Trained by Grace

Sometimes, maybe many times, we feel that we don't measure up to the perfect standard that God gives us in our internal conscience or even in the Scriptures. However, God's grace is constantly poured out upon us. So today, we're talking about the grace of God and its work in our lives.

Open to Titus chapter 2 and follow along with us. Stay standing! Happy Father's Day to all of our dads here. We want to pray a blessing upon you. We also have this wonderful craft root beer for you after service today—Dad's root beer. So, all the dads, before you leave, make sure you pick up your Dad's root beer. Drink responsibly!

Let me pray a blessing upon our dads. Father, You are our Father in Heaven. We are so grateful for Your grace, so grateful for the grace that You've given to us to have a church with some great dads. We pray, God, that You would pour out a blessing upon them.

As a dad, I constantly realize my dependence upon You and my inability to be a good father. But I thank You that You are our great Father, a great example. I pray that You help us as dads to walk in that example.

In our culture, we see a lot of articles and research showing the need for good dads in our country and society. The sad reality is that some in our culture are not good dads and do not have the best example. We thank You that You've given us a great example. Help us to walk in a way that honors You as our Father and as dads.

Lord, pour out a blessing upon these guys. We thank You so much for them, and we ask God that You would shine brightly in and through them and bless them today. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Okay, don't sit down! Everybody else, stand up. As you stand, open with me to the book of Titus. If you don't have a Bible, you can raise your hand, and one of our ushers will bring you one. Titus is near the end of your Bible, so open to about the last book, Revelation, and turn left. You will find a little book called Titus right next to a little book called Philemon. We are in Titus chapter 2, picking it up today.

In Titus chapter 2, verse 11, the Apostle Paul says, "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."

He continues, "Speak these things, exhort and rebuke with all authority. Let no one despise you."

Father, as we open the Scriptures, would You please open our hearts, our minds, and our ears? We read in the Scriptures, "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the church." We want to hear what You want to speak to us through the Word. God, I trust that Your Word will not return void; it will accomplish what You sent it forth to do. We can be blessed and confident in the promise that You, who began a good work in us, will be faithful to complete it until the day of Christ Jesus.

So, God, we pray that by Your Spirit, by the working of Your Word, You would continue that work of transformation in our lives. Do work in us today, we pray, that it would be evident this afternoon and throughout the rest of this week. We ask this in Jesus' name, and all those that agreed said, "Amen." You can be seated.

Well, over the last several weeks, we have been in a brief series here in the book of Titus. If you've been with us as we've gone through chapter 1 and chapter 2, then you know that here in this small book are a whole bunch of exhortations from the Apostle Paul to the church, the Christians who were on the island of Crete 2,000 years ago, but also to the church here today, existing in Southern California.

There are exhortations in this passage towards faithful, godly living. The Apostle calls us to a certain kind of lifestyle that would be very evidently seen in the world in which we live. For example, in the last section of Scripture, the previous passage we were in last week, he gives exhortations like this: be temperate, be worthy of respect, be self-controlled, be sound in faith, sound in love, sound in patience. He says to be reverent, that the older women in the church should not be slanderers or given...

Too much wine. The younger women in the church are to be taught to love their husbands and their children, to be self-controlled, to be pure, to be kind, and to be submissive to their own husbands. To the young men in the church, he says that they are to be self-controlled, to do what is good, to show integrity, and to demonstrate seriousness in their lives. They are to have soundness of speech.

When we look at exhortations like this from the Scriptures, whether it's here in Titus or in other places, challenges like these can sometimes cause us to feel a little bit condemned. If we're looking at a text like this or hearing a preacher preach a passage like this, it's quite possible for us to step away from a text like what we have here in Titus and feel like we've just received a new laundry list of do's and don'ts that we must try to check off every single week. We think, "I've got to do this, and I've got to not do that." The seriousness of it seems to compound when we read things like what we see at the end of verses 5, 8, and 10 in Titus chapter 2.

Just look at those verses. As he gives these exhortations, he effectively says at the end of verse 5, "Make sure you live a really good life." Why? So that no one will malign the Word of God. You have this responsibility to walk in a way that is righteous so that no one will malign the Word of God. Then in verse 8, he continues, "Make sure that you get your act together." Why? So that those who oppose the gospel and oppose Christians may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us. The way you live reflects upon us, the church, so make sure that you're doing it right so that no one can speak evil of the church.

Then down in verse 10, he says, "Make sure that your holy conduct is evident." Why? So that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive. It's on you to exalt and lift up the teaching of the Scriptures and doctrine in the Scriptures. People are watching. The seriousness of these do's and don'ts compounds when we look at words like that. It reminds me of another passage of Scripture, a verse that's actually a favorite of mine in Philippians chapter 2, where at the end of verse 12, Paul says, "Work out your own salvation with fear."

Trembling verses like that are challenging. They seem to express something that many people, not just Christians, experience regularly. There is a compelling force within us that makes us feel we must live to a certain standard. This is called a conscience. In fact, the moral lawgiver, God, has written a moral law into the heart of every human being.

That conscience does two things. The book of Romans says it either excuses or accuses you. It excuses you when you are doing things that align with that conscience, and it accuses you when you do things that are wrong and against that conscience. Unfortunately, many of us often feel accused by our conscience. When we introspectively examine ourselves, we realize that we do not always live up to the standard that our conscience sets for us.

There is a compulsion in every human being to act in a way that justifies us according to our conscience. This is why religion is humanity's default. Every culture tends to gravitate toward a religious lifestyle, even those who claim to be non-religious. We see more and more people in our society identifying as "nuns," meaning they are not religiously affiliated. The amazing thing is that they are often religiously non-religious in every respect, and they can be some of the most morally accusatory individuals. They frequently point fingers at others for not living up to their moral standards.

We all feel an internal pressure to meet a certain level of expectation. When we come to passages like Philippians 2:12, which says to "work out your own salvation with fear and trembling," we sense a gravity in that statement. It evokes a feeling of weightiness and fearfulness, as if we must live up to this standard. Man's interpretation of such verses often leads to a religious mindset, but that is not the entirety of what the Bible teaches.

We also have exhortations in Titus 2 and the call of the Apostle in Philippians 2 to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling. These verses flow directly into the passage we will be examining today. Philippians 2:13 continues, stating, "for it is..."

God works in you both to will and to do His good pleasure. The Bible is filled with exhortations, a call to live at a certain level. Along with those exhortations that we find in the Scriptures, there is a call to live according to holiness and righteousness in our conduct.

We also have passages like what we see here in Titus chapter 2, verse 11. Verses 1 through 10 contain all of these exhortations to a holy conduct of life that we should be living according to. Then, he says this in Titus chapter 2, verse 11: "For the grace of God that brings salvation." We need to stop there. The grace of God that brings salvation immediately leads us to point number one on our outline: salvation is by grace.

This is the basic premise of the Christian gospel. Salvation is by grace, which means if you are a Christian and have been a Christian for a period of time, that's not a new statement to you. In fact, when you hear the preacher say, "Salvation is by grace," you might think, "Yeah, I know that." However, we cannot move too quickly beyond this essentially important and valuable truth. We need to sit on that, if you will. We need to allow our roots to go deep down into the soil of that clear and simple point: salvation is by grace.

If you are new to the Christian faith or maybe not yet a Christian, this is really good news. Salvation is by grace because, in accordance with the conscience that God has given to every one of the 7.2 billion people that populate this planet, all humans default towards religious effort. We try to make ourselves better, trying to become the best that we can possibly be. We have all kinds of different worldviews that move us in that direction.

But if you've tried to be good, you realize very quickly that you're not very good. We try to be good enough to appease our conscience. We try to be good enough to meet the expectations of other people around us. We try to be good enough to fulfill the religious standards that have been shown to us in our culture. Yet, when we try to do that, we find that we utterly fail.

We can never be good enough, and a lot of times, people feel a sense of guilt and shame because they are not living up to even an internal standard of what they know they could be. That's why, when someone says, "You could be so much better," there's a part of us that responds, "You're right." Similarly, when someone says, "You're not living up to your potential," we recognize the truth in that statement, even if we may not want to admit it publicly. We realize that we could be so much better.

The Bible makes this very clear, whether in the Old Testament, the first two-thirds of the Bible, or the New Testament, the last third. This truth is evident throughout. I think of verses like Isaiah 53:6, which states, "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way." In the New Testament, Romans 3 emphasizes this by saying, "There is none righteous, no, not one." We have all turned away from God; we have all sinned and come short of the glory of God, as stated in Romans 3:23.

It is at that point of realizing our failure that the gospel comes in. In fact, the book of Romans says that at just the right time, the gospel arrives. What does the gospel say? Again, Isaiah 53:6 tells us, "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all." Isaiah, 700 years before Jesus came, had this prophetic vision of all our sins and failures being laid upon someone who would stand in our place.

Paul speaks about this in Romans 3:23, where he says, "For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." He continues, "And being justified freely by His grace through redemption that is in Christ Jesus." So, that is the one who stood in our place, the one Isaiah was looking forward to, and we look back to and rejoice in this truth: salvation is by grace.

If you're new to the Christian faith or not yet a Christian, that's really good news. But if you are a Christian, you might feel that you know this truth well. However, I can guarantee that you have not exhausted this truth as much as you think you have. The reality is profound.

Salvation is by grace. The reason I say that is that a lot of Christians actually live more under works than under grace. I know this because I interact with many Christians; in fact, most of my week is spent interacting with them. In these interactions, I find that many people often live under a works mentality with God. This manifests in various ways in our lives.

We get discouraged because we do not do enough good works, and we often feel we do far more bad works than we should. Maybe that's true. People come to churches all throughout our nation on a weekly basis, trying to clear their conscience from all the ways they have failed the previous week. They come in with the weight of their own guilty conscience. They sing songs of praise, give an offering, and go through the Scriptures. At the end, they walk out the door feeling okay, thinking they are ready to face the weekend.

However, by Tuesday, they are often totally deflated and discouraged because they have failed again. They already feel the need to go back to church. Or perhaps they have messed up so badly by Tuesday that they think, "I can't possibly go to church." Then, I don’t see them for three weeks. When they finally show up, they sit in their same chair, and I ask where they have been. They respond, "Oh, I've been busy."

So many people live in this place of feeling like they never measure up to the standard. We read passages like "work out your own salvation with fear and trembling," and the weight just increases. We read the exhortations of Titus chapter 2, verses 1 through 10, to be sober, righteous, and holy, and it just compounds more and more.

We need to be reminded of the truth that salvation is by grace. Another way that Christians sometimes show they are not living in this place of salvation by grace alone is that they are convinced they are really good. They hold this belief in a somewhat prideful way, thinking they are a lot better than all those other people. This is another way we demonstrate that we don’t quite understand the essence of grace.

To comprehend what it means to walk by grace through faith before Christ, we often think, "Well, I'm pretty good at this whole Christian thing." We may look down at other people, other Christians, and think, "Oh God, they need to get their act together because they're not living the right way." This attitude is exactly what is demonstrated at the end of the wonderfully great story called the Prodigal Son, found in the Gospel of Luke, chapter 15.

How many of you have ever read the Prodigal Son story? You can turn there if you'd like; you don't have to. I'll read from it in just a moment. In Luke chapter 15, we are told the story of a man who has two sons. The younger son comes to his father and says, "I want my inheritance now." He goes and spends it on riotous living. The King James Version says he squanders his inheritance on prostitutes and substances, among other things. Eventually, he comes to the end of himself and returns home, where his father graciously receives him. We call him the Prodigal Son, and we see this as a beautiful picture of God's grace.

However, there are actually two prodigal sons in this story. The older brother is introduced in verse 25 of chapter 15. It says, "Now the man's older son was in the field. When he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing." His father was throwing a party for the Prodigal Son who had come home and received grace. The older brother heard all this partying going on, so he called one of the servants and asked, "What's going on?" The servant replied, "Your brother has come home, and because he has received him safe and sound, your father has killed the fatted calf. They're having a party!"

The older brother, who does not understand grace, became angry. In verse 28, it says he was angry and would not go in. Therefore, his father came out and pleaded with him. The older brother responded, "Father, these many years I have been serving you. I have been going to church. I never transgressed your commandments. I kept all the rules, and you never gave me even a young goat that I might make merry with my friends. But as soon as this son of yours— not my younger brother, this son of yours—came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him."

His father said to him...

Him, son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours. It was right that we should make merry and be glad, for your brother was dead, and he is alive again; he was lost, and now he is found.

You may not be the one who identifies with feeling constantly self-condemned, but maybe you are someone who feels pretty self-righteous. That is a danger we can fall into, so we need to be careful about that. We can look around and see all those people who are not living the way they should be, and then we get frustrated because they seem to be blessed. We think they should be judged.

This leads us right into the next point that we find in Titus chapter 2. He says, "For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men." Point number two on your outline: grace is for all people. Again, that's not new. If you are an old Christian and have been around the block of the Bible for a while, you know this truth. You know it intellectually; you know it theologically.

But it's not an issue of simply hearing or knowing it intellectually. The question is, do we really live this way? Do we really live with a constant understanding that grace is for all people, or do we have categories of people that we think are just too far gone? We might say grace is not for them. You might object, saying, "No, no, no, nobody's out of the reach of God's grace," because you know the right answer to that kind of thinking.

But do we really live like that? Do we really think that no one is beyond the reach of God's grace? Are we those kinds of people, those kinds of Christians who have freely received God's grace and now are freely giving it out by sharing the gospel of grace with people who are not yet Christians?

Even going beyond that, the sad fact is that sometimes the church has not been known for being very gracious—not just to people who are not Christians, but to people who identify as Christians. We sometimes cannot be very gracious because we look at them and think, "That guy has failed." Christians can be known for kicking people when they are down and out. We look at that other brother or sister and think, "I can't believe they did that. They got a DUI," or "I can't believe they failed in such a big way. What a miserable sinner." We can be so judgmental.

We can be ungracious to people and forget that we have freely received God's grace, which is for all people, even those who are failures. In Galatians chapter 6, verse 1, it says, "If anyone is overtaken in a trespass, a sin." The concept that comes to my mind when I hear "overtaken" is a giant wave enveloping a person. They have been overtaken in a trespass, in a sin. It says, "You who are spiritual"—oh yeah, that's me—and we anticipate the next part: "condemn them." No, it says, "restore them in a spirit of meekness and gentleness, lest you also be tempted."

We have that old saying, "There but for the grace of God go I," and we might need to remind ourselves of that reality: the grace of God is for all people. Again, if you're not a Christian or you're new to the Christian faith, this isn't just good news; this is great news. Sometimes people think, "God won't accept me. You just don't know all the bad things that I've done. You can't imagine the wicked things that I've done."

Well, first, let me just say I don't want to imagine the wicked things that you've done. But secondly, let me remind you that our God is a God of grace. He knows every bad thing that you've ever thought, said, or done, and still, He is gracious. He offers us salvation by grace. Do you realize that Hebrews chapter 4 says that His throne is the throne of grace? The Scriptures say that we can come confidently and boldly before the throne of grace to obtain mercy and grace anytime that we need it.

The grace of God is for all people, and it is in His grace that we find this wonderful salvation. Salvation is by grace; it is grace for all people—the good, the bad, the ugly. In His grace, God accepts us as we are, but His desire is to transform us.

Look again at Titus chapter 2, verse 11: "For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men." It teaches us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age. Saving grace teaches us how to live. It teaches us how to live.

There is a list of exhortations and commands in the Scriptures, not just in Titus chapter 2, verses 1 through 10, but in many other places as well. We are compelled by the internal drive of our conscience to try and fulfill all of those do's and don'ts that we find in the Scriptures. However, until we have the grace of God in our lives, we are totally incapable of living in a way that honors God and clears our conscience.

When God's grace enters in, it teaches us and instructs us on how to live. Now, what exactly does God's grace teach us? Notice what it says in verse 12: it teaches us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts. The first thing that God's grace teaches us is to deny ourselves. This teaching is very much in conflict with the modern Western ethos of the 21st century. The worldview of 21st-century Westerners, particularly in the United States, Canada, and Europe, is to do whatever you want. Whatever appetite or impulse you have, you should act on it without holding back, because that is living your true self, or so the culture tells us.

While there are some confines to this worldview—such as the idea that you can do whatever you want as long as it doesn't harm anyone else—this perspective is still prevalent. I was watching a little BBC video this past week about the rise of hallucinogenic drugs in the world, especially in the West. They highlighted a woman from the United Kingdom who constantly partakes of hallucinogens in the form of mushrooms, but she microdoses. Her statement was, "What does it matter what I do? I'm not harming anybody." This reflects the worldview of our day, where we are constantly told that we should not deny ourselves any impulse.

Yet, the grace of God, when it comes into our lives, begins to instruct us to deny and reject ungodly impulses of carnality. Why does it tell us to do these things? Ultimately, it is because God, who created us, knows that these things will ultimately destroy us. Some people think that the restrictions God gives in the Scriptures are imposed because He is a cosmic killjoy, up in heaven trying to prevent us from being happy. They believe that He says no to drinking and no to drugs simply to limit our joy.

No extramarital sex. No, no, no. He is not just the cosmic killjoy; maybe He knows, because He made us, how we should live in such a way that would be best for us. These restrictions are not just because He is the cosmic killjoy; they are for our best. As we receive God's grace, it instructs us how to live in a way that rejects ungodly impulses.

Why do we do this? We don't do this out of religious obligation to obtain salvation. The grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation. So, why do we do this? We do this out of gratitude for His salvation. Not only do we do this out of gratitude for salvation, but we also do this by the gracious enabling of His Holy Spirit.

In Romans chapter 7, Paul writes in verse 18, "For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwells no good thing. For the desire 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 that I will not to do, that I practice. Oh, wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from the body of this death?" Can anyone identify with this?

But he doesn't stop there. He doesn't leave us with that question that so many of us can identify with: "Who will deliver me from the body of this death?" He says, "I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord." So then, with the mind, I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh, the law of sin.

Then he goes on to say this in Romans chapter 8, verse 1: "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. He paid it all. God did this by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin. He condemned sin in the flesh."

Why? Verse 4 tells us 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. God, by His grace and the work of His Spirit, enables us to walk in a way that denies the carnal impulses of our flesh. So, the grace of God teaches us self-denial, but not only does it teach us self-denial, it teaches us to walk in righteousness. The grace of God.

The Bible teaches us that we should live soberly. In Titus 2:12, we are instructed to live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age. God's grace teaches us to deny carnal impulses and guides us on how to walk in the Spirit, in His grace, and in righteousness. Additionally, it teaches us to maintain a focus. In verse 13, we are reminded to look for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Point number four is that saving grace secures our eternal hope. This is such good news! If you asked twelve people this week at work or in your neighborhood whether they think they would go to heaven if they died tonight, odds are that probably ten of those twelve, if not all twelve, would say, "Yeah, I hope so." However, their hope is not the same kind of hope we find in Scripture.

If you press a little further and ask them on the basis of what they have that hope, many might respond, "Well, I'm a pretty good person." If their hope is based on being a good person or on having done fewer bad works than others, then it is merely wishful thinking. When they say, "I hope so," it is similar to the hope one might have of winning the lottery, with odds that may not be in their favor.

When we turn to the Scriptures, we find that saving grace secures our eternal hope. This is an absolute certainty of eternity with Christ. It is a certainty not based on our good works or our abstinence from bad works, but rather on His finished work. Jesus, on the cross, declared, "It is finished." Because of His work, He provides us with the security in Christ to be with Him.

We will not be with God in heaven because we have maintained righteousness; rather, we will be with God in heaven because He has clothed us with His righteousness. We need to maintain that focus, looking forward to seeing Christ. If today you are living before God, remember this truth.

On the basis of your good works or your abstinence from bad works, you're probably not looking forward to Him coming. You might think, "One day I'm going to have to stand before God." However, if you relate to God on the basis of His finished work, then you can say, "I'm eagerly looking forward to the coming of Christ." It's not about what I haven't done or have done; it's about what He did.

In another passage, we are told to look unto Jesus. Hebrews chapter 12 states, "Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and sin." This means we should deny ourselves and run with endurance the race that is set before us. We are called to walk in righteousness, looking unto Jesus. Hebrews chapter 12, verse 2, says, "Looking unto Jesus, He is the author and the finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."

He is the author and the finisher of faith. He joyously went to the cross on our behalf to pay the price, the debt that was required because of our sin. Therefore, we lay aside every weight and sin that so easily ensnares us. We deny ourselves and run with endurance this race that is set before us, not so that we can apprehend salvation and security in being with Him for eternity, but because He has apprehended it for us. We do it in response to what He has done for us.

If you have trusted in Christ and the finished work of Jesus on the cross, then you have this eternal hope in Him. Paul says it like this in Ephesians chapter 1, verse 13: "In Him you also trusted after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory."

So, we are eagerly looking forward to the return of Jesus for His whole church—the second coming of Christ—or that meeting with Jesus when each of us will die. One day, we will stand before Him, and we are eagerly looking forward to that because He paid the price, and we have absolute certainty that we are going.

To be with Him for eternity, how do we have this absolute certainty? Well, look at verse 14 of Titus chapter 2. It speaks in verse 13 of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us. Why did He give Himself for us? That He might redeem us, buy us back from what? From every lawless deed, that is, from every sin. Jesus wants to rescue us out of every sin and to purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.

So, why do we deny ourselves and live after righteousness? Do we deny ourselves and live after righteousness so that we can obtain salvation? No, it has been obtained for us by Christ. There have been those throughout Christian history who have said that if you teach the grace of God in this way, as the Bible actually reveals it, then we're going to have a problem. They argue that if you tell people they are totally secure in Christ, not according to their works, then they will run out and just live it up and sin.

But Paul says, "Shall we sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?" When we realize the greatness of the grace that has been given to us in Jesus Christ, the response is not to go out and live it up. Instead, the grace of God instructs us to deny ourselves and to live in righteousness. Why? Because Jesus died to redeem us from every lawless deed and to purify us so that we would be His own special people, zealous for good works.

Point number five: saving grace sets us apart as God's purified, peculiar, and passionate people. The grace of God sets us apart as God's purified, peculiar, and passionate people. It's all right there in that verse. He redeemed us from every lawless deed to purify for Himself His own peculiar people, as the King James Version puts it, so that we would be a passionate people for good works. We cannot purify ourselves apart from God's grace, but once His grace has entered in, He redeems and saves us from every lawless deed, every sin, so that we would be His.

Purified people. My friend Josh Kuransky, who pastors the church plant that we're sponsoring in downtown Baltimore, posted on Instagram this morning a picture of a gentleman named Dan. In the caption, he said, "I literally pulled Dan out of the gutter today to bring him to church." On our way walking to church, Dan said to me, "I don't think Jesus can forgive me for all the sins I've done." He asked us to pray for Dan. I guarantee Dan heard the gospel today at Haven City Church in Baltimore.

What is that gospel? 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 and make us His own peculiar people, a set-apart people. In 1 Peter chapter 2, Peter says, "You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own peculiar special people." Why? That you would proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness and into His marvelous light. You who were once not a people, but now you are a people. You who had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

How do we become this great people of God, peculiar people? By His grace and by His mercy. May our response be that we are a people who are passionate and zealous for good works. Why? Well, as Jesus said in Matthew chapter 5, verse 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, it's a good place to end: that we would glorify our Father in heaven, our Father who has loved us so much that He gave everything to redeem us to be His adopted children. In response to that, may we be passionate about good works so that we would bring glory to our Father. Amen.

Would you stand with me as we close in prayer? Father, I thank You for Your grace. It's been called God's riches at Christ's expense. Jesus, You gave everything for us so that You could fully pay the debt of our sin, so that we would be bought back, redeemed to be Your special treasure.

Transform us by the working of Your grace, that we would glorify Your name. Take what was once a vessel of dishonor—our broken lives—and turn them into vessels of honor in Your house and Your kingdom. Lord, we thank You for Your grace, and I pray that You would pour out Your grace in abundance upon Your church. We come before Your throne of grace right now, needing it.

God, would You make us not only the recipients of Your grace but also the conduits of Your grace? As we have freely received, may we freely give it out to others. We are going to connect with people this week, today, who are in desperate need of that grace.

It may be that as we stand here today, you realize your need for the grace of God. Maybe you are already a Christian, and you feel the weight of your sin and shame; your conscience is heavy, and you need to be reminded of God's grace poured out upon your life. Or perhaps you have not yet put your faith in Jesus because you have been convinced that you are not good enough. Let me tell you, you are not good enough, and you never will be. But Jesus is not 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 grace of God today, the forgiving grace of God, I want to lead you in a prayer to do that. If that's you, would you just lift up your hand high so I can see it? Is there anyone here today? I see a hand over here on my right. God bless you. I see another hand right here in the front. Anyone else? Lift up your hand if you need His grace. I see you there in the back.

If that's you, would you pray with me where you're at? Dear Jesus, would You fill my life with Your grace? Would You forgive me of my sin? Lord, I know that I can't earn my way to You; I've tried and failed. But would You come in and fill me, forgive me, and help me to follow You by faith in Jesus?