In Titus chapter 1 we met the apostle Paul who is boldly proclaiming the gospel, with great authority, his calling, and choosing by God to proclaim this gospel of Jesus Christ. After much teaching in chapters 1 and 2, Paul ends Titus 2 proclaiming the work of Jesus Christ. In chapter 3 he expounds even more on that same work, “The Gospel.” Without Jesus Christ, we would have no need of all the instruction given by the apostle Paul. Without the cross, we would still be dead in our trespasses and sins. There would be no church. There would be no kingdom of priests. But praise God He is making a Kingdom for His Son Jesus Christ. We are His Bride and He is making us ready for the marriage supper of the Lamb!
What is the Gospel?
Titus 2:13-14, ” Looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour, 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.”
Titus 3:4, ” But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, 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.”
Why Do We Need a Savior?
Titus 2:14 says, “Christ gave Himself to redeem us from every lawless deed.” You may be asking what are lawless deeds? Lawless/Iniquity: means, violation/transgression of Law. Wickedness, iniquity.
1 John 3: 4 teaches, Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness.”
We have violated the Law of God. We practiced sin. Recall what Paul reminded us of in Titus 3:3. “We also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another.” We lived in disobedience to the Law of God. We may have been perfectly good moral citizens but not good in the eyes of God.
Lawlessness represents self-assertion as opposed to the self-sacrifice of unconditional love. These verses are teaching us that we were caught up in ourselves. Our focus was inward, “me,” not upward, “GOD.”
The Westminster Shorter Catechism teaches, ” The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.”
But Romans teaches that man did not glorify God nor give Him thanks. They/we exchanged the glory of God for an image. (Romans 1:20-23) We are without excuse because this same passage teaches that God made Himself self-evident to us and in us. So man- no man- honored and glorified God or enjoyed Him. All men are lawless and under the wrath of God. Without a perfect sacrifice that would satisfy the righteous wrath of God all man would be lost. All men are in need of a Savior!
God’s Kindness and Love Appeared
God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law. that He might redeem those who are under the Law, that we might receive the adoptions as sons.” Galatians 4:4-5
According to Titus 3:5 God’s kindness and love appeared and He saved us. Not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness. It was God’s love and His kindness that saved us. Paul is teaching in this passage that salvation is a work of God not a work of man.
Salvation is God’s work from beginning to end!
God Sent His Son to Redeem Us
To redeem means to release someone held in bondage, a prisoner or slave, on receipt of a payment. God sent His One and only Son to redeem us to buy us out of the slave market. The blood of Christ was the payment God required to satisfy His wrath, to justify His grace in order to redeem His people.
We owe a debt we cannot pay. Jesus paid a debt He did not owe.
Christ Gave Himself to Redeem Us
Philippians 2:6-8 teaches, ” Although He(Christ) existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking on the form of a bond-slave, and being made in the appearance as man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”
God required a perfect sacrifice, the shedding of blood for the forgiveness of sins. Hebrews 9:22. “Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.”The work of Christ; His life, death, burial and resurrection redeems us, pays the price, and buys us out of bondage to sin.
He Saved Us! Boldly Proclaiming the Gospel
Saved means: To rescue from peril. Matthew 1:21 teaches that Christ will save His people from their sins. Saved includes, protection, keeping alive, preservation of life, deliverance, to be made whole. Salvation also encompasses justification, immediate sanctification, progressive sanctification, and glorification. God through Christ and the working of the Holy Spirit has saved us from all the bondage of sin.
- The Filth of Sin
- The Shame of Sin
- The Power of Sin
- The Guilt of Sin
- The Death of Sin
Not According to Our Deeds
- God did not save us because we gave all of our possessions to feed the poor.
- God did not save us because we belonged to the right group of people.
- God did not save us because we are good citizens.
- God did not save us because of anything we did or do in self-righteousness.
Mercy is God’s self-moved, spontaneous loving kindness which causes Him to deal in compassion and tender affection with the miserable and distressed.
And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among then we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But God being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ(by grace you have been saved) Ephesians 2:1-5
Because of His:
- Great Mercy
- Great Love
- Great Grace
All Scripture testifies that we are saved because of God and His great mercy and love for us not by our works.
By Regeneration and Renewing
Through the power and working of the Holy Spirit, we have been washed by regeneration and renewed. Remember the verse we read earlier: {Ephesians 2:1}we were dead in our trespasses and sins. Being dead we had no way of saving ourselves. We were even blind and dead to the fact that we were in need of being saved. But God regenerated us! He caused us to be born again. Regeneration is the new birth. God through the working of the Holy Spirit, opens our eyes that we may see that we are need of a Savior. He opens our ears to hear His call and gives us a new heart that responds by faith. 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 statues. and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.
We have undergone restoration, we have been returned to that state that was lost in the garden of Eden. We have been brought back into fellowship with God!
What Amazing Grace! How can we who have been born again not boldly proclaim the saving message of Jesus Christ?
