Before I started to pen this writing. I went downstairs to change a load of laundry from the washer to the dryer and put in another load. While downstairs  I thought to myself… hum… I need some chocolate.

Ok! I did not need it I wanted it:)  So I grabbed myself a Skinny Cow Chocolate Caramel bar and headed back upstairs.

I am sitting here enjoying it as I read through the second chapter of Titus. Boy, this candy is good!! Sweet and satisfying.  As I read and ponder over the words of Christ I could not help but think God’s word is so much more satisfying, so much sweeter than any chocolate we could consume.  Read what the writer of Psalm 119:103 says,

How sweet are Your words to my taste! Yes, sweeter than honey to my mouth.

God’s word is something I need. I pray every day that the desire of my heart  is to want to feast on God’s Word and not other things, like chocolate, that satisfy only my flesh not my spirit.

Before we begin to walk through this passage of Scripture that Paul has penned in Titus 2:11-15. Please read them and ponder them in your hearts! If you get no further in this post but these verses, Praise God.  For you will have feasted on the best morsels, the sweetest honey you could ever enjoy.  Amen:)

“For the grace of God has appeared bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in this present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.”

Paul has tucked these verses in between our call to live godly in the church, home, the world, and the reminder of who we once were before we answered the call of salvation. I love how Paul always brings us back to the gospel no matter the subject he may be teaching.

The gospel is the beginning and the ending of everything in our lives. 

Why Do We Live Godly in This Present Age?

To be God’s Witnesses.

The application is to live a godly life so that others will see a difference in us and that God is glorified through it.

God has called us, is transforming us to be His witnesses in all Judea and the uttermost parts of the world.

• We are transformed to be a godly witness in our homes, Titus 2:3-5
• We are transformed to be a godly witness in our churches, Titus 2:1-8
• We are transformed to be a godly witness in the workplace, the world, Titus 2:9-10

That His Name May Be Great Among the Nations

The gospel of Grace is our instructor. God gives the power of grace that transforms and continues to sanctify us. This grace comes through the Holy Spirit. When we are saved the Holy Spirit is given to the new believer to instruct, guide, and to teach, bringing about transformation. 

Saving Grace is a Training Grace

We are being instructed, we are being taught, we are being trained to DENY; SAY NO, to ungodly behaviour that was ours before regeneration.

Charles Spurgeon puts it this way:When the Holy Spirit comes into the heart, he finds that we know so much already of what it were well to leave unknown; we are self-conceited, we are puffed up. We have learned lessons of worldly wisdom and carnal policy, and these we need to unlearn and deny. The Holy Spirit works this denying in us by the discipline of grace.

Say No To:

• ungodliness: Lack of reverence toward God in our hearts. Failing to give God first place in our hearts, souls and minds.
• worldly desires: Desire is passion toward an object. In this case worldly, that which is not of God. In this latter sense, kosmikos describes those passions, desires and sinful pleasures which have the character of “this presentevil age“

If our heart is not turned toward God it  will be turned outward to the world. Its desires, its passion will be toward worldly things. Fame, fortune, chocolate:)…

The Grace of God is instructing us to turn from worldly desires to Christly Desires:

Say Yes To

• Living/walking sensibly: Live self-controlled, with self-restraint. Do not yield to those worldly desires.
• Living/Walking righteously: Manifest right conduct. Do what is right in all aspects of life.
• Living/walking godly: Do what God says from the heart, out of reverence and awe of Him.

The goal of the godly is to adorn the gospel with credibility and evidence of its power in their lives. The Bible calls us to even enslave ourselves to what is disadvantageous to us so that others will be freed from the slavery of sin. If our lives exhibit no freedom from the passions of this world, then our lives implicitly say the gospel makes no difference. Bryan Chappel

How and Why Do I Say Yes?

We have read these words once before in the beginning of this post. Lets read them again!

Titus 2:14-15:Christ gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.

Christ is the answer to the HOW and WHY of godly living!

How? Christ gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed. To redeem something is to buy it back. We were sold into slavery of sin and death. Christ bought us back through His atoning work on the cross. 1 Timothy 2:6 teaches, ” Christ gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony given at the proper time.”

Why? To purify for Himself a people for His own possession. Those who are in Christ Jesus are new creatures. We have been purified through His shed blood.

How? We are being sanctified through the working of the Holy Spirit which has come through Jesus Christ.

John 14:16 teaches, ” I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.”

Ezekiel 36:26-27 teaches, ” Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.”

Why? Jesus has asked the Father to give us a Helper! The Holy Spirit our Helper will be with us forever!!

How? We have been given a new heart. We have been given a new spirit. Our heart of stone has been removed. We have been given a heart of flesh. One that can understand and yield to the teachings of the New Spirit that have been put in us. He, The Helper, The Teacher abides with us and in us!

The Time to Say Yes to Godly Living

• In this present age.
• Right now.
• This time, that God, has graciously given to us.

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