Titus 2:11

For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for himself his own special people, zealous for good works. Speak these things, exhort and rebuke with all authority. Let no one despise you.

Grace not only saves us by Christ's finished work—it teaches us how to live, secures our hope, and sets us apart as God's own passionate people.

The Weight of the Exhortations

Over the last several weeks we've been in a brief series in the book of Titus. As we've gone through chapters one and two, you've seen that this small book is packed with exhortations from the apostle Paul to the Christians on the island of Crete two thousand years ago—and to the church here in Southern California today. Paul calls us to a certain kind of lifestyle that should be evidently seen in the world around us.

In the previous passage, he gives exhortations like these: be temperate, be worthy of respect, be self-controlled, be sound in faith, in love, in patience. The older women are not to be slanderers or given to much wine. The younger women are to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, kind, and submissive to their own husbands. The young men are to be self-controlled, to do what is good, and to show integrity and seriousness.

When we read challenges like these, they can leave us feeling condemned. It's easy to step away from a text like this feeling we've been handed a new laundry list of dos and don'ts, with a checkmark required by each one every week. The seriousness compounds when you read the ends of verses 5, 8, and 10. Live a good life "so that no one will malign the word of God." Get your act together "so that those who oppose may be ashamed." Let your holy conduct be evident "so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive." People are watching, and the weight falls on us.

The Conscience and the Default of Religion

This reminds me of a favorite verse, Philippians 2:12, where Paul says, "work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." Words like that are challenging. They touch something that not just Christians but all people live out: a compelling sense within us that we have to live to a certain standard. It's called a conscience. The moral lawgiver, God, has written a moral law into the heart of every human being.

That conscience does two things. Romans says it excuses or accuses you—excuses you when you do right, accuses you when you do wrong. Unfortunately, many of us live feeling pretty accused, because introspectively we realize we don't always live up to even the standard our own conscience sets. Yet there's a compulsion in every person to move in a way that excuses us according to that conscience. That's why religion is humanity's default. Every culture defaults toward a religious lifestyle. Even those who identify as the "nones"—not religiously affiliated—are religiously not religious, and they are often the most morally accusatory people, pointing fingers at everyone who doesn't meet their morality.

But that's not all the Bible teaches. In Philippians, "work out your own salvation with fear and trembling" flows immediately into verse 13: "for it is God who works in you both to will and to do his good pleasure." The Scriptures are filled with exhortations to live at a certain level, but those exhortations flow right into passages like Titus 2:11.

Salvation Is by Grace

So after all the exhortations of verses 1 through 10, Paul says, "For the grace of God that brings salvation." We need to stop right there. This leads us to our first point: salvation is by grace. This is the basic premise of the Christian gospel. If you've been a Christian a while, this isn't new to you—but we cannot move too quickly past this essentially important truth. We need to let our roots go deep into the soil of that clear and simple point.

If you're new to the faith, or not yet a Christian, this is good news. In line with the conscience God has given to all 7.2 billion people on this planet, all humans default toward religious effort, trying to make themselves better. But if you've tried to be good, you quickly realize you're not very good. We try to appease our conscience, the expectations of others, and the religious standards of our culture—and we utterly fail. We can never be good enough. That's why so many people are weighed down with guilt and shame, knowing they're not living up to even their own internal standard. When someone says, "You could be so much better," part of us knows it's true.

The Bible makes this clear. Isaiah 53:6: "All we like sheep have gone astray; we've turned everyone to his own way." Romans 3: "There is none righteous, no, not one." "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." And it is at exactly that point of realized failure that the gospel comes in. At just the right time, the gospel comes. Isaiah 53:6 continues, "and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all." Seven hundred years before Jesus, Isaiah saw all our sins laid upon one who would stand in our place. And Paul, looking back, says we are "justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." Salvation is by grace.

Living Under Works Instead of Grace

If you're a Christian, you might say, "I know that, I've heard it for years." But I can guarantee you have not exhausted that truth as much as you think. A lot of Christians actually live more under works than under grace. I interact with Christians most of every week, and I find that many live with a works mentality before God.

It shows up in different ways. We get discouraged because we don't do enough good works and do far more bad works than we feel we should. People come to churches across the nation every week trying to clear their consciences from the previous week's failures. You come in with the weight of a guilty conscience, sing songs, give an offering, hear the Word, and walk out feeling ready to face the week. By Tuesday you're deflated and discouraged because you failed again. Or you've failed so royally that you stay away for three weeks, and when you finally show up I ask where you've been, and you say, "Oh, I've been busy."

The Other Prodigal

Another way we show we're not resting in grace alone is by becoming convinced we're actually pretty good—a lot better than all those other people. We look down on other Christians and think, "God, get them to get their act together." This is exactly what we see at the end of the prodigal son story in Luke 15. There are really two prodigals, because there's an older brother.

While the father throws a party for the returned son who has received grace, the older brother is in the field. He hears the music, learns his brother is home safe and the fatted calf has been killed—and he gets angry and won't go in. His father comes out and pleads with him. The son says, "These many years I've served you. I never transgressed your commandments"—I kept all the rules, I went to church—"and you never gave me even a young goat. But as soon as this son of yours came, who devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him." Notice he won't even call him "my brother." The father answers, "Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours. It was right that we should be glad, for your brother was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found." You may not be the one constantly self-condemned—maybe you're the one who feels self-righteous, frustrated that others seem blessed when you think they should be judged.

Grace Is for All People

The text continues: "the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men." Point two: grace is for all people. Again, you may know this theologically, but do we really live it? Or do we have categories of people who are just too far gone for grace? You'd object—"No, nobody's beyond the reach of God's grace." But do we live like it?

Sadly, the church has not always been known for being gracious—not just to non-Christians, but even to fellow believers. We can be known for kicking people when they're down. We look at the brother or sister who got a DUI or failed in a big way and think, "Such a miserable sinner," and we become so ungracious, forgetting that we ourselves have freely received grace.

Galatians 6:1 says if anyone is overtaken in a trespass—I picture a giant wave enveloping a person—"you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself, lest you also be tempted." We have the old saying, "but for the grace of God, go I." If you're not yet a Christian, this is great news. People think, "God won't accept me—you don't know all the wicked things I've done." I don't want to imagine the wicked things you've done, but I'll remind you: our God is a God of grace. He knows every bad thing you've ever thought, said, or done, and still He is gracious. Hebrews 4 says His throne is a throne of grace, and we can come boldly before it to obtain mercy and grace anytime we need it.

Saving Grace Teaches Us How to Live

In His grace, God accepts us as we are—but His desire is to transform us. "The grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age." Point three: saving grace teaches us how to live.

We have a long list of commands in Scripture, and we're driven by conscience to try to fulfill them. But until we have the grace of God, we are totally incapable of living in a way that honors God and clears our conscience. When God's grace enters in, it instructs us how to live. And the first thing it teaches is self-denial—denying ungodliness and worldly lusts.

That is in direct conflict with the modern Western ethos of the twenty-first century. The worldview of the West says: do whatever you want, follow every appetite and impulse, because otherwise you wouldn't be living your "true you." The only limit is, do whatever you want as long as it doesn't harm anyone else. I watched a BBC video this week about the rise of hallucinogenic drugs, highlighting a woman who micro-doses on mushrooms. Her statement was, "What does it matter what I do? I'm not harming anybody." That is the worldview of our day.

Yet the grace of God, when it enters our lives, instructs us to reject ungodly, carnal impulses. Why? Because the God who created us knows those things will ultimately destroy us. Some think God's restrictions exist because He's the cosmic killjoy up in heaven—no drinking, no drugs, no extramarital sex—just because He doesn't want us happy. But He knows, because He made us, how we should live in the way that is best for us. And we don't deny ourselves out of religious obligation to obtain salvation—because grace has already appeared bringing salvation. We do it out of gratitude, and by the gracious enabling of His Holy Spirit.

Enabled by the Spirit

Paul writes in Romans 7: "I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?" Can anyone identify with that? But Paul doesn't leave us there. He answers, "I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!"

Then Romans 8:1: "There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit." By His grace and the work of His Spirit, God enables us to walk in a way that denies the carnal impulses of the flesh and to live soberly and righteously in the present age.

Saving Grace Secures Our Eternal Hope

Grace also teaches us to maintain a focus: "looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ." Point four: saving grace secures our eternal hope.

If you asked twelve people this week, "If you died tonight, do you think you'd go to heaven?", probably ten or twelve would say, "Yeah, I hope so." But press a little: "On what basis?" If the answer is "I'm a pretty good person" or "I've done fewer bad things than those people over there," then it's wishful thinking—the same kind of hope you might have about winning the lottery, with about the same odds.

But the hope of Scripture is an absolute certainty of eternity with Christ—not based on our good works or our abstinence from bad works, but on His finished work. On the cross Jesus said, "It is finished." We will not be with God in heaven because we maintained righteousness; we will be with Him because He has clothed us with His righteousness. If you live before God on the basis of your performance, you're probably not looking forward to His coming—you dread the day you'll have to stand before Him. But if you relate to God on the basis of His finished work, you can eagerly look forward to the coming of Christ, because it's not about what you have or haven't done; it's about what He did.

Hebrews 12 says it this way: "Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." He joyously went to the cross to pay our debt. So we lay aside every weight, deny ourselves, and run with endurance—not so that we can apprehend salvation, but because He has apprehended it for us.

Ephesians 1:13 says, "In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance." We eagerly look forward to the return of Jesus for His whole church, and to that day when each of us will stand before Him—with absolute certainty that we'll be with Him forever, because He paid the price.

Saving Grace Sets Us Apart

How do we have this certainty? Verse 14 speaks of "our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for himself his own special people, zealous for good works." Point five: saving grace sets us apart as God's purified, peculiar, and passionate people.

Throughout Christian history, some have objected that teaching grace this way—telling people they are totally secure in Christ apart from works—will only lead them to run out and sin. But Paul answers in Romans 6: "Shall we sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?" When we grasp the greatness of grace, the response is not to live it up but to deny ourselves and live in righteousness. Why? Because Jesus died to redeem us from every lawless deed and to purify us as His own special people, zealous for good works.

We cannot purify ourselves apart from God's grace. But once His grace enters in, He saves us from every sin so that we would be His purified people. My friend Josh Transky, who pastors the church plant we're sponsoring in downtown Baltimore, posted a photo on Instagram this morning of a man named Dan. He said, "I literally pulled Dan out of the gutter today to bring him to church, and on the way Dan said, 'I don't think Jesus can forgive me for all the sins I've done.' Pray for Dan." I guarantee Dan heard the gospel today at Haven City Church—and that gospel is that Jesus redeems us from every lawless deed to purify us. He does not call us to purify ourselves before we can receive His grace; He gives us His grace to purify us.

First Peter 2 says, "You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. You who once were not a people are now the people of God; you who had not obtained mercy now have obtained mercy." We become this peculiar people by His grace and mercy. And may our response be that we are passionate, zealous for good works.

Jesus said in Matthew 5:16, "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven." On Father's Day, that's a good place to end—that we would glorify our Father in heaven, who loved us so much He gave everything to redeem us as His adopted children. In response, may we be passionate about good works that bring glory to our Father.

Closing Prayer

Father, I thank You for Your grace—God's riches at Christ's expense. Jesus, You gave everything for us so that the debt of our sin would be fully paid, and we would be bought back, redeemed to be Your special treasure, and then transformed by the working of Your grace to glorify Your name. You take what was once a vessel of dishonor—our broken lives—and turn them into vessels of honor in Your house and kingdom.

Lord, pour out Your grace in abundance upon Your church, for we come before Your throne of grace needing it. Make us not only recipients of Your grace but conduits of it, so that as we have freely received, we would freely give it to others—because this week we will connect with people in desperate need of grace.

Maybe today you realize your own need for the grace of God. Perhaps you're already a Christian, but you feel the weight of your sin and shame, your conscience is heavy, and you need to be reminded by a fresh outpouring of God's grace. Or maybe you have not yet put your faith in Jesus because you've been convinced you're not good enough. Let me tell you—you're not good enough, and you never will be. But Jesus isn't calling you to be good enough to receive His grace; He freely gives it as we receive it by faith.

If you want to receive the forgiving grace of God today, pray with me where you are: Dear Jesus, would You fill my life with Your grace? Would You forgive me of my sin? Lord, I know I can't earn my way to You—I've tried and failed—but would You come in and fill me and forgive me, and help me to follow You by faith? In Jesus' name, amen.