Insist On These Things

Introduction

Good afternoon. We have a good crowd. A few minutes before it was pretty sparse. Everybody came in at the last second tonight and looked at Martha and I said, Hey, I guess I shouldn’t have announced I was preaching tonight, and nobody’s here. But you all got here, and I appreciate you coming in spite of me. No, I’m just kidding. I know that you all appreciate hearing the gospel preached, no matter who’s bringing the lesson, and I appreciate the opportunity tonight. And Tony, please be proud. I did not have a PowerPoint for this lesson, and I made one this afternoon. It’s very basic, but it’s there. If you’d open your Bibles, Titus chapter 3 will be sitting from there for just a few moments this evening.

Five times in Paul’s epistles to Timothy and Titus combined, he gives what he calls a trustworthy or faithful saying. In 1 Timothy 1 and 15, 3 and 1, 4, 8, and 9, 2 Timothy 2, 11 through 13, and here in Titus chapter 3, verses 4 through 8. These trustworthy sayings appear to have been something sayings that might have been well known amongst the early Christians. And Paul gives his endorsement to them. And here in Titus 3, we have the last and longest of them. One that illustrates and celebrates God’s saving work in the lives of his people.

Paul writes, but when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us. Not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy. By the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ, our Savior. So that, so that being justified by His grace, we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. The saying is trustworthy. And I want you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works. These things are excellent and profitable for people.

You know, it especially at this time of year, you know, we’re thinking about all the things that we can do for others. people are really in that giving mood and being very generous. And sometimes that can be really hard if we are honest with ourselves.

If you were to make a list of New Testament passages that illustrate how greatly God has blessed us, this passage would certainly have to be in that list, and maybe even at the top. Paul tells us that despite our great sinfulness, and you listen to things in verse 3, that we once were, that we have been objects of great God’s great kindness, love, mercy, and grace. And the results of those things is renewal, justification, and the hope of eternal life. I want to walk us through these verses this evening. And before we examine the details of this passage, we need to ask why Paul says what he says here at this point in the letter.

In verse 8, again, he writes, I want you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works. In other words, Paul is saying, I want to show you, to tell you the motivation that you should have behind your every action, your service of good works. This is a lifestyle that Paul wants believers to embrace. One that is characterized in every way by good works. And that’s exemplified in other places in this book as well. In chapter 1, verse 8, elders were to be lovers of good. In chapter 1, verse 16, those who are impure are unfit for any good work, he says. And in chapter 2 and verse 3, older women are to teach good.

1. God's Love for Mankind

Chapter 2, verses 1 through 10, all are admonished to live self-controlled lives and to renounce ungodliness in verse 12. And to be models of good works. To be zealous for good works in chapter 2 and verse 14. Devoted to good works. In chapter 3, verse 1, 8, and 14, three times. In chapter 3 alone, he admonishes the Christians to be devoted to good works. And so Paul uses this section to explain to Titus and to explain to us why it is that we should be motivated to live godly lives characterized by devotion to good works. And the first reason that he gives to us is that God has a love for mankind. The first motivation we have for our devotion to good works is God’s love for us.

God’s very character is defined by his love, by his goodness, by his kindness. It says there in verse 4, again, let’s read it. But when the goodness and loving kindness of God, our Savior, appeared. God, our Creator, is our Savior. And He is very, by His very definition, is good. The New American Standard puts this verse this way. It says, When the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared. And when we think about goodness, that’s something that’s hard to really quantify what it really is or what it really should be. Because we always want to define it by what we think is good, our standards. You know, we talked a little bit in Bible class this morning about wanting to judge ourselves and why we do we want to make ourselves feel better.

And so we judge by our own standards. And well, I’m better than this. Or at least I don’t do that. And so my goodness is not the same as God’s goodness. We might define goodness in man as a deliberate effort to try and do right over wrong. Maybe we mess up sometimes, but for the most part, we are good people. You know, we talk about somebody that we like and say, oh, well, you know, they’re just they’re good people. And maybe that’s right.

But when we talk about the goodness of God, it’s on a totally different plane because God is the very definition of good. The very definition of our morality comes from him and his character, his very inability to do evil. His goodness is his benevolence towards his creation, his mercy, his pity, compassion, patience, and grace. And unlike us, God is those things always. Whereas we’re inconsistent. We try to pattern ourselves after him and model our character after his, but we fail. But God’s goodness is always there. It is perfect. He is infinitely and unchangeably good. James 1, verse 17 says that every good gift and every perfect gift is where? It’s from above. Coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.

James tells us that God doesn’t change. He is the ultimate source of good and shows it by his constant faithfulness. Paul also writes in Romans 2 and verse 4. He says, Do you presume or take for granted on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience? Not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance.

Tony preached to us about the cost of discipleship. And, you know, what is the point of God’s love? What is the point of us receiving to that love? Well, God’s kindness, forbearance, patience. It’s there so that we might, in turn, repent. The repentance and service that is expected of us is a very small cost to pay. In contrast to the great price that was paid for us. And that is showed in God sending his Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross for our sins. I mean, we can go on and on about the goodness of God, but it would never suffice. But this verse also says that not only the goodness of God, but the loving kindness. And so his character is also defined by his love.

In Romans chapter 8, Paul writes about how nothing at all in the world could ever separate us from the love of God. Nothing. No matter how hard Satan might try, he cannot separate us from the love of God. He cannot undo the sacrifice that Jesus paid on the cross. And we sing about the greatness of his love. One of the songs in our songbook, number 608, The Love of God.

Goes beyond the highest star and reaches to the lowest hell. Verse 3 says, Could we with ink the ocean fill, and we’re with the skies of parchment made, where every stalk on earth a quill, and every man a scribe by trade, to write the love of God above would drain the ocean dry. Nor could the scroll contain the whole, though stretch from sky to sky. A love of God, how rich and pure, how measureless and strong. It shall forevermore endure. The saints and angels’ song. God’s love for us should motivate us to serve him and to serve others. We can never repay that debt. He showed his love for us through Christ. Again, the loving kindness of God, our Savior, appeared. What’s he talking about there?

What was that love that appeared? It was Jesus. He came. He appeared to us. That loving kindness was manifested in the ultimate sense in Christ. Jesus is described as God’s very love for me.

Jesus is described as God’s love for us. He came to save us. He didn’t have to. God didn’t have to make the choice to write out the script, this amazing plan, but he did. And the Son chose to obey Him because He loves us that much.

2. We Cannot Save Ourselves: He Saved Us by His Mercy

We cannot save ourselves. Continue on in Titus 3 and verse 5. Paul writes that He saved us. That Savior which appeared. He saved us. There’s nothing that we could have done to save ourselves. No righteous deeds will do it. But God’s mercy and our obedience to him will. And somebody says, oh, well, hey, but you’re preaching, you’re preaching salvation by works there. Well, no. It’s not because of works.

He makes that very clear. If you continue on in verse 5, he says, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy. We work for God because of our faith. We work to him because we’re motivated by his love for us. Several verses over in Romans chapter 3. Now, if you turn with me there momentarily, Romans chapter 3. Again, this thought is reiterated, verse 10. None is righteous, no, not one. She’s quoting from Psalm chapter 14. In verse 12, all have turned aside, no one does good, not even one. And verse 20, for by works of the law, no human being will be justified in his sight. Since through the law comes knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law.

Although the law and prophets bear witness to it. The righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there’s no distinction, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Again, there’s a difference between our goodness and his goodness, our righteousness and his righteousness. Verse 24, and they’re justified by his grace as a gift. His great love for us, he gifted us with salvation through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness because in his divine forbearance, he has passed over former sins. This was to show his righteousness at the present time so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

Then what becomes of our boasting? It’s excluded. By what kind of law? By law of works? No, but by the law of faith. For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law. We’re preaching salvation by faith, yes. The works in the law only show that we cannot be perfect. That there is nothing that we can do to earn our salvation, that we will always be unworthy of his love and his grace and his mercy. But according to his mercy, he saved us anyway. Wonderful passage in Ephesians chapter 2. Verse 4 and following. He says, But God being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ.

By grace you have been saved. And raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. So that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace and kindness towards us. There’s that goodness and kindness again. In Christ Jesus. By grace you’ve been saved through faith. This is not of your own doing, but it is the gift of God.

What is God’s mercy, other than his forgiveness and the plan of salvation? How did he save us? By his mercy. By sending his son to die on the cross for our sins. Could I do that for you? I know I couldn’t.

Could you do that for me? Back in Romans 3 again, all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. There’s no sacrifice that would suffice other than the one of Jesus Christ. We cannot save ourselves. But back in Titus chapter 3. We are saved by this washing of regeneration. You know, it’s not just faith. Paul continues to write, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and the renewal of the Holy Spirit. How do we receive that salvation? There’s something that we must do on our part. How is that mercy enacted? It’s by the washing of regeneration. That is, by baptism. That’s what Jesus taught in John 3 and verse 5. Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

That’s what Paul taught in 1 Corinthians 6 and verse 11. But you are washed, you are sanctified, you are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. That’s what Peter taught in 1 Peter 3 21. Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you. We can’t save ourselves. But what we can do is be washed according to his own mercy, according to his plan. We can be regenerated. We can have a new beginning in Christ Jesus, a new birth. And there’s nothing that we need more than that, than to have a new and clean standing before God, to have our sins washed away. We can’t do that for ourselves, but he can. Through the Holy Spirit that has been poured out on us richly.

3. The Holy Spirit Poured Out on Us Richly

And that’s our third motivation this evening. Because we have this Holy Spirit that has been poured out on us. I think we probably don’t talk about the Holy Spirit enough. We probably don’t give the Holy Spirit enough credit. He’s part of the Godhead. He is equal to the Father and the Son. And he has been given to us. He plays a role in our lives. He gives us this renewal. That’s talked about here in verse 5 of this passage. It is also talked about in Acts chapter 2 and verse 38, where those who repent and be baptized will be given the gift of the Holy Spirit. Paul also tells us in Romans chapter 12 and verse 2 that renewal is an important part of our transforming from a person who was at one point wholly evil in their deeds.

Again, Titus 3 and verse 3, he writes again, you yourselves once were foolish, disobedient, led astray. You were slaves to various passions and pleasures. Passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. That sounds not very good. That’s not a person that I want to be. And yet that’s who we once were. And so that person that was wholly evil needs to be renewed. And that renewal is brought about by the Holy Spirit. And to someone who is living according to his being saved by God’s mercy and conforming to his will.

The Spirit helps us in that. And that has been given to us richly. Verse 6. He poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior. Also in Romans 5, verse 5, God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. We cannot underestimate the role of the Holy Spirit in our lives who guides us and protects us, renews us, and works in us. And that Spirit has been given again through Jesus Christ our Savior. Christ is the channel through which grace, rebirth, renewal, and the Holy Spirit have come so that we might become heirs of His grace. I mean, stop and think about that for a minute. The Holy Spirit renews us so that we might become heirs.

Heirs of what? Heirs of God’s promise. Heirs of all the blessings he has promised to us that we will receive if we are faithful to him. And God’s character, his goodness, his kindness, the fact that he cannot lie that if he promises us something, he’s going to deliver on it. And we can have faith in that. We can have confidence and trust in that. That we are heirs together with him. David Campbell, in his commentary opening up Titus says, it is this amazing thing that God does when he saves sinners. He justifies them. In spite of all the sins of which they are justly chargeable, he is now able to regard and treat them as righteous in his sight. He forgives their sins, frees them from the condemnation they deserve, and makes them heirs of eternal life.

I think again, this is something that’s hard for us to really grasp. That, because we are conscious of our guilt. It’s hard for us to grasp that God views us as righteous. Even though we’re not. We’re trying to be, but in contrast to him, we’re not. But we have become heirs, righteous in his sight. Those who rightfully receive what has been promised to them. And it’s the Holy Spirit’s renewal that allows that to happen. If we are molding ourselves after his word, the things that he has taught us, told us that we need to be, we can have faith in that promise.

4. This Saying Is Trustworthy

And Paul says that this saying is trustworthy. What saying, Paul? What is it that’s trustworthy? Well, everything that he just said. All the things in the previous verse, his explanation of God’s salvation. It is something we can put our confidence in. The fact that our Savior appeared, that he came to earth, that there is ample evidence that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came to this earth, left his throne in heaven, and became a man became a sacrifice for us so we might have eternal life. There is evidence for that. We can believe it. It is trustworthy.

We can trust in those things. God is telling us to be confident in our salvation through him. Sometimes we get caught up in what we are trying to do. All that I do, I’m trying to do this. Well, I did this and I did that, or I didn’t do that. I did this so that makes me feel good about myself, and I didn’t do that, so now I feel guilty. And maybe we don’t feel like we do enough. And that makes us feel insecure about our salvation. We all struggle with that. But what this passage is telling us is that we can have confidence in his salvation. Because it’s true that we can never do enough to cleanse ourselves from our sins.

But luckily we don’t have to, because God has established our salvation. The psalmist says in Psalm 22 and verse 31 that He has done it. It is done, it’s finished. Jesus’ last words on the cross, it is finished. And in return, he expects our obedience and our good works. To have faith in him, that he will save us if we devote our hearts and lives to him. We have a hope of eternal life as heirs. Because God said it. It is a trustworthy saying. And so Paul says that Timothy should insist on these things. That as Timothy was trying to direct the church that he was working with at that time in Crete. He’s telling Timothy, be adamant about this. Repeat this teaching. Hammer on it again and again.

And sometimes you get tired. Well, I’ve heard that before. Well, I probably need to hear it again.

5. Insist on These Things: Devote Yourselves to Good Works

Insist on these things that you devote yourselves to good works. Why? Because God saved us. We can speak confidently about it. We can insist upon it. You know, there are a lot of people out in the religious world today that speak very confidently about things of which they have no clue, or of which they are completely wrong. And yet, Titus, Paul is telling him, you can speak with full confidence about this message of salvation that Paul is conveying to him because it is inspired and it was the absolute truth. He could believe it and he could relay it and strengthen the brethren by it. Insist on those things so that those who have believed may devote themselves to good works. Brethren, this is the point. This is what I want us to get.

So that, he says, in verse 8. So, or verse 7, so that, being justified by his grace, we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. And this saying is trustworthy. I want you to insist on these things. Again, so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works. What is the point? Why insist on speaking the confidence of the message that God sent his son to save us according to his mercy? And what should be my response? These things motivate me to something. They motivate me to do something, to change my life, to change my habits, to turn away from the sin that I have been living in, to do something different than what I’ve been, because I need to be someone totally else.

I can’t go on being the man I’ve been. I can never be confident that I can never, rather, I can never be stagnant. I have to be constantly pressing on, growing, trying to do better. There’s an important principle we see illustrated in various parts of the New Testament, and that is that great blessings place us under great obligations. And we’ve referenced in several points in Romans throughout this lesson. And in verses chapters 1 through 11, Paul is talking about God’s mercy to us in salvation. And then in chapter 12, he turns in the beginning of that letter, and he turns to the obligation that this mercy placed us under and urges us to offer ourselves as sacrifices to God.

Turn with me if you would over there to Romans chapter 12. We’ll just read verses 1 and 2, just to hammer it home.

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind. That by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. He tells us to present our bodies a living sacrifice. We’re to offer ourselves to God by living life for others and for Him. Campbell again says in his commentary, God’s mercy calls us to a lifestyle characterized by good works. It obliges us to devotedly do what is good. And it is in order to motivate us to fulfill this obligation that Paul has spoken of the things that he has. Doing good is a very broad ranging thing. It ultimately takes in the whole will of God for us. It means being all that God wants us to be, whether as husbands or wives, parents or children, brothers or sisters in the Lord, neighbors, colleagues, employers, workers, citizens or friends.

The apostle himself has given us some details in the course of chapter 2, and our abiding concern should be to take these details and have a thankfulness to God for what he has done to seek in a devoted way to fulfill them. And those details of which he speaks are these in chapter 2. Verses 1 through 14. Where he says that older men should in verse 2 are to be sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith. Older women likewise to be reverent in their behavior. In verse 5, to be self-controlled, pure working in home, that is the women kind and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled. Younger men be self-controlled, to be a model of good works, showing integrity and dignity, sound speech, slaves be submissive to their masters.

Verse 11 the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age. Waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. That’s the hard part, isn’t it? Renouncing all ungodliness and worldly passions, being self-controlled. That’s a word that the world today doesn’t like. We don’t want to be self-controlled. We want to do whatever we want to do, because that’s the easy thing.

But he says God our Savior appeared. And in verse 13, he’s going to appear again.

Conclusion

And when he does, we had better be ready. And we can prepare ourselves by devoting ourselves to good works. Because these things are excellent and profitable for all men. And if we can do that, we will not be unfruitful in the kingdom of God. God is so good to us. Beyond more all that we could ever ask or think, beyond all that we ever could have deserved. We have nothing else we have salvation in Jesus Christ our Lord. He’s justified us through him and made us heirs according to the hope of eternal life. The least we can do in return is to turn from the evil lives that we once lived, to devote ourselves to good works, and to spread the message of redemption to the world around us.

If we can do that, there’s nothing more excellent and profitable. So if you need to begin a new life that is profitable to the Lord, devote yourself to him this evening. Turn from the evil ways that you once walked. Submit to him in baptism, rise to walk in newness of life. Why don’t you do that now while we stand and sin?