Reformation Matters: Grace Alone, Part 2
Notes
Transcript
For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people,
training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age,
waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,
who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.
Titus sets out to show the unbreakable link between true faith and practice.
The person who has true faith will have true obedience.
Another way to say it is the person who has actually experienced grace will live in step with the grace they have experienced by grace.
Notice again that Paul grounds all of his commands from above in the reality of grace.
He starts by giving the commands but concludes with the declarations of what God has done in the gospel.
God’s Grace Appears
God’s Grace Appears
The Forgiving Grace of God
For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people,
“the grace of God” which is a phrase that Paul uses some 15 times throughout his letters.
Here the unearned favor of God has been revealed to us in Jesus Christ.
Grace Alone—Salvation as a Gift of God Grace and the New Creation
The incarnation is the embodiment of God’s grace, its supreme revelation. Christ is grace personified.
The grace of God brings salvation for all “kinds” of people.
The grace of God brings salvation for all “kinds” of people.
“bringing salvation for all people” here is a reference to the classes of people who Paul is referring to.
Previously, salvation was only known for those who are of the Jewish people.
There were people who were excluded from this list.
This is why the Jews continued to get upset at Paul when he said that salvation had come to Gentiles (Acts 28:25-28).
Salvation has come to “all people” in that it is not excluded by class or kind of person.
Just like Paul says in 1 Timothy 4:10
For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe.
Jesus is the savior of “all people” in the sense that He is the savior of all people without reservation but “particularly” (NLT) of those who believe.
This is an important distinction because the Bible does not affirm universalism.
Universalism is the belief that all people will one day be saved.
This non-sense doctrine is supported by passages like this that affirm salvation for “all people.”
It is best to understand this as all “types”, “classes”, or “kinds” of people.
Credit Card Debt and Forgiveness
At the end of every month if you use a credit card you pay your bill.
The reason you pay your bill is because you don’t want to have debt.
But what Paul here describes in vivid detail is that our trespasses and sins were like a record of debt.
The record of debt showed that what we deserve is death.
And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses,
by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.
What are people’s response to this grace?
We often forget when telling the story of Jonah about the point of the story.
My son right now loves hearing the story of Jonah.
He says, “Tell the story of Jonah”, and right now he wants to hear about the big fish and all the craziness of being swallowed by a fish.
But what I continually emphasize to him because its the point of the story is the extravagant grace of God toward the people.
But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry.
And he prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster.
Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.”
And the Lord said, “Do you do well to be angry?”
Jonah was angry because God was kind, gracious, and merciful toward sinners.
And Jonah represents the heart of all legalists.
Grace Alone—Salvation as a Gift of God Grace in the Old Testament
Jonah’s reaction is only so ugly because God’s grace is so beautiful. An entire city of sleazy, corrupt, vile human beings is yet delivered from judgment and brought into joyful communion with God. The story is not so much about Jonah’s bitterness of soul as it is about God’s glorious grace.
The heart that sees others receiving the forgiving grace of God, they become angry.
They become angry because they presume that their judgments are more just than Gods.
Or take Pharaoh’s response in the Exodus...
Every time a plague came upon Pharaoh he pleaded with Moses to take it away.
He pleaded that God would be merciful to him.
But when Pharaoh saw that there was a respite, he hardened his heart and would not listen to them, as the Lord had said.
Time and time again the grace of God toward Pharaoh only hardened him.
What exactly does God’s grace do?
God’s Grace Trains
God’s Grace Trains
The Transforming Grace of God
training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age,
waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,
Legalism - “If I try hard enough, God will love me”
License - “God loves me either way, it doesn’t matter how I live.”
Saved by Grace to Walk in Faith - “I am loved and accepted in Jesus, I want to walk in a way He desires me to.”
The grace of God trains us in what we should avoid.
The grace of God trains us in what we should avoid.
Titus 2:12 (ESV)
training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions,
This includes “renouncing” or “saying ‘no’ to” ungodliness.
This also includes “worldly passions” or “the desires that characterize the world” which constitutes the realm of disobedience as seen in Ephesians 2:1-3.
Unfortunately how we tend to speak of the grace of God sounds a lot like this....
“I blew up on my family again, God’s teaching me a lot about grace with my family.”
“I fell again into pornography for the 10,000th time, God’s teaching me about his grace.”
“I can’t read my Bible because I’m just too busy, but God’s grace is sufficient”
The grace of God trains us in what we should pursue.
The grace of God trains us in what we should pursue.
training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age,
Notice the sphere of things positively self (self-controlled), others (upright), and toward God (godly lives in the present age).
The self component is seen directly above when Paul gives the commands to “older men” “older women” and the like.
This is a command to govern ourselves respectfully.
The others component is the righteous life toward others (Titus 1:1).
Finally it is interesting to note that the “godly lives in the present age” consists of right now and future focused.
The grace of God teaches us how to live now, but also prepares us for the age to come.
waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,
“waiting” here is referring to the “eager longing” for the appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Christians are those who eagerly look forward to the day when Jesus will appear.
Prayer as an expression of pleading for mercy.
How often on news reports do we see examples of human suffering with the response that people are praying for the victims? While the response is in a sense a good one, it is hard not to wonder whether phrases such as “our thoughts and prayers are with the victims” are really just another way of saying “we feel very badly for the victims and want to express our solidarity with them and their loved ones.” That is not biblical prayer.
Grace Alone—Salvation as a Gift of God (Grace and Prayer)
Prayer is not a conversation between equals.
Prayer is not a twisting of God’s arm for help.
Prayer is not a cooperation between servant and King.
Prayer is an act of divine grace toward us.
God’s Grace Empowers
God’s Grace Empowers
The Empowering Grace of God
who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.
“who gave himself” here again refers back to the prior statement “the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:13).
The Lord Jesus is the One who gave Himself up.
The word for “gave” here represents the completed action of the once-for all giving of the Lord Jesus.
He gave himself up for the purpose of “redeeming” a people for Himself (Matthew 20:28, Mark 10:45).
The grace of God redeems us from lawlessness.
The grace of God redeems us from lawlessness.
The word for redeem is to “set free” or “rescue from captivity” those who were formerly enslaved to their own lawlessness.
This word for lawlessness is literally “against the law.”
This kind of lawlessness is as John describes elsewhere....
Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness.
Jesus has redeemed us from the law in the sense that our hearts were once positioned to be against God’s holy law.
The death of Jesus liberated us from the dominion of sin in our lives.
This means if you’re a Christian you can’t say, “I can’t obey this.”
To say “I can’t obey this!” is to confess that you do not have the power to obey.
This is contrary to the forgiving and empowering grace of God.
Grace Alone—Salvation as a Gift of God Chapter 1: Grace in the Bible
it is because we are saved by grace that grace then works in our lives to accomplish God’s purposes for us.
The grace of God purifies us to be God’s people.
The grace of God purifies us to be God’s people.
who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.
“to purify for himself a people” harkens back to what God continually promised His people in the OT.
On Mount Sinai, as Moses went up the mountain, God called out to the people and declared the terms of the covenant to them.
Exodus 19:4–6 (ESV)
‘You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself.
Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine;
and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’
God’s purposes for the people of Israel was to make them His treasured possession.
But Israel continued to show themselves to be promise breakers not promise keepers.
If “redeem” refers to removing us from the controlling effects of sin, then “purify” is to remove the defilement of sin from the Christian.
We have been freed from the power of sin over us but we have also been freed to walk in obedience.
We need both.
We need to be freed from the dominion of sin over us but we also need to be free to walk in obedience to God.
The proper response to the saving death of Jesus Christ is to be zealous for good works.
Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.
Its because we have the promises of free forgiveness that Paul can tell us to live holy and blameless lives in this present evil age.
It is because of the precious promises of God that we are able and empowered to cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and soul.
It is because of the promises of God that we will be forgiven fully and completely that we can pursue holiness completely before God.
All instruction in obedience must be tethered to the redeeming work of Jesus Christ.
When we try to exhort one another disconnected from God’s unearned favor in Jesus, it will bend toward legalism.
An example of this is seen in things like “purity rings.”
A purity ring used to be popular when dad’s would give to their daughters purity rings to keep themselves pure when they get older.
Often what would happen is this instruction was disconnected from the forgiving and empowering grace of Jesus.
But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.
The grace of God makes us zealous for good works.
The grace of God makes us zealous for good works.
who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.
Paul knew that those who had the law would be concerned with his message of grace that people would begin to walk in sin because of this message of grace.
What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?
By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?
Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?
We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
Every time the Christian walks in disobedience and rebellion, we declare that Jesus is still in the tomb.
We don’t speak of the life and grace that God has shown us in the gospel.
When the Christian walks in obedience to God we declare God’s power to forgive sinners.
When a Christian walks in obedience to God we show the power found in Christ.
“Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.” — Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Cheap grace is forgiveness without obedience.
Cheap grace is looking for God’s forgiving favor without seeking His power to obey the truth.
God’s grace is the furthest thing from cheap because it cost the Son of God His life and has given the power by the Holy Spirit to walk in faith.
Cheap grace promises to rescue from sin but does not give the power for renewal.
Cheap grace offers to save us from hell but does not give us the power to walk in faith.
Cheap grace is the kind of grace that accepts everyone but does not discipline for sin within the church.
“It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life. It is costly because it condemns sin, and grace because it justifies the sinner. Above all, it is costly because it cost God the life of his Son: and what has cost God much cannot be cheap for us. Above all, it is grace because God did not reckon his Son too dear a price to pay for our life, but delivered him up for us.” — Dietrich Bonhoeffer
It is entirely possible for a person to have the right “profession of faith without the reality of faith” (Denny Burk).
The fruit of saving faith is “good deeds.”
Not the other way around.
This means for us as a church, we should be diligent fruit inspectors.
Not assuming everyone is a Christian who professes to be a Christian, but looking out for the fruit of salvation.
A person can say all day long that they are a Christian, but we as a body are to examine and see, “Is there saving faith here?”
We will not be perfect in this endeavor.
Actually we will be deeply flawed in our own understandings.
But we are looking for the fruit of faith.
The fruit of the grace of God impacting a person’s life.
Grace is subjective only as long as we keep it disconnected from Jesus Christ.
But when we realize that saving faith produces fruit, then we must look for fruit from one another’s lives.
