For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness, unworldly desires, and to live sensibly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus. May God bless the reading and other preaching of his word. Amen. You may be seated. Amen.

You may be seated. Our passage this morning begins with the phrase, For the grace of God has appeared. The grace of God has appeared. The grace of God has appeared. Grace is undeserved favor.

Grace is unmerited, unearned, loving kindness that stems not from the recipient, but from the heart of the one bestowing it. Grace is getting something, receiving something that you absolutely did not deserve to receive. And Titus 2 verse 11 says this morning, God did that. God was gracious. God is gracious to you.

The grace of God appeared. The undeserved favor of God appeared. That's supposed to take your breath away. Because that grace was promised all the way back in the garden in Genesis chapter 3. I'm going to get to this next Lord's Day in Sunday School all the more.

But all the way back in the garden in Genesis chapter 3, Adam plunged all of mankind, indeed the whole world, into death and into condemnation because of sin. And as descendants of Adam, you and I, we have joined wholeheartedly in that sin against God. And what mankind deserved then, and what you as a sinner deserve now, is the wrath of the thrice holy God. That's what you deserve. You deserve holy and hot damnation.

That is what you and I and the world deserve for our sin, for our rebellion, for our law breaking against the one true living God, eternal death, eternal hell fire. But God, in the midst of keeping His promise that sin brings a curse, God promised to Adam in the Garden of Genesis 3. And thus He promised to you as Adam's descendants today that one day God Himself would bear that curse all by His grace. It wouldn't be anything in man that would make God Almighty peer down and say, oh, I should do that for them. It all came from God.

God who was gracious promised grace right after man sinned, right after man hid, right after man tried to cover their guilt and shame with their own futile attempts of fig leaves. Failure after failure after failure, and in the moment of great abominable failure, God promised grace. It had nothing to do with what was in man, and it had everything to do with what was in God. God promised humanity and God promised to you that you would be gracious in sending his son to rescue you, to rescue you from the curse and condemnation of sin. And we call that the covenant of grace, wherein God promised to send a seed to crush Satan's head and to rescue sinners, to redeem the world, and to sever the power and penalty of sin for all who would believe.

And in John chapter 1, verses 14 through 17, that promise of grace all the way back in Genesis 3, that covenant of grace came true. John chapter 1 verses 14-17, and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, tabernacled among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. John testified about Him and cried out saying, this was He of whom I said, He who comes after me has a higher rank than I, for he existed before me. For of his fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses, grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ." Get this, please.

John says in John chapter 1, that I just read, John says in John chapter 1 the same thing that Paul says in Titus chapter 2, that the grace of God has appeared. His name is Jesus the Christ. Jesus is the grace of God. Manifest. Jesus is the Word made flesh.

Yes, Jesus is also the grace of God made flesh. Jesus is God. Our passage this morning in Titus 2 beginning in verse 11 our passage this morning is Paul's version of John 1 and John 3. What happened to John 1 and John 3? Right?

The promised grace of God, promised through the Old Testament. That promise in the Old Testament, what do you teach your children? If they want to know how to understand the Old Testament, Here's a really simple way to explain the Old Testament. Covenant after covenant after covenant, promise after promise, He's coming. He's coming.

He's coming. He's coming. What happens when you get to the New Testament? What are they screaming at you? He came.

He came. He came. And this is what He's done. The Savior is Jesus the Christ, the Son of God. God kept His promise.

Paul is saying just that. God kept his promise. And that promise was for the whole world. Do you remember how John said it in John 3, 16, and 17? Do you remember that?

The promise in John, for God so loved the world that He would give His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life." Remember that? That's the elect. Keep going in verse 17. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but so that the world might be saved through him. That's John's version.

Paul's version. Just different words, same reality. The grace of God appeared. The Word became flesh. The grace of God appeared, bringing salvation to all men.

That's Paul's version of John chapter 3 and John chapter 1. That salvation is all grace. Jesus came to save the world. Jesus came as the grace of God manifest in the flesh and he saves. He has appeared 2, 000 years ago, brothers and sisters, he appeared by taking human flesh and he went to a cross to bring salvation to all men.

Bottom line, the grace of God saves. The grace of God saves. And what is this grace that saves? This grace that saves, it is Christ. Namely, It's the birth, the life, the death, the resurrection, and the ascension of Jesus Christ.

Adam had sinned against God, and all who descend from Adam inherit his nature. And so as descendants of Adam, you and I, we are all naturally at enmity with God. You need to get this. You are by nature of your descent from Adam at enmity with God. You are not friends.

You are in a covenant with God wherein you are the enemy. You are the covenant breaker. That's where you stand with Adam as your head. We are all sinners in need of salvation, sinners in need of rescue from God's righteous wrath towards our sin. But Christ came.

The grace of God came. The grace of God appeared. He was born of a virgin, begotten of the Father in heaven, his birth, the fulfillment of all Old Testament prophecy concerning the seed to be born. What was that seed to do? To bless all the nations, to bless all men, to bless mankind, to bring salvation to all men.

This was not something new that Paul just made up. This was not something new that John just made up in John 3, that God so loved the world. This is from the beginning. The Adamic covenant, the covenant of life. God's promise of a seed in Genesis 3.

Abraham, a promise of a seed that would bless the nations, that would bless the world. This is not new. This Savior came. This Savior Jesus, He was born sinless. This is why the virgin birth is so important.

His father was not Adam, but the thrice holy Father in heaven. And so Jesus was born sinless. He was born to raise the sons of earth, born to give them second birth. How did God do this? How did this Savior do this?

Well, He lived a perfect life, a life of perfect obedience, a life of perfect righteousness, sinless. Where Adam failed in the garden, the grace of God, Jesus Christ appeared and he obeyed in the garden when tempted by Satan Adam failed but Christ triumphed three times Satan tempted him three times Jesus triumphed This Jesus was not like Adam when it came time for his death either Do you remember what happened to Adam when it was time for Adam's death? Adam abdicated. Adam passed the blame. Adam looked at his wife and he looked at God and he said, she's the reason, kill her.

Kill her. In essence, That's what he said. Jesus comes, he does not abdicate. He's actually the only one that never deserved to die. He doesn't deserve to die, but instead of any abdication, he looks at God the Father looking at his bride the church and he says, no, no, Take me instead.

He did what Adam should have done. Adam should have looked at Eve and looked at God and said, take me instead. Jesus is the better Adam. Jesus said, take me instead and make my bride spotless. That's what Jesus did.

Jesus took the blame himself. Again, that's crazy because Jesus was the only man who ever lived that didn't deserve to die. And yet he bore the blame for the sins of the very world that He created. He suffered the blame for the sins that you should bear the blame for. He bore the guilt and the condemnation that your sin deserves.

He bore it himself in the place of sinners, the creator for the creature. And he did that on the cross. At the cross where God the Father poured out His wrath upon his Son so that whosoever would believe upon that crucified and then risen Savior would not perish but have everlasting life. The promised seed of grace came. He lived, He died, and He was raised so that all who would repent of their sin and confess their sins and believe upon this Christ as Savior and Lord, they would be saved.

If you've ever wondered why the resurrection is important, It's one thing to say, well, Jesus had to die for my sins. Yes, that's true. That's true. God the Father poured out His wrath upon the Son. It's another thing then to say, but that somehow gives you everlasting life.

You need a savior that didn't just die, but that also rose again. No resurrection, no second half of John 3, 16. No everlasting life. But this promised seed of grace, this promised grace appeared he did die he did raise hallelujah bringing salvation to all men so I wanna just briefly all men all men all men regardless of ethnicity, regardless of social status, you need to remember that Paul has just mentioned in the verses prior, who? Everybody in the church.

Men, women, young and old. He even mentioned slaves in chapter 2. All men. Now he says in verse 11, this gospel is for everyone. This gospel, this grace is for all men.

No matter where you come from, no matter who you are or where you've been, no matter the depth of the sin that has buried you, maybe even this morning, maybe even last night. No matter how heinous, no matter how powerful the sin that hangs over you and threatens to destroy you, even this morning, Christ is greater. The grace of God is greater. There is more grace. There is more power.

There is more victory in Jesus the Christ than there is sin in you. If you have come, repent and believe. And if you come and repent and believe, do you know what that is? That is the very victory of Jesus at work in you right there. He would bring you out of the clutches of your sin.

So I want you to hear this. No matter the sin, no matter who you are, Christ came to set men free. For you, Jesus Christ takes sinners who cry out to him, he takes them where they are, not where they should have been. He takes them where they are, not where they should have been, and then he makes them his own. And after making them his own, after saving them, he then leads them to where they should be.

So don't get it flipped around. I've got to maneuver myself to make myself more presentable to God. No. If you're trying to do that, you will die in futility. Instead, God takes you not where you should have been, but where you are, crying out to Him in faith.

He makes you his own and then he puts you and makes you who you ought to be. He saves sinners. He can save you. Why? How can God save you?

How is this possible? Because He is gracious. Because you didn't, and you don't deserve it. Because that's who God is. God is gracious.

Your salvation rests entirely. It hangs completely dependent upon him. He sent his son to bring salvation to all men, including you. If you would lay down your pride and your rebellion and trust Him. Children, that very much includes you.

All men, all little boys, all little girls. The grace of God has appeared for you, little ones. Children, I would like you to listen to me. The grace of God has appeared for you. I'd like to tell you something, children, that's been happening in my house lately.

Mrs. Carissa and I, we've been talking a lot lately with one of our children about baptism, what it means to follow Jesus. And one of my precious daughters, she said, Daddy, I want to follow Jesus. I trust Him. I want to obey Jesus and follow Him.

And I was, of course, very happy. Very happy. Makes tears come into my eyes when I think about it. And I told her, yes, that's wonderful. Jesus is for you, sweetheart.

The promises of God are for you. Jesus specifically said that He came for you. Let the little children come. Told that to my daughter and my little girl smiled. She goes on to say why she wanted to follow Jesus.

I want to follow Jesus, daddy, because he died on the cross for my sins. And he rose up from the dead to forgive me. And I said, yeah. Yes, sweetie, he did. He did believe.

We died with Jesus, and we're raised up with Jesus. And so Jesus says, follow me and be baptized. Go down and come up, and God will show the church and the world that you belong to Him in your baptism. And my daughter, she said to me, yes daddy, I do want to be baptized. I want to do that really bad.

I want to follow Jesus. She was very serious here, but daddy, I still disobey. I still disobey. And I find that to be such a sweet thing to say. We can all learn a little bit from that.

What an honest thing to say, not hiding sin from even her own father, but being real. I am a sinner, Daddy. I want to be baptized. I'm trusting Jesus, but I still disobey. And I told my daughter a story that Jesus told Stories really matter The story of the two men who went up to the temple to pray that's what I told my daughter You remember that story in Luke 18?

I told her how the one man, he went up thanking God that he didn't disobey. He was a good man. He didn't really need Jesus. There was another man though who knew desperately that he needed Jesus. Like my daughter, he knew, I'm disobedient.

And so he beat his chest. He couldn't even look up to heaven. He cried out to God for mercy, for grace. God, please help me. I need Jesus.

If I don't have Jesus, I'm doomed. I need Your mercy. I need Your grace. And the grace of God who appeared, Jesus said, that man who needed me, that man who knew he disobeyed, the man who knew he needed the grace of God, that man went home, forgive him, sweetheart. That man went home, justify.

God said in Luke 18, that one's mine. The one who disobeys but trusts in Jesus, That's the one who was forgiven. And she got it, a little bit. Then she said, why? Why is that the case?

I told her, because Jesus never disobeyed. Which means only Jesus is qualified to make men who disobeyed forgiven. Only Jesus who never disobeyed is qualified to make men who did disobey, to make little girls who did disobey right with God. Only Jesus who can make you born again. It's only Jesus who can give you a new heart and give you a spirit so that you can actually obey them.

So that You want to obey from within. That's what I told my daughter. Not only does Jesus forgive you, but He makes you born again. He changes you. That's why that man let home justified.

Because God had made him into a new creation. And that's what Paul demonstrates in verse 12 of our text. The grace of God not only justifies, it not only saves, sanctifies. That's part of salvation, sanctification. Jesus said of the two men who went up to the temple to pray, that the self-righteous one, he went home condemned.

But the one humble and contrite, that one who knew he needed the grace of God, he went home justified. I've been using this word justified. Do you know what it means, children? I didn't when I was your age. I figured it out though today.

Justification is God declaring you righteous. God declaring you righteous. A person who was once an enemy, he declares you no longer his enemy. Once an enmity with God, now a friend, even more a child of God, bought with the precious blood of his son Jesus. Justification is a moment in time when God says over you, like a judge banging a gavel, reconcile with, just, righteous in my sight.

The righteousness of Jesus Christ my son is yours. That's justification. And that involves three things. Three things. If you're taking notes, three things it involves.

Number one, 1 John 2, 2, that Jesus Christ be the propitiation for your sins. Propitiation is the satisfaction of God's wrath. Jesus has to drink the cup of God's wrath. Number two, 2 Corinthians 5, 21, Jesus Christ who knew no sin took that sin upon himself so that in him you might become the very righteousness of God. You need the righteousness of Christ imputed to your account.

So number one, you need propitiation. You need the wrath of God satisfied. Number two, you need imputation. The righteousness of Jesus Christ given to you. Number three, Acts 20, 21 and Ephesians chapter 2.

God deals with your sin. He closed you in His righteousness through repentance and faith and it's all the gift of His grace. That's justification. Your sin taken away and dealt with by Jesus, His righteousness given to you as a gift. That's number three.

It's all grace. None of it deserved. By grace through faith. So that you can say with Paul in Romans chapter three that you've been justified as a gift by God's grace through redemption which is in Christ Jesus whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in his blood through faith. That's justification.

That's part of the grace of God which saves you. But the grace of God that saves doesn't just justify. Sometimes people think, when they think of the word saves, that salvation is merely God declaring you righteous. And that really is all-encompassing. That's not the case.

That word salvation is way bigger than that. God isn't merely content with making you righteous in His sight, though He does do that. No, God is also in the business of making what He declares over you true. He declares you to be righteous and then He's in the business of making you into that righteousness day by day. The grace of God that justifies also regenerates.

The grace of God that justifies also regenerates. The grace of God that justifies also makes you new. That's the doctrine of regeneration. Justification and regeneration, they're like two inseparable friends. If you take one away, you don't have the other.

If you have justification, you have regeneration. If you have regeneration, you have justification. And Titus 2 is very clear on that. The grace of God that saves justifies and regenerates. God not only triumphs over the sin in your life, but also over the power of it.

He doesn't just take away the penalty, He severs the power of sin in your life. So you can say no to sin. You can put down that extra piece of food and not give in to gluttony. You can click exit on the computer screen and not give in to porn. You can stop yourself as you begin to almost say vile things and say, I belong to Jesus Christ.

I was bought with a price. I need to glorify God with my body. You're not in a straight jacket of sin anymore. Jesus Christ rose up from the grave and cut that straight jacket in half. He makes sinners new.

So to put it in another way, the grace of God that justifies also sets you free. The grace of God that forgives you also makes you born again. The grace of God that deals with the penalty of your sin severs also its power over you so that you are a new creation in Christ Jesus. That's Ephesians chapter 2. You were spiritually dead in your sins but God made you alive.

God made you into a new creation in Christ Jesus so that you would give yourself to good works, so that day by day, moment by moment, you would become more like Jesus, your Savior, more what God has declared you to be in his Son. Paul says the same thing in just different ways throughout his epistles. That was Ephesians 2 that I just said to you. God makes you do a new creation in Christ Jesus. He says it a different way in Romans chapter 8.

Those whom he predestined, he justified. And those whom he justifies, he predestined to be conformed into the image of a son. There's no confusion with Paul. Those whom he saves, he doesn't just save and justify alone. He saves, he begins to take the doctrine of justification and plant it deep in you, and then you know what it starts to do?

Come out. It must come out. And James says, nothing coming out, probably nothing inside. People throw a tantrum about James. I love the doctrine of justification.

If you love the doctrine of justification, what friend does it have inseparably with it? Regeneration. It's like you're arguing that you wanted to divorce him. James knows how justification and regeneration go together. He's not afraid of them.

Don't be afraid of James. It's a glorious book. Here in Titus chapter 2, Paul is saying the same thing as he said in Ephesians 2 and Romans 8. Same thing that James says, those whom God justifies, He conforms into the image of His Son through sanctification. That word sanctification to be set apart, He makes them holy.

God declares them holy in justification and then he makes them holy through sanctification. So verse 11, the grace of God appeared bringing salvation to all men. Verse 12, and that grace of God that appeared instructs. That grace instructs. Instructs us in what?

Instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously, and godly in the present age. I want you to notice how Paul divides verse 12. First the grace of God instructs us what to deny, and then how to live. First, the negative, don't do this, and then the positive, instead do this. Now, that's really helpful, And of course it would be, because this is the word of God.

God is telling his children what not to do and what to do. And that's really instructive for us, brothers and sisters, parents especially. I find so often in the church and in my own life, in my own household, that we are really good at telling our children what not to do. And yet we are oftentimes pretty bad about showing them and giving them a vision of what to do. Just consider for a moment, I do it too.

It's very easy. Don't do, Don't do, don't do, don't do, don't do, don't do. Got it. And there's no vision for what they get to do in the Lord. God gives us a very good pattern, so don't do that.

If you wanna have a good example, like look at the garden, and in the garden there was a lot of things that God said to do. There was a big no-no, wasn't there? Don't do this. But he actually gave more do's than don'ts. That means to influence the way that we parent.

Give them a vision for what they get to do, what they should pursue. That will help our young men especially. I know it's really hard for us. It's very difficult. It's just a difficult thing to pastor, and to father, and to mother over.

But our young men, they want to pursue good things. And we tell them all these things. Don't give in to the harlots. Don't give in to this. Don't give in to this.

Don't give in to that. Don't be lazy. Don't do this. Think of that sermon that I gave. But we don't give them a vision for it.

But here's what you can do. Here are the avenues where you can go get the girl. Here's the avenue where you can be a godly man. Do that. Show them a vision for what it looks like.

So let verse 12 be a lesson for our church. Let verse 12 be a template. Don't just tell your children what to deny. Tell them also what to embrace. The grace of God sanctifies.

It instructs us how we are to live. Deny ungodliness and worldly desires. Deny ungodliness and worldly desires. Here are the things not to do. Here's what Calvin says about those things not to do.

Calvin writes, Paul now lays down the rule for regulating our life well and how we ought to begin namely with renouncing our former life of which he enumerates in two parts ungodliness and worldly desires end quote. So if you've repented of your sins, if you're trusting in Jesus, you've then followed your Savior into baptism, listen to this Christian, you bear the mark of your Lord. You bear the family crest and you sit around the family table every Lord's Day. You bear His name. You bear His mark.

You're no longer who you used to be therefore. And so you are to renounce who you used to be. You are no longer in the kingdom of darkness but the kingdom of light. So now you renounce the kingdom of darkness. You're no longer a slave of sin but now a slave to Christ.

And so you renounce sin. You renounce who you used to be. Because God has declared you to be somewhat new. So you renounce that and you embrace the new identity in Christ. So I think it's likely that Paul has in mind here, for these two denials, I think the two tables of the law.

Maybe not, I'm just saying I think it's likely, I think it's actually probable, that Paul has in mind here the Ten Commandments. The first four commandments deal with what? Our obligation to the Lord. The next six commandments, the last six commandments, deal with our obligation to our neighbor. So the first four commandments, love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.

So what must we deny? We must deny ungodliness that we used to love. We need to deny ungodliness. Deny ungodliness and to embrace God as our God. Embrace godliness.

And second, worldly desires I think can be understood in light of the second table of the law. Commandments 5 through 10 are duties between us and our neighbor. First table, love for God with all our hearts, minds, and strength. Love your neighbor as yourself is the second table. Worldly desires, those desires that used to characterize you before the grace of God made you a man who now loves his neighbor.

You used to love the world, hate your neighbor. Right? The love of the world is going to result in hate for neighbor. Now renouncing love for the world frees you up to actually love your neighbor. You love sin, you hated your neighbor, and now you love him.

Those are the don'ts. The grace of God appeared instructing us to deny a godliness and worldly desires, the first two tables of the law, deny sin. And now the positives. Instead of doing those things, Paul says live sensibly, righteously, and godly in the present age. So deny sin, that's repentance, and live unto the Lord.

Work out that salvation that God has worked in you. And Paul gives three descriptors on how the grace of God instructs us how to live. Three descriptors. You see those three descriptors? Live sensibly, righteously, and godly.

Do those three words sound at all familiar to you? Especially the first one. Here are the positives to do. What's the first word there? Live what?

Sensibly. How many times has Paul used that word so far? The answer is a lot. He has used that word in chapter one to talking about church leaders. And he's used that word sensible a lot in chapter two, talking about church members.

What about that word righteous? That word righteous is nearly identical in the Greek to the word just that Paul uses in chapter 1 about pastors. Just? Righteous? What about that word godly?

That word godly is a perfect summary of all that Titus has exhorted the members of the Church of Jesus Christ to be in Titus chapter 2. So what's Paul saying? At the end of verse 12, he's already fleshed out for you in chapters 1 and 2, verse 12. Chapter 2 begins and ends with the same exhortation. What you believe will come out.

Sound doctrine comes out. If you want to know how to be these things, you first got to get the gospel right. The gospel is in you. It will come out of your mouth. It will come out of your fingertips.

You will get sensibility. You will live righteously. You will live godly in the present age. If you've experienced the grace of God here in your heart, if God has justified you, that justification gets less. And it's characterized by running away from sin and running towards Christ, towards righteousness, faith, repentance, and faith.

The grace of God saves, and part of that salvation is sanctification, and this saving grace of God lastly sustains. The grace of God sustains. It secures, it sees you to the end. Came up with a whole bunch of s-words sustains secures it sees you to the end we could put it this way you are saved you are being saved, and you will be saved. Now I need you to not get this twisted.

That word saved, salvation, it means more than one thing. That's why I've been distinguishing the difference between the word justification and sanctification. When God saves a sinner, part of that saving is that God not only declares the sinner righteous on account of his son's finished work, but then God moves in that sinner as to make that declaration true in the behavior of the one justified. He changes you. God saves you justification.

He is saving you. He's regenerated you. He's sanctifying you. And He will save you. He will bring you home to glory, where you will be made perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect.

And sin will be no more. And so it's to that future hope, that future grace that Paul now turns in verse 13. Looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus. Two things. One, Jesus is God.

Jesus is God. We mentioned it earlier, but these verses are Paul's version of John chapter one and what did John chapter one establish in John chapter one? In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and then that Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and His name was Jesus. John 1 makes it plain, Jesus is God. Paul says the same thing in these verses, just in a different way.

Verse 11, the grace of God appeared, the word became flesh. The grace of God appeared and who is He? End of verse 13, our great God and Savior is Christ Jesus. Our great God and Savior, Jesus. Jesus is God.

That's number one. I just, I have friends that deny that the Bible says that Jesus is God and I've tried to show you every time it comes up. Bible's really clear on that, Jesus is God. Number two, He will come again. He will come again.

Notice how Paul uses the word appear once more in verse 13. Did you notice that? How verse 11 begins with appearing and verse 13 ends with the word appear appearing. The grace of God appeared and now at the end of verse 13, he will appear again, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Christ Jesus. Why is Paul using that same word appear?

Why do you think he does that? To make certain that you know just how certain and secure your salvation is. Did the grace of God appear the first time? Yes. Jesus came, God promised, and Jesus came.

If He came the first time, just as God promised, will He not surely come again? The answer is yes. Jesus will come again. That's why He uses appearing twice. You know He appeared the first time.

Will he not appear again as he promised? The same God, just think about this, the same God who promised in Genesis 3 that a Savior would come, four thousand years later, give or take, Almighty God made good on that promise. And that Savior came exactly as God had promised He would come. That's a big four thousand years! That same God who promised Noah that he would send a flood over the earth, and he instructed Noah how to build an ark, 120 years later after that promise, God made good on that promise.

Exactly. And the flood came. That same God and Savior Jesus who promised in the Gospels that the Jews in their temple would be judged 40 years later after that promise was made by Jesus. God made good on that promise and now a stone was left unturned In 70 AD when Rome sacked Jerusalem. Throughout the epistles, if you read the epistles, Paul is dealing with false teachers and he's dealing with enemies of the church who were mocking them.

They're mocking Christians. Where is the promise of his appearing? Jesus said that he would come in judgment and tear down this temple, but it's still standing, ain't it? Still standing. He hadn't done diddly-squaw.

And then in 70 AD, those mockers were silenced as the Jewish temple sacrifices were snuffed out forever. Consider the mockery that Noah and his contemporaries would have endured. When God promised to bring a flood, Noah began to build an ark for 120 years he preached righteousness can you imagine the mockery where is this promised flood you've been talking about you've been building this boat what in the world are you doing you fool still no rain today I've had 13 kids you still have not a drop of rain. And then God put Noah, and God put his household in the ark. And then God closed up the ark and every single one of those mockers perished.

But Noah was sustained. God keeps His promises. He keeps His promises. No matter what the mockers or the scorners may say, he appeared the first time, he will surely appear again. That's what's going on in verse 13.

And so you believe, and you deny sin, and you live unto the Lord, and you labor unto the Lord, knowing and expecting that your blessed hope is coming. You live faithfully in this age, looking forward to the age to come, because God who is faithful in every age will keep you. He will sustain you. He will come again. Paul says the same thing in Titus chapter 3.

Look there at Titus chapter 3 for just a minute. Paul says the same thing in Titus 3 beginning in verse 5. He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace, we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. Christian, you have a blessed hope. You have a certain hope in Jesus Christ.

His grace saves, His grace sanctifies, His grace sustains you. He is with you always, even to the end of the age, and even then after that, in the age to come. So here now then, this truth from Romans chapter 8 as I close summarizes what we've been discussing. It summarizes the truth in Titus 2, 11 through 13. Here now, Romans chapter 8.

For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to become conformed to the image of his son, so that he would be the firstborn among many brethren. And these whom he predestined, He also called. And these whom He called, He also justified. And these whom He justified, He also glorified. What then shall we say to these things?

If God is for us who is against us, He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, How will He not also with Him freely give us all things? Who will bring any charge against God's elect? God is the one who justifies. Who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes.

Rather who was raised. Who is at the right hand of God who also intercedes for us. So what will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, distress, persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Nay, just as it is written, for your sake we are being put to death all day long.

We were considered as sheep to be slaughtered, but in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. That is your blessed hope. And let's pray. Father in heaven, thank you that none may bring a charge against us, your people, for those who have Repented and trusted in your Son.

The charge has been dealt with. Justification has been declared. Your people do not have a single drop of wrath remaining to be drunk. Christ has taken every ounce of the wrath that we deserve as your elect, and He's dealt with it. So that now we might live unto you, denying ungodliness, and living unto you the Lord, help us.

And grant us the grace to look forward, to say Christ will sustain. Christ will come again. He appeared the first time. He will appear again. Remind us that you keep your promises perfectly.

You have never failed. We thank you that you are faithful. We thank you for your grace that is greater than our sin. We ask now that we'd sing and declare that together joyfully and very loudly for your glory and our joy. Amen.