. God showed mercy on you and the very definition of mercy is that you did not deserve it.

He poured it out on you and you should respond with overwhelming sense of gratitude and praise and glory unto our God. My friend, you need never forget that truth. You were saved by the grace and mercy of God our Savior. Secondly, we see the result of this regenerating work and power of the Holy Spirit. In verses 5 and 6 he says this, 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 whom he poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior.

The little word by tells us the means that God used to save us. Verse 3 tells us how filthy and defiled and nasty we were. Aren't you glad we're past verse 3? Hallelujah. We don't dwell on verse 3.

We need to remember it but we don't stay there. We move on. Verses 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. That's where we need to stay. Don't forget who you were but remember who you are as well.

Remember what God has done and so this is what God is doing through the power of the Holy Spirit. He did it by something. He did it by the Holy Spirit. He tells us how filthy we are and then he tells us how God cleansed us. Too often you see we forget the work of the Holy Spirit.

If the Spirit of God is not working then you are not changing. You're not being born again by your own works. You don't wake up as one man I heard say, boy I just want to thank God that I was smart enough to choose Jesus. No, that's not how it goes. You see the work of the Trinity involves the work of the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is the one who washes and cleanses us by his glorious work of regeneration. This regeneration, you know what it means, it means literally to be born again. That's how the scripture uses it in other cases. King James Version, you'll see it a lot like that, being born again. Jesus talking to Nicodemus speaks about being born again.

He's talking about being regenerated. How's a man born again, Jesus? See the wind blows wherever it listeth. We don't know where it came from, we don't know where it's going. It's the work of the Spirit of God.

So what makes something different? You preach the gospel to a hundred people and three people receive Christ. Why those three? Because they were wiser? Because they were smarter?

No! Because the Spirit of God blows where He desires. He works in the way that He wants to work and He saves whom He wants to save and that, my friend, is regeneration. Berkhoff defines regeneration this way. Regeneration is that act of God by which the principle of the new life is imparted in man and the governing disposition of the soul is made holy.

You see remember what I was talking about before, Why is it that these people are so wicked? And we think, how could they be so wicked? It's because they don't have the Spirit of God. They have no desire for the things of God. But when regeneration takes place, when the work of the Spirit of God brings life into your soul, He makes your disposition desire holy things.

You desire to read God's word. When you first were saved, you read God's word like your house was on fire. It was your meat, it was your drink and you cared for nothing else. That is what the Spirit of God did. Where did that desire come from?

It came from the Spirit of God working in your heart. This is what baptism beautifully displays and is an example of the Holy Spirit washing us and giving us new life. Renewing here describes for us this complete transformation that takes place. Second Corinthians 5 17 therefore if anyone is in Christ he is a new creation. Old has passed away behold all things have become new.

That is the work of the Spirit of God whom he poured out on us scantily. I love the way Paul writes. I love the inspiration of the Holy Spirit whom he poured out on us abundantly. That is how God gives my friend. He does not give you just enough.

He gives you the abundance of the Spirit of God. He equips you with all. He has given to us all things for life and godliness. He pours it out upon you in such measure that you could never use it up. God's reservoir of the Spirit of God working your life will never run dry.

Never. It is an abundance of the Spirit of God. He poured it out. What a picture. This is a picture of thinking about the offering.

It is this offering that they would pour out unto God. Think of in the Old Testament they would take wine and they would pour it out. Well that that wine cup emptied but when God pours out the Spirit of God upon you it is abundantly poured out upon you. It lacks nothing. This is the generous measure by which God has gifted you, equipped you, regenerated you and works in you.

You've not received a scanty portion of the Spirit. You have an abundant portion of the Spirit. God our Father pours him out on us in such a glorious way that we should fall on our faces and be thankful. We should be pouring forth in praise. Don't ever forget the abundant supply of the Spirit of God in your life.

Think about the scripture passages in Romans 8 specifically where he speaks about those who walk in the Spirit. They will not fulfill the lust of the flesh. And think about them in Ephesians, do not grieve the Spirit of God. See, it is a work of the Spirit of God in us. This is a work that it does involve us.

Not the regeneration, but the sanctification of the work of God in our lives when we are doing what God has called us to do and we embrace what God is doing in our life. So don't confuse those two things. The regeneration is all God and then the sanctification involves God and man beautifully working together in harmony for it is God who works in you both to will and to do with his good pleasure. Work out your salvation with fear and trembling. Those are two commands side by side and they go perfectly together.

Thirdly, your salvation is the result of the person and work of Jesus Christ. Verse 6, in whom he poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior. There's that word again, our Savior. God the Savior and Jesus Christ the Savior. He poured out on us abundantly and what does he say?

Through Jesus Christ. Now the mercy of God and the regenerating power of the Spirit are extended to us through Jesus Christ. Note what Paul says in the latter part of verse 6. It's through him. Your salvation is only through the merit of Jesus Christ.

It is only through the merit of Jesus Christ. All of these things had to work together. God the Savior has elected you, the Spirit of God has regenerated you, but all of that is dependent upon Jesus Christ the Son dying for you and paying the penalty of your sins. Those things is the work of the triune God. Your salvation at the cross was purchased because of what Christ did.

You are without mercy and without renewal and know clearly without justification and without hope of eternal life if Jesus Christ did not die. It is the work of the triune God Paul reminds us that Christ is the fountainhead of this great salvation or justification if you will and without Him we are without hope and Scott preached on this a few weeks ago when he referenced there in 1 Corinthians 15, and he's just talking about how without the resurrection of Christ, we are of all men most pitiable. We have no hope. We have nothing without the resurrection of Christ and his death upon the cross. So Paul reminds them, Christ made it possible for you to receive this abundance of the Holy Spirit.

Without the work of Christ on the cross, you could not have received the washing of regeneration by the Holy Spirit. The result of the person and work of Christ is that we are now justified by his grace. John Gill says this way, his thoughts are worth repeating in this, he says the justification here spoken of is a declarative one which takes place in regeneration. Regeneration does not justify any, but makes the justified to appear to be such. Justification is an act of God's gracious will conceived in his mind from eternity by which he wills not to impute sin to his people but to Christ their surety and that they should be accounted righteous through the righteousness of his son in which act of his will the whole essence of justification lies.

And this is declared in the conscience of the sinner by the Spirit of God at his repentance when he passes from death to life. And this declaration is here by the grace of God. As justification in every view is and it stands opposed to any works of righteousness done by men but by which no man can be justified in the sight of God. In what sense justification is by the free grace of God. Now that's a mouthful, but I hope you got this.

Justification is solely the act of God alone because of the merits of Jesus Christ. And you have received that by God's free grace, by His goodness and by His mercy. He has done this. So verse 7 tells us the results of this marvelous work of the triune God. He says that we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

Oh dear friends do you realize what is yours in Christ? Stop. Remember where we started. Remember who you were. Remember the work of the triune God.

Now I want you to remember what you know to be true. What is yours in Christ? Think of it. Think of all of the glories that you have received. All of the glorious promises that you have.

Great and precious promises, the writer of Hebrew says, great and precious promises. Do you understand your inheritance? Do you understand that you are co-heirs with Christ? Do you understand that you are an adopted son of the most high God? Do you understand that he's talking here that you have the hope of eternal life?

What is hope? It is something that we have not seen. It is something that we hope for. You have the hope of eternal life. In Christ you are heirs.

This is eternal life. This life eternal is not just length of life, but it is abundance of life. Just like God poured out the Spirit abundantly, He didn't just give you a Spirit. It's abundant. That's what eternal life is.

It's not just talking about man is forever and ever and ever. Well that's good. But it's more than that. It's more than forever and ever and ever. It's abundance of life.

Jesus Christ came that you might have life and that you might have it what? More abundantly. And that only continues in heaven to a fuller and greater extent than you ever have imagined in this life. God has prepared things for you that you have not even conceived of. The glories of the heaven that he has given and the inheritance that he has given unto you.

And the Holy Spirit is the earnest. He is the down payment and the guarantee that you have it. And God cannot lie. One of the reasons I believe in the eternal security of believer is because God cannot lie. If God makes a down payment he will not default.

He has purchased you by his son and he has guaranteed you by his spirit and our God cannot lie. That is your surety. And lastly this, remember how you are to live as recipients of grace. Remember who you were, Remember how you were saved by the work of the triune God and now remember, based on those two truths, how are you to live? Because listen, justification, the work of God is glorious and it is so glorious, it will do something.

It will change you. Verse 8, this is a faithful saying and 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. So confirming again what Paul has just told them and concerning the great work of God in saving them, we need not question the work of salvation that it is all of God. But I want you to affirm these things constantly.

Again, John Gill notes it this way, the sense of the Apostle is that he would have Titus be assured of those truths himself, be at a point about them and without any doubt or hesitation concerning them, and abide firm and constant in them and speak of them with certainty, boldness, and confidence to others." That's what we're to do. Are you assured? Are you with certainty, boldness and confidence when you preach the gospel? Listen, if you're not, a lost person will pick up on that in a heartbeat. I don't remember where I heard it but there was I think it was Steve Lawson was talking about this man he remember in preaching class and he said the man was up there preaching well he didn't call it preaching the man was up there speaking and he was he was talking kind of in a monotone voice and the professor came out and he stopped in this like preaching class for preachers, they were in seminary and he stopped him and he said, you don't believe that?

He said, yes I do. No you don't. Yes I do. No you don't. Yes I do.

He said now preach it like that. I believe you believe it. See when we go out there preaching a gospel whole humbly and we don't even have confidence that the power of the gospel is what saves people. They know we're not believing what we're preaching. You need to go, and I'm not saying you need to be boisterous like me, you just need to be confident in what you believe.

And take the gospel and believe. Do you believe when you look at the prostitute on the street or when you look at the person at the abortion mill, do you really believe the gospel can save them? If you don't, don't go. You have to believe the gospel that it will radically transform any life. No one is too far gone.

It saved you didn't it? You former Christian it saved you didn't it? Yes it's the power of God into salvation to him who believes to the Jew first and also to the Greek, praise be to God, it will cause you to be different. And this is what he says, he continues on, an endeavor to confirm and establish in them for which purpose he would have them be frequently instructed and insisted upon." That's the whole point of me preaching this passage. Remind them, remind them, remind them.

Tell them again these things they know. Dear believer, never forget that the means by which you were saved, you know it and a pastor's job is to remind you of it. That's what we do continually. So what does this mean for you now as you live your life as recipients of grace? Paul says to Titus that those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works.

Maintain good works. Notice that Paul wants us to understand that works follow faith never the other way around. However, look at what he says, affirm constantly that those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works. Good works are not to be neglected, but in fact we are here told to devote ourselves to them. This is not legalism, This is biblical Christianity.

James says it this way, so also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. It's a dead faith. Verse 18 in James 2, he says, show me your faith apart from your works, I will show you my faith by my works. So when you have been saved by the grace of God, you are to live for the glory of God. These good works are mentioned five times in the book of Titus.

You think he's wanting you to understand something? Did your mom ever tell you something five times? Or 55 times in my case. So he mentions it over and over and anything something repeated that many times in a book we need to take note. Let me add this, this is no casual observant but rather a diligent performance of good works motivated by the grace and doctrines of grace, the grace of God and the doctrines of grace that we understand.

These good works include our private lives, our public lives, our family life, our church life, everything. It's not limited. It's all-inclusive of your entire life. This is why God created you new. What Mike read this morning in Ephesians 2, 8 through 10, for by grace you have been saved through faith and that not of your own doing.

It is the gift of God not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for, purpose statement, for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. And finally we see that these things are good and profitable to men. Did you know they're not only profitable for you, but your good works are profitable for everyone in this building? And your good works are profitable also for those who are lost.

That's one of the wonderful things about working in the political sphere or even in your job or whatever it may be. Your good works are profitable to men. Our society is better when we perform these things based upon what God has done in our life. It changes even the society that we're in. So they're a testimony to all men, believers and unbelievers, that the power of the gospel changes you and it can change them too.

It shouts that the work of the triune God is a powerful work of grace in your life that turned a foolish, disobedient, lazy, astray slave of passions and pleasures, malice and envy, hate-filled and recipients of divine grace and loving kindness of the triune God whereby he saved us, birthed us, washed us, justified us so that we would be hope-filled heirs of eternal life doing good works. That's why I did it. Every time we revert back to our old behavior, you know what we're declaring? We're declaring this. We're declaring before them that we have given a fallacious testimony of the power of the gospel to change a life.

We're saying the gospel doesn't really save from sin. See, there's a double meaning to Jesus Christ came to save his people from their sins. He not only came to save us from the penalty. Do you understand that? That's the huge part of it, but that's not all of it.

He came to save you from the power of sin in your life. If he is not saving you right now from the power of sin in your life, then I would say you've not been saved from the penalty of sin. That's what Romans 8 13 says. Where if we by the Spirit do put the death the deeds of the flesh, we are children of God. We have the Spirit.

That is a proof of it. So these things are good and profitable unto men. I want to close with this, just back up and look at it one last time. Really my job is to tell you what I'm going to tell you, to tell you what I was telling you and remind you what I just told you. Remember, remember.

So by way of application, let's don't forget these truths and how they apply. Number one, Treat unbelievers with respect and humility when sharing the gospel with them. Don't let the forgetfulness of who you were without Christ cause you to treat unbelievers with disrespect or condescension. Treat them with the hope that they will possibly be future brothers and sisters. You were once like them.

By God's grace, perhaps one day they will be like you, a redeemed sinner. Number two, give glory to God. Worship Him and adore Him. Don't forget how you were made to differ from unbelievers. It was not because you were smarter or nicer or more gifted.

It was because of two words, but God. Give glory to God for his abounding grace that was and is poured out for you. Don't ever forget how you were saved. And number three, be devoted to good works. Don't forget why you were saved and show this remarkable grace.

We know that our chief end is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. John 15, 8 says this, by this my father is glorified that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. Our fruit does not save us, but it does prove us. Prove to be his disciple each day by devoting yourself to the good works of God. Let's pray.

Our Father in heaven, we rejoice in your great work in our life. Oh Lord, I have so far to go, but Lord, you have brought me so far. We thank you, oh God, for the work of the Trinity in our life. We thank you that you have chosen us, that you have redeemed us, and that you have regenerated us, and you are sanctifying us, and Lord you will glorify us. Thank you dear God, and may that truly change how I live.

Help us to live in remembrance of these things for the glory of our great Savior. We pray in Christ's name. Amen.