Memorial Reflections

Unique and special place again
out of the gospel of Luke for just another couple of weeks. I want to go to the book of Titus.
The passage is there in its entirety in your bulletin, if you please,
with places for notes. Or if you prefer, Titus chapter
three and will be in verses one through seven. Twice in that what we often use
as a little formula for the Lord’s table, Jesus says of the bread
and of the cup, do this in remembrance of me. And I think so often we
take the Lord’s table just so casually, too casually that we
don’t even consider what those words mean. What does it mean
to do this in remembrance of me? Certainly, it isn’t just
a casual and passive recollection of Jesus Christ, our Savior. It is a deep meditation on all
that Christ is and all that Christ has done, all that He stands
for, all that He’s accomplished. The Lord’s table is a glorious
opportunity for the faithful to come, as it were, face to
face with God through their Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. and to
commune with Him, to be one with Him and one with one another
in that communion. Too often, the recollection,
the remembrance is far too paltry before the Lord’s table. It’s
too casual. What I’ve done today, just in
preparation for the Lord’s table, is to try and build into our
hearts and minds some memorial reflections Some truths from
the Scripture regarding Christ and regarding the salvation that
we enjoy that will frame a proper approach to the Lord’s table.
If you would, I want to take you to this passage, we’re only
going to really look at four verses, but I want to put it
in somewhat of a context by going all the way back to verse one
of chapter three. Paul uses this section to educate
young Titus, the pastor, left on an island to plant churches,
establish them and appoint elders. And he tells Titus here at the
beginning of this chapter to remember or to remind rather
those to whom he was ministering to live godly lives before a
watching world. to live godly lives before a
spiritually needy world that is watching their every move
and every step as those who need an example of Christ. Look, if
you would, at verse 1. Paul says, remind them to be
subject to rulers, to authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for
every good deed, to malign no one, to be uncontentious, gentle,
showing every consideration for all men. God wants us to be model
citizens. God wants us to be gracious neighbors. God wants us to be obedient citizens. The reason begun is given and
stated quite simply in verse three, and it’s essentially a
call to humility in light of all that we were. Watch this. Paul says, for we also once were
foolish ourselves. It’s uncanny to me how often
Christians, once they find themselves saved, immediately begin to look
down their nose at the world, the sinful world, as if they’ve
accomplished their own salvation. As if it’s something that they
laid hold of. As if somehow by their own works,
they’ve elevated themselves above the cesspool of life. That’s
not what Paul says. Paul says we. including himself. He says, we also once were foolish
ourselves, and then he gives this grocery list of sin. Disobedient, deceived, enslaved
to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and
envy, hateful, hating one another. Now, for those of you who are
raised in Christian homes and you say, you know, maybe all
that I’ve ever really known was Christ in a Christian home. And
I came to Christ at an early age. Maybe all those things aren’t
in technicolor. But for those of us who were
saved somewhere, you know, from teens on up and we do know that
life, we do know what it means to be hateful. We do know what
it means to be deceived. Paul says, you know, look, You
need to take care of the way that you’re living because you
used to be just like them. But God. What a glorious turn
is given there in verse four, and that’s where we’re going
to park this morning. Note the simple sentence. The simple sentences,
but he saved us. And when you get that grocery
list stacked up and you really begin to meditate on what we
were, What God saved us from, that is a profound statement.
He saved us from our deception. He saved us from our disobedience
and sin. He saved us from that bondage
that we were in to sin and our lusts. He saved us from ourselves. It’s a glorious thought there
begun in verse 4. Read it in its entirety with
me. It says that, but when the kindness of God our Savior and
His love 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, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus
Christ our Savior. That being justified by His grace,
we might be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. I would say, I mean, I know I
say this all the time. This is one of my favorite passages.
This is certainly one of the most profound and clear passages
on the gospel itself in all of Scripture. As I hope to point
out in a moment, it’s a simple equation that Paul initiates
this discussion with this memorial for us this morning, these reflections.
but it’s profound in its meaning and significance. In its entirety,
the entire passage, verses 1-7, calls us to a godly, Christ-testifying
life before an evil and watching world, and that’s urged upon
us in light of the salvation that we enjoy in spite of ourselves. It’s an incredible thought. This
pattern in Scripture that you see over and over again. You
see, just when mankind, just when people are at their lowest,
you have this, but God, pattern in Scripture. Ephesians 2, you
were dead in your trespasses and sins. But God. But God being rich in mercy made
us alive. 1 Corinthians 6.11 Do you not know that the unrighteous
shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived, neither
fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor feminine, nor
homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards,
nor revilers, nor swindlers shall inherit the kingdom of God. And
such were some of you. I mean, it’s like he’s pointing
at the congregation, but But you were sanctified. You
were washed. You were justified in the name
of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the spirit of our God. God
is in the business of turning lives around. And that, first
and foremost, is what I want us to meditate upon this morning
is our salvation. I could take us and point us
back to the world and say, live godly lives for them. That’s
part of the passage. I could take us and point us
back to our lives and say, look at what you were. That’s true. But what I want to focus on this
morning is that little section. But he saved us. He said, I want
to meditate on our salvation this morning and want to meditate
on four glorious aspects of the salvation that we enjoy by God
and God alone. First of all, the moment of our
salvation. Look at v. 4, “…but when the
kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared,
He saved us.” There’s a time clause there. And he points to
two elements. First of all, kindness. And it
signifies a gracious love towards man. It’s used in about ten other
places in the New Testament. And it just means goodness, kindness.
But it’s rooted in the character of the one expressing this love. This is part of who God is. It’s rooted in God’s character,
this salvation that He’s provided. When He began to exercise that
kindness, in other words, He could not have saved us. He could
not not have saved us. It was part of His character.
He’s a saving God. That kindness of God is His graciousness,
the goodness that He has which He is ever ready to express. God stands ready to show kindness. And there’s another word that
for me was a surprising and precious discovery, the word love. You know, you get you get people
with just a little bit of Greek knowledge and they become we
used to say that, you know, actually, the seminary professor said of
us. A little bit of Greek is a dangerous thing. Isn’t it true
that in your Bible study, you go to the Bible study and everybody
goes around the circle and talks about what they think the passage
means, and your first Greek lesson ever, everybody’s first Greek
lesson ever, well, agape means, it’s a higher kind of love. Well,
it’s an interesting thing here, this word for love. It isn’t
agape at all. In fact, it’s a rather fascinating word. Philanthropia. We’ve talked about Anthropos
in times past. It’s where we get our word anthropology
from. It’s mankind. It’s the love of mankind. We
often blend those two other words. Philadelphia, the love of the
brother. But here it’s the love of man.
It’s pity for man, for man’s sake. It’s God’s love towards
mankind expressed In practical terms, it’s not just pity. It’s
not just a longing to help them. It is a practical love that is
expressed in flowing and moving. God did something here. One dear brother said of this
word, it is well past time that the great word philanthropy,
that’s the word philanthropy, be restored to its rights as
a recognized biblical term for the love of God. There is no
human philanthropy worthy of the name which is rooted, which
is not rooted in the divine. In other words, you know, all
these people want to go around talking about philanthropy, philanthropic
events. But the greatest philanthropy
that the world has ever known is the Savior that was provided
because of God’s love. That was the moment of our salvation. Hebrews one. essentially communicates
the same thing. It tells us when God moved and
it tells us how God moved. It says, God, after He spoke
long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions, in
many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son. What this whole section here
points to is the historical moment of our salvation. I’m not talking
about the time that you knelt beside the bed. I’m not talking
about that moment. I’m talking about and what Paul
was talking about here is that great moment when after long
years, many countless years of living in darkness and sin. Waiting
in eager anticipation of Christ. This was the historical moment
when the good news of Jesus Christ burst onto the scene. And all
I want you to remember this morning as you come before the Lord’s
table is there was a day when there was no Christ. There was
a day when Christ was but mere shadows, a savior who was to
be. These people were living in the
days of the good news. They could readily remember the
despair. And all I call you to do this
morning in this little point is remember that in time, out
of His goodness and grace and His love for mankind, God broke
through and He broke through with the Messiah. Galatians,
Paul in Galatians said it very simply. He said, while we were
children, we were held in bondage under the elemental things of
the world. But when the fullness of time came, at that right moment,
God introduced the Christ child into the world. That little Christmas hymn says
it well, doesn’t it? Long lay the world in sin and
error pining till He appeared and the soul felt His worth.
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices. No wonder the following
line calls us to fall on our knees. And that’s what I want
you to do in your hearts today. Bow before him and meditate on
the moment of salvation when God burst through in his plan
of redemption and brought the highest blessing, the greatest
act of philanthropy the world will ever know. Secondly, I want
you to look at the motive for our salvation. Where Paul adds
here, he saved us not on the basis of deeds, which we have
done in righteousness. The Gentile, the Jew, they had
both been taken in by the basic human approach to God. That somehow,
either whether it was according to law or according to works
or according to building a totem pole, we could do something to
commend ourselves to God. something, some kind of deed,
some kind of work, some way to procure our salvation through
effort, through human effort. We didn’t do any works. We couldn’t
have done any works that merited our salvation, that commended
ourselves to God. Nothing in our lives, nothing
in all the deeds combined. If we had all worked together
to save one individual, Our deeds couldn’t have done it. One Puritan
characterized it in these terms. He said, men attempt many works
with a view to secure a safe standing before God. But they
are tainted by inward corruption. Do you hear what he’s saying?
The very best of our works come from sinful people. We couldn’t
have done anything to save anybody. They are accompanied by ceaseless
actual transgression and can therefore neither blot out the
sins of the past nor provide for the future. You’ve heard it said there are
two religions, one of human achievement and one of divine accomplishment.
What Paul says, speaking of the former, is it’s impossible. Realistically,
there are no deeds of righteousness. There is nothing that you can
do to commend yourself to a holy God. Our righteousness, says
God’s Word, is as filthy rags. Years ago, two very famous women
died, I think in the same week, if not the same day, Diana and
Teresa. Princess Diana and Teresa. And
you know, by the end of the week, people had them seated next to
God Almighty for eternity. And I’m not here to debate whether
or not they’re saved. But you know the means of their
salvation that everybody touted as a guaranteed sign that they
are in heaven with God? What was it? Their works. Their
good deeds. Their philanthropic efforts.
They saved nobody. They save nobody. It’s not on
the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according
to his mercy. I want you to meditate on that
this morning. What was God’s motive in saving
you? He looked down upon you and had
pity. He didn’t see in you some potential.
He didn’t see in you a good bargain. He didn’t see in you a good way
to advance his kingdom. He looked upon you as He looked
upon me and every other human He’s ever saved. And He saw a
sinful, vile, wretched creature. And He had mercy. Thomas Watson defined mercy as
that grace of God by which He restrains the speedy execution
of His justice. It is the withheld back of His
hand. It is the ready inclination,
said another, to relieve the misery of fallen creatures. God
is eager to exercise this grace. Ephesians 2, 8 and 9, you know
it well. It’s by grace that you’ve been
saved through faith and that faith, not of yourselves. It
is the gift of God, not as a result of works that no one should boast. Even the passage we just read,
Paul uses that same argument. Did Abraham boast at the end
of this session in expressing his faith to God? No. There’s a third glorious aspect
of our salvation that I want you to meditate on before the
table that will help to frame your heart in a proper approach. Not only the moment of our salvation
and the motive of our salvation, but the method of our salvation.
Look at the end of verse five. 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. You see, that clarifies everything. Essentially, people, we were
walking dead men. What my professor used to call
animated cadavers. Just walking about in our deadness,
in our sin, without hope, without God, but God. God found a way. God reached
into the world. God reached down into your heart
and God enlivened you. God made you alive. Let’s look
at the first of these. Two words, this washing of regeneration. It was amazing how throughout
history there have been these commentators, these pastors and
whatnot who stumble across this and they see washing and they
immediately believe that this refers to baptism. That somehow
this baptism washes away all their sin. It’s not the case.
It’s not the case at all. According to the whole of Scripture,
baptism does not save you. No baptism saves anybody. Paul goes on in giving this,
the washing of regeneration, he points to, to talk about the
means God used, the means by which this salvation was effected
in us. How did God save us? This washing of regeneration
isn’t the waters of baptism at all, whether it’s sprinkled or
dipped or plunged or whatever. This washing of regeneration
refers to a spiritual work of God. It essentially answers the
question, how did God save us if we are walking dead men? How did God make us alive? By this work of regeneration.
This idea of regeneration There’s another form of the word. It
literally means to give birth again. Used in Peter. Peter uses
it in the opening words of his first epistle. Blessed be. Oh, how glorious. Oh, how very
grateful. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy.
Do you see a pattern? According to His great mercy
has caused us to be born again. We didn’t birth ourselves. God made us alive. That same
thought is expressed in Ephesians. In the same context where he
said that you are dead in your trespasses and sins, in verse
4 it says, but God, which passage we read just a moment ago, but
God being rich in mercy, there’s our pattern, because of His great
love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our
transgressions, made us alive. We didn’t enliven ourselves.
We didn’t bring ourselves to God. We didn’t come and present
ourselves at his feet and say, you know, the salvation thing
in Christ sounds like a good deal. I choose Jesus. Forget
it. Don’t have any of it. One of
my favorite passages of Scripture, you know, this John Chapman,
do I say that a lot? John, chapter three, Nicodemus,
right? in which Jesus tells this sheepish Nicodemus that he must
be, in the most emphatic and in certain way, he must be born
again. And you know what? Study the
passage ten times over, a hundred times over. You’ll never find
anything in there where he tells Nicodemus to do anything. He
just states the cold, hard fact that unless you’re born again,
Nicodemus, you cannot see the Kingdom of
God. One describes regeneration in
these terms. It said that he said that regeneration
is a creative work of God, just like the work of creation, the
sun, the moon, the stars, the animals, the earth, the sky.
Regeneration is a creative work of God and therefore a work in
which man is purely passive. And in which there is no place
for human cooperation. Salvation is holy of God. It
consists in the implanting of the principle of the new spiritual
life in man. It’s a radical change of the
governing disposition of the soul, which under the influence
of the Holy Spirit gives birth to life that moves in a Godward
direction. God wakes you up from a dead
man’s sleep. And he puts you on a heavenward
path. And he puts you face to face with Christ and you cannot
reject him. You embrace him as your savior.
God does the work of salvation. Charles Spurgeon, if you think
that was strong, Charles Spurgeon said it in even more abrupt terms. He said evangelical repentance
can never exist in an unrenewed soul. And so you think of all
our activities and all this manipulation that goes into somehow arm twisting,
spiritually speaking, people into the kingdom of heaven. If
they’d only make a response. He says, forget about it. We
are as helpless to cooperate in our own regeneration as we
are to cooperate in Calvary. Sinner, unconverted sinner, I
warn you, you can never cause yourself to be born again. And
though the new birth is absolutely necessary, it is absolutely impossible
to you unless God by His Spirit do it. Do what you will. Still, at the very best, there
is a division as wide as eternity between you and the regenerate
man. The Spirit of God must make you new. You must be born again. God has to do a work. And God
did a work. If you’re saved today, it’s because
God moved. It’s not because somebody preached
a sermon. It’s not because somebody slipped a tract in your hand.
It’s not because you chose God. God had mercy on your soul and
He moved upon you and He enlivened you. And it’s because of that
that you sit here at the feet of the Lord’s table this morning.
And if regeneration is a work of God, a work by the Spirit
in the human heart, the beginning of salvation, if you will, the
renewing that Paul mentions next is a continuance of that work.
It is a work of the Spirit, the Spirit’s continual work of salvation
in the life of a believer. The word just points to renewal.
It’s a making anew. It’s a total extreme makeover
on the human soul. It’s a work of God. It’s a work
that only God can do. It’s the same word that Paul
uses in Romans 12. Be transformed by the renewing
of your mind. Let God totally change your thinking
on every aspect of theology and life. One defined this whole process
of sanctification in these terms. He said it is that gracious and
continuous operation of the Holy Spirit by which he delivers the
justified sinner from the pollution of sin and renews his whole nature
in the image of God and enables him to perform good works. Now,
for the first time in your life, you can do a work that is honoring
to God. pleasing and acceptable to Him. You are changed. You’re
made over from the inside out. It’s a glorious work of God. And God says, you know what?
I’m not going to quit. You’re here this morning and you’re
frustrated with your life. You’re struggling with this and
wallowing in that. God says, I’m not going to quit.
Paul said in Philippians, I’m confident of this very thing.
He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day
of Christ. He’s not going to stop. Sanctification, just like regeneration,
is entirely a work of God’s grace. But the same God that begins
the work of salvation in you is going to complete it. He is
going to sanctify you to the point of which when we come to
heaven, we are glorified. He will perfect it. It’s not
something that we do for ourselves. It’s a work of Almighty God.
And we have to meditate on that. And then finally, the fourth
glorious aspect of our salvation that will help to frame our hearts
for a proper approach to the Lord’s table this morning is
the meaning of our salvation. The moment of our salvation the
arrival of the Lord Jesus Christ, the motive of our salvation,
the mercy of God, the method of our salvation, regeneration
and renewal. But I want you to look forthly
at the meaning of our salvation. What’s it about? What do we really gain? Verse 7, He saved us. So that that being justified
by his grace, we might be made heirs according to the hope of
eternal life. You see, you know, you know,
in your heart, if you’ve come to Christ, that sin had invaded
and disrupted, destroyed your relationship to a holy God, it
had left you estranged with him. The Bible presents us as being
at enmity, at war with God. But when we receive Christ as
our Savior, we were justified. We were made right. We were we
stood as it were behind Christ and all that God saw was Christ. And we were in him, Paul says
repeatedly throughout his epistles, we were declared righteous. As
if in a court of law, given the standing as being just, and pure
and right so that we could come into God’s holy presence. Justification
is completely an act of God’s grace. It is part of His free
unmerited gift to us at the moment of salvation. He declares us
righteous. And it is only bestowed upon
us because of our union with our Lord Jesus Christ. Outside
of Him, there are none who are righteous. There are no alternative
approaches to a holy God. None. One Puritan said it in
these terms. He said, to be justified by the
grace of God includes forgiveness and acquittal and welcoming to
God’s gracious presence and favor. Yet, this new relationship is
bestowed only with a view to a higher privilege. Something
greater than justification You say, I’ve lost my mind. Because in our day and age, justification
is all the rage that’s on all the magazines and all the books
that are being printed in this day and age. You know what? I
didn’t say it. And you know what? The Puritan
didn’t even say it. God’s Word says it. The justification
is just the means to a higher privilege. What is it? Is it
just that we’re just and we can now stand before a holy God?
Not at all. As we go and stand before the
holy God, he wraps his arms around us and brings us into his family
and makes us heirs. I mean, meditate on that one.
He continues and concludes with this thought, justification,
precious as it is, is but the preliminary blessing. The child
of God being introduced to the father and accepted by him becomes
an heir of God and a joint heir with Christ. We are heirs. And Scripture repeatedly
declares that. That even though we were sinful,
God burst forth and introduced Christ into this world. And purely
by His mercy, He reached down and touched certain individuals
and He enlivened them and He brought them to life. And then
He began this process of sanctification in their lives, purifying them.
And He declared them righteous. And as they were righteous, He
brought them in and made them part of His own precious family.
I mean, could God do anything greater And what he’s done. Think of the words of Scripture
and how often this thought is is repeated. Acts 20, 32, which
passage we looked at just a couple of weeks ago, I commend you to
God. What a great place to send people. I commend you to God
and to the word of His grace. Is there any place better to
send people? I commend you to God, to the
word of His grace, which is able to build you up and to give you
the inheritance. You know, God has something for
you. God has let you in. Romans 8, 17 declares that if
we are children, then heirs also. Heirs of what? Heirs of God. What do you inherit? You inherit
God for eternity. You inherit the Lord Jesus Christ,
who you didn’t deserve. who died for you. And now God
says that you are next to Christ, heirs of God for eternity. Let’s meditate on that. Galatians
chapter four, you’re no longer a slave, but a son, and if a
son, an heir through God. James chapter two. Listen, my
beloved brethren, God did not choose the poor of this world
to be rich in faith or did not God choose the poor of this world
to be rich in faith and the heirs of the kingdom? You mean, not
only do we get God, we get his kingdom, too? Yes. You know what? There are probably so many more
blessings we couldn’t even we couldn’t even imagine. And it’s
spoken of these general terms. We’re heirs. We have an inheritance.
We don’t even know what it means. But if it’s God and if he’s done
this much Gracious good to us already. It’s got to be good. As you come to the Lord’s table
this morning, I want you to just ponder. I want to take a few
moments and meditate on these things. Meditate on the fact
spelled out in Scripture for us that there wasn’t always a
Savior who had come. There wasn’t certainly a Savior
who had already come in your lives. There was that point in
time where you came face to face with Christ. You had learned
of Him through a book or through a sermon or through a dear friend. But ponder first the moment of
your salvation. That God, by His infinite grace
in eternity past, before there even was a humanity, secured
a plan of redemption. and began to affect it from the
moment He created this world. Ponder the motive. Ponder God’s
infinite mercy. That you deserved the exact opposite. So did I and the whole world
with us. God showed us His infinite mercy. Ponder the means of our
salvation. That you did nothing. Don’t be
deceived. Don’t take back from God this
precious gift that He’s given as if you have some means to
secure your own life. Ponder the meaning of your salvation. The beginning, beginning that
moment when you repented of your sin and you placed your faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ. God brought you in as part of
the family. You’re no longer a second class
citizen. You’re not an outcast. You are
an heir. and in air with the Lord Jesus
Christ. Let’s lay ourselves before him
and ponder these great truths. Our gracious and our merciful
God, we pause and we humble ourselves before you. Lord, we we know
that we see a fallen world. We see people and neighbors and
bosses and people in authority. We know they need to see a godly,
righteous life. Lord, what more graphic a picture
do we have? To point ourselves to a proper
motivation to to yearn for Christ and to yearn for your grace and
to look back over our shoulders at the putrid life that we once
lived. We have nothing to boast of.
We have no cause to be proud. Lord, we humble ourselves before
you. Because you saved us. Lord, you
sent your son. Your only begotten son. And whosoever
believes in him would have eternal life. Lord God, we thank you
for your plan of redemption. Lord, we thank you. For the mercy
that you showed towards us, we thank you that you. Woke us up
from this sleep of death. That you have begun the work
of sanctification in our lives and father grant us the grace
to take seriously this privilege of confession. Father God, we
thank you that beyond all the blessings
we have, to be justified before You, to stand in the righteousness
of Christ and to walk into the kingdom one day with our Lord
Jesus Christ, to take possession of a kingdom that is ours. Lord,
we could never repay. We could never thank You enough. We thank You and praise You.
In Christ’s name, Amen.