Grace, Now and Then

We embarked last Lord’s Day on
a kind of a stopgap study of the book of Titus, actually two
weeks ago, and then last week we were in chapter one. This
week I’d have you turn to chapter two, if you would, Titus chapter
two. It has become well known. that
I have many favorite books of the Bible. And it seems that
whatever book I’m currently preaching from is my favorite. And I have
many favorite Psalms as well. My favorite Psalm is 119, unless
it’s Psalm 1 or Psalm 42 or Psalm 23 or Psalm 56, Psalm 110. I also have many favorite chapters
of Scripture. Ephesians 1, Romans 8, and on
and on it goes. And of course I have scores and
scores of favorite Bible verses. But I don’t know if I have ever
identified a favorite paragraph of Scripture. Today is the day. I can tell you that the paragraph
that we will consider this morning The text is Titus 2, 11 through
14. It’s arguably my favorite chapter
in all of scripture, at least this morning. This paragraph
I suggested a few weeks ago was one of the most profound articulations
of God’s saving grace in all of scripture. Listen to how others
have characterized these four verses. One called them a weighty
sentence, a masterful summation of Christian doctrine and practice. Another poetically described
11 through 14 as a grand outline of the evangelical teaching itself
as it bears on the life of Christians in the world. Still another,
more generally, ascribed or described the paragraph in these terms.
He said this imposing statement contains an epitome of Christian
doctrine. And finally, what I would call
is a bullseye, which zeros in on the purpose of this paragraph. when he says that it is essentially
the essential moral nature and design of the grace of God now
manifested in the gospel. Well, you know well that these
verses don’t occur in a vacuum. They are a spirit-inspired cap
to that entire chapter, chapter two, a chapter which has quite
literally something for everyone. And so if you would, I want to
begin in verse 1 of chapter 2 this morning. Chapter 2, verse 1,
but as for you, speak the things which are fitting for sound doctrine. Older men are to be temperate,
dignified, sensible, sound in faith, in love, in perseverance. Older women, likewise, are to
be reverent in their behavior. not malicious gossips, nor enslaved
to much wine, teaching what is good, that they may encourage
the young women to love their husbands, to love their children,
to be sensible, pure, workers at home, kind, being subject
to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be dishonored. Likewise, urge the young men
to be sensible, In all things, show yourself to be an example
of good deeds with purity and doctrine, dignified, sound in
speech, which is beyond reproach, in order that the opponent may
be put to shame, having nothing bad to say about us. Urge bond
slaves to be subject to their own masters. In everything, to
be well-pleasing, not argumentative, not pilfering, but showing all
good faith. that they may adorn the doctrine
of God our Savior in every respect. And this, of course, leads Paul
to provide a reason or an explanation and a motivation in verses 11
through 14. For the grace of God has appeared,
bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness
and worldly desires, and to live sensibly, righteously, and godly
in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing
of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who
gave himself for us that he might redeem us. from every lawless
deed, and purify for himself a people for his own possession,
zealous for good deeds. Now before we throw ourselves
headlong into a consideration of those verses, may I direct
you to an observation of the structure of the passage, at
least that from which my title is derived. If you notice, there
is a repeated term in these four verses that forms a now and a
then regarding God’s blessings in our life. They are the blessings
that we enjoy now, and there are blessings that are to be
enjoyed then, that is later. The repeated word that tells
of these seasons of blessing is to be found in verse 11. It’s
the word appeared. The grace of God has appeared. The particular word refers to
something or someone that has suddenly burst onto the scene
like an unexpected and abrupt flash of light. It has begun
to shine forth, not in a flash or a flicker, but in a sudden
steady and ever intensifying beam of light. One of the first
times that this word is used in the New Testament, it is on
the lips of Zacharias. Remember him? John the Baptist’s
father. And it occurs at the moment that
he is granted the ability to speak after nine months of being
rendered unable to speak by the angel. At that moment, he said
in Luke 178, because of the tender mercy of our God, which which
the sunrise from on high will visit us to shine upon those
who sit in darkness. He spoke of Christ. And so typically
in scripture, this word appear is one of the primary words used
to speak of Christ’s coming. either his initial, that is his
first coming, or his second, final coming. And in that sense,
this appearance suggests divine intervention by Christ, referring
not only to Christ’s incarnation, but to his whole life, including
his death and his resurrection. The grace of God has burst onto
the scene, darkness flees, and God is seen bringing sinners
the salvation that they so desperately need. So this initial appearing
and experiencing of God’s grace is further characterized as being
lived out, as it says at the end of verse 12, in the present
age. This The present age is the realm
or the season in which this first measure of grace is bestowed
in the here and now. In other words, God’s grace has
already come and we are already enjoying it in some measure. But the word appear is used again
in verse 13. And there it is spoken of as
something future. Something for which we are watching
and waiting in the here and now. We are looking for the blessed
hope and the appearing of the glory. There’s a blessing of
God to be enjoyed later. Sometime in the future. And these
two seasons form a very natural outline for this paragraph. It’s
the revelation of spiritual blessings of which there are two. the appearance
of the grace of God by which we live in verses 11 and 12,
and the appearance of the glory of Christ in which we hope, verses
13 and 14. We’ll get to verses 13 and 14
next Lord’s Day, Lord willing. For now, I want to look at verse
11. Here we want to look at the revelation
of God’s spiritual blessings, the first one at least, the appearance
of the grace of God in which we live. And the first thing
that we notice about this statement is that the grace of God brings
salvation. And the little sentence starts
very interestingly with the word for. As I indicated at the outset,
verses 11 through 14 provide really an explanation for all
that Paul says in verses 1 through 10. And at the same time, they provide
the Christian motivation. What Paul will lay out here in
these weighty verses is God’s enabling grace in great detail. Paul essentially says, that what he says to older men,
older women, younger women, younger men, and slaves is that the reason
they should heed his personal admonitions is the very reason
that they can heed his personal admonitions. It’s the enabling
grace of God. Let me explain. God’s grace is
not only for their salvation, it is for their sanctification
as well. And the very reason that God
supplies his measureless grace is to facilitate change in the
believer’s life. most practical and foundational
duties that are prescribed in verses 2 through 10 are skillfully
reasoned and applied to every Christian. Basically, Paul says,
do this because you can. This is no common power. This
is the saving grace of God. God’s grace has made you able,
able to change. In plain terms, the whole reason
that he can admonish older men to be dignified and sound in
the faith is because God’s grace now enables them. They can, so
they must. The whole reason that Paul can
stipulate that older women are to be reverent, teaching what
is good, is because God makes them able by His grace. They
can, so they must. Likewise, the younger women,
they can, so they must love their husbands and their children because
God’s grace commands and enables. So also the younger men, even
the slaves, God’s grace has come. And so because God’s grace has
come, they can, and because they can, they must. They must see
to it that the opponent may be put to shame, having nothing
bad to say about us. No matter the believer’s age
or gender or station, they must now live God-honoring lives because
they can. Look again at verse 11. Paul
says, for the grace of God has appeared. Paul begins to expound
his reasoning by identifying the particular blessing, the
grace of God. In these half dozen words, Paul
utters the marvelous report that whereas we deserve the severest
punishment that God could render. God has bestowed instead his
richest favor. And here this grace is presented
in all of its grand completeness. Not just the arrival of Christ
in his incarnation, but all that Christ’s coming brought. His
life, his teaching, his sacrifice for sinners, his resurrection,
all of it. All of this is encompassed by
Paul’s declaration that the grace of God has appeared. And it is
by grace alone, not by means of any deserved favor or kindness
that any person has ever been saved. We know that grace is
unmerited favor, but we have this tendency to relate it only
to the salvation of sinners. But here, in this paragraph,
as we’ve already learned, the enabling grace of God not only
provides salvation, but it provides sanctification as well. It is
this divine power that enables the sinner to repudiate sin and
to embrace righteousness. And so a fuller description of
this grace Would bring in the full measure of God’s favor. This is everything that God had
to give. In his son, the Lord Jesus. Paul will utilize this phrase
as the springboard. Of living so as to please God. With holy God honoring lives. The grace of God as revealed
in the gospel is the beginning of a new moral life, a life of
righteousness and holiness. The good news of redemption by
Christ’s sacrifice is both motivation and enablement for living this
new life. We would all readily acknowledge
that without the grace of God, no one of us would ever have
been saved. But likewise, with regard to our transformed life,
without the grace of God, we are powerless to do or to be
one degree different than we were without Christ. Look again
at verse 11. The grace of God has appeared.
In my opening thoughts, I shared that this word appear is used
twice in this paragraph, but here the first of the two, Paul
describes the blessings that we enjoy in the here and now
while on earth, and what more appropriate detail to provide
than the salvation that grace brings directly. That’s Paul’s
focus. For the grace of God has appeared,
bringing salvation to all men. In this final statement of verse
11, bringing salvation to all men, there is no verb. The word
bringing is supplied by translators, and the word salvation, or depending
on your translation, saving, is not a verb. It’s an adjective. Paul’s purpose here is to speak
of God’s grace in its ultimate benefit, saving. It is, first
of all, saving grace. And the word is used in this
same very broad sense several times in scripture. Upon beholding the baby Jesus
for the very first time, Simeon, remember Simeon? Simeon used
it. He said, Lord, my eyes have seen
your salvation. Well, he was looking at the baby
Jesus. The very end of Acts, Paul uses
the same word in the same way to declare the broadness of God’s
grace. In Acts 28, 28, he says, the
salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles. They will also
listen. Paul was going with the news
of the gospel of Christ. And so this word is helpful,
but it makes for a somewhat clumsy translation to translate an adjective. into English. But may I suggest
that it is possible to be translated so that it has a very prophetic
Old Testament ring to it. And that would read something
like this. The grace of God has appeared. Salvation to all men. Or a little more plainly, The
grace of God has appeared saving all men. Of course, the one that
the thing that frightens us about that second approach is that
we know immediately not all are saved. But that isn’t what Paul
is suggesting in this beautiful statement anyway. It’s a declaration. It’s an exaltation. The grace
of God has appeared salvation to all men. Remember, Paul is
reminding Titus and his readers of the marvelous, enabling grace
of God’s salvation for all people. The grace of God renders all
manner of mankind savable, regardless of gender, regardless of social
status, societal rank or class, economic standing, ethnic background. God’s grace saves all. None are outside of the saving
grace of God. None are bound irretrievably
by the bondage to sin and guilt. God’s grace has come and salvation
is the end result. It’s wonderful news. It’s the
best news ever. But I want you to look at the
passage again. as we glide into verse 12, because
no favorite paragraph of mine would be complete without a significant
translational issue. And here in verse 12, we have
exactly that. And I know that this kind of
technical wrestling may not be for all of you. So I beg your patience for just
a moment. for those who would otherwise be stalled here looking
at this text as we begin to examine it. If I were not to clarify
a few things, depending on the translation
that you have laying in your lap, you may well have a bewildering,
bewildering to me, bewildering translation, very common. It would go something like this,
the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men,
instructing us to deny and to live. Somewhat simplified. Many otherwise solid Bible versions
translate two additional verbs of verse 12 as infinitives. Now you remember back to eighth
grade English, right? The infinitive is the verb form
found in the dictionary, to run, to fly, or as here, to deny,
to live. But such a translation is problematic
because it obscures much of the information communicated in these
two verb forms. The verb, the verb that is translated
here to deny is a participle. And I know you’re growing more
fascinated with each moment. But the verb translated to live
is a subjunctive. We learned all about subjunctives
in our study of Hebrews. It’s the verb of potential. It
hasn’t happened yet, but we’re making a grand effort to make
it to be so. The problem with that is, translating
it as infinitives, to deny and to live, is that it makes both
of those verbs essentially parallel. And this is exactly what the
New American Standard, as I’ve already told you, the ESV, the
Holman, the NIV, they all do this. But the verbs are not parallel. The first of the two, the one
translated to deny, is a participle and it’s clearly subordinate
to the second verb. According to the rules of language,
the participial phrase to deny is subordinated and would be
better translated, having denied. I’ll come back to the other one
in a moment. It’s not an unimportant detail.
A literal translation would go something like this. The grace
of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing
us that, having denied ungodliness and worldly desires. It’s something
that’s already done. Not something to which we’re
called to anew. The grace of God is instructing
us that we might live. That’s the key thought of verse
12. And this is exactly the way some of our older translations
have it. And so this may serve as my annual
agree with the King James Sunday. Because the King James does pick
up both the participle, denying, and the subjunctive verb, we
should live. And so does the ASV of 1901,
the new King James, and so you You can rest assured that is
the structure. The first verb is subordinate
to the second. So what does it mean? Look, if
you would, at the passage. Because not only does God’s grace
provide salvation, the grace of God grants repentance. That’s
what 11 and 12 teaches us. The grace of God has appeared,
bringing salvation to all men, instructing us that having denied
ungodliness and worldly desires. God’s grace not only brings salvation,
it grants repentance. And we see that here in verse
12. This is that last, that clause that we identified as subordinate
to the rest of the sentence. Before we can set about growing
in grace, we must mortify sinful attitudes and sinful behaviors. You know what? Peter articulates
essentially the same exact thing. Listen to first Peter chapter
two. putting aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy
and envy and all slander like newborn babies long for the pure
milk of the word so that by it you may grow with respect to
salvation. You know what Peter says there?
We cannot even begin to grow in grace by taking in God’s word
until we have repudiated malice and deceit in hypocrisy and envy
and slander. God’s grace is granting us instruction
so that we might live, and that points to our sanctification.
But there’s something that must be dealt with first. Sin. And so Paul basically interrupts
himself in this sentence. It goes like this. The grace
of God has appeared instructing us that having denied ungodliness
and worldly desires. That’s Paul’s important lesson.
Having denied. If you will, this is the negative
side of Paul’s discussion of the grace of God, the denial
that it provides. Paul, in essence, says that as
the process of salvation gets underway, before the lengthy
process of sanctification, before it can even be initiated, sin
must be dealt with. And that’s repentance. It’s not
dealt with fully and finally. there when you fall on your knees
to receive Christ for the very first time, but it must be formally
renounced. This speaks of the initial season
of repentance that every believer must enter, where those things
that are so offensive to God are repudiated and abandoned. God calls us to turn our back
on the devil. to turn our back on the world
and its ways, not the least of which are evil thoughts and desires. And so when Paul inserts this
thought here, having denied, he points back to the believers’
earliest moments of salvation. We’re like the faithful Thessalonians. Remember them? Like the faithful Thessalonians,
the believer turns to God from idols. As Paul generalizes the
sinner’s repentance here, he does so under two headings, ungodliness
and worldly desires. Let’s look at the first. This
wretched term ungodly refers to all that is wicked or impure,
things that are not only offensive, but dishonorable to God himself. It is high-handedly irreverent,
a complete disregard of God, both in thought and in deed.
You say, what is ungodliness? Essentially, it’s living as if
there was no God. Stronger still, it’s living as
if there were no God and treating Him accordingly. And so related words like impiety
and irreverence are often used to help describe ungodliness. Impiety specifically indicates
a disregard of God in the worship that He is due. Now, occasionally, You might hear
some very nice person offer up the excuse that they are not
much of a churchgoer. And they want to be accepted
as such. And they may not be horrible people. And they may
suggest to you that they just don’t do religion, right? They
don’t actively argue against the existence of God and they
might even say that to some degree in some way they believe in a
higher power. The problem is they do not actively
love or submit themselves to him and that alone constitutes
ungodliness. False and irreverent ideas about
God only naturally carry forth into sinful deeds. This word
isn’t just used, isn’t used that often in scripture. And so it’s
of extreme interest that in the little letter of Jude, it’s used
four times in one verse. God is executing judgment upon
all to convict all the ungodly of their ungodly deeds which
they have done in an ungodly way and of all the harsh things
which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. The godless man
has no time or room or interest in cultivating affection with
a holy God. Such a being would be an unwanted
imposition on these people, and so ungodliness suppresses the
truth in unrighteousness, as Paul describes it in Romans 1.
An ungodly lifestyle was characteristic of the heathen nations who did
not know or love God. The sin of ungodliness is not
only immoral, it’s idolatrous. And so when the grace of God
sweetly enters into the sinner’s heart, the most natural response
is a complete repudiation of their ungodly attitudes and deeds. And likewise, with regard to
worldly desires. Look at verse 12, having denied
ungodliness and worldly desires. In addition to the more overarching
category of ungodliness, worldly desires indicates the sinful
longings that are harbored in the thought life and the heart.
The word translated here as worldly is really only used in one other
innocuous occasion, Hebrews 9, and there it’s translated as
earthly. Doesn’t sound so bad, but truly, The desires to which
Paul refers to here are not innocent, simple desires for some wholesome
enjoyment of life. After all, Paul says they must
be repented of. They must be denied. And typically, though not always,
the second word here, desires, The second word is most often
translated by that unseemly word, lust. Romans 1 24, God gave them
over to the lusts of their hearts to impurity. Romans 6 12, do
not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts. Romans 13, put on the Lord Jesus
Christ and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its
lusts, its worldly desires. Ephesians 4.22, lay aside the
old self which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts
of deceit, worldly desires. Lastly, 2 Timothy 2.22, flee
youthful lusts, flee worldly desires. These are, without a
doubt, those same things spoken of by the Apostle John in 1 John
2.16. All that is in the world, the
lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride
of life is not from the Father, but is from the world. Worldly
desires. The thing desired is some evil,
sinful desire, Paul says, and here’s how it works. You see,
they have no room in their heart or their life for the things
of God, and so it functions like a mighty void, a vacuum that
draws in these worldly desires that only too gladly fill the
person’s heart. But these things don’t remain
as desires only. It only indicates here the starting
point for their sin. It begins as a thought. It grows
into some inordinate longing for something and eventually
into an insatiable desire that must be satisfied. They allow
their minds to ponder on some illicit or impure thing. That thought degenerates into
a lustful longing, and soon it overcomes the individual, leading
him or her to act on their desires. These, Pohl told the Ephesian
believers, are the very things from which we’re saved. We all
too, he says in Ephesians 2, 3, we too all formerly lived
in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and
of the mind. Worldly desires are not innocent. And so just as with ungodliness,
before any Christian growth can be enjoyed at all, these worldly
desires must be repudiated, repented of, mortified, The grace of God
not only brings salvation and grants repentance, but it also
begins to produce a Christ-like life. Would you look again at
verse 12? Here the grace of God produces
a Christ-like life. The grace of God has appeared,
instructing us that we might live sensibly, righteously, and
godly in the present age. It instructs us. And note this seamless glide
that we have from verse 11 into verse 12. The grace of God has
appeared instructing us. It’s a rapid transition from
saving grace and repentance now to instruction. One faithful pastor explained
the shift. He said, the gospel is not a
mere offer of escape from punishment, but a means of changing the whole
character and conduct into harmony with the will of God. Grace reigns
through righteousness unto life. It places its subjects under
divine law written in the inward parts and follows it up, beneficent
action with all the discipline needed to subdue and guide the
carnal heart. This is the distinctive feature
of the gospel. I don’t want you to notice this.
God’s grace is practically personalized here as a teacher. The word,
though, means more than just simple instruction. It is the
word that particularly indicates the training or the schooling
of children. And it is this word that the
writer of Hebrews used, if you will recall, to speak of fatherly
discipline. Hebrews 12.7. It is for discipline
that you endure. God deals with you as sons. For
what son is there whom his father does not discipline? But while
the goal may always be instruction with this word, it’s translated
by a wide variety of words, depending on the context. At one end of
the spectrum, it’s translated very mildly as educate. But at the other end of the spectrum,
it refers to punishment as the means of training. And so God’s
instruction of his beloved children may involve rebuke and encouragement
and chastisement and counsel, even reward. And so it’s not
just general instruction in which God is engaged here, there are
specific areas of spiritual instruction in view, things pertaining to
ourselves, things pertaining to our relationship with others,
and things pertaining to our relationship with God. Look at
them. The grace of God has appeared instructing us that we might
live sensibly. We might even say that this first
word, this first character quality, sensibly, is the key word of
the entire chapter, if not the entire letter. It’s used once
in chapter one and five more times in chapter two. Would you
turn to chapter one if you need to? Turn back to 1.8, chapter
one, verse eight. Here it’s speaking of qualifications
of an elder. Says that he should be hospitable,
loving what is good, sensible. There’s our word. First time
that it’s used in Titus. Turn to chapter two, if you would,
verse two. In Titus 2.2, older men are to
be temperate, dignified, sensible, sound in faith and love. They’re
supposed to be sensible, same word. Older women, it’s used of older
women as well, but it’s much harder to find depending on your
translation. Titus 2-4, to encourage the older
women so that they may encourage the young women to love their
husbands, to love their children. It’s embedded in that word encouragement
there to sensibly advise the young women. And then it’s used of younger
women in chapter two, verse five, to be sensible, pure workers
at home. Finally, it’s used of younger
men in Titus two, six, likewise urged the young men to be sensible
grace. God’s grace functions as our
teacher, first and foremost, to teach us, to be wise, sober
minded, sensible individuals. just describes a person who is
balanced and careful and reasonable, not careless or impulsive or
flippant or foolish. This is already, as I said, been
broadly applied. And so because of that, it is
a quality that God expects to cultivate in every believer’s
life. That we should be sensible. There’s another character quality.
that we are to live righteously. This second quality in which
God’s grace is purposing to discipline into us is a quality that affects
others. It’s in regard to other people,
righteousness. God’s grace is employed to disciple
us in the way that we treat other people, whether it’s our friends
or fellow believers or our neighbors or even complete strangers. It’s a very sparsely used word
in the New Testament. And so we gather a wealth of
information just in the in the ways the terms that are used
to translate it. Just listen. In Luke 23, 41,
it’s translated justly. In First Corinthians 15, 34,
it’s translated with the word ought. that we ought to do something. It’s the right thing to do. In
1 Thessalonians 2.10, it’s translated uprightly. In 1 Peter 2.23, righteously. And that gives us, those four
little terms give us a nice picture of the person who lives righteously. This is the person who lives
justly. He’s fair towards others, doing
what he ought, a man who lives uprightly. This is the person
who’s honest and fair. He’s a man of integrity. He’s
a Christian. This is what he’s supposed to
be. Sensibly, righteously, and the
third term here, godly. You see, the mighty, transforming,
life-changing power of God’s grace not only changes us with
regard to ourself sensibly, making us sensible, and changing us
with regard to others righteously, but it changes us with regard
to our relationship with God himself. It makes us godly. You
see, whereas we were formerly alienated from God, oblivious
or indifferent completely to him, or worse, disrespectful
of him, even hateful toward God. By his grace, God changes our
hearts and cultivates within us a godly reverence, a heartfelt
devotion, a genuine piety that reveres and seeks to honor God
as our sole focus of worship. Living unto Him becomes our ultimate
and sustained aim, doesn’t it? It is our chief end to glorify
God and enjoy Him forever. What a good examination point
as we approach the Lord’s table. Would you bow in prayer? Oh, merciful King, we humble ourselves before you
and we acknowledge, Lord, that we would be such wretched creatures
fully deserving hell if it were not for your grace. Lord, if
it were not for your grace, not only would we not be saved, we
would not have repented of our sin and you would not have begun
to develop us in. To Christ like believers. So we come to this table, Lord,
and perhaps there was something that you laid upon. Any brother
or sister’s heart. Lord, we pray that you would
have your way with them, that you would bring them to full
repentance and restore them to yourself. Lord, if there are
any among us who do not know the Lord Jesus Christ. The latter
part of this passage says it so clearly. But this first few verses is
adequate. The grace of God brings salvation. It grants repentance from sin,
and it begins the process of cultivating a godly life. Lord,
we thank you and praise you for your work in our lives, and we
thank you for this table set for us. We pray all of these
things in Jesus’ name. Amen.