1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:17,320 The theme of this pastoral epistle written by the apostle Paul to his son in the faith 2 00:00:17,320 --> 00:00:22,640 and his beloved co-worker Titus is the healthy Christian life. 3 00:00:22,640 --> 00:00:30,040 A number of times he uses a term translated in the King James Version as sound. 4 00:00:30,040 --> 00:00:36,920 He talks of sound doctrine and sound living. 5 00:00:36,920 --> 00:00:42,200 That word sound is healthy, hygienic in the original language. 6 00:00:42,200 --> 00:00:48,260 Titus is commanded by the apostle to establish leadership, healthy leadership, in the churches 7 00:00:48,260 --> 00:00:50,760 on the island of Crete. 8 00:00:50,760 --> 00:00:58,080 The leadership is responsible then to expose the false teachers and to fight against false 9 00:00:58,080 --> 00:01:02,360 doctrine by proclaiming the truth. 10 00:01:02,360 --> 00:01:07,680 Those who are false teachers profess that they know God, but their lives don't back 11 00:01:07,680 --> 00:01:08,680 up their profession. 12 00:01:08,680 --> 00:01:12,160 It's an empty confession they have. 13 00:01:12,160 --> 00:01:17,400 He says, Titus, that is not to be among God's true people. 14 00:01:17,400 --> 00:01:22,300 Our living should back up our believing. 15 00:01:22,300 --> 00:01:28,520 How we behave should underscore what we believe. 16 00:01:28,520 --> 00:01:37,840 So he says as he begins chapter 2, speak thou the things which become or befit sound doctrine. 17 00:01:37,840 --> 00:01:46,400 He says then in verse 10, that they the believers may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in 18 00:01:46,400 --> 00:01:48,240 all things. 19 00:01:48,240 --> 00:01:52,640 That word adorn is the root word for our word cosmetics. 20 00:01:52,640 --> 00:01:55,720 Rather than covering up, what it means is to make attractive. 21 00:01:55,720 --> 00:02:03,280 It means to make something beautiful, cosmeo. 22 00:02:03,280 --> 00:02:09,580 You and I, by the way that we live, are to adorn our theology. 23 00:02:09,580 --> 00:02:14,720 What we say we believe is to be made beautiful and attractive to people because of the way 24 00:02:14,720 --> 00:02:18,120 that we live our lives day by day. 25 00:02:18,120 --> 00:02:22,360 It's not enough just to tell somebody that Jesus loves them, that he died for their sins, 26 00:02:22,360 --> 00:02:23,560 and they rose again. 27 00:02:23,560 --> 00:02:28,320 It's not enough just to hand them a force, spiritual laws, or some other tract. 28 00:02:28,320 --> 00:02:34,560 But our lives must back up what we say we believe about the Lord. 29 00:02:34,560 --> 00:02:38,480 Then in verse 11 we come to our text for tonight. 30 00:02:38,480 --> 00:02:44,360 For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that 31 00:02:44,360 --> 00:02:52,720 denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly 32 00:02:52,720 --> 00:02:59,860 in this present age, looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great 33 00:02:59,860 --> 00:03:08,280 God and our Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from 34 00:03:08,280 --> 00:03:16,520 all iniquity and purify unto himself a people of his own, zealous of good works. 35 00:03:16,520 --> 00:03:22,520 These things speak and exhort and rebuke with all authority. 36 00:03:22,520 --> 00:03:24,520 Let no man despise thee. 37 00:03:24,520 --> 00:03:29,480 Of course, whenever we come to the word of God, we must realize the authority that the 38 00:03:29,480 --> 00:03:33,560 word has in our lives or that it should have. 39 00:03:33,560 --> 00:03:39,280 We come to this book as if it were no other book of instruction in the world. 40 00:03:39,280 --> 00:03:45,240 This is God's word to us, and what we see in these pages and read in these words we 41 00:03:45,240 --> 00:03:50,400 are to accept as the very words of God. 42 00:03:50,400 --> 00:03:59,080 In the text that we've read tonight, we have the second of three doctrinal sections in 43 00:03:59,080 --> 00:04:00,080 the book of Titus. 44 00:04:00,080 --> 00:04:07,560 The first one is back in verses 1 and 2, and then we come to this one. 45 00:04:07,560 --> 00:04:13,720 Notice that the theme of this text is the grace of God. 46 00:04:13,720 --> 00:04:19,400 Why should I live the kind of life that God commands of me in verses 1 through 10 of chapter 47 00:04:19,400 --> 00:04:20,760 2? 48 00:04:20,760 --> 00:04:22,440 And remember the instructions that he gave. 49 00:04:22,440 --> 00:04:27,840 He spoke first to the aged men and then to the aged women. 50 00:04:27,840 --> 00:04:29,720 He doesn't define what age it is. 51 00:04:29,720 --> 00:04:32,200 He's smart. 52 00:04:32,200 --> 00:04:34,200 He speaks then to the young women. 53 00:04:34,200 --> 00:04:36,680 He speaks to the young men. 54 00:04:36,680 --> 00:04:42,800 He speaks to the servants, to the slaves, which applies to students and to children 55 00:04:42,800 --> 00:04:45,680 and to those of us who are employees. 56 00:04:45,680 --> 00:04:48,120 What he says applies to all of us. 57 00:04:48,120 --> 00:04:50,440 Verses 9 and 10. 58 00:04:50,440 --> 00:04:54,080 Why should I be motivated to live that way? 59 00:04:54,080 --> 00:04:59,000 That is a high standard of living that the word of God commands of me. 60 00:04:59,000 --> 00:05:04,840 Well, there are four reasons given to us in the verses that we've read for our text tonight 61 00:05:04,840 --> 00:05:08,200 as to why I should live the kind of life that God commands of me. 62 00:05:08,200 --> 00:05:13,200 Reason number one is because of what grace has done for me. 63 00:05:13,200 --> 00:05:14,200 Verse 11. 64 00:05:14,200 --> 00:05:20,240 The grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men. 65 00:05:20,240 --> 00:05:24,720 Grace is God's unmerited favor toward me. 66 00:05:24,720 --> 00:05:29,800 It is kindness that He shows toward me, though I don't deserve it. 67 00:05:29,800 --> 00:05:35,440 It is His grace which allows His love to reach out and to save me. 68 00:05:35,440 --> 00:05:42,280 His grace is based upon, is rooted in the work of Jesus Christ when He died and rose 69 00:05:42,280 --> 00:05:45,480 again for my sins. 70 00:05:45,480 --> 00:05:49,280 Because of Christ's work, God can be gracious to me. 71 00:05:49,280 --> 00:05:55,480 That's what he is saying here, that God's grace has appeared just as the dawn of the 72 00:05:55,480 --> 00:05:57,920 sun after a dark night. 73 00:05:57,920 --> 00:06:02,240 So God's grace has appeared on the horizon of history. 74 00:06:02,240 --> 00:06:09,400 Ever since man fell into sin, there was darkness in the world brought about by man's fall. 75 00:06:09,400 --> 00:06:11,060 That darkness was overwhelming. 76 00:06:11,060 --> 00:06:13,720 It lasted for thousands of years. 77 00:06:13,720 --> 00:06:25,120 But then one day, 2,000 years ago, God's grace appeared like the sun after a dark night. 78 00:06:25,120 --> 00:06:29,040 That grace appeared in the person of Jesus Christ. 79 00:06:29,040 --> 00:06:35,880 In John 1 verse 14, it says that Jesus Christ is the Word, He became incarnate, and He was 80 00:06:35,880 --> 00:06:39,000 full of grace and truth. 81 00:06:39,000 --> 00:06:45,400 When it is mentioned that God's grace appeared, it refers not only to Christ's birth, but 82 00:06:45,400 --> 00:06:48,480 to His life, to His death, to His resurrection. 83 00:06:48,480 --> 00:06:53,560 In other words, the totality of His life is in view here. 84 00:06:53,560 --> 00:06:58,800 God manifested His grace through Jesus Christ. 85 00:06:58,800 --> 00:07:01,920 Notice how he describes God's grace. 86 00:07:01,920 --> 00:07:08,000 He calls it the saving grace of God, the grace of God that brings salvation. 87 00:07:08,000 --> 00:07:15,720 Someone has said, grace came to rescue man from the greatest possible evil, namely the 88 00:07:15,720 --> 00:07:21,880 curse of God upon sin, and to bestow upon him the greatest possible boon, namely the 89 00:07:21,880 --> 00:07:26,680 blessing of God for soul and body throughout all eternity. 90 00:07:26,680 --> 00:07:32,200 The reason that God's grace appeared was that we might be saved. 91 00:07:32,200 --> 00:07:37,840 God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him 92 00:07:37,840 --> 00:07:40,000 might be saved. 93 00:07:40,000 --> 00:07:43,920 You notice those three words, to all men. 94 00:07:43,920 --> 00:07:48,600 The King James puts that phrase after appeared, and it seems as though he is saying that the 95 00:07:48,600 --> 00:07:51,440 grace of God has appeared to all men. 96 00:07:51,440 --> 00:07:57,240 Actually, those words are modifying saving grace. 97 00:07:57,240 --> 00:08:02,640 In other words, God's grace has appeared that brings salvation to all men. 98 00:08:02,640 --> 00:08:04,880 Not all men have seen it yet. 99 00:08:04,880 --> 00:08:08,840 All men have received this saving message of the gospel, and that is why we are so heavily 100 00:08:08,840 --> 00:08:15,800 involved in missions and believe so strongly in evangelism in the world and here locally. 101 00:08:15,800 --> 00:08:20,080 But God's grace that brings salvation has rendered all men saveable. 102 00:08:20,080 --> 00:08:23,880 It doesn't say here that all men will ultimately be saved. 103 00:08:23,880 --> 00:08:25,840 That's not the meaning of it. 104 00:08:25,840 --> 00:08:30,640 But God by His grace has caused all men to be in a position of being saved. 105 00:08:30,640 --> 00:08:37,680 They can be saved if they will believe the gospel and trust the Lord Jesus Christ. 106 00:08:37,680 --> 00:08:41,780 Most of us here tonight have come to that place in our lives when we have trusted the 107 00:08:41,780 --> 00:08:42,780 Lord. 108 00:08:42,780 --> 00:08:47,860 As a result of that, God's grace has done a work in us. 109 00:08:47,860 --> 00:08:53,700 Because of what grace has done for us, we want to live the kind of life that pleases 110 00:08:53,700 --> 00:08:55,480 our Lord. 111 00:08:55,480 --> 00:09:00,720 As Ralph Hudson wrote, I'll live for him who died for me. 112 00:09:00,720 --> 00:09:02,680 How happy then my life shall be. 113 00:09:02,680 --> 00:09:08,840 I'll live for him who died for me, my Savior and my God. 114 00:09:08,840 --> 00:09:12,600 Then there's a second reason as to why I should live the kind of life that God commands 115 00:09:12,600 --> 00:09:15,760 of me earlier in this chapter. 116 00:09:15,760 --> 00:09:19,240 That is because of what grace is teaching me. 117 00:09:19,240 --> 00:09:20,240 Verse 12. 118 00:09:20,240 --> 00:09:27,640 God's grace has not only appeared and saved me, but His grace is now instructing me. 119 00:09:27,640 --> 00:09:32,400 The word instruct here means to train or to bring up a child. 120 00:09:32,400 --> 00:09:37,800 It refers to instruction plus discipline when it's necessary. 121 00:09:37,800 --> 00:09:39,920 As you know, you have to discipline children. 122 00:09:39,920 --> 00:09:41,720 It's a part of being a parent. 123 00:09:41,720 --> 00:09:44,720 It's one of the hard things about being a parent. 124 00:09:44,720 --> 00:09:49,000 Learning how to discipline with the right spirit and with the right balance and being 125 00:09:49,000 --> 00:09:51,240 consistent. 126 00:09:51,240 --> 00:09:54,480 Consistency is a virtue of the gods, someone has said. 127 00:09:54,480 --> 00:09:58,720 We parents must strive to have consistency in our discipline. 128 00:09:58,720 --> 00:10:05,240 Well, God with perfect consistency, disciplines, instructs us. 129 00:10:05,240 --> 00:10:07,320 It's a school that we're in. 130 00:10:07,320 --> 00:10:13,200 God wants us not only to have the right creed, but to have the right character as well. 131 00:10:13,200 --> 00:10:19,160 Grace is working in me to teach me to live well pleasing to the Lord. 132 00:10:19,160 --> 00:10:21,720 Now there are negative and positive sides to this. 133 00:10:21,720 --> 00:10:24,120 Just about everything has a negative and positive. 134 00:10:24,120 --> 00:10:27,280 For example, electricity. 135 00:10:27,280 --> 00:10:31,520 Just as there are many negatives and positives that must work together, so is true in the 136 00:10:31,520 --> 00:10:33,040 Christian life. 137 00:10:33,040 --> 00:10:39,280 The negatives are found here in the words that God's grace teaches us to deny ungodliness 138 00:10:39,280 --> 00:10:42,080 and worldly lusts. 139 00:10:42,080 --> 00:10:47,400 The positive is found when it says we should live soberly, righteously, and godly. 140 00:10:47,400 --> 00:10:50,560 Now let's think about the negative for a moment. 141 00:10:50,560 --> 00:10:56,440 In the Christian life there are some things I must renounce. 142 00:10:56,440 --> 00:10:59,440 There are some things I must deny. 143 00:10:59,440 --> 00:11:05,380 I must do it once and for all and then follow that with a daily confirmation of daily death. 144 00:11:05,380 --> 00:11:10,640 I wish it were possible for us to once and for all put our sin natures in the grave and 145 00:11:10,640 --> 00:11:14,800 keep them there and never have to think about it again and never be challenged by the sin 146 00:11:14,800 --> 00:11:18,200 nature, but it's not that way. 147 00:11:18,200 --> 00:11:25,280 By faith we make that decision to renounce, and yet every day don't we face the battle. 148 00:11:25,280 --> 00:11:31,000 We have to reconfirm that decision to renounce and to deny some things in our lives. 149 00:11:31,000 --> 00:11:32,960 The apostle mentions two things here. 150 00:11:32,960 --> 00:11:35,640 First ungodliness. 151 00:11:35,640 --> 00:11:36,640 What is ungodliness? 152 00:11:36,640 --> 00:11:41,120 Well, it's the opposite of godliness. 153 00:11:41,120 --> 00:11:43,640 Godliness is godlikeness. 154 00:11:43,640 --> 00:11:49,080 It's having the Lord in the center of our lives ruling as the sovereign one. 155 00:11:49,080 --> 00:11:53,320 It's the Lord on the throne of our lives directing the issues of the life. 156 00:11:53,320 --> 00:11:55,720 That's godliness. 157 00:11:55,720 --> 00:11:57,300 Ungodliness is just the opposite. 158 00:11:57,300 --> 00:12:00,360 We have today what is called the uncola. 159 00:12:00,360 --> 00:12:01,360 What is the uncola? 160 00:12:01,360 --> 00:12:04,820 It's a soft drink that doesn't have cola in it. 161 00:12:04,820 --> 00:12:06,600 So what is an ungodly life? 162 00:12:06,600 --> 00:12:11,040 It's a life that is not God-centered. 163 00:12:11,040 --> 00:12:15,120 Is it possible for a Christian to live an ungodly life? 164 00:12:15,120 --> 00:12:16,120 Yes. 165 00:12:16,120 --> 00:12:20,200 Else, the apostle wouldn't have told us here that we must deny it. 166 00:12:20,200 --> 00:12:26,400 It's possible for us to go on day after day after day and never give Jesus Christ the 167 00:12:26,400 --> 00:12:28,880 place he deserves in our lives. 168 00:12:28,880 --> 00:12:32,120 That's ungodliness. 169 00:12:32,120 --> 00:12:37,840 And there are many believers who are living ungodly lives. 170 00:12:37,840 --> 00:12:40,960 We ought not to live that way. 171 00:12:40,960 --> 00:12:49,720 We must deny the tendency to neglect Jesus Christ and to live the day ignoring him. 172 00:12:49,720 --> 00:12:53,000 Have you ever come to the end of the day and realized as you put your head down on the 173 00:12:53,000 --> 00:12:58,880 pillow that you went through a whole day without being as conscious of the presence of Christ 174 00:12:58,880 --> 00:13:00,280 as you ought to be? 175 00:13:00,280 --> 00:13:05,200 If you've never faced a day like that, then you're a strange person. 176 00:13:05,200 --> 00:13:07,800 You're an aberration. 177 00:13:07,800 --> 00:13:11,720 All of us face that. 178 00:13:11,720 --> 00:13:16,780 And therefore we need to deny that natural tendency to go through the day as an ungodly 179 00:13:16,780 --> 00:13:19,480 person. 180 00:13:19,480 --> 00:13:24,360 Start the day with the Lord and throughout the day remind ourselves of his presence with 181 00:13:24,360 --> 00:13:25,360 us. 182 00:13:25,360 --> 00:13:30,360 We've heard in a book some time ago now, we must practice the presence of God. 183 00:13:30,360 --> 00:13:36,760 Then he says that we must also deny worldly lusts. 184 00:13:36,760 --> 00:13:38,080 What does that refer to? 185 00:13:38,080 --> 00:13:40,200 Well, the world. 186 00:13:40,200 --> 00:13:47,000 The world is this present system of things in which we live. 187 00:13:47,000 --> 00:13:53,320 It's this organization of mankind which is opposed to God. 188 00:13:53,320 --> 00:13:54,320 It's a spiritual thing. 189 00:13:54,320 --> 00:13:57,520 It's very, very real. 190 00:13:57,520 --> 00:14:02,400 The world system is headed up by Satan himself. 191 00:14:02,400 --> 00:14:09,880 The world way of thinking and the world motivations and the world goals, all of these things are 192 00:14:09,880 --> 00:14:19,920 based upon satanic principles of greed and force and the desire for pleasure and to leave 193 00:14:19,920 --> 00:14:22,520 God out. 194 00:14:22,520 --> 00:14:26,480 You and I live in the world, but we're not to be of it. 195 00:14:26,480 --> 00:14:31,440 We are to deny the very tendency in our natures to be worldly. 196 00:14:31,440 --> 00:14:40,320 If there's any word that Satan has twisted and taken out of context and made nearly meaningless 197 00:14:40,320 --> 00:14:44,400 to us these days, it's the term worldliness. 198 00:14:44,400 --> 00:14:50,000 When I use that term immediately, 95 percent of the Christians in this room think of drinking 199 00:14:50,000 --> 00:14:53,680 and dancing and card playing, etc., isn't that right? 200 00:14:53,680 --> 00:14:58,880 Because we have defined in the past worldliness as doing those things. 201 00:14:58,880 --> 00:15:03,680 I want to tell you tonight that is not worldliness only. 202 00:15:03,680 --> 00:15:09,680 I'm not denying those things may be worldly, but worldliness is much broader than that. 203 00:15:09,680 --> 00:15:13,440 Worldliness is simply denying God his rightful place in my life. 204 00:15:13,440 --> 00:15:17,560 That's being like the world. 205 00:15:17,560 --> 00:15:21,280 Worldliness is living for the same things that the unsafe people live for, being motivated 206 00:15:21,280 --> 00:15:25,720 by the same things that motivate them, thinking the same way they think. 207 00:15:25,720 --> 00:15:34,040 That is worldliness, and all of us are susceptible to it. 208 00:15:34,040 --> 00:15:40,760 There are many people who don't participate in the Big Five, but who are as worldly as 209 00:15:40,760 --> 00:15:46,680 any unsafe person because of their attitude toward life. 210 00:15:46,680 --> 00:15:53,720 We are to deny those things in us which are a part of the world system, the possessions, 211 00:15:53,720 --> 00:15:56,960 the desire to have things. 212 00:15:56,960 --> 00:16:02,800 Our world is motivated by the desire to have things or to experience pleasure. 213 00:16:02,800 --> 00:16:10,200 That's one of the reasons for the big drug scene, the escapism of it, getting away from 214 00:16:10,200 --> 00:16:16,280 reality, being able to have some kind of sensual pleasure or mental pleasure. 215 00:16:16,280 --> 00:16:23,160 I think even a spiritual kind of release involves even the spirit of a person, this drug thing. 216 00:16:23,160 --> 00:16:25,920 It is not godly, but it involves a release. 217 00:16:25,920 --> 00:16:29,400 We are to deny this kind of thing, the desire for pleasure. 218 00:16:29,400 --> 00:16:32,680 It doesn't mean we can't have fun. 219 00:16:32,680 --> 00:16:36,480 There are some people who think that God waits up in the morning for us and as soon as we 220 00:16:36,480 --> 00:16:40,480 have a good time, he's got a club there and says, now don't you have a good time today? 221 00:16:40,480 --> 00:16:43,240 Don't you enjoy life? 222 00:16:43,240 --> 00:16:48,160 Some Christians look like they were weaned on pickle juice. 223 00:16:48,160 --> 00:16:49,920 God doesn't want us to have a good time. 224 00:16:49,920 --> 00:16:50,920 God wants us to enjoy. 225 00:16:50,920 --> 00:16:56,840 Listen, he's given us all things richly to enjoy. 226 00:16:56,840 --> 00:17:01,680 There is nobody that deserves to have more fun living than Christians because our Father 227 00:17:01,680 --> 00:17:03,760 is in control of this planet we live on. 228 00:17:03,760 --> 00:17:04,760 He made it all. 229 00:17:04,760 --> 00:17:05,760 It all belongs to him. 230 00:17:05,760 --> 00:17:10,200 He's given us everything richly to enjoy. 231 00:17:10,200 --> 00:17:15,040 When it comes to the kind of pleasure that the world seeks, we are to deny that. 232 00:17:15,040 --> 00:17:16,040 Then the world seeks power. 233 00:17:16,040 --> 00:17:19,280 That's one of the lusts of the world. 234 00:17:19,280 --> 00:17:26,200 Men build their little kingdoms and they secure themselves within a certain framework so that 235 00:17:26,200 --> 00:17:30,360 they have power. 236 00:17:30,360 --> 00:17:36,120 I've seen people leave churches because they lose their power base in the church. 237 00:17:36,120 --> 00:17:39,560 They build themselves a little kingdom and suddenly their kingdom is threatened. 238 00:17:39,560 --> 00:17:41,240 So they get out. 239 00:17:41,240 --> 00:17:43,760 They don't want anything to do with it. 240 00:17:43,760 --> 00:17:48,800 I've seen pastors that way who build themselves little kingdoms that they live in. 241 00:17:48,800 --> 00:17:49,800 That's worldliness. 242 00:17:49,800 --> 00:17:52,240 We are to deny that kind of thing. 243 00:17:52,240 --> 00:17:57,660 The only kingdom we are to seek is the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ in our lives and 244 00:17:57,660 --> 00:18:00,560 ultimately established in this world. 245 00:18:00,560 --> 00:18:03,360 Deny ungodliness and worldly lusts. 246 00:18:03,360 --> 00:18:04,360 Very practical. 247 00:18:04,360 --> 00:18:06,320 But then he puts it on a positive note. 248 00:18:06,320 --> 00:18:13,920 He says that we should live soberly, righteously, and godly. 249 00:18:13,920 --> 00:18:16,480 Grace teaches me how to live to please the Lord. 250 00:18:16,480 --> 00:18:19,320 It involves three characteristics here. 251 00:18:19,320 --> 00:18:20,320 To live soberly. 252 00:18:20,320 --> 00:18:23,520 That doesn't mean to live undrunk. 253 00:18:23,520 --> 00:18:26,680 That's not the meaning of the word. 254 00:18:26,680 --> 00:18:30,800 It means that we are to live with discretion. 255 00:18:30,800 --> 00:18:33,320 To live a well-balanced life. 256 00:18:33,320 --> 00:18:39,480 If there's any word that's important these days in our lives, in our churches, in our 257 00:18:39,480 --> 00:18:41,640 ministries, it's that word balance. 258 00:18:41,640 --> 00:18:46,960 It's so easy to go in one extreme or the other to follow tangents. 259 00:18:46,960 --> 00:18:47,960 Be balanced. 260 00:18:47,960 --> 00:18:49,840 That's the word. 261 00:18:49,840 --> 00:18:50,840 Live soberly. 262 00:18:50,840 --> 00:18:55,760 A balanced life that shows stability and a common sense. 263 00:18:55,760 --> 00:18:58,760 A spiritual common sense. 264 00:18:58,760 --> 00:19:01,280 That's a word that relates primarily to myself. 265 00:19:01,280 --> 00:19:04,240 Inwardly, I am to be that way. 266 00:19:04,240 --> 00:19:07,400 Stable, mature, well-balanced. 267 00:19:07,400 --> 00:19:09,400 And then he says we're to live righteously. 268 00:19:09,400 --> 00:19:14,000 That's a word that relates to my relationship with others. 269 00:19:14,000 --> 00:19:17,880 It means to live a life that's free from deception. 270 00:19:17,880 --> 00:19:23,080 To be just and fair in my dealings and faithful to my promises. 271 00:19:23,080 --> 00:19:25,600 To follow through in what I give my word to do. 272 00:19:25,600 --> 00:19:29,840 That's righteousness in the daily life. 273 00:19:29,840 --> 00:19:33,560 So I am to live inwardly by this word soberness. 274 00:19:33,560 --> 00:19:36,560 I'm to be sober, well-balanced. 275 00:19:36,560 --> 00:19:40,120 In my relationship with people, I am to be righteous. 276 00:19:40,120 --> 00:19:43,960 And then in my relationship with God, I am to be godly. 277 00:19:43,960 --> 00:19:47,680 It means to live a life that's devoted to him. 278 00:19:47,680 --> 00:19:53,000 To have a life that's characterized by proper reverence for him. 279 00:19:53,000 --> 00:19:58,680 To be conscious of his presence and to desire the fulfillment of his will in my life above 280 00:19:58,680 --> 00:20:00,840 everything else. 281 00:20:00,840 --> 00:20:07,240 As Phil was saying this morning, submission to the will of God. 282 00:20:07,240 --> 00:20:08,960 That's godliness. 283 00:20:08,960 --> 00:20:13,480 And so he gives a very well-balanced picture here of the Christian life. 284 00:20:13,480 --> 00:20:16,720 Inwardly, I am to live soberly. 285 00:20:16,720 --> 00:20:18,600 Toward you, I am to live righteously. 286 00:20:18,600 --> 00:20:21,560 And toward God, I am to live godly. 287 00:20:21,560 --> 00:20:24,320 Now grace teaches me to live that way. 288 00:20:24,320 --> 00:20:25,880 Where? 289 00:20:25,880 --> 00:20:27,760 Right here and now it says. 290 00:20:27,760 --> 00:20:30,920 In this present age. 291 00:20:30,920 --> 00:20:34,240 Sometimes I hear people complain about the fact that it's so hard to live the Christian 292 00:20:34,240 --> 00:20:35,640 life right now. 293 00:20:35,640 --> 00:20:38,840 It's always been hard to live the Christian life. 294 00:20:38,840 --> 00:20:41,120 And really it's no harder now than it ever has been. 295 00:20:41,120 --> 00:20:43,040 The same forces are at work. 296 00:20:43,040 --> 00:20:44,600 Basically the same problems are here. 297 00:20:44,600 --> 00:20:48,920 It may be a little bit more intense because we're in the end times. 298 00:20:48,920 --> 00:20:53,640 But it's always been tough to be a Christian. 299 00:20:53,640 --> 00:20:57,680 Right now in this present age, that's the kind of a life I am to live. 300 00:20:57,680 --> 00:21:02,760 Because of what grace is teaching me, I want to live a life pleasing to the Lord. 301 00:21:02,760 --> 00:21:07,840 And then there's a third reason that I want to live the kind of life he commands in this 302 00:21:07,840 --> 00:21:13,440 chapter and that is because of whom grace will bring again. 303 00:21:13,440 --> 00:21:20,080 The faith that you and I have embraced is basically a future-oriented faith. 304 00:21:20,080 --> 00:21:24,920 Oh yes, it is based upon historical facts. 305 00:21:24,920 --> 00:21:31,040 The Bible teaches us those, it presents them to us, but the Bible also tells us to be looking 306 00:21:31,040 --> 00:21:32,040 ahead. 307 00:21:32,040 --> 00:21:39,080 If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. 308 00:21:39,080 --> 00:21:44,120 It is not just in this life, but our faith looks forward to some glorious things. 309 00:21:44,120 --> 00:21:49,080 He says that we are looking for that blessed hope. 310 00:21:49,080 --> 00:21:53,320 To look for it means to wait for it, to wait with anticipation. 311 00:21:53,320 --> 00:21:55,880 To expect it with joy. 312 00:21:55,880 --> 00:22:00,640 We have some friends who are visiting us this weekend, the Waltons from Kentucky. 313 00:22:00,640 --> 00:22:05,880 You'll know them, they're the ones without shoes here in the church tonight. 314 00:22:05,880 --> 00:22:12,900 No, I'm kidding of course. 315 00:22:12,900 --> 00:22:18,360 We anticipated their coming and yesterday as we were expecting their arrival from that 316 00:22:18,360 --> 00:22:24,320 long trip from northern Kentucky, it seemed like our whole lives were wrapped around that 317 00:22:24,320 --> 00:22:25,320 event. 318 00:22:25,320 --> 00:22:29,560 The kids kept running to the door, when are they coming? 319 00:22:29,560 --> 00:22:31,000 We were looking forward to seeing them. 320 00:22:31,000 --> 00:22:33,520 You know what that's like. 321 00:22:33,520 --> 00:22:35,560 Our whole day was wrapped around that one event. 322 00:22:35,560 --> 00:22:40,160 It was all focused on the Waltons coming, when they were going to get there. 323 00:22:40,160 --> 00:22:43,760 That's the way he tells us that we ought to be living our lives every day. 324 00:22:43,760 --> 00:22:49,800 We ought to be wrapped around this truth, Jesus Christ could come today, and he is coming 325 00:22:49,800 --> 00:22:51,840 soon. 326 00:22:51,840 --> 00:22:55,000 My life is to be focused on that truth. 327 00:22:55,000 --> 00:22:56,960 Everything I do should be centered on that. 328 00:22:56,960 --> 00:23:04,640 I should be expecting him with joy, looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing 329 00:23:04,640 --> 00:23:09,160 of the great God and our Savior, Jesus Christ. 330 00:23:09,160 --> 00:23:15,680 When Jesus came the first time, his glory was veiled in flesh. 331 00:23:15,680 --> 00:23:17,920 Only a few saw it. 332 00:23:17,920 --> 00:23:24,060 The few who saw his miracles and Peter, James, and John who saw his glory burst through his 333 00:23:24,060 --> 00:23:28,360 skin at the transfiguration. 334 00:23:28,360 --> 00:23:32,040 He appeared as the brightness of the sun, it says. 335 00:23:32,040 --> 00:23:34,640 His glory was manifested. 336 00:23:34,640 --> 00:23:39,320 When he would do his miracles, there would be a burst of glory that would be seen. 337 00:23:39,320 --> 00:23:45,280 Not visible, but his power and his deity could be seen by what he did. 338 00:23:45,280 --> 00:23:51,640 Do you know when Jesus comes the next time, there's not going to be any veiling of his 339 00:23:51,640 --> 00:23:52,640 glory. 340 00:23:52,640 --> 00:23:56,160 He will shine as the brightness of the sun. 341 00:23:56,160 --> 00:24:00,780 That brightness will radiate throughout all of the universe. 342 00:24:00,780 --> 00:24:01,780 It will be seen. 343 00:24:01,780 --> 00:24:08,040 It is the glorious, visible manifestation of Jesus Christ. 344 00:24:08,040 --> 00:24:13,680 He will return in that blaze of glory and call us out. 345 00:24:13,680 --> 00:24:17,240 Why is it called a blessed hope? 346 00:24:17,240 --> 00:24:20,120 Because it's a happy thing to contemplate, isn't it? 347 00:24:20,120 --> 00:24:26,360 Leaving behind this world with its sin and its trouble, leaving behind this world and 348 00:24:26,360 --> 00:24:32,600 its darkness and its lawlessness, leaving behind its taxes, leaving behind everything 349 00:24:32,600 --> 00:24:40,320 that's a part of this life that aggravates, that holds us down, that fights against us, 350 00:24:40,320 --> 00:24:45,160 leaving it all, and being caught up to be with him. 351 00:24:45,160 --> 00:24:47,360 That of course is the happiest part of it. 352 00:24:47,360 --> 00:24:50,560 The fact that we will be with him. 353 00:24:50,560 --> 00:24:56,680 When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory, 354 00:24:56,680 --> 00:24:57,680 it says. 355 00:24:57,680 --> 00:25:02,040 In 1 John 3, it says, when he shall appear, we shall be like him. 356 00:25:02,040 --> 00:25:07,480 So we'll not only be with him, but we will be like him. 357 00:25:07,480 --> 00:25:13,600 When he comes, we will share with him in his glory, and we will reign with him as joint 358 00:25:13,600 --> 00:25:16,240 heirs of God's inheritance. 359 00:25:16,240 --> 00:25:18,480 That's why it's called a blessed hope. 360 00:25:18,480 --> 00:25:25,080 Then it's a blessed hope because when we see Jesus, we're also going to get to see some 361 00:25:25,080 --> 00:25:30,480 dear friends and loved ones who have gone on in Christ. 362 00:25:30,480 --> 00:25:37,440 I like what it says there in 1 Thessalonians 4, where it says, then shall we, those who 363 00:25:37,440 --> 00:25:43,480 have died in Christ and those who are living in that day, then shall we be caught up in 364 00:25:43,480 --> 00:25:53,040 the air to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we, all of us, be with the Lord forever. 365 00:25:53,040 --> 00:25:54,040 That's blessedness. 366 00:25:54,040 --> 00:25:59,840 There are not many of us tonight who cannot look forward to seeing some loved one who 367 00:25:59,840 --> 00:26:02,800 has meant a great deal to us. 368 00:26:02,800 --> 00:26:08,800 So tonight we look forward to that blessed hope and his appearing in glory. 369 00:26:08,800 --> 00:26:15,800 Because of whom grace is going to bring again, I want to live right now pleasing to him. 370 00:26:15,800 --> 00:26:20,880 When he comes, I don't want to have to be ashamed of the way that I've lived. 371 00:26:20,880 --> 00:26:27,800 As the songwriter said, oft times the days seem long and the burdens hard to bear. 372 00:26:27,800 --> 00:26:33,700 We're tempted to complain, to murmur, and despair, but Christ will soon appear to catch 373 00:26:33,700 --> 00:26:36,720 his bride away. 374 00:26:36,720 --> 00:26:41,520 All tears forever over in God's eternal day. 375 00:26:41,520 --> 00:26:46,120 It will be worth it all when we see Jesus. 376 00:26:46,120 --> 00:26:47,120 And it will, won't it? 377 00:26:47,120 --> 00:26:52,520 It will be worth the trials and the struggle and the heartache and the fighting and the 378 00:26:52,520 --> 00:26:53,520 joy. 379 00:26:53,520 --> 00:26:55,960 It will be worth it all when we see him. 380 00:26:55,960 --> 00:27:01,440 Now, there's a fourth and final reason in our text tonight as to why you and I should 381 00:27:01,440 --> 00:27:05,740 live the kind of life that God has commanded of us. 382 00:27:05,740 --> 00:27:11,640 It is because of what grace has purposed. 383 00:27:11,640 --> 00:27:14,000 God's grace has saved me. 384 00:27:14,000 --> 00:27:16,280 God's grace is teaching me. 385 00:27:16,280 --> 00:27:20,720 God's grace is bringing Jesus back, and I'm going to see him and be with him. 386 00:27:20,720 --> 00:27:23,240 And God's grace has purposed something for me. 387 00:27:23,240 --> 00:27:27,280 And when I understand what that purpose is, I want to live pleasing to Christ. 388 00:27:27,280 --> 00:27:30,200 It's a two-fold purpose, really. 389 00:27:30,200 --> 00:27:34,560 It says that this Savior who's coming once gave himself. 390 00:27:34,560 --> 00:27:35,960 It is the work of the cross. 391 00:27:35,960 --> 00:27:44,680 He gave himself for us that he might, number one, redeem us, and number two, purify us. 392 00:27:44,680 --> 00:27:47,640 That's the purpose that grace has in mind. 393 00:27:47,640 --> 00:27:51,560 First to redeem us, to purchase us out of slavery. 394 00:27:51,560 --> 00:27:55,980 You and I are enslaved by our first birth in sin. 395 00:27:55,980 --> 00:28:00,040 We are enslaved to disobedience and to rebellion against God. 396 00:28:00,040 --> 00:28:03,720 But God has paid the price for me. 397 00:28:03,720 --> 00:28:08,800 Christ has given himself for me to redeem me out of that and to set me free so that 398 00:28:08,800 --> 00:28:11,160 now I can serve him. 399 00:28:11,160 --> 00:28:15,400 I had to be rescued by somebody more powerful than myself. 400 00:28:15,400 --> 00:28:19,520 And that's what Jesus did for me and for you if you've trusted Christ. 401 00:28:19,520 --> 00:28:22,640 He has redeemed us. 402 00:28:22,640 --> 00:28:25,420 All my iniquities on him were laid. 403 00:28:25,420 --> 00:28:27,760 He nailed them all to the tree. 404 00:28:27,760 --> 00:28:31,720 Jesus, the debt of my sin, fully paid. 405 00:28:31,720 --> 00:28:35,760 He paid the ransom for me. 406 00:28:35,760 --> 00:28:41,000 Then he has purposed to purify us as well. 407 00:28:41,000 --> 00:28:47,360 The word means to cleanse, to make free from any mixture of sin. 408 00:28:47,360 --> 00:28:50,400 Sin makes us dirty. 409 00:28:50,400 --> 00:28:56,320 And the Lord has purposed that someday I'm going to stand in his presence clean without 410 00:28:56,320 --> 00:29:00,440 one spot or blemish. 411 00:29:00,440 --> 00:29:01,920 See the suit I have on? 412 00:29:01,920 --> 00:29:04,120 See that spot right there? 413 00:29:04,120 --> 00:29:06,560 Isn't that ugly? 414 00:29:06,560 --> 00:29:11,400 The first time I wore this suit, isn't that the same story you've told and heard? 415 00:29:11,400 --> 00:29:14,480 The first time I wore this suit I had a pen in that pocket. 416 00:29:14,480 --> 00:29:17,040 I took it on an airplane. 417 00:29:17,040 --> 00:29:22,000 And something about the difference in pressure caused that India ink to leak in that suit 418 00:29:22,000 --> 00:29:25,080 and fortunately it was right under my pocket. 419 00:29:25,080 --> 00:29:28,360 So you can't see it, but it's there. 420 00:29:28,360 --> 00:29:30,560 Do you know something? 421 00:29:30,560 --> 00:29:33,640 When you and I stand before Jesus Christ, there aren't going to be spots to be seen 422 00:29:33,640 --> 00:29:36,080 on the outside or the inside. 423 00:29:36,080 --> 00:29:39,480 We're going to be cleansed inside and out. 424 00:29:39,480 --> 00:29:40,480 Perfectly pure. 425 00:29:40,480 --> 00:29:47,440 The Lord Jesus Christ gave himself for us as Ephesians 5 that he might sanctify and 426 00:29:47,440 --> 00:29:49,440 cleanse us. 427 00:29:49,440 --> 00:29:54,160 The blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanseth us from all sin. 428 00:29:54,160 --> 00:29:56,480 Are you made clean? 429 00:29:56,480 --> 00:29:57,920 I hope so. 430 00:29:57,920 --> 00:30:05,000 Or only as we are made clean are we then made fit to be his peculiar people, as it says 431 00:30:05,000 --> 00:30:06,000 in the Old English. 432 00:30:06,000 --> 00:30:09,320 There are some of God's people who take that very literally. 433 00:30:09,320 --> 00:30:11,280 They're kind of peculiar. 434 00:30:11,280 --> 00:30:15,340 But actually that word peculiar has a peculiar meaning. 435 00:30:15,340 --> 00:30:17,520 And that is a people of his own. 436 00:30:17,520 --> 00:30:23,520 If you're going to illustrate this on a blackboard, you would put a dot there and then draw a 437 00:30:23,520 --> 00:30:25,460 circle around it. 438 00:30:25,460 --> 00:30:27,580 That would illustrate this word. 439 00:30:27,580 --> 00:30:31,520 That dot would represent you and me, and the circle around it would represent God's 440 00:30:31,520 --> 00:30:33,120 arms of love. 441 00:30:33,120 --> 00:30:35,240 It means that he puts his arms around us. 442 00:30:35,240 --> 00:30:38,920 We are his special possession. 443 00:30:38,920 --> 00:30:41,760 Your child runs up to you and you hug your child. 444 00:30:41,760 --> 00:30:43,320 You put your arms around him. 445 00:30:43,320 --> 00:30:47,280 In a very special way, he's your possession. 446 00:30:47,280 --> 00:30:51,640 That's what God is saying here, that we are a people of his own. 447 00:30:51,640 --> 00:30:55,700 He loves us desperately and dearly. 448 00:30:55,700 --> 00:31:00,920 He is making us fit to be that special treasure of his. 449 00:31:00,920 --> 00:31:07,280 He tells us that we should be characterized by being zealous of good works. 450 00:31:07,280 --> 00:31:13,480 Obviously, good works do not save us, but good works should flow from our lives, shouldn't 451 00:31:13,480 --> 00:31:14,480 they? 452 00:31:14,480 --> 00:31:20,740 God has saved us so that we might be known for good works. 453 00:31:20,740 --> 00:31:25,720 For whom can you do some good work this week? 454 00:31:25,720 --> 00:31:33,080 Can you think of something you can do for your wife, your husband, that fellow that 455 00:31:33,080 --> 00:31:38,960 sits across the desk from you there in the office, that person who works beside you in 456 00:31:38,960 --> 00:31:43,920 that assembly line, the students that are in your classroom? 457 00:31:43,920 --> 00:31:48,540 Maybe you can forget the quiz this week. 458 00:31:48,540 --> 00:31:58,520 What good work can you do for somebody this week that would glorify Jesus Christ? 459 00:31:58,520 --> 00:32:01,780 Let's make it even a little tougher than that. 460 00:32:01,780 --> 00:32:07,880 For whom can you do a good work when that person doesn't really deserve it? 461 00:32:07,880 --> 00:32:10,480 Nah, somebody comes to your mind immediately. 462 00:32:10,480 --> 00:32:16,540 That guy you've been playing to get back. 463 00:32:16,540 --> 00:32:21,040 This week, bless instead of curse. 464 00:32:21,040 --> 00:32:24,200 Perform a good work rather than take out revenge. 465 00:32:24,200 --> 00:32:29,320 You see, God has redeemed us and purified us that we might be his people characterized 466 00:32:29,320 --> 00:32:31,560 by good works. 467 00:32:31,560 --> 00:32:36,840 For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it's the gift 468 00:32:36,840 --> 00:32:39,560 of God, not of what? 469 00:32:39,560 --> 00:32:42,480 Works lest any man should boast. 470 00:32:42,480 --> 00:32:50,520 Then it goes on to say, for we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which 471 00:32:50,520 --> 00:32:54,260 God has before ordained we should walk in them. 472 00:32:54,260 --> 00:32:58,480 We are not saved by good works, but having been saved, we should be characterized by 473 00:32:58,480 --> 00:32:59,480 them. 474 00:32:59,480 --> 00:33:07,720 When it says that we are his workmanship, the word there is the Greek word poema. 475 00:33:07,720 --> 00:33:10,160 You see an English word there? 476 00:33:10,160 --> 00:33:12,360 Poem. 477 00:33:12,360 --> 00:33:14,560 We are his poem. 478 00:33:14,560 --> 00:33:17,840 You know the word is only used one at a time in the New Testament, and that's in Romans 479 00:33:17,840 --> 00:33:29,640 chapter 1, where Paul speaks of the heavens as manifesting God's power and his Godhead. 480 00:33:29,640 --> 00:33:33,000 He uses that word in that verse. 481 00:33:33,000 --> 00:33:39,680 In other words, the heavens are a poem that speak to all of the world in a universal language 482 00:33:39,680 --> 00:33:45,560 of God's greatness and his deity and his power. 483 00:33:45,560 --> 00:33:50,480 Every star up there is a stanza of a poem. 484 00:33:50,480 --> 00:33:55,520 What Ephesians 2 is saying is that we also are poems. 485 00:33:55,520 --> 00:34:03,040 The Holy Spirit is writing a stanza every day in our lives, and every stanza is to be 486 00:34:03,040 --> 00:34:07,560 characterized by good works which glorify God. 487 00:34:07,560 --> 00:34:16,040 We too are his poems by which God manifests himself to a lost world. 488 00:34:16,040 --> 00:34:20,040 How are you doing on good works? 489 00:34:20,040 --> 00:34:22,760 What motivates you to live? 490 00:34:22,760 --> 00:34:24,520 Why are you doing what you are doing? 491 00:34:24,520 --> 00:34:28,280 It's good for us to stop and ask that question occasionally. 492 00:34:28,280 --> 00:34:30,200 Are we doing it just to please our folks? 493 00:34:30,200 --> 00:34:36,520 Well, that's an important motive, but it's not the most supreme motive. 494 00:34:36,520 --> 00:34:41,840 I should want to please my folks because it honors God that I do that. 495 00:34:41,840 --> 00:34:45,440 Are you doing what you are doing because you get paid for doing it, and if you didn't 496 00:34:45,440 --> 00:34:48,160 do it, you wouldn't get paid? 497 00:34:48,160 --> 00:34:52,400 That's a very practical reason, but there's a greater reason for doing it. 498 00:34:52,400 --> 00:34:57,760 I want to do what I am doing because it honors God that I do this in such a way that men 499 00:34:57,760 --> 00:35:01,400 can look at this and know that I am a believer. 500 00:35:01,400 --> 00:35:03,880 Why do you do what you do? 501 00:35:03,880 --> 00:35:08,720 Why should I live the kind of life God has commanded of me? 502 00:35:08,720 --> 00:35:11,600 Because I love him. 503 00:35:11,600 --> 00:35:17,200 Yesterday I was down on my knees, not praying. 504 00:35:17,200 --> 00:35:19,320 I was doing the kitchen floor. 505 00:35:19,320 --> 00:35:23,840 Do you husbands know what that's like? 506 00:35:23,840 --> 00:35:34,720 You've got some soap out there, a rag, taking a few square feet at a time, and washing that 507 00:35:34,720 --> 00:35:35,720 floor. 508 00:35:35,720 --> 00:35:37,800 My son came up to me and asked me a very interesting question. 509 00:35:37,800 --> 00:35:43,440 He said, Daddy, why are you doing this? 510 00:35:43,440 --> 00:35:46,440 I said, because if I don't, Mother will beat me. 511 00:35:46,440 --> 00:35:50,320 No, I didn't say that. 512 00:35:50,320 --> 00:35:53,800 I may get beaten now, but that's not what I said. 513 00:35:53,800 --> 00:35:56,280 You know what I said? 514 00:35:56,280 --> 00:35:57,760 I said, because I love Mommy. 515 00:35:57,760 --> 00:35:59,880 That's why I'm doing it. 516 00:35:59,880 --> 00:36:00,880 I want to help her. 517 00:36:00,880 --> 00:36:04,240 If you love somebody, you want to help them. 518 00:36:04,240 --> 00:36:10,440 My friend, if you love Jesus, you'll want to live the kind of life that pleases Him. 519 00:36:10,440 --> 00:36:23,960 Let's pray.