Titus 1:4b

Titus chapter 1, verses 1 the 4. We’re looking at the second half of verse 4 tonight. Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God’s elect, and the acknowledging of the truth, which is after godliness. In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began, that hath in due times manifested his word through preaching, which is committed unto me according to the commandment of God, our Savior, to Titus, my own son, after the common faith, grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior. May God bless to us, His sacred and holy word this evening. I suppose that we have prayed many times, and we kept a list of the things we have prayed for over the years. When it comes to gifts from God, it’s certainly true that Christians pray for all sorts of things. However, what do you consider? the most important gifts that you could ask for. People often ask for material things, you know, car, house, food, clothing, shelter, financial help. These certainly are necessary things that we need for our daily life. However, the most precious gifts are gladly not the ones that are the most prominently requested. The Apostle Paul is writing to Titus, who he has left behind on the island of Crete to set things in order, basically to establish the churches that are loose congregations at this point, who need elders appointed over them. And he opens his letter, speaking about the wonderful salvation that God has provided through Jesus Christ for his elect people. And then he desires a… divine blessing for Titus, who has to do the work on the island. And what would be the most wonderful blessing to bestow upon this man? What does he really need? Well, he needs grace, he needs mercy, and he needs peace. And I suggest to you that these are spiritual graces that you and you and I certainly ought to be pursuing as the most valuable of the graces that we could use in this life. Let me begin by saying that spiritual graces are the real resources you need in this life. Grace. Now, when we talk about grace, we’re talking about free grace. Grace is God’s free or unmerited favor. The grace mentioned here in the old. opening greeting is at the heart of the good news that Paul proclaims. And it is the idea of free grace, which gives you certainly a proper understanding of the doctrine of election that’s so prominent in the early part of this letter. God’s choice of individuals to salvation is gracious. It’s not based upon human merit. It’s not made on the basis of your race or your culture or anything of this nature. God’s choice of individuals is because of his free favor to them. It wouldn’t be grace if there were some type of merit associated to with God’s election. But every spiritual blessing you receive from God, is graciously given to you. We don’t merit any of the things that God has granted us in this life. In the Old Testament, God emphasized his free grace to his people of old. In Deuteronomy 7-7, he says, The Lord did not set his love upon you nor choose you because you were more in number than any people. You were the fewest of all people because the Lord loved you. you. And in Deuteronomy 9, 4 to 6, speak not thou in thine heart, saying, for my righteousness the Lord brought me in to possess the land. Understand therefore that the Lord thy God giveth thee not this good land to possess it for thy righteousness, for thou art a stiff-necked people. In the New Testament, we find something very similar. John 327, a man can receive nothing except it be given him from above. Or 1 Corinthians 4.7, for who maketh thee to differ from another? What hast thou that thou didst not receive? Now, if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory or boast, as if thou receivest it not? If we could line everybody up in the whole world and put them in a skyscraper according to various classifications. You took the most refined law-abiding people, and you put them at the top, and you put the never-do wells at the bottom of this skyscraper. If God was for to grant grace on the basis of human goodness or human righteousness, then, of course, at some level on the skyscraper, there would be a cut-off point. And anybody below that, there’s no hope for them, below a certain horizontal cut. Everybody would perish. Suppose you were to arrange that skyscraper of mankind according to mental disposition. Those who are the open-minded people would be on the top floor, but there would be a cutoff point somewhere along the line, and there’d be no hope for those who were born cynics in this life, because they would be at the bottom. Or suppose you arranged mankind according to race. Put the Jews at the top, maybe maybe the cultured, Greeks in the middle and the rest of the Gentiles at the bottom. However you decide to allocate things in that skyscraper, someone’s always going to be at the bottom. Someone’s always going to be cut off. The glory of God’s grace is that he doesn’t make horizontal cut. He makes a vertical cut from top to bottom so that there are people from each walk of life, from each classification. that are included in God’s grace because it’s never based on merit. And it’s never based on who you are or what you have accomplished. No one can ever say, well, I’m not the type of person that God saves. Now, God saves all kinds of people. Therefore, there’s always hope. It’s free grace. We all understand that I trust. But it’s also continuous grace. Now, this free grace, which you have, by which you were elected and brought to salvation. It’s not something you just get once, and then that’s it. It’s something you need every day that you live. It’s not as though God grant you grace and get you started on the Christian life, and then it leaves you on your own to make your way through life. I remember we’re learning to ride a bicycle and a two-wheeler, and your parents would get you started. and you had to get those pedals going in order to keep it going. Well, that’s not the way God’s grace operates where he gets you started and then it’s up to you. Titus was a man who certainly enjoyed God’s salvation, but he was also a man that needed grace. He needed grace every day he lived. And so we see him being mentioned here with regard to. God’s grace resting upon him. He needs more grace. John 116 and of His, of Christ’s fullness we’ve all, as believers received, and grace for grace, are one piece of grace, if you would, upon another. Or grace after grace, if you would. That’s the way the Christian life is. Literally believers are constantly receiving grace in this life. Because this free grace is a fountain of every spiritual blessing, it behooves you and I to seek it for ourselves and for others. Paul prays here, in a sense, for Titus that God would grant him grace. He often speaks about grace to the various churches. I find it interesting, though, when he writes to the pastors, Titus or Tim he says, grace, mercy, and peace. When he writes to the church, he says, just grace and peace. But it adds a little extra for those, I guess, who are pastoring. And what we find here that whether you are a Christian businessman, a Christian wife, or a Christian husband, a worker, whatever the case may be, you struggle with various trials and problems, you’re often overwhelmed in this life with all these things and what you need is grace. Titus here is undertaking to care for the various congregations who have many problems. He needs a special supply of God’s grace to do the work. Paul relates to the Corinthian believers that he had a struggle with some type of thorn in the flesh, some type of physical ailment that troubled him. And he prayed to the Lord three times. that the Lord would take it away from him because it was a very grievous thing to have to endure. And the Lord’s answer might surprise many people because the Lord decided not to take it away from Paul, but says to Paul, my grace is sufficient for you. And here we see the daily need to deal with this problem that he struggles with on a daily basis. in the flesh, I’ll give you grace. I’ll sustain you daily by my grace to endure all of this. Now, God grants grace according to the particular burden that you must bear in life. Some receive more grace because they’ve got a heavier load to bear. You may think, well, I could never endure this or that or the other. I could never show that much patience. I could never be a mark. Yes, you could, if God gave you the grace to do it. You may not at the moment feel that you are ready to handle that particular difficulty that comes along. But when you need God’s grace, he supplies that grace. And so it’s a grace that we need, a free grace and a continuous grace that we need. And then he mentions here mercy. mercy is closely related to grace. It’s not carelessly added. Mercy usually is connected with some type of sinful activity, man’s sinful state. Mercy relates to a person dealing with the misery of his own sin or those of the people around him. Mercy has to do with forgiveness of his own sin. of sin. You’ll notice in chapter 3 of Titus, verses 3 to 5, he says this, for we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving diverse lust and pleasures, living in malice, and envy, hateful, and hating one another. But after that, the kindness and love of God, our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy he saved us. by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost. God’s mercy is what frees you from all the misery of sin and the punishment associated with those transgressions you’ve committed. Mercy is freely or sovereignly granted by God. Certainly no one deserves to receive mercy. God says I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy. Therefore, it’s a great privilege to be granted mercy by God. It’s interesting that Paul, in writing to a church, it says, grace to you, be unto you in peace. But as I said to a minister, he adds this, because ministers often have to deal with sins effect, not only in their own life, but in the lives of the members. And so they’re all constantly having to deal with sinful situations. And so it behooves us. to see our need for mercy. We are encouraged to come before God’s throne of grace to obtain mercy. God is said to be rich in mercy, providing it for those who need it. First, you need mercy from God so that you may be forgiven yourself. You look at your own life. There’s not a day that doesn’t go by that you have not sinned against the Lord. You haven’t done all. that you have been commanded to do, and thus you need forgiveness. There’s not a just man upon earth that doeth good, and that sineth not. And thus, even as one saved by grace, as Titus, you need daily mercy. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness, like the publican, the win of the temple. to pray. There’s a sense in which every day we need to pray God, be merciful, to me a sinner. But secondly, you need the spiritual grace of mercy in order that you may be a merciful person toward others. Blessed of the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy, Jesus taught. Having received mercy from the Lord as a saved sinner, you will now are to display mercy in your dealings with those who are around the Lord. you can sympathize with those who are struggling with their own sinfulness because you understand the problem. You are a sinner yourself. You are someone who needs mercy yourself. Therefore, you should be willing to grant mercy to those in need. This is seen in the fact that the believer is to love his enemies, to do good under those who persecute him and so forth. having received God’s forgiveness through Jesus Christ, we are to be a forgiving people. You remember the story of Joseph. Poor Joseph is hated and despised by his own brothers, thrown into a pit, eventually sold into slavery. Despite all his tears and his cries, they ignored it. And yet it was mercy on the part of Joseph. After his birth, brothers had so grievously sinned against him that he freely forgave them. There he is the exalted ruler of Egypt, and he could have severely punished them all and extracted his pound of flesh, and he could have imprisoned them. He could have without food from them. He could have treated them harshly. But he hears them confessing we are very guilty concerning our brother, and that We saw the anguish of his soul when he besought us, and we wouldn’t hear. We see how he wept and had to leave the room so moved because of his brothers. And Joseph hears them later on saying, forgive, I pray thee, now the trespass of thy brethren in their sin. And Joseph willingly forgives them and provides for them and their family. You read about the story of Moses? Miriam, his sister, had spoken against the leader of Israel because he had taken an Ethiopian wife, a non-Israelite, evidently. And she exalted herself and said, have the Lord indeed spoken only by Moses, hath he not also spoken by us, meaning Aaron and herself? And the Lord was displeased with Miriam. He struck her with leprosy, and she had to remember. outside the camp of Israel. And Moses hears Aaron say to him, Alas, my Lord, I beseech thee they not the sin upon us, wherein we have done foolishly, wherein we have sinned, let us not be as one dead of whom the flesh is half consumed. Let her not be as one dead of whom the flesh is half consumed when he cometh out of his mother’s womb. And there’s Moses showing mercy, pleading with the Lord to heal his sister, Miriam, that he would take away the leprosy. And after leaving her outside the camp for a week, he does heal her and restores her. But it was mercy that moved Moses to do this. Friends, mercy is not something which comes naturally. For those out there, side of Christ, we read that they’re unmerciful. They’re often cruel and heartless. But as a believer, you need a fresh supply of mercy every day you live, not only for yourself, but to display it toward others. You have the promise of God, blesser the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. God in his government of this world, if we are, merciful people will make sure that we receive mercy in return. You reap what you sow. In the day of judgment, you will receive mercy, as James 213 indicates to us. So we have here mercy. And then, of course, we have peace. Now, peace is the result of having received God’s grace and mercy. You have peace with God through Jesus’ grace. Christ, hostilities have ended. Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, Romans 5-1. Peace of conscience is certainly a wonderful possession. Peace of conscience is better than being a millionaire. It’s better than being the President of of the United States. To be at peace with God is better than any of these things. It’s a treasure of untold value. Isaiah declares there is no peace, said my God to the wicked, but the righteous enjoy a peace with God. And yet this spiritual blessing of peace is requested for Titus. Why does he need peace if he already is justified? If he’s already at peace with God? Well, if you live five minutes in this world, you’ll begin to realize you need peace just to deal with those around you in this life and the troubles that come because of it. You need peace with your fellow human beings. We certainly need inward peace with regard to our conscience, but we also need temporal or outward peace with regard to those around us. One year I was at the dinner table and my daughters came up to me and they said, dad, what would you like for your birthday this year? And I’ve been going through a very difficult time, a lot of turmoil in my life. I said, I just want peace. People can appreciate that if you’ve gone through this life and you have troubles that come your way. We need peace in the church. We need peace in the family. We need peace in the business situation. in which we find ourselves in the neighborhood. Christians are often troubled on every side. Sometimes you think about Mehemiah building the wall and it seems like he just can’t win. If they’re not fifth columnists within trying to sabotage him, there are people without and then there’s the government he has to deal with on top of that. Everybody’s trying to stop him, prevent him, cause him grief. There’s a false prophet comes along and tells them that people are going to kill him. And he needs to hide out in the temple and so forth. All these difficulties. Satan doesn’t like to give any of us rest. He stirs up people against Christians. And it’s difficult to do the work of the Lord under constant turmoil. Here’s Titus. And that’s what he’s trying to do is the work of the Lord. Titus needs peace of conscience, but he also needs a peaceful environment to do the work. Now, when you sin against the Lord, your peace of conscience is disturbed. You know from Psalm 32, if you read about David there, he had sinned against the Lord, didn’t confess it immediately. God’s hand was heavy upon him, so much so that he was troubled in mind and spirit. Finally, when he acknowledged his sin before the Lord, he found relief, he found the peace that he needed. But in Philippians 4, we have a teaching also with regard to peace. I want you to look at the book of Philippians in chapter 4, if you would. Paul teaches here something about peace in the Christian life. Philippians chapter 4, beginning with verse 6. Be careful for nothing. Don’t be anxious. But in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your request be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall keep your minds and hearts through Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, what’s wherever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue, there be any praise, think on these things. Those things which you have both learned and received and heard and seen in me do and the peace of God shall be with you. Now here in the Christian life when Paul talks about worries and frets, he gives us a three-fold approach to peace in the Christian life. The first thing he says is you need to to pray, to unburden yourself, go to the Lord, lay before him, your supplications, your request, your problems. The second thing he says here is you have to think right thoughts. Think on the things that are true and honest and just and pure and lovely and have good report. So proper thoughts, prayer, proper thoughts, and then he says here, do what the Word of God says. Practice. what the Word of God says, and you will have the peace of God. So when we go through this life as Christians, in outward circumstances, trouble us, here is the formula that Paul lays out. Pray, proper thoughts, practice what the Word of God teaches, and God will grant you peace. This may not solve all your problems, but it enables you to gain peace mind in troublous situations. Let me say this. Two things here. And the first is this. The grace of God is all sufficient for God’s people. If you have God’s grace, you’ve got everything. Let a man find grace in the eyes of the Lord and he has all that he needs. Because it is the first, the middle, and the last cause of every good thing you receive from the hand of the Lord. Your whole spiritual well-being depends entirely on something outside of yourself. It depends entirely on God’s bestowed grace. All their ways of salvation are full of pride and vanity. But this way of salvation is the only one that honors the Lord and allows us to come humbly before him. Grace is something you should. should seek for yourself. It is something you should seek for others. It ought to be a daily prayer request because we need grace. How often do you pray for grace in your life? The second thing here I want to suggest to you is this. That peace granted by God is a constant need. You know, the scripture tells us that we are to pray for kings and for those in authority. Why? That we might live a peace. life. Think about that. God can make even your enemies to be at peace with you, the scripture indicates to you. When your ways are pleasing before the Lord. Remember, Christ is the prince of peace. And whenever Satan is attacking you, remember Christ is the one who can grant you peace and that hour of trial that comes upon you. Unless one receives grace and murder, mercy, they’ll never have peace with God, nor will they have peace with others. How often do you pray for peace? There’ll be a lot less turmoil in the Christian church. If God’s people habitually prayed for peace and that God’s peace would rest upon the church. We have not because we ask not, and therefore the church should be praying for peace. So these are the spiritual graces that are real resources that you need in life. Now notice secondly, the spiritual graces you need in life come from God the Father through the Lord Jesus Christ. There are many people who do not understand that the work of salvation involves all three persons of the Godhead. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, the Holy Trinity is involved. It’s very wrong for us to think that God the Father is somehow all justice and wrath, and that grace and mercy and peace only comes through the Lord Jesus Christ. God is the fountainhead of every spiritual grace that we receive. He is the one who blesses us with all spiritual blessings according to Ephesians 1. Do we not read about being God’s elect in verse 1? God the Father chooses individuals to salvation. He grants grace before the world began, the Bible says. God the Father has mercy upon you for Christ’s sake and forgives all transgressions. He’s the one that gives you peace. So all these spiritual gracees originate in the heart of God the Father. He is the continual supplier of those needs that we have. But all grace is come. through the Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior. There is sort of a sacred blood mark on all the graces that we receive in this life. Jesus is the channel, if you would, through which God’s grace flows to us. Yes, you are elected by God, the Father, but you’re chosen in Christ. Yes, you are forgiven by God the Father, but it’s for Christ’s sake. Yes, you have peace with God, but it is through the Lord Jesus Christ and His work that that peace is granted. It’s not because of anything in us, but solely on the basis of the person and work of the Savior that we find favor with God. Christ is said to be Lord here because he is a divine being, and like Thomas, we all need to recognize him as my Lord and my God. He is Jesus, referring to his humanity here. He is the Savior. He’s the God man. He’s the word made flesh and dwelling among us. Christ here speaks of the Anointed One. For he took upon himself the office of prophet, priest, and king on behalf of his people. Attached to the name of Christ is the title Savior. angels pronounced at Christ’s birth unto you is born in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ Lord. He’s our Lord because he’s the Lord of all those who trust in him. He’s the one person who has purchased the salvation for all the people of God. He’s the common link that we have with all the other elect of God. Well, most people do not realize the vital precious gifts in life. The most vital ones are spiritual in nature. We should not forget that. We should keep that in mind. Remember, these spiritual blessings are certainly needed by your pastor. If Titus needed them, how much more do I need them? And if you, if Paul thought it very important that Titus had these graces granted to him for the work, certainly anyone who’s doing the work of the ministry needs these graces in abundance. May you pray for me in that manner that I would have these graces, that I could do the work faithfully as unto the Lord.