January 26, 2004
Richard Jordan's message on Paltalk
Titus 2:11-14
(Titus 2:11-15 KJV) For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, {12} Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; {13} Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; {14} Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. {15} These things speak, and exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise thee.
The goal the Lord Jesus Christ gave Himself for us is so that He might redeem us, buy us back from the slavery of sin; that He might purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. The process whereby that redemption and purification takes place is what verse 11, 12 and 13 is talking about.
Look at verse number 11, for the grace of God that bringeth salvation has appeared to all men. The salvation that grace brings has appeared to all men that is talking about this present dispensation of God. While there has been grace in every dispensation, there has never before been a dispensation of grace.
(John 1:17 KJV) For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
In other words, under the Law dispensation, the Law was the principle of operating and there was grace under the Law. If there had not been grace under the Law then every time somebody sinned against the Law he would have been whacked out, which means everybody would have been executed before Moses ever got Israel very far from Mount Sinai. However, because God was gracious He did not demand the full extent of the execution of the Law against people. Jesus said that it was because of the hardness of their hearts He was gracious to do that. In fact, He tells Israel through Moses in Exodus 33 that He has other ways of dealing with Israel other than just the Law. He has reserved the right to deal with them based on His grace and His mercy. Yet the dispensation of the Law was the way God had stipulated that He was dealing with them: on the Law basis. There was grace in other dispensations only now is there the dispensation of grace.
Some will say that dispensation stuff began in the mid-1800 and it started with John Nelson Darby. That is nonsense. When someone tells you that dispensationalism started with John Nelson Darby in the 1800’s, you need to remind him or her about Ephesians 3.
(Ephesians 3:1-3 KJV) For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles, {2} If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward: {3} How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words,
Now, when Paul talks about “if you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God”; folks, dispensationalism comes out of the Bible. To be a dispensational Bible student is to be Bible student based on the way that God prescribes His word to be studied.
(2 Timothy 2:15 KJV) Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
Study, this is the only verse in the Bible that tells you to study the Bible and you have to have the right Bible to do that, by the way. Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. That is instructions on how to study the Bible. It talks about rightly dividing the word of truth; that is talking about dispensational Bible study.
Now you have to approach God’s word the way He has ordained and planned it to be studied. Now you know about books; every book you read there is a certain way to read it. While I flew on the airplane down from Chicago to Orlando, I was reading a novel. … This is sort of mind candy for me on the airplane because it is somewhat hard for me to concentrate. So I read things that do not make any difference if I read them or not. While I was reading it, I was in the process of looking at the last page to see what the last page number was to compare it with the number of the page where I was at to see how many pages I had to read. My wife punched me and simple said to me, “Don’t be reading the last page. Do not cheat. You are not supposed to read the last page of a novel; you are to read it all the way through. However, if I handed you a telephone book to look up your name or my name. Would you start at page one and read it through until you found your name? No, you know better than that. If you have a telephone book, you would not read it like a novel. If you were going to look up Richard Jordan, you would go to the J and then look up the o and the r and the d and you would find my name because you know how to use a phone book. Someone somewhere told you the way you use a phone book is you look up the name in the alphabet. So just like you would know how to read a novel; you would not read a phone book like you read a novel and you would not read the novel like the way you read the phone book.
If I gave you a dictionary and asked you to look up dispensation, you would not start reading at “a” until you found the word. You know how to use the dictionary. Well, the same principle is the way you study the Bible. I spoke to a dear lady a few days and she was ashamed to admit that she tried to read the Bible but halfway through the book of Exodus and she got so bored that she quit. I told her that I do not blame her; I would get bored in a lot of Exodus too. You read some of those things and it is hard to figure out what they are talking about. That is not the way the Bible is designed to be read. It is designed to be read and studied dispensationally.
In Ephesians chapter 3, where Paul says, “If you have heard of the dispensation the grace of God which is given me to you-ward how by revelation he made known unto me the mystery”. The Apostle Paul is the initiator of the grace of God to the Gentiles. You see, the Lord Jesus Christ and His 12 apostles and the little Flock to whom they ministered, they did not come and minister to the Gentiles.
If you want your Bible to make sense to you, you will have to study it dispensationally. And if you are going to study it dispensationally, you are going to come to grips with the fact that there are some things in the Bible that are different from which religion tells you that is going on. You can read the introduction to the Good News For Modern Man and they will talk about how Jesus walked the shores of Galilee and telling people He is going to die for their sins. You can read that stuff and believe it if you want to, but you are not reading the Bible and you are not believing the Bible. You are believing a religious system of confusion and darkness. When you go to the Bible with that kind of thinking it makes the Bible an absolute confusing thing to you. Too many of you people have had and maybe even do have the Bible be a burden to you because you claim promises in the word of God, you claim verses in the word of God that have nothing to do with you. I have said it over and over through the years, if you are going to believe a verse of scripture and claim a verse of scripture, you better believe whom the verse of scripture says it is written to or you do not really believe the verse.
(Romans 15:8 KJV) Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers:
Jesus Christ is God manifest in human flesh. He is the fullness of the Godhead bodily, Paul says. He is my Savior, died on the cross of Calvary and was rose on the third day for my justification. He is my Savior. IN His earthly ministry, He was also a minister, a prophet. The verse says He was a minister of the circumcision that is the nation Israel. Now if you will let the Bible interpret itself and let the Bible be the authority in your life, let the verses on the page of the King James Bible be the one authority. Al Gore used that great phrase, “controlling legal authority”. If you want control and authority, there is a verse. You want to know what was going on during the earthly ministry of Jesus Christ; He was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God to confirm the promises made unto the fathers. That is why John 1:11 says, “He came unto His own and His own received Him not.” Who were His own? You learned in Sunday School as a 6 year old that the nation Israel was the chosen people of God. That is why it is in Matthew 10, when Jesus Christ gave the great commission to His apostles; I know that people take the post resurrection commission of Christ to the apostles there in Matthew 28, Mark 16, Luke 24, John 20 and Acts 1 (although most Protestants leave out John 20). The Romanists like John 20 so they stick it in there because it is in the Bible. The take the commissions Christ gave after the resurrection and before His ascension and say, “That is the “Great Commission”. Listen, Matthew 10 is where the “Great Commission” begins and the commission that Jesus Christ gave in Matthew 10 when he ordained the 12 apostles as apostles, that commission if you read down Matthew 10 extends out through Pentecost. You will see it in verse 20 where they speak by the Spirit that the Father gives them. It goes all the way to the second coming of Christ. Verse 23 and following on down to the end of the chapter into the kingdom. This is a comprehensive commission looking toward the ministry of the twelve all the way out until the time they receive the kingdom, all the way out through the tribulation into the kingdom.
Notice what He said to the twelve after He ordained them:
(Matthew 10:5-7 KJV) These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: {6} But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. {7} And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Look at that passage. I know what preachers do, they read the verse and take to aspirins and go to bed and hope that it is gone in the morning. But you know what? it is still there. You might choke on that passage, but it is still in the Bible. And that passage can liberate you. That passage means what it says.
Jesus Christ told His 12 apostles to go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: but rather go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. There is reason that we say to you, “Matthew, Mark, Luke and John is the earthly ministry of Jesus Christ to the nation of Israel. Do you know why we say that? Because that is what He said.
(Matthew 15:24 KJV) But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
Now that is pretty clear. “I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Now why would He say that? Well, because God has a covenant, a contractual agreement with the nation Israel that through the nation Israel salvation would go to the nations, to the Gentiles. And the nation Israel first had to be blessed and redeemed.
In Luke 13, where the Lord Jesus Christ is dealing with this lady that was going to be healed, He said it was going to take place because she was a daughter of Abraham. You remember Zacchaeus, a wee little man, a wee little man was he and all that kind of business. I started my ministry in an inner-city rescue kind of work back in the 60s. The theme verse was Luke 19:10 For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. But that is only part of the statement. Luke 19: 9 And Jesus said unto him, This day is salvation come to this house, forsomuch as he also is a son of Abraham.
You see, in John 4:22, when Jesus tells that Samaritan woman that salvation is of the Jews. He was not being some kind of racist, kind of bigot; He was following the program that God has in effect though Israel and God’s purpose and plan through the redeemed nation salvation would go to the nations. Apart from that purpose and plan there was not any other way for a Gentile to come to God. Now, someone will say, “Didn’t all that change when you go into the early Acts period? Well, the answer to that is no.
People that have the idea that the Body of Christ and the dispensation of grace began in Acts 2 have a problem when they read Hebrews 2:3-4.
In other words, the Acts 2 dispensationalists have the idea that the fall of Israel took place at Calvary. And because of the cross, God set the nation Israel aside and began something new in Acts 2. But look at Hebrews 2:3-4 and listen to what God the Holy Spirit says as He writes these words.
(Hebrews 2:3-4 KJV) How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord , and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him; {4} God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will?
Which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord is Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. What salvation did Jesus preach about in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John? Well, He preached the gospel of the kingdom, He preached that salvation is of the Jews. He was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God to confirm the promises that God had been making in the scriptures to the fathers, all the way back from Genesis 1 on down. That is why Matthew 25:31 “When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:” that He would say to the Gentile nations that had blessed Israel in the Tribulation, “Come you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:” That is from the beginning in Genesis, God had a plan, a purpose in the earth to establish the headship of the Lord Jesus Christ over this planet through the instrumentality of the kingdom that He vested in the nation Israel. It will be through Israel that all the nations of the earth will be blessed.
So Hebrews 2:3, this so great salvation which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, the gospel of the kingdom. And was confirmed unto us by them that heard him God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will. When was that? Well, that is Pentecost; when the Holy Spirit came. That is the early Acts period when the Pentecostal church is going out doing signs and wonders and miraculous events. In the first part of the book of Acts, what are they doing according to the Holy Spirit in Hebrews 2:3: confirming what Christ did preach in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. That is not something new, different. It is a continuation of what Christ was doing in His earthly ministry.
Now, things do not change, by the way, of you look in Acts 3:18-21 you will see this:
(Acts 3:18-21 KJV) But those things, which God before had showed by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled.
He is fulfilling prophecy one step at a time.
{19} Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; {20} And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: {21} Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.
Spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began. That is what was going on in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John ; that is what was going on in the early Acts period. That is the prophetic program. That is exactly what God was accomplishing in prophecy. Now, that does not change in the early Acts, that does not change until you come to the ministry of the Apostle Paul when Paul says that Christ made known unto me the mystery, (Eph 3) which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of man as it is now revealed. Look with me at Romans 16:25 and compare the contrast with Acts 3:21. You want to see a division, a distinction that is real; well, compare Acts 3:21 with Romans 16:25.
(Romans 16:25-26 KJV) Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, {26} But now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith:
(Acts 3:21 KJV) Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.
Now you think about it, you tell me something that was made known, spoken by the mouth of all the holy prophets since the world began . Could it possibly be the same as something that was kept secret since the world began? There is a difference between prophecy and mystery. There is difference between God’s plan and purpose with the nation Israel and His plan and purpose with the Body of Christ. Where does the purpose of the mystery of Jesus Christ begin? It began with the ministry of the Apostle Paul, that is why Paul is in the Bible. Paul is not one of the 12 apostles, Paul is that other apostle. The reason he is in the Bible is because God changed the program and set the nation Israel aside and raised up a new ministry and the grace of God brings salvation now that appears to all men through the ministry that God has given us through the Apostle Paul.
Romans 11, Paul identifies when this takes place.
(Romans 11:11 KJV) I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid:
They stumbled, but they did not fall. When did Israel stumble and not fall?
(Romans 9:33 KJV) As it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a stumblingstone and rock of offence: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.
There is only one time in all human history that rock of offence, that stumbling stone, was laid in Zion and that is Jesus Christ. And when the Lord Jesus Christ came and ministered to them; what did they do? They did not receive Him. They said, ‘Away with Him, we will have no one but Caesar. Crucify Him. They rejected His ministry. They rejected Him as there Messiah. They stumbled at that stumbling stone but they did not fall. They crucified Him; but God did not set them aside. He hung on that cross and cried, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” Because of that plan of God there was a renewed opportunity given to the nation Israel of repentance. And so Paul says,
(Romans 11:11 KJV) I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid:
but rather through their fall salvation …
Then they did fall. They did not fall when they stumbled, (that is the cross), but later on they did fall. And through their fall, that is all over the middle part of the book of Acts, Acts 2 - 7, when they blaspheme against the Holy Spirit, when they resisted the Holy Spirit. They rejected God the Father through John the Baptist. The Father sent John and they allowed Herod to execute him. They rejected God the Son and they demanded that Pilot kill Him. But then when the Holy Spirit came upon the Little Flock they actually then rejected the Holy Spirit as He ministered to them through the Little Flock in early Acts and they actually committed the murder of Stephen, the Sanhedrin did. And so through the fall of Israel salvation…
…is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy.
By the way, that would help you understand where the change takes place between the prophetic program and the mystery program. It does not take place in Acts 2 because that is just the continuation of what Christ did in His early ministry. It also does not take place at the end of the book of Acts; that is too late. It takes place with the fall of Israel and salvation going to the Gentiles through the ministry of the Apostle Paul .
(Romans 11:13 KJV) For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office:
Now my point to you is simply, the grace of God is sent to the Gentiles, Paul is the initiator of God’s grace to the Gentiles. What you are going to find is the grace of God that brings salvation to all men appearing to all men without any distinction, without any exception, no difference between them. What Paul is talking about in Titus 2:11 is the dispensation of the grace of God that is given to Paul to give to us. It is important to see the salvation that grace brings. What is that salvation?
(Romans 3:21-24 KJV) But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; …
The Law and the prophets demonstrate that we need God’s grace and now the righteousness of God without the Law is manifested.
{22} Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: {23} For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; {24} Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:
You see, the grace of God is all that God is free to do for us through the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ at Calvary. That is God’s grace to us. The grace of God is revealed to us, is manifest to us, it is made known to us, it is declared to us; it is laid out and expounded and delineated for us through the revelation that now, the now-time revelation, given to the Apostle Paul.
(1 Timothy 2:4-7 KJV) Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. {5} For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; {6} Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time. {7} Whereunto I am ordained a preacher, and an apostle, (I speak the truth in Christ, and lie not;) a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and verity.
Paul was ordained to be a preacher, an apostle and a teacher of the Gentiles, to be the due time testifier to the fact that Jesus Christ gave Himself a ransom to all. In Matthew 20, Jesus said He was laying down His life for a ransom for many, dying for the nation Israel; to provide Israel a Redeemer. But now we know that He did not just die for the nation Israel. Now we know that the grace of God that brings salvation to all men. You and I today are included. I love that old song we sing, Yes, He Included Me. That is the message of Paul, it is that God‘s grace included you and me. It includes everyone. There is that beautiful song
The Ground is Level at the Foot of the Cross.,
no man stands higher than I,
I can call Jesus’ name, a king can do the same.
The ground is level at the foot of the cross.
You see there is not a difference in status for people today. The grace of God makes us all one and makes the ground level because we all stand before Calvary. So Titus 2:11 starts out with the grace of God that brings salvation hath appeared to all men. The salvation that grace brings is the salvation that Paul is telling us about.
Now go back to Titus 2 and let’s move on and get a little bit more instruction about this passage than we have gotten through so far. Titus 2:12 because he does not quit there, he goes on with the passage, he says,
(Titus 2:12 KJV) Teaching us [that is the grace of God teaches us) that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;
The grace of God teaches us. Now I know that folks think that if you preach grace, (grace is all that God is free to do for you through the finished work of Christ), and if you preach that full and free the way Paul does, they’ll say you’re just going to motivate people to go out and sin; to live any way they want to live. My friend, God did not have to save you so you can live any way you want to live. You were doing a right good job of that before He saved you., before His grace came on the scene. He did not need to do that so you could just go live for yourself. You were already doing that. He saved you so He could teach you about a different kind of life.
Well, what does the grace of God say? It says that Christ put away sin. How? By the sacrifice of Himself. What does the cross do? It puts away sin. So what does grace teach me? Grace teaches me that God has put away sin. How? By the cross. You see the cross is God’s answer for sin. The wages of sin is death. The only answer to sin is death. So Jesus Christ goes to Calvary and God commended His love toward us and while we were yet sinners; you weren’t trying to fix anything, you weren’t trying to make it better, you were just going on in your own willful sinful way, Christ died for you. Now that is what God’s grace teaches you: that He put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. So if that is what grace teaches me, what should I do? Grace teaches me to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live soberly, righteously and godly. The grace of God not only teaches me that the cross put away my sin but the grace of God tells me that Christ was raised again the third day to be the author of eternal life. The wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. He does not just put away my sin and forgive me and cleanse me He then fills me with His eternal life, God’s life so that I can then live. You see, the grace of God teaches me to deny ungodliness, that is the negative. Ungodliness is then manifestation of the satanic plan and will and purpose; it’s un-God-likeness, and worldly lusts that is the self-driven life - that‘s walking according to the course of this world, walking in desires of our own self. That is just about sin, religious sin, personal sin: denying it. How do you deny it? You simply say that is not who I am. How do I know that? Now, what did the grace of God teach you? That God took you out of Adam and put you where? That is right, put you into living oneness with Jesus Christ. Oh, isn’t that wonderful? What a joy to know that God took me out of Adam and put me into the Lord Jesus Christ . God made Him to be sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. Wow! I read that and I think, Whoa! That is good!.
God took me out of Adam, I was lost in sin and He put me in Christ, now I am saved. In Adam, I was dead in sin. In Christ, I am dead to sin. In Adam, I was ungodly, now in Christ I am holy. In Adam I was unrighteous, now I am made the righteousness of God in Christ. In Adam I was cursed, In Christ I am accepted in the beloved. In Adam, I was without Christ. In Christ, I am indwelt by Christ. Before the cross I was without hope. Now I have a hope laid up in heaven, Paul said. In Adam, I was without God now I am indwelt by God the father. In Adam, we were enemies of God now we have peace with God. In Adam we were indwelt by false spirits now we are indwelt by God the Holy Spirit Himself. In Adam we have the death sentence passed upon us, in Christ we have eternal life. Do you see the contrast? So what does grace teach me to do? It says to deny that old life, put off the old man and put on the new man. Now, that is what Ephesians 4 tells you.
That put off, put on thing, is to deny one and living the other.
(Ephesians 4:22-24 KJV) That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; {23} And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; {24} And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
You see, the idea that the grace of God just sends you out to live an undisciplined self-willed life is just not what grace is all about. That is not what grace teaches us; that might be what religion teaches. That certainly might be what the Law based performance system teach but that is not what the grace of God teaches. The grace of God teaches, now how does it teach you that? Well, it teaches you that through the word of God. And the grace life is a life controlled by the authority of God’s word to you. That is why right division is so critical. That’s why dispensational Bible study is so absolutely necessary. It is so you can know who you are in Christ Jesus. You are a member of the church, the Body of Christ. You are not the nation Israel. You are a member of the Body of Christ and your life is to be controlled by the authority of God’s word by God’s Holy Spirit working through His word and having the love and grace of God control you because you walk by faith in an understanding of His grace and love toward you revealed through the Apostle Paul.
Now, I tell you what Get two passages: Romans 2 in one hand and Philippians 1.
…
The grace of God teaches us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts. When you see that kind of thing in your life; you need to look at it and say that is a waste of my time, that is not who I am. To live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world: that is who I am. Notice that it says in this present world. It in “now” time living; it is living right now. This is eternal life taking hold in your life NOW.
Now, the Law taught Israel to be a peculiar people. It is the grace of God that teaches you and me to be a peculiar people.
(Romans 2:17-18 KJV) Behold, thou art called a Jew, and restest in the law, and makest thy boast of God, {18} And knowest his will, and approvest the things that are more excellent, [How?] being instructed out of the law;
How did Israel know God’s will? How did they know how to approve that which was more excellent, the thing that is of greater value? Being instructed out of the Law. It would have been totally appropriate for the nation Israel to put the 10 Commandments on the schoolhouse walls. It would have been necessary for the nation Israel to put the 10 Commandments on their courthouse buildings. But Paul says in Phil 1 something quite different.
(Philippians 1:9-10 KJV) And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment; {10} That ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ;
You see, what the Law was to Israel, Paul’s epistles are to us. And we know the will of God and we know how to approve the things that are excellent not by going to the Law system but by having the grace of God teach us. By having God’s grace teach us who we are in Jesus Christ , who God has made us in Christ. Who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. That is God’s grace instructing us. The instruction that grace imparts is that we have a life controlled by the riches of God’s grace to us in Christ Jesus; our life controlled by the love of God not the regiment by the Law but controlled by the authority of God’s word. By the working of His Spirit through His word, the excellency and power of His word that works in you that believe. And what it does is that it demonstrates to us that the old life is unnecessary; it is not the issue, it is not reality any more. The new identity in Christ, we live positively in the identity that we have in Christ Jesus ; we live soberly. We have a sound mind, straight thinking about who we are and our identity in Christ. It is who we really are, we think soberly about ourselves. We live righteously, right living with others. I am struck by how often Paul emphasizes like in Ephesians 4:32, be kind, tenderhearted, forgiving one another even as God for Christ’s sake has forgiven you. We like to talk about the latter part of that verse, but did you notice “be kind”, “tenderhearted” . You know how wonderful it would be in your family if you were kind and tenderhearted to everyone in your family all the time. How about your neighborhood? How about on your job? How about in your community? That is the way we live. We live the way God would live; it is right living with others.
And we live godly: God-like, delighting in what He delights in.
(Titus 2:13 KJV) Looking for that blessed hope, [here is that mental attitude we should have] and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;
That is the hope that grace inspires. So you have the salvation grace brings. You have instruction grace gives you and then you have the hope that grace inspires. The blessed hope, God is the author of that hope. That is why it is such a blessed hope. That is why it is so important. That is why it is a hope that is that steadfast and sure.
(Romans 15:13 KJV) Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing…
You see it is the God of hope that initiates the hope, He is the author. The word of God is what ministers it to us.
(Romans 15:4 KJV) For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.
It is through God’s word that hope is ministered to us. It is the patience of hope that sustains us. What is that hope? Well, it is the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ. It is fascinating that thing about the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. That is His appearing when He comes to take the Body of Christ to Himself. But there is another appearing.
(2 Timothy 1:10 KJV) But is now made manifest [talking about God’s purpose in grace that was given to us in Christ Jesus before the world began] by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, [that is the appearing of Christ to Paul, verse11] who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel:
(Titus 2:13 KJV) Looking for [future appearing] that blessed [that joy filled hope] hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;
I love the way Titus says that. There are people that do not like the King James Bible that claim that verse demarches (?) Christ somehow. I read a book years ago by a guy that said he will show all the verses in the King James Bible that were poorly translated, that called into question the deity of Christ. This is one of them. I scratch my head and think someone must not be able to read. They must have their glasses on backwards or something. The real thing is they just got an axe to grind. Well, he says the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ. He is not saying there is God then somebody else who is our Savior. That phrase is the same way, for example, many times Paul talks about God and our Father. Well, that is declaring the deity of the Father. If I say my wife and my best friend; well that is one person, not two. When he says, our great God and our Savior that is one person not two. One person who is the great God and He is also our Savior. It is important that he said it the way he said it because the great God is everyone’s God. You know somebody went around saying, “If Jesus isn’t Lord of all, He isn’t Lord at all.” Well that is just nonsense. Jesus Christ is Lord whether you acknowledge it or not, whether you recognize it or not, whether you agree to it or not. He is the great God and our Savior. He is not everybody’s Savior. He is only the Savior of those that believe. So He is the Great God. Jesus Christ is God manifest in the flesh. He is the fullness of the godhead bodily. There is no way He can ever be anything other than the Great God and He’s the great God of everybody, the God of Gods. But He is also our savior and He is only the Savior of those that believe.
And you know what we are looking for? We are not looking for the undertaker. Somebody said we are looking for the “upper-taker”.
I love that verse in 1 Thessalonians where he says the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven. You know the Lord does not send angels back for us. It is when Christ who is our life shall appear. That is what makes it our blessed hope.
The grace of God has taught us that our identity and our life is in Christ and He is everything. That is what the grace life is all about. It is everything that we have is real and is in Christ.
(Galatians 2:20 KJV) I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
(Philippians 1:21 KJV) For to me to live is Christ, …
(Colossians 3:4 KJV) When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, …
Everything is focused in Him, all of our life is there in Him. That is why we can deny, we can deny sin any access., it is not real. Do you know what happens when you realize what grace teaches about sin? The great protest of the universe against sin did not take place in the mall in Washington; it took place on a hill outside of Jerusalem; it took place on Golgotha. It took place at Calvary where God Himself protested. God forbid!
God protested sin and put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. When you see sin in your life, grace does not say, “Oh, I’ll forgive you, you can go ahead and do it if you want to.” It’d say, “That is the thing that killed your Savior. That is the thing that crucified the Lord Jesus Christ . If there would have been another sin in all human history, that sin of yours is what He would have died for.” We need to look at sin in our life like Calvary tells us to, how the grace of God tells us to. You are not going to love it. You will begin to have the attitude about it that God has toward it and you will want to put it away. And because of life in Christ Jesus, because you are set free in Christ, you’ve obeyed form the heart that form of doctrine that was delivered to you, being made free from sin you became servants of righteousness.
That is what the grace of God teaches. And when you get that instruction that grace imparts, the hope that grace inspires of being with Him personally and forever. And it is just Him. What a joy that is!
(Titus 2:14 KJV) Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.
Just like the Law that God gave Israel, it instructed them in the knowledge of the will of God for them and taught them how to deal with the details of life, approve the things that are excellent. So it is that Paul’s epistles does for us exactly the same thing, it reveals the will of God for us. And it teaches us how to deal with the details of life so that we can approve the things that are excellent, to choose the things that are of greater value. And be a peculiar people.
That word peculiar means to belong to. I know we usually use it in a connotation of being strange, an oddball. But the first grade definition means to have a special belonging to someone. I know if you live as though in your daily life it is Christ living in you, you are going to look strange like an oddball to the world. But you will be a peculiar people zealous of good works. The good works are simply the outworking of growth that results of a spiritual life that God has placed in us in Christ Jesus. That is the goal of God’s grace. And that is what the grace life is all about. The grace life is about the salvation that grace brings and reveals to us through Paul’s epistles. It is about instruction that grace imparts that life is in Christ Jesus . And it is about the hope that grace inspires. The only response that grace will accept is the response of faith. Grace will never accept any other response from you. Faith is the only thing you can do without doing anything.
(Romans 4:16 KJV) Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure…
(Romans 11:6 KJV) And if by grace, then is it no more of works…
It has to be of faith
(Romans 4:5 KJV) …to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.
The grace of God requires but will accept nothing less than the response of faith. It does not work, faith is not working. Faith is simply trusting the work of another. Can I tell you tonight that if you never trusted the Lord Jesus Christ personally and exclusively to be your Savior, to be the one who paid for your sin debt, took your guilt, took all that was wrong with you and paid the sin debt at Calvary. You need to and you can do that where you are. You don’t have to go anywhere; you don’t have to move a muscle. You don’t have to pray and you don’t have to make deals with God. God looks at your heart tonight wherever you might be and He wants to see your faith resting in His Son. When you make that decision to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, just to rely exclusively on Him and not your religion, not on Him for something the two of you will work out together. But you, unable to help yourself, bankrupt of any hope in yourself. Just rest in what God has done for you in Christ. At that instant, God will save you and baptize you by His Spirit into the Body of Christ, making you one with Jesus Christ. The death of the Lord Jesus Christ will become your death and His life will become your life. WOW! What a promise! What a deal! If you never trusted Him, you need to do that now. Right this minute. Pass from death to life in Christ Jesus, have the salvation that grace brings.
If you are saved tonight, can I commend you to the grace life? Can I commend you to the instruction that grace imparts, that life is in Christ Jesus, that He put away sin, He set you free from sin and made you alive unto God and that you have victory. You have victory not in what you strive to do but simply resting. As you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted an built up in Him, as you have been taught. Get in the book. Study and learn the word of God rightly divided. When you learn how to rightly divide it, get into Paul’s epistles and learn what the grace of God teaches. Get the edification that grace gives you so that you can know the will of God, approve things that are excellent in your life so that it can be Christ living through you as you live in dependence upon His word to you. What ever you depend on will control you. And you can be sustained by the hope that grace inspires. The work of faith, the labor of love, the patience of hope, that sustaining hope of the glorious appearing of our great God and our Savior Jesus Christ. That is what the grace life is all about. That is why we talk about rightly dividing the word. We are not trying to split hairs and parse words, we are talking about getting a grip on God’s word so that God’s word can get a grip on you. It is getting an understanding of God’s word so it can go to work effectually in you that believe it.
So let me just commend you to the grace of God. … It is such a wonderful message.
I want you to have your joy resting in the completeness that God’s grace offers you in Christ and see the victory that brings into your life and the joy that it will bring to the heart of God because you are resting there.
nancy
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