Titus lesson 12 start

We're in Titus chapter 3. Somebody read verse 6 through 15. I don't care who it is. Anybody can read English, go for it. Russ, why don't you read? Turn on your mic. Thank you. Whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace, we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. This is a trustworthy statement concerning these things. I want you to speak confidently so those who have believed God will be careful to engage in good deeds.

These things are good and profitable for men, but avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and strife and disputes about the law. for they are unprofitable and worthless. Reject a factious man after a first or second warning, knowing that such a man is perverted and sinning, being self-condemned. When I sent Artemis and Tychicus to you, make every effort to come to me to Coppola's probably have decided to spend the winter there. Don't you think they help Zinus, the lawyer, and Apollos on their way so that nothing is lacking for them?

Our people must also learn to engage in good deeds to meet pressing needs so that they will not be faithful All who are with me greet you. Greet those who love us in the name of Jesus Christ. Okay, good job. You out of breath? Yeah. Maybe I should have had somebody else drink. That's all right. You get your workout in for the day. Yeah.

So, um, If you look at verse six and seven, it says, whom He richly poured out upon us through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace, we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. So justification, my first question was to find regeneration and list some of the aspects of regeneration in verse five and six. And a definition of this, I think I got this from Luis maybe, regeneration is the act of God wherein he imparts eternal life to man on the single condition of faith in Christ.

Well, the word occurs only one other place in the New Testament. The concept is conveyed in many ways. Isn't that interesting that the word, this word for regeneration or right, is only used two places in Scripture. So, just I'll run through and then we'll talk about it. John 3, 7 says, It is being born again, as in John 3, 7. Ephesians 2, 5 says, made alive, as in Ephesians 2, 5. Made a new creature, 2 Corinthians 5, 17. Or made the children of God in 1 John 3, 2. So let's talk a little bit about it.

I think it's important for us as believers What happened the day you were saved to you? Christianity focuses a lot on what happened for you, but not a lot on what happened to you. So what would regeneration mean? We're placed into Christ. Well, the word re means something, again, a generation. New birth? New birth. New birth. But think of what's generation. We were regenerated. Were you ever generated? Recreated. Yeah, recreated.

God brought us into the creation in Adam. And when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, we became an entirely new being. Get your mind around that. That's really interesting. I'm a brand new being. What are you talking about? I looked in the mirror this morning, same old me. But when you begin to study God's word, like what we're doing in Romans and a lot of classes, you begin to discover only because God says so in his word. that I've been regenerated.

Well, what does that mean? Why would he do such a thing? You mean he didn't just put a little paint on me and fix me up and rehab me and send me back out on the floor? No, brand new creature, brand new. Why? Why did he do it that way? You should know the answer from Romans. Why did he do it that way? take us out of Adam and put him into Christ.

That's right. Without it, we're stuck. Stuck in Adam. And there's nothing to work with in Adam. That's exactly right. There's nothing. That's a good way to put it. There isn't anything to work with in Adam. Boy, I really tried hard to get him to work with Adam, but he's not having it, you know. So we find out that we have this incredible need from Adam And the need isn't to make Adam any better than he is. The need is to get away from Adam, get out of Adam, and become a new creature in Christ.

That is a long way from my sins being forgiven. Understand that? Why it's such a long way? Because as soon as I arrive at an understanding that regeneration means that I'm new, and kind and quality, then I can walk away, hopefully, from Adam. He's the source of my old life, and that source is sin. And you're going to get a lot of arguments about that. We spent some time with some people on vacation that were reformers, and they don't understand this principle at all. Yet it's all over Paul's epistles. It's everywhere, you know?

So in John 1, 12, saying that I'm born of God, so is the agent of regeneration. Who's the agent? Who does this borning again? Holy Spirit. Yeah, God does it, right? And you have to work really hard and clean up your act for you to qualify for being born again. About as hard as Adam had to work to get created in the first place, right?

Yeah. Yeah. Good answer. That's a great answer. I was just looking at the Greek word here. It has the word Genesis right in it, in the Greek. Yeah, it does. Alleghenies. And it's, again, Genesis. Yeah. Yeah, if you just study this one word, it'll tell you so much about identification. It's all in that word.

Now, it doesn't tell you how he did it, but it tells you that he did do it. That's what he did. He did that to you, not for you. Do you see that? OK. And it's not just us. It's the entire creation. Yeah. I know that the context of this verse has it in mind of us, but he's not just trying to rebirth individual believers. He wants a brand new creation from the beginning. He will establish it from the beginning. Yeah. We're a part of that. Yeah.

It's amazing to be of that, to be a point in in God's scheme of things where this is what he's doing to human beings. He's not making us Jewish. He's making us brand new human beings. Why would he do that? What do you think motivated them to do that? Sin. What? Sin. What's that? Sin motivated him. It was unacceptable. It had to be dealt with. There had to be a rebirth. Yeah, I think you're tracking good.

Why were we unacceptable to him? Sin. I mean, I guess maybe a more accurate question would be, why would he want to make us acceptable to him? Why would he want to do that? He wants to have a relationship with him. He does. We could be with him. Yeah, he didn't create man just so man could be like, you know, your pet. But he wanted a creature that he created to be able to interact with him on his level. In order to do that, yeah, that's right.

You're talking pets. I'm like, I'm taking care of two of them right now because my house is sick and so. How about this guy? I hate to tell you this, JD, but that dog isn't going to heaven. No matter what's going on now, I'll see you guys later. No matter what the SCCA. How about this guy? Yeah, he's not going either. Okay. Is that our car? It sounds like our car. No, that was their bar collar. No. Oh, maybe. It was ours. Did you lock it? Huh? Did you lock it? Yeah. So we're sitting here having Sunday school and my father goes off in my car in the parking lot.

1 Peter 1.23 shows that the agent of regeneration saying, we are born again, not a seed, which is perishable, but imperishable, that is through the living abiding word of God.

And if you look at Galatians 3.26, the condition on how you get there is through faith in Jesus Christ. So it takes, how much power does it take to regenerate you? Notice this, this will give you a clue.

1 Peter 1.3 says, born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. You realize that the resurrection of Christ took more power than it did to create the universe in the first place? And that's the power used to regenerate us. And at the same time, when Christ rose from the dead, he was the firstborn of a new creation.

And at that point, positionally, every single one of us rose with him too. Took a little power to pull that one off, didn't it? Yeah. Well, we've talked about that Jeremy Camp song, the same power that raised him from the dead was the same power that gave me new life, too. Yeah. So, you know, it's interesting how careful God is to explain to us as his sons how much how much he's got invested in us. It's a lot. The power of resurrection, that's what he has invested in us. So, any more discussion? First, question one.

Question two says, Verse seven tells us the result of salvation. What are they? Verse seven says, so that being justified by his grace, we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. So we were justified because we were really good Christians. Kind of cleaned up our act, went to church, confessed our sins. did 11 spiritual push-ups. God said, OK, you're qualified. Now, we are justified by His grace alone. Somebody want to give me the Holly Hills Chester Macaulay definition of grace?

Come on. Come on. Don't be shy. God's riches at Christ's expense. That's not it. Unlimited, unmerited. Unlimited, unmerited blessings. Based on the totally adequate cross work of Christ. Well, it only took six years to get that in everybody's head, so that's pretty good. So when you think about that, it's unlimited and unmerited. So there's no end to God's grace. There's no circumstance or situation in which he will not be gracious. And it's unlimited.

He doesn't need to refill the tank to keep you going. And it's based solely on what Christ did on the cross, which he made us redeemable. And what's the second part of that verse? really cool part. We would be made heirs. Made heirs. Oh. So I was thinking the other day, I'm going to have to do a math class. Maybe Connor could help me. He's a math whiz.

How many Christians have there been since the resurrection? And how many are there going to be able to divide it into God's riches and we all get a shot? How much are we going to get? Just a simple equation. How much inheritance are you going to get? You're going to get it all.

Yeah, equally. All of it. That's amazing. You think about that, because we always think about, well, I had six brothers and sisters. So when my parents died, everything was divided by six. Some of my brothers weren't happy about that. Anyway, you get it all.

Imagine that. And the Lord Jesus Christ is a man who has glorified the Father, and therefore the Father's going to give him all of it. We get it all because we're in Christ. So that little verse should, if you're worried about God not paying attention to you, just read that little verse. That's enough. It'll wake you up.

The word justified as reference to man is always in the passive voice. What does that mean? That's right, it's always done to you. Now the reformed guys will argue about that, but the problem is they can't argue with a tense in the Bible. It's passive voice, or argue with a voice. It's always done to us. It never says, well, you've got to do 1.5%. I'll do the rest. No. Always done to us. It's always an action taken by God upon man, always.

OK? So did you find that there was grace in the Bahamas? Yeah, it's everywhere. It's everywhere. It's just a little warmer. It's just a little bit more grace? Warmer grace. Warmer grace, yeah. There's cold grace and hot grace. I think this verse is really kind of It nails down everything that Paul has been talking to Titus about with the Cretans. You use the words in a single verse, justified grace, heirs, hope, eternal life in one verse. Yeah, look at that. It's incredible. Just one little verse like that. Don't walk away with your basket empty. I know we're moving fast, but we're going to go for it.

Question three. What is profitable in verse 8? Verse 8 says. The statement is trustworthy or this is a faithful saying and these things I want you to affirm constantly that those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable to men. The New American Standard says the statement is trustworthy and concerning these things I want you to speak confidently so that those who have believed God will be careful to engage in good deeds. These things are good and beneficial for people."

So... I have a question. Yeah, please. Is there any other case where Paul says this statement is trustworthy? Like that. I don't know. Let's see. I don't either. I have it in my notes. But the statement he's talking about starts in verse 5, right? Yeah. So, oh my goodness. I would say the first part of Ephesians talks that way. Colossians certainly talks that way. The first chapter and half of Colossians. What's Paul wanting Titus to do?

Well, he has to overcome the Judaizers, the law-based teaching that is prevalent. Yeah. Obviously the lying and the, just the cretin behavior, if we can just say it that way. But yeah, verse 5 takes us through, there's a lot of deeds mentioned here, but every single gospel truth is pretty much presented from five to seven. And he says, be confident in this stuff. This is- There you go. And you go back to chapter two and he talks about grace as a period, teaching us. Remember when we went through that? I think it's verse seven and eight.

The thing is, is that Paul wants Titus, when he talks to people, primarily the cretins, he wants them to deliver in a confident way that this is the way it is. I'm not hoping it is. I'm not, yeah, I think it is. He wants them to talk confidently. Paul talks incredibly confidently. Imagine if you, as a teacher, if you stood up and just spoke God's word, one of Paul's epistles, you would find that they are very confident. I wouldn't say they're in their face, but there's no doubt what Paul believes.

He never said, well, I'm working this out or working that out. No, this is the way it is. And the doctrine that he proclaims You know that verse that says, I think it's in Galatians, maybe. I don't know. It has never entered into the mind of man what God has in store for those who love him. He's right. It didn't. But yet here it is. And he wants Titus to stand up like that and tell people, here's what God has in mind for you because you're one who has believed him. And here's what it is. not soft-sell. He's not aggressive, but he's forceful.

Make sense? In answer to your question, J.D., in 1 Timothy, he used it three times, and once in 2 Timothy, the same thing, a trustworthy statement. And those are both pastoral. Yeah. Timothy and Titus, it's a trustworthy statement deserving full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, not to allow the foremost. It's a trustworthy statement if a man aspires to officer, overseer, trustworthy, trustworthy statement for if we died with him, we'll also live with him. All trustworthy statements. Right. Worthy of repetition. Well, and what's interesting about that, and I didn't know the answer to the question, which is why I asked it, and thank you for having a look at that. Those are all pastoral. Yeah, they are. That's right.

So, don't you think that as you grow in the knowledge and grace of the Lord Jesus, and the Lord has you more and more involved in ministering to the body of Christ, He's talking to you. He's not talking. You gotta imagine, Titus was not confident. I mean, he's new on the scene.

Yeah. And he's taking, kind of like we are right now, we're taking the elder's perspective of how things should be taught to these crazy people. Yeah. He's telling him, this is trustworthy. Stick with this. Stay here. Stay with it. It's solid. So the notes I wrote, it is the will of God that we speak the word of God with great confidence. Titus might not only proclaim the truth, but he must proclaim it in a certain way or a certain manner. If he does this, it will have a forceful impact on his hearers.

Every one of us likes to, it's like the conference we went to, you know, interesting. Not only do you get to learn the information, but you kind of look at the guys that are given it and say, well, which one of these guys is more forceful than the next guy? Or is he, you know, and some of them, you know, some of these guys, I don't think even if you had the courage to do it, you wouldn't challenge him. You'd have to get back in the back room and say, what do you mean about this?

And so it's an interesting thing because the word of God. Well, let me put it this way. If I'm confident of what God has done, why wouldn't I speak it confidently? You know what I'm saying? If it's true, and it's magnificent, and it's gracious, and it's all of those things, why wouldn't I say it that way? I would. If I owned it, I'd say it that way.

How are we doing time-wise? We've got a couple of minutes. First line, what would be considered unprofitable? I have a question. Yeah, please. So back to verse 8, this word careful. Careful to do something so that you can be confident. Yeah, you know, I'm glad you brought that up. The thing that hit me was, and I didn't spend a lot of time on, what is a good work?

He's telling Titus, look, confidence is really important. But he says, confidence so that those who have believed God will be careful to engage in good deeds. What is he talking about there? He's identifying the believers in that they can manifest the life of Christ. Okay. No thanks. So what... Who just spoke? Go ahead. You got the button? I was just wondering who it was. I can't see them. Oh. The camera's on me. Yeah. It's all on me. What's interesting about that is that we know through the study of Paul's epistles that the good works he's talking about are the fruit of the spirit, right?

And you can't fake those and you can't imitate them. So this whole process of spiritual growth and conformity to Christ and all of that has to go together or the result to be that good works are a result. And the cool thing about the good works he's talking about, they're done through you. God doesn't look at you and say, how are you going? Are you keeping track of the good works? No. I mean, I think about the beam of judgment when we get there. All these wonderful things I thought I did for the Lord are going to add to the fire.

And he's gonna say to me, well, these nine things that I did through you, that's what I'm gonna reward you for. Oh, okay. But what he's saying is that the good works are a result of this conformity to Christ so that the spirit of God can actually use you to do what he wants to do. Like you're saying, how do I edify somebody? I don't know, I have to learn it. I think it's in the Gospel of John where Jesus says, this is the good work that my father wants to see, is that you believe in me. And faith is always at the root of any kind of root in our lives, right? That's good, Myles.

What was in 1 Thessalonians about how do you love your neighbor? Paul tells the Thessalonians, you live a quiet life, you stay out of your neighbor's business, and you work. I thought, those are the three things that are going to demonstrate to my neighbor that I love him.

That's all right here. Well, it makes sense when you start thinking about it. I don't have a quiet life. Go ahead. That's every neighbor conversation we've ever had. But good deeds and just kind of taking, that's mentioned a lot in Titus. And then it's cautioned right here in this verse. And as I think about it, it's a caution of faith. Are you walking by faith?

Yeah. Or are you performing? They're very different things that produce very different results. Obviously the Cretans knew what it was like to just not fall in line. They have their own problem with that. We do too, for that matter. However, you know, kind of tying back this caution, be careful. And this statement is true.

It's like, hold on by faith here. And my great aunt, she was awesome. She was a prayer warrior if I've ever known one. Her thought was always, keep the faith. Keep the faith. And that's what she told me as a young man. Just, JD, keep the faith. And I think that that's what the good deed is. This is what's been done for you. You've been reborn. You've been given a new nature. Keep the faith. Be careful. I don't know, just some thoughts. In closing, I would add one thing. To me, the good deeds, when we're looking at deeds and trying to figure out what the deeds are, it's really the manifestation of a life, life of Christ. The deeds will be manifestation.

And the faith part is believing everything he told us that's true about us, that we've been placed into him, our life, it's his very life. And at 220, I've been crucified because no longer I live, the Christ lived in me. And, you know, it's the time spent with the Lord, to know who you are, and that conformity to Him. That's my faith. You read who I am in Christ, and as you have that relationship with spiritual maturity, as you develop that relationship, the manifestation of good deeds will be not an effort, but a outcome of that relationship.

You know, I noticed, and I'll close with this, I was together last weekend with five families, six families, who love the Lord. And therefore, we were in an environment where the love was going back and forth. It was really cool. I was on the plane flying to Florida thinking, well, what if I meet some jerk in Florida? I'm supposed to love it.

The point is that the Lord, every once in a while, allows you to be in that environment where people love you and it's effortless. And even in a difficult situation, it's to continue effortless on your part because the Spirit of God is in you. He's the lover.

So let's close. Father, how we thank you again. We sure are privileged to be able to study your word and to learn and to grow in the knowledge and grace of the Lord Jesus. Our desire is to know him more and more every single minute of every day. Thank you. We pray in your son's name. Amen.