The Gospel(Titus 2-11-14)

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Presentation of the gospel from Titus.

Notes
Transcript

Introduction

Greeting

I am glad to be back with you guys after a fairly extended break due to the Coronavirus. My name is Corey Ramsey and I have signed up here to teach the gospel of Jesus Christ once a month. I have been doing this here for over a year now and I find it a blessing every time I am able to come back.
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Alexander the Great

One of the things that I like to do when I am not studying the Bible is to study history. I have found in particular that I enjoy reading war history or biographies of great generals, two of my favorite so far being Napolean Bonaparte and Alexander the Great. Alexander the great was a very interesting King of Macedon, who lived from 356 to about 323 BC. He is known for taking over much of the world due to his military genius and Hellenizing or changing their culture to match the culture of the Greeks where he came from. One of the things I found interesting about Alexander is that when he took over a territory, he would sometimes allow the people that were ruling to continue their rule area but only under his kingship. If they didn’t submit to his kingship, they were then expelled and somebody else was set in their place to rule. One of his goals was to make the whole world as he knew its culture like that of the Greeks. This would mean renouncing their old culture to live the way he wanted them to live. Due to the greatness of his empire, many of his time even referred to him as the king of kings.
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Transition

I am here to tell you today that as great as Alexander may have seemed, I will be speaking to you of one far greater, the true King of Kings and Lord of Lords Jesus Christ. As we look over a passage from the book of Titus, we will see a similarity between what Jesus has done and what Alexander has done, only Jesus work being far greater than Alexanders. Before we open the Scripture’s, let us go to the Lord and ask his blessing upon this time that we will be spending together.
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Prayer

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Titus 2:11-14

Context

The text we will be looking at today is Titus 2:11-14. This letter is written to a man by the name of Titus from the Apostle Paul. It is speaking of one, setting up a church government such as appointing elders. Two, it speaks a lot of sound doctrine and the importance of it. Three, it speaks of good works and how sound doctrine should let to good works. So please turn in your Bibles to Titus 2:11-14 and let us begin reading.
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The Text

11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, 12 training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, 13 waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, 14 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.

Light Reflection

As we look over this passage we can see that it is full of doctrine. We read of the grace of God, salvation, sanctification or being made holy, eschatology or end times, the doctrine of redemption, the doctrine of the church, and much more. I plan to touch on all of these great topics as through this text I prepare to present to you the gospel of Jesus Christ. What is the gospel? Depending who you ask in todays world you will probably get many answers but the truth is that there is only one gospel of Jesus Christ and any so called gospel that is not the one and only gospel is a false gospel and should be regarded as such. We know how Paul, the writer of this letter felt about the gospel saying in Galatians 1:

6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— 7 not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.

Or what about the importance of the one true gospel that Paul shows in 1 Corinthians 15 saying:

3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received:

The one true gospel should be delivered as of first importance in any sermon that is preached and as verse 15 of our text mentions, I am here today to declare these things and my hope is that no one here today will disregard me as I present to you the message of life.
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Verse 11

11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people,

This verse is great news but why is it great news? If there is any in here today that don’t understand why the grace of God appearing bringing salvation for all people is good news, it is because they do not understand their own condition and the destiny based on that condition. Let me explain. If we were in no real danger, God bringing salvation for all people would sound silly right? I mean why would somebody need to be saved if there was nothing serious to be saved from? I believe this is where a lot of unsaved people stand today. They believe there is a God, whether they admit it or not, but they see no reason why they should trust in him. They love their life and believe they are a pretty good person so God will understand their mistakes. They believe there is no way that God would send all these people to hell in the world that don’t believe in him so they have nothing to worry about. This was me a little over 5 years ago before I realized some serious truths.
It is of first importance that I trust in this God I have rejected all my years. (I believed in God but did not honor him not trust in him as my savior because I didn’t feel that I needed saving.)
I am not a good person (I had spend all of these years doing drugs and living in immorality thinking I am not a bad person, I mean, I have not killed anybody right? A good person in God’s eyes must be perfect without sin and I failed to meet that standard. James 2:10 says: For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.
Since God is real, I am not a good person having broken his whole law, and God requires perfection, I was going to be in a heap of trouble when he came back. I needed God to show grace to me and save me because I was unable to save myself.
We read that the grace of God has appeared. The word “grace” can be defined as unmerited favor. Grace is a gift of God that is unmerited or undeserved. Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “

8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

There is nothing that we have done or nothing about us that deserves the grace of God. In fact, we deserve the wrath of God because remember, we have broken Gods whole law.
How has the grace of God appeared? The grace of God has appeared in Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the savior of the world, bringing salvation for all people. Does this mean that everybody is saved? The grace of God has no limitation as far as poor or rich. The grace of God has no limitation as far as Jew or Gentile. In the Old Testament, the grace of God was shown inside the nation of Israel but as we progress to the New Testament in the work of Jesus Christ, the grace of God has now also been extended to the gentiles which were the non-Jewish people. When the passage says all people, it does not mean every single person but it is speaking all types of people. No matter where you go whether in the United States or Russia, there is only one name under which man can be saved and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. People everywhere no matter rich or poor can trust upon that name and be saved. What does Christ save them from? Their sins.
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Verse 12

12 training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age,

Now that we have been saved, we are called to live a different life than what we have previously lived. In the story of Alexander, we saw that he showed mercy to some places but required of them that they live according to his culture and not their old ways. We see a very similar thing happening here in our text. Jesus has conquered sin and death, our old ruler and has established a new way of life for us to live.
We see that it was the grace of God that appeared to bring salvation in the last verse but in this verse, it is also the grace of God that allows us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in the present age. As we go from our old sinful ways in which we were following the prince of the power of the air or Satan, to following Christ and living for him, this process is called sanctification and is a work of the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit that gives us the grace to say no to the sin in which we once walked and to live for Christ. We can see this painted very clearly in Galatians 5:19-24:

19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

We can see here two complete opposites. We used to live and practice the works of the flesh in which none who do those things will inherit the kingdom of God, but as the grace of God has appeared and brought salvation to us, we are given the Holy Spirit which gives us the power to forsake the works of the flesh and bear fruit in the Spirit.
This right here is our new way of life. Living this way is not what saves us because then it would no longer be grace that saved us but because we are saved by grace, we are now expected to live in a way that glorifies our savior.
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Verse 13

13 waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,

We are saved and expected to live godly lives in this present world until the Lord Jesus returns. The fact that the Lord Jesus will be coming back should be motivation for us to live for him. He could come back today or he could come back a thousand years from now, we do not know the day or the hour but only know that he will be back. Consider with me the parable of the absent master in Mark 13:32-37:

32 “But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 33 Be on guard, keep awake. For you do not know when the time will come. 34 It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his servants in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to stay awake. 35 Therefore stay awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning— 36 lest he come suddenly and find you asleep. 37 And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake.”

We must stay awake in this present age as we await the return of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. When he returns there will be judgement and all of those who have failed to trust in him will be separated from his love forever. But what of those who have trusted in him? 1 John 3:2 says,

2 Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.

We will finally see Christ as he is and we shall be like him. Not only that, but Revelation 21:3-4 tells us:

3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

We will dwell with God forever with no more tears, no more mourning, death, crying, or pain. This sinful world as we know it will have passed away and the new heavens and new earth will have arrived where we spend eternity with Christ in a world that doesn’t have all the things in this world that cause us pain. We will share in the masters joy.
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Verse 14

14 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.

The text says our Great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness. We spoke earlier of the grace of God appearing and providing salvation for all people, but how did that even take place? Jesus Christ came into the world born of a virgin, fully God and fully man. He then proceeded to live the perfect life under Gods law, the one that we have failed to live by breaking every one of His laws. He then was taken to the cross and crucified. We read in Romans 6:23 that the wages of sin are death. The thing is, that Jesus never sinned so how could he die? When Jesus died on the cross, he didn’t die because of any sin of his own, but he laid down his life that he might pay for the sins of His people. When Jesus Christ died on the cross, he took all the sins of his people to it and God unleashed his wrath on him in our place. But not only did Jesus Christ take our sins to the cross and pay for them, he also gave us his perfect righteousness based on the perfect life that he lived, so that we can stand before God on judgement day blameless as he is. We share in this blessing by believing in Jesus Christ. By believing that apart from him, we would have all perished and suffered under Gods wrath and rightly so because we have rebelled against the very one who created us. By believing that you contribute nothing to your salvation but the sin that made it necessary. The grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people based on our Great God and Savior Jesus Christ who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness. Before we are redeemed by Christ, we are slaves to sin. The passage in Ephesians said we were followers of the prince of the power of the air and we would still be had not Jesus Christ intervened and bought us at a price, his precious blood. He redeemed us from a life in which we had no way to leave our slavery. He bought us from that life of sin that leads to death and gave us life according to his life. Not only did Jesus die on the cross, but he rose again on the third day. Those of us who are in Christ, die to our old sinful nature that we once lived in and come alive to Christ as a new creature to walk in the way of the Spirit which he has given us.
To purify a people for himself a people for his own possession. If we look to the Old Testament, we will see that those who were unclean could not come in the presence of God. Those who were to serve the Lord were to be pure and clean. God is Holy and Pure and hates sin and since Adam and Eve sinned, they were separated from God. Everybody after them is born sinners so in order for the priests to serve him, they had to purify and cleanse themselves to be in the presence of God. Numbers 5:8-16 explains this well:

5 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 6 “Take the Levites from among the people of Israel and cleanse them. 7 Thus you shall do to them to cleanse them: sprinkle the water of purification upon them, and let them go with a razor over all their body, and wash their clothes and cleanse themselves. 8 Then let them take a bull from the herd and its grain offering of fine flour mixed with oil, and you shall take another bull from the herd for a sin offering. 9 And you shall bring the Levites before the tent of meeting and assemble the whole congregation of the people of Israel. 10 When you bring the Levites before the LORD, the people of Israel shall lay their hands on the Levites, 11 and Aaron shall offer the Levites before the LORD as a wave offering from the people of Israel, that they may do the service of the LORD. 12 Then the Levites shall lay their hands on the heads of the bulls, and you shall offer the one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering to the LORD to make atonement for the Levites. 13 And you shall set the Levites before Aaron and his sons, and shall offer them as a wave offering to the LORD.

14 “Thus you shall separate the Levites from among the people of Israel, and the Levites shall be mine. 15 And after that the Levites shall go in to serve at the tent of meeting, when you have cleansed them and offered them as a wave offering. 16 For they are wholly given to me from among the people of Israel.

Do you see any similarities between this passage and our passage? In that passage we see God cleansing a people for himself that they might be his and serve him. In our passages we see Jesus Christ who purified a people his own possession who are zealous for good works. You may be thinking, if they could just sacrifice animals and purify themself through water, what is the point of Jesus doing what he did to purify us? Hebrews 9:12-14 says:

12 he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. 13 For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, 14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

The blood of bulls and goats was a temporary solution which Hebrews 10:4 says its is impossible to take away sins. But Christ, the perfect sacrifice is the eternal solution to the problem, purifying us once and for all to serve him.
Who are zealous for good works. If we take a look at all Christ has done for us. He has showed amazing grace to us, saved us, given us his Spirit to live by, will return for us, he gave himself for us and redeemed us, purified us to serve him, it only makes sense that we would do this zealously. If we remember that he didnt have to save us but he did and he didnt save everybody but only some, if we are included in the some, we should find it a privilege to serve him.
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Reflection

We have looked through the text today and seen the gospel laid out for us. I realize there are people here that believe, people that dont believe, and some people that probably think they believe but really dont. Let me start by addressing the unbeliever.
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Unbeliever

What is preventing you from placing your faith in the risen Lord Jesus Christ? Its not as if this is not a big deal and you can just push it to the side and address it another day. This is a life or death matter. We are not promised another day. As I have mentioned Jesus could return today for judgement and you would be found outside of Christ and condemned for all of your sins. You could die today and never have another chance to repent and believe. You will not make it to heaven for being a good person because you are not a good person. The Scriptures tell us “none are good, no not 1.” I have heard others say that they dont want to be a Christian because they dont want to live by all of these rules which tells me that you are in love with your sin. There is no sin around here that is worth spending eternity in hell. The way that God has given us to live is what is best for us and most fulfilling. If you are believing the opposite way is what is best, you are believing the lie of prince of the power of the air. I plea to you today. Call upon the Lord. The Lord says whoever comes to me, I will in no wise cast out. There is nothing that has left you beyond forgiveness except your unbelief. Your past does not matter but what matters is the decision you make today. Will you continue in your sin set on the path to death or will you repent of your sins and come to the Lord Jesus in faith to have life? Choose Life!
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You Think You Believe

To the so-called believer. One thing about the United States is that it is filled with people called “Cultural Christians.” The cultural Christian is the person who would consider themselves a Christian if asked simply because they were raised that way or because it left them in better standing in the culture. As the culture in the United States progresses in this godless, god hating agenda, I believe you will no longer have a place on the spectrum. You will either be forced to renounce the faith and side with the unbelievers or take up your cross and side with the believers. I stood as a cultural Christian for around 25 years of my life. I thought I believed in God. I knew he existed but I seemed to disregard everything he had told me about himself and the way he would like me to live. The truth is, I wasn’t a Christian. I could have cared less about God. The only thing I was concerned about was myself. Those of you who find yourself in this section, I want you to know that believing in God is not a thought but an action. If I believed that somebody was going to break in my house tonight and attack my family, yet I left the doors unlocked and my wife and child at home by themselves, would we really be able to say that I believed that was going to happen? NO! If I believed that was going to happen, I would have treated the situation with all seriousness and been prepared and ready to defend my home. We cant say we believe in God while we live lives full of sin, with no desire for a relationship with God through prayer and reading his Word. We cant say that we love God and not try to keep his commandments. We cant say we love God and not be burdened over the sin in our lives and the lives of others. Revelation 3:15-16 says,

15 “ ‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! 16 So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.

There is no better time than right now to put away that dead Christianity and start actually living for Christ.
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The Believer

To the believer, I challenge you to be zealous for good works. The text calls us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions. Are there things in your life that are not honoring to God? God has called us to deny these things. We are ambassadors of Christ and what we do can impact the people around us’s opinion of Jesus. We have the Holy Spirit that will help us to recognize these things so let us pick up the Word and read and pray that the Spirit will point out these areas of our life. Not only should we not do wrong but we should do good. The text says to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives. Pursuing the fruits of the Spirit that I mentioned earlier is a good example of what to aim for in living a godly life. The text says not only to do these things but that Christ purified a people who were zealous for these good works. Being zealous means to be deeply committed to doing these good works. Living here at the City Gospel with so many people that you see everyday, you should find a multitude of opportunities for good works. Matthew 28:19-20 calls us to:

19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Preach the gospel at all times and use words if necessary says St. Francis. The gospel can be preached by our zeal for good works which often leads to an opportunity to share in words. I challenge you to be a light to the people in your lives.
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Prayer

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