3 Realities of God's Grace

Guest speaker Cyril Florita illustrates the connection between God's grace and our holy living from Titus 2:11-14.

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Episode Transcript

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Well, good evening, Christ Community Church.
I invite you to open up your Bibles in the book of Titus.
We're going to be in chapter 2, verses 11 to 14, Titus chapter
2, verses 11 to 14. First, before we start our
message for tonight, I just wantto give thanks to the Lord for
bringing me here. I think Pastor Lance and the

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rest of the elders, Roger, Tom and Esteban for giving me this
opportunity to be able to bring God's word into you.
My prayer is that whether your answer is yay or no, I will be
able to minister to you through this passage.
And I pick this passage because I think it's in line with the
strategy of the church. I love the strategy of of Christ

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Community Church. It's our passion to pursue
Christ, priority to proclaim Christ, and it's our purpose to
proclaim Christ, priority to portray Christ.
And it's our practice of praise,praise Christ.
And that's a great strategy. And upon praying upon the text
that I'm going to use for tonight, I think it's going to

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be in line with that. We're going to be learning about
the grace of God in Christ. And so this letter, of course,
is written by Apostle Paul to Titus.
And after being released from his imprisonment in Rome, and
that's around 8060 to 62, Paul started preaching the gospel and

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started establishing churches there with a young man, Titus,
in this Mediterranean island called Crete.
And this island of Crete, their people are known for being lazy,
glutton, being liars. So they're basically the the
worst of evils of the world. And this sinful society

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basically craves the backdrop for Paul writing to them, to
Titus. And Paul left titers there to
create, to basically continue the work of planting churches
there. And after 3-4 years after he
left Titus, Paul writes to this young pastor and he says in

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chapter 1, verse five, that his purpose for writing is for the
reason that he left him there inCrete, that he, Titus, would set
in order what remains and appoint elders in every city as
Paul directed him. So Paul's purpose in writing is
to basically enable and empower Titus in establishing the

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churches on that island and to appoint elders in those
churches. So we can see from this letter
that Paul's concern is to make the believers there and creed
understand and grasp the interconnectedness of sound
doctrine and sound living. So in chapter 1, verse 9, he

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tells Titus to exhort the eldersto hold fast the faithful word
which is in accordance with the teaching, so that he will be
able to both exhort and sound doctrine and to refute those who
contradict. In the same chapter, Chapter
one, verse 13, he instructs Titus to address those who are
rebellious as saying reprove them severely so that they may

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be sound in the faith. And then in chapter 2, verse
one, Paul instructs Titus himself and he says, but As for
you Titus, speak the things which are fitting for sound
doctrine. And throughout the book, we can
see that Paul stresses the necessary and practical
outworking of salvation in the daily lives of those who are

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elders and the rest of the believers in that congregation.
See, Paul stresses the need for Christians to live righteously
because of its impact upon the testimony and ministry of the
church towards the sinful society within Crete.
And this whole epistle is relevant to us with what's going

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on in our country. And so in our passage tonight,
chapter 2, verses 11, Paul givesTitus the foundational truths
that drive his previous instructions in verses 1 to 10.
And after instructing all kinds of people in the church on how
to behave, he now in this passage points to God's grace as

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the purpose and the reason why they need to submit to
instructions. And he uses the conjunction for
to make that connection. And so our passage reads.
For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to
all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires,

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to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age,
looking for the blessed hope andthe appearing of the glory of
our great God and Savior Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us
to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to preify for Himself
a people for His own possession,zealous for good deeds.

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And from this passage, I want tosubmit to you that God wants us
to grasp and to understand 3 realities about God's grace so
that we might be able to showcase the riches of that
grace through our lives. God wants us to rest three

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reality realities about his grace so that our lives might
serve as a showcase of the riches of His grace, showcasing
3 realities about God's grace. And 1st, we will see the person
of God's grace from verse 11, the first half of verse 11.
And secondly, we will see the program of God's grace from the

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second-half of verse 11 down through verse 13.
And then thirdly, we're going tosee the people of God's grace
from verse 14. So the Pete, the person of God's
grace, the program of God's grace, and the people of God's
grace as showcasing the three piece of God's grace, the

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person, the program and the people.
So let's look at the first one, the person of God's grace, verse
11, for the grace of God has appeared.
You see, grace is one of the attributes and perfections of
God. It's the special expression of

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his kindness or goodness, and God's goodness is that quality
of his essence wherein he makes his profoundly general
generosity seen in all of his creatures.
Grace, then, is God's disposition to show kindness to

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and improve the quality of life or the well-being of those who
there who deserve the opposite, those who are unworthy.
Then Paul says God's grace has appeared or manifested itself.
But God's grace here is not lost, and it's not just an it.

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And God's grace appeared in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And Paul spells this out in verse 13 when he says that we're
looking for and anticipating forthe blessed hope and the
appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus
Christ. So God the Son is God's grace

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Incarnate. Christ is God's supremely
gracious favor and gift, the fallen mankind.
And Paul expounds on the identity of this grace Incarnate
in chapter 3, verses four to seven.
He says, but when the kindness of God our Savior and His love

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for mankind appeared, He saved us not on the basis of deeds
which we have done in righteousness, but according to
his mercy by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the
Holy Spirit. And here it comes, verse 6, whom
He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior,

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so that being justified by His grace, we would be made heirs
according to the hope of eternallife.
And the apostle John gives the same testimony when he says in
John chapter 1 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us,
and we saw his glory, glory as of the only begotten from the

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Father, full of grace and truth.And skipping to verse 16, John
says for his of his fullness, Christ's fullness, we have all
receive grace upon grace. For the law was given through
Moses, but grace and truth we'rerealized through Jesus Christ.

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So God's grace has appeared in the person of the Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ. And I invite you to go to the
second Timothy verse chapter 1, verses 8 to 10.
And there Paul speaks of the same grace of God that he has
given to us. He also speaks of how this grace
has been made to appear in Christ Jesus.

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He says in verse 8, Second Timothy chapter one, verse 8,
join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the
power of God who has saved us and called us with a holy
calling, not according to our works, but according to His own
purpose and grace which was granted to us in Christ Jesus

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from all eternity. Here and here it comes, but now
has been revealed by the appearing of our Lord, say Lord
our Savior Christ Jesus. So Paul speaks of the same grace
of God that he has given to us and disgrace in Christ Jesus.

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And his grace has been foreordained from all eternity.
And this grace is not just an afterthought, it's not just an
accident, but it's been planned.It's been predestined by God and
manifested in His Son. So going back to our text,

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chapter 211 of Titus, for the grace of God has appeared in the
person of Christ Jesus. God has been gracious to you and
me by giving us life in this world for us to enjoy.
And the Lord Jesus says and confirms that in Matthew 545
when He says God causes His Son to rise on the evil and the good

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and since rain on the righteous and the and the unrighteous.
And we know this to be God's common grace.
It's common to everyone. Everyone experiences that.
But what we have here is God's special grace in the person of
the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why we're calling Paul's
intent here as the person of grace.

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The person of grace question is,have you experienced the Lord
and Savior of Jesus Christ? Have you experienced the
kindness of God through him uponhearing the gospel of salvation
as the Lord and Savior of Jesus Christ made an appearance in the
eyes of your heart? For the grace of God has

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appeared. And that leads us to the second
reality of God's grace, the program of God's grace, The
program of God's grace. Paul continues verse 11, the
second-half, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to
God to deny ungodliness and worldly desires, and to live
sensibly, righteously, and godlyin the present age, looking for

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the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our
great God and Savior Christ Jesus.
You see, Paul wants to see that the program of God's grace it's
to save and it's to sanctify andto give us hope.
For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to

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all men. You see, God's grace in Christ
came to bring salvation. Bringing salvation, you might
ask, salvation from what? Well, Christ came to live the
perfect life required of each ofus.
He live to die the death that satisfies the God, the wrath of

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God upon sin. He came to fulfill God's
promises in the Old Testament about the Savior and the
Messiah. He came to rise from the dead,
claiming victory over death. You see, God's grace in Christ
save came to save all men. All men.

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What does it mean? Women are excluded, right?
It's a general term to mean mankind, right?
It's not necessarily teaching that everyone will be saved.
That would be the heresy of universal salvation.
Of course, that's not what it's teaching, but basically it's
teaching that God in His grace sent his Son and the person of

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his Son, the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, so that he would
be able to send save mankind. It is for everyone.
It doesn't matter what part of the world you are in.
Christ came to save sinners. He's saved, He came to save
mankind. So the grace of the gospel is

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for all kinds of people all overthe world.
And Paul speaks of the gospel in2nd Corinthians 519 and he says
God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not
counting their trespasses against them, the world
reconciling the world to him. So the first phase within the

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program of God's grace is to save now.
The second phase within the program of God's grace is to
sanctify God's grace in the person of Christ.
Came verse 12, instructing us todeny ungodliness and worldly
desires to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the

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present age and the world. And the word that Paul uses here
for instructing has that idea ofa father training his son to
become more mature. You know, there's discipline
involved, there's teaching and sometimes correction,
chastisement, right? But the goal is to be able to
take that child and make him grow.

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That's what the word means here in in by the word instructing
here that we have and this requires the necessary
discipline to be more like Christ.
You see from a baby Christian, ababy little Christ, we are being
trained and disciplined to be a more mature Christ like Christ.

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And so the gospel involves the call to repent from sins.
It involves forsaking sin, rejecting them, and turning away
from them. And by God's grace, we've done
that when we responded to the goal of the gospel, right?
The call to repent of our sins, denying ungodliness and worldly

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desires. And the word ungodliness here is
that sinful attitude by our selfish and sinful heart.
It's the attitude that leads us to go against God's law, His
commandments, and His will. It's to live as if God is dead.
It's basically practical atheism.

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It's living as if there's no God.
Practical atheism. In practice, we live as if
there's no God. And worldly desires here are
everything that drives our sinful hearts and the
unbelievers to pursue what the world offers.
See in those desires that the Lord Jesus Christ said we would

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know what worldly desires are. In Mark 721 to 22, he says that
from the heart comes evil thoughts, fornications, thefts,
murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting, wickedness as well as
deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness.

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And there are those that Paul listed as parts of the deeds of
the flesh in Galatians 5921. Immorality, impurity,
sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy,
outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions envying,

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drunkenness, carousing. See, it's any desire or lust
that starts inside the heart, which is we know as the Control
Center of our lives, right? Everything comes from the heart,
The heart that the issue is. The issue of the heart, which
then finds its fulfillment in the system that Satan sets up in

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the world to enslave people in their sins.
That's according to Ephesians 22, when Paul says and talks
about the sense in which you formerly walked, according to
the curse of this world, according to the Prince of the
power of the air, of the Spirit that is now working in the sons

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of disobedience. And so in the negative sense,
the gospel and the grace of God trains us to deny ungodliness
and worldly desires. But in a positive sense, the
gospel trains us to pursue Christ likeness.
And look at verse 12 again. It says that the grace of God is

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instructing us to live sensibly,righteously, and godly in the
present age. See, to live sensibly is
basically to be sober minded in any situation.
See, it's being sensible or sober minded, not being

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influenced by any substance thatwill cost you to be unstable and
to impair your judgment. Being sober minded basically is
the opposite of being drunk or intoxicated, is the opposite of
being reckless, irresponsible and self indulgent, is the
opposite of being unstable or distracted, asleep and inactive.

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But in a positive sense, being sensible and sober minded means
to be clear in your mind and your thought.
It's free from clutter or pollution or distraction.
It's to be clear headed, mentally sharp and focus, self
controlled, self-discipline and stable so that you're always

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active and always awake, alert and in charge.
Is to have the right thoughts about what you should do or to
let your mind guide your body inwhat it does.
Is to be sound in your thinking and in your behavior.
And living righteously here is to have a quality or character

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of life wherein your thought andyour behavior are done properly,
correctly and justly, A pridely manner.
It's to faithfully obey the Bible, God's Word, which is our
standard upon which we do and know what's right.

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It's to live according to His character, God's character, his
ways, his precepts, his will to think like God thinks, talk like
God, and to act like God. So practically, it's to have the
mind of Christ, godly basically is to mean that you fear and you

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reverence and love God. That's what he means to be
godly. It's practically to have the
mind of Christ. It's to ask yourself what and
how did Jesus think? Not what would Jesus think, but
what did he actually think? How did he actually think?

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That's also to do the deeds and commandments of Christ.
What did Jesus do? Not, would not, what would Jesus
do? What?
What did actually he do? What did he do?
What did Jesus do? And it's in Scripture, right?
So you see, God's grace of salvation in Jesus Christ is
transforming. We are no longer slaves to sin.

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Instead, we are now slaves to righteousness.
It's Romans 618 that indicates to us, you know, the Holy Spirit
drives us now. That means our lives are driven
by the fruit of the Spirit as wecan see in Galatians 522 to 23,
which includes Lovejoy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,

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faithfulness and self-control. So God's grace trains us to live
sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age.
We are to be like Christ right now.
Right now. You see, in the climate that we
live in, there is much need indications for true Christians

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to be Christians. It's easy to coin to be a
Christian. The fact could mean you claim to
be a Christian. A sicker could claim to be a
Christian. But in this pressing age, we
need to be known as people who deny ungodliness and go by what

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the word of God says regarding true righteousness.
You see, as believers and as Christians, we have been changed
and that there are things that we no longer think or desire
anymore. There are things that we don't
do anymore. We are now taking after Christ's

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name, right? That's why we call ourselves
Christian after Christ. We're miniature versions of
Christ. We're the proteges of Christ,
this present corrupt and morallybankrupt age.

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We're walking and living differently.
We have a different path. And that brings us to the third
phase of the program of grace, which is to give hope a future
glory. You see, while God's grace in
Christ trains us to pursue Christ's likeness in the present

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age, God's grace also trains US,verse 13, to be looking for the
blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God
and Savior Christ Jesus. And what we're looking for here,
again, it's not something that'slost.
No, we're looking for it in expectation.

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We're looking for it with great diligence.
We're looking forward to it withwatchfulness and great
excitement. See the praise, the blessed
hope, and the appearing of the glory of our great God and
Savior Christ. Jesus refers basically to the

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resurrection of our bodies, the resurrection of our bodies.
And when the Lord Jesus Christ returns to establish his reign
on earth, to establish his Kingdom, that's what's going to
that's what he's going to do, give us glorified bodies fit for

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that Kingdom. So you notice how Paul
attributes God and Savior to Jesus Christ because he is,
right, Jesus Christ is God. And by the way, if you're
talking to a Mormon or Jehovah'sWitness, whether God is or
whether Jesus is God, this is a great text to point them

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towards, right? Because here is it's
specifically spelled out, right,the God and Savior Jesus Christ.
And we know that he's God because from John one, we know
him to be the word who was with God, who was God, right?
And John 5858, the Lord claimed that He was before Abraham,

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before Abraham was alive. He said, I am claiming that he
is Yahweh himself. That and that He existed before
Abraham was. And that's a claim to His
preexistence, His deity, his eternality.
That's why his enemies wanted todisown him.

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They knew what He was claiming preexistence eternally.
That means he's God. And then John 1030, He claims
equality with the essence of theFather.
If he is of the same essence as the Father, which no one had
claimed, it only means that he'salso God right now.

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That he's great just means that he is immense.
He's magnanimous, incomparable in his character, majesty and
power. Just as the Father is great and
his name, Jesus means God saves the title.
Christ means the Messiah, the anointed Savior and king.

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It's not last name. It means something.
It means the Messiah, the anointed Savior and king.
And so we believe Christ to be God and Savior, and we're
looking for the blessed hope of our God and Savior.
And it's a blessed hope because it's going to be full of joy.
It's happy, and it's a privileged moment.

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This hope is not just positive thinking or wishful thinking.
It's something good that will happen in the future, and we can
bank on it. It's almost as if we can grasp
it because the God who promised it is faithful.
It's a short promise waiting to happen.
And John one, if you can turn there with me first.

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John 32 it says first. John 32 Beloved, now we are
children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be.
We know that when he appears we will be like him because we will

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see him just as he is. Peter and first Peter blesses
God for this promise and he calls it a living hope.
He says blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who according to his great mercyhas caused us to be born again
to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ

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from the dead. You see, because Jesus Christ
rose from the dead, we will alsorise from the dead.
The blessed hope is receiving our resurrected bodies, physical
bodies, just like the Lords. Remember, he ate after his

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resurrection. He could take on a physical
tangible fish and eat it. It's a physical resurrected
body. It's fit for the new heavens and
the new earth. Paul says in Philippians
3/20/21. For our citizenship is in
heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for our Savior, the

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Lord Christ Jesus. And then it says verse 21, who
will transform our body of our humble state into conformity
with the body of his glory. It's going to be our glorious
body. You see, if you're here and you
have ailments and sickness and weakness, our glorious body is

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the answer and the hope that we have been waiting for.
This is why we trusted in the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
We didn't just put our faith in Him so that we would be saved
from the judgment of God upon the wrath of our sin.
We have trusted Christ because we hope that our bodies, the

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sinful bodies, will be resurrected someday and that
body will no longer be susceptible to sickness, to sin,
to weakness. We will have the body as God
intended it for us to have, perfectly worshipping with our

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bodies, our Creator, our God, and our Savior.
We will no longer sin. That's the answer of Pastor John
MacArthur when he was asked, youknow what?
Do you look forward to heaven when you get there?

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The absence of sin? I mean, there's a lot of things
that we can say, right? But are you guys in favor of
truth and honesty? Christ Community Church, is this
your answer as well? I know it is mine, right?
So this blessed hope, it's worththe anticipation even in the

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midst of suffering in this evil world, because it's going to be
full of glory, Paul says in Romans 818 to 24.
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time
are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is going to
be revealed to us. For the anxious longing of

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creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God.
We're waiting to be unveiled. We're waiting to be revealed for
who we are really going to be. Then skipping to verse 21, Paul
says we ourselves having the first fruits of the spirit, even

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we ourselves groan with ourselves waiting eagerly for
our adoption, our sons. And here we go, the redemption
of our bodies. See, we're looking forward to
that blessed hope of our redeemed and resurrected bodies.
For in hope Paul says verse 24, Romans 8, we have been saved.

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But hope that is seen, It's not hope for who hopes for what he
already has or sees. But if we hope for what we do
not see, we persevere while we wait eagerly for it.
So we diligently and we watchfully look forward to it.

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It's going to be a blessed time when Christ returns in his
glory. It's also going to be a time of
glorification. We were going to be exalting in
great joy for having followed Christ and obeyed Christ and put
our trust and faith in him. Listen to what Paul says in

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First Corinthians 1555 to 54 to 55.
But when his this corruptible, this earthly body puts on the
incorruptible or heavenly body, and this mortal puts
immortality, then we'll come about with the word that is

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written. Death is swallowed up in
victory. Oh, death, where is your
victory? Where is your sting?
And several verses before that, in verse 50, Paul speaks of the
believers immortal and resurrected bodies fit for the
Kingdom of God. He says, now I say this,

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brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of
God, nor does the correct corruptible inherit the
incorruptible. And Paul again first Timothy 41,
once Timothy to take the appearing of Christ expectedly
and soberly. He says, I solemnly charge you

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in the presence of God and Christ Jesus, who is to judge
the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his Kingdom.
Peter speaks of this same thought and reality in Second
Peter chapter 3 says, But the day of the Lord will come like a
thief, in which the heavens willpass away with the war, and the

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elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and
its works would be found out. Since all these things are to be
destroyed in this way, what sortof people ought to be in holy
conduct and godliness looking for in the hastening the coming
of the day of the Lord, because of which the heavens burning

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will be destroyed and the elements will melt with intense
heat. But according to His promise,
we're looking for the new heavens and the new earth in
which righteousness rose. You see, this blessed hope of
having our immortal bodies fit for the new heavens and the

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earth is something it's going tobe undescribable.
It's like living the life that we have now, but without the
presence of sin, only righteousness and perfect
worship of our Lord, God and Creator.

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And it would be irresponsible tome if I don't talk about the
immortal bodies that are also going to be given those who do
not trust in Christ. You see, because just as there
is the resurrection body that will be given to those who trust

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in Christ, there will also be a resurrection body that will be
given to those who oppose God and call it the gospel.
In John 525 to 29, it says the Lord is speaking here truly,
truly. I say to you, an hour is coming,

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and now is when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of
God, and those who hear will live.
For just as the Father has life in himself, Even so He gave the
Son also to have life in himself, and He gave Him
authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of man.

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Do not marvel at this for an hour's coming in which all who
are in the tombs will hear His voice, and we'll come forth.
Those who did the good deeds through a resurrection of life,
and those who committed the evildeeds through a resurrection of

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judgment. Doing good deeds is a reflection
of trust in Christ, and doing evil deeds deeds is a reflection
of rejecting Christ. So the righteous will be
resurrected, the wicked will also be resurrected.
Two kinds of resurrection, both eternal but different

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environment. See Matthew 2546.
The Lord talks about how wicked people will go into eternal
punishment and Hebrews 1027, theauthor of that book, it speaks
of how for those who reject the gospel and continue in sinning

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that there will be a terrifying expectation of judgement and
fury of fire which will consume the adversaries.
You see God's grace in the past.It's our justification.
It's past oriented. It saved us from the penalty of
sin. God's grace is also presence

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oriented. It makes us wholly set apart
from the influence of sin now. And God's grace is future
oriented in that it will glorifyour bodies when the Lord
returns, and it's ultimately going to set us free from this
body of sin, from the presence of sin.

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So question is, has God really forgiven you of your sins?
Does God really save you from His holy, just and righteous
penalty of it? Is there a struggle, a fight and
victory over the sin that entices you?

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Do you progress in becoming morelike Christ, in your stature, in
your character, in your thoughts, in your speech, and in
your actions? Do you long for the future glory
of Christ? Or are you so much caught up
with what's going on in the world?
Do you long to see Christ? See, today is the day of

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salvation. Wake up.
Wake up from your stupor. Make sure you grasp the program
of God's grace. So we've seen that God's grace
came in the person of Jesus Christ with the program to save,
to sanctify, and to give hope. That's the program of grace.

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And that leads us to the third reality of God's grace, third
reality of God's grace, which isthe people of God's grace.
See verse 14. Paul describes how the person of
God's grace gave himself for us.Jesus Christ is the one who gave
himself for us. Christ gave his life for us.

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We are the undeserved, unworthy recipients of God's grace.
We are privileged. We are the privileged recipient
of God's grace. You see, that Christ gave
himself points to the reality that He gave His life as a

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sacrifice before God. That's the primary reason why He
came the first time. In Matthew 20/20/28 He says that
the Son of Man did not come to say to be served, but to serve
and to give His life as a ransomfor many.

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He gave His life as a ransom, a ransom for us as part of that
many. But why would Christ sacrifice
himself for us? Why would He do that?
Now look at verse 14. And here's the purpose.
In order to redeem us from everylawless deed, and to purify for

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himself a people, for his own possession, zealous for good
deeds. See, to redeem is to release
someone from captivity with the payment of a ransom and the
ransom prize. The price that Christ gave was

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his own blood. Think about that.
His own blood, his own life, paid to satisfy God's
requirement upon sin, which is perfect justice and lawlessness.
Here basically is contempt for God's law.
It's to act as if there's no lawgiver.

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It's to be indifferent about God, the law giver.
So Christ gave himself not only to redeem us, Christ also gave
himself for us to purify for himself a people, for his own
possession. To purify means to cleanse or to

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make clean. And we can see this purification
in Hebrews chapter 10 if you canturn there with me.
Hebrews chapter 10, verses 12 to18.
Here we see the God the Father declares, and He judicially
claims us as His own possession through the saving work of the

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Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spiritapplying to us the saving work
of the Son with His perfect lifeand His death on the on the
cross. Hebrews 1012 to 18 reads.
But he, referring to Christ having offered one sacrifice for
sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God the

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Father, waiting from that time until his enemies are put as a
footstool for His feet. For by one offering He has
perfected or purified for all time those who are being
sanctified or made being or being made completely holy.
Verse 15 And the Holy Spirit also testifies to us.

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For after saying, this is the covenant that I will make with
them after those days, says the Lord, I will put my loss upon
their heart and on their mind. I will write them.
See, that's the declaration and the stamp that we know that we
belong to God. He then says verse 17 and their

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sins and their lawlessness, they're lawless deeds.
I will remember no more. See, God purifies us from our
sins and not only that, he claims us as his own.
It's one thing to be considered not a Sinner, but it's another

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to be considered as righteous and part of God's family.
Of course, this this claim is something that God had planned
and prepared for even before thefoundation of the world.
Listen to what Paul says in Ephesians 1, four to seven.

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He says that God chose us in himin Christ before the foundation
of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before him in
love by by predestining predestining us to do adoption a
sons through Christ Jesus to himself according to the good

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pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace
which he graciously bestowed on us in the Beloved.
In him we have the redemption through his blood, the
forgiveness of our sins, the forgiveness of our
transgressions according to the riches of his grace.

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And now look again at verse 14 of our text, Titus 2, verse 14.
Christ gave Himself for us to redeem us, to purify us, and to
make us His own, and to make us zealous for good works, zealous
for good works. Being zealous is just being

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overly passionate, overly excited about something.
And in Christ, God makes us to be passionate about good works,
doing good deeds, doing everything that we can to make
everyone's lives better, right? To improve their condition.
And this reality, of course, is again planned by God.

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It's not an accident. It's not an accidental plan.
Ephesians 28 says that we are the workmanship of God, created
in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so
that we would walk in them. You notice that prepared
beforehand so that we will, we would walk in them.

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We're not doing good works so that we might be saved.
No, we are saved so that we would do good works.
So I see Christ gave himself forus so that we would become God's
redeemed people, God's purified people, God's own people, and

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God's zealous people. Where are the people of God's
grace? See, as God's redeemed people,
have you truly been saved from your sin?
As God's beautified people, are you walking and and and living

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in holiness? As God's own people, do you
consider yourself as a slave of your master?
Do you obey the gracious Master?As God zealous people, are you
really excited to do what's goodto everyone?

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And do you do it for the glory of Christ?
So we've seen God's grace has appeared in the person of the
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We've seen that the program of
disgrace is saved to sanctify and to give the hope of glory.
And we've seen that the people of grace are redeemed, purified,

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owned, and made zealous for goodworks.
I pray that we here at Christ's community would be able to
identify with that as God's people of grace, zealous to do
good to everyone, as people who have the experience and are
living out the program of God's grace, people who love and long

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for the person of God's grace, our Lord and Savior of Jesus
Christ. I pray that our lives would
showcase the richness, the richness of this grace because
God deserves the glory. Amen.
Amen. Let's pray Heavenly Father, I
ask that you would do the work that only you can do through the

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word that you have inscripturated through Titus
chapter 2 verses 1114. We ask, Holy Spirit, that you
would cause us to treasure the truth of your grace so that we
might be able to reflect the power of your grace that you
have, Lord, prepared before, beforehand in the person of your

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Son, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, that we would be able to
live out the program of that grace and that we would be truly
a people of that grace. I pray all these things in Jesus
name, Amen.