God’s Grace in the Now Age

Transcript

GR 2288
04/12/2020
God's Grace in the Now Age
Titus 2:11-15
Gil Rugh


What a privilege it is to gather in the name of Jesus Christ and worship Him. As the song said, we proclaim Him in song and in word. As I read to you from Luke 24 (verse 47), “that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations.” Little did those, that handful of disciples, know as they gathered with Christ, the resurrected Christ, that over 2000 years the name of Christ would be proclaimed, that there is salvation, there is forgiveness of sins found in His name, who He is and what He has done. And that's what we're going to look at together today,

We're in the book of Titus in our regular studies on Sunday morning and that's where we are going to be today, Titus 2. We come in the study of Titus to one of those sections in the word of God that stands out for its conciseness and clarity in presenting what Christ has accomplished by His death and resurrection. In fact this is a passage that we have looked at on other occasions on Easter Sunday morning because it presents so clearly the work that Christ has accomplished. In fact in verses 11-15 where we are going to be in our study he talks about what Christ did in the past, what He is doing in the future and what He is doing in the present. So His first coming, His Second Coming and what is going on in between, what His salvation has done for us and its impact in our ongoing, daily lives.

The book of Titus is primarily about our conduct, our behavior as believers, we are to live godly lives because we are God's children. In chapter 2 particularly, we have looked at this, the first 10 verses talked about conduct for people, various ages, various positions in life… older men, older women, younger men, younger women, slaves. Then we come down to verse 11 and you'll note verse 11 begins with the little preposition ‘for.’ Normally we think of Paul's letters beginning with Paul laying the doctrinal foundation, establishing the biblical truth that will result in conduct. We think of a book like Ephesians, the first three chapters talk about the theological foundation of the salvation God provided in Christ so we could live godly lives, then he picks up in chapter 4 and talks about our walk as God's people. But in the book of Titus he started out talking about conduct and now he is going to talk about the doctrine that enables and requires godly living. And then he'll go back to conduct as we come into chapter 3 in future studies, then he'll come back to the foundation of that conduct, the work of Christ. So crucial we keep these things in proper perspective. Works are an essential part of our salvation. Now if I just said that, it leaves you with confusion because you think we're supposed to work and if we do good works God will save us. No. Works are an essential part of our salvation because they are the essential result of our salvation, they do not bring about our salvation. If you try to mix being saved, how can I become acceptable to God, I'll do my good works and trust in Him. No, because if you bring your good works in, it's no longer by God's grace and that's where we pick up in Titus 2:11.

He says, “For the grace of God has appeared,” and we have one long sentence from verse 11 down through verse 14 elaborating on this grace that has appeared and what it accomplished and what it is to do to us who have believed in Christ today and what it will do for us in the future. So “for the grace of God has appeared,” that's why we must live godly lives, that's why older men who have believed in Christ must live as Paul as instructed them, the older women, the younger women, the younger men, the slaves. All areas of our lives and conduct are molded and shaped because the grace of God has appeared. And note, it is God's grace. Now grace by definition is unmerited and undeserved, we sometimes simply describe it as unmerited or undeserved favor, you cannot earn grace, you cannot work to acquire grace. In another letter Paul writes if you would include works then grace wouldn't be grace. So we have to understand what grace is, it's not something you earn or deserve, it by definition is something God is going to do for us, He has done for us, He provided Jesus Christ. So the grace of God, what God has done intervening on behalf of sinful people to do for them what they could not do for themselves. Our hopeless, condition.

It has appeared in verse 11, and that refers to the coming of Christ, Christ coming to earth, manifesting and revealing the plan and work of God to provide salvation for lost, sinful people. And it will be a matter of God's grace intervening to do what only He could accomplish for us. It has appeared, he'll talk about this when we get down into Titus 3:4, “But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared,” God's kindness. He'll talk about His mercy, His love, His grace when we get into chapter 3. All these words piling up what God has done, His grace, mercy, kindness, love. It appeared. How did it appear? When Christ Jesus came to this earth, was born into the human race as the God-Man, He suffered and died on the cross to pay the penalty for our sin which is death. He was raised from the dead as testimony of the fact that all that was necessary for salvation for sinners had been done. So “the grace of God has appeared.”

What does that grace do? Verse 11, it is what brings salvation to or for all men. That's the wonder of the death of Christ, it is a message of hope and life for everyone. But not everyone who is talking about Christ and talking about hope understands. God has done for us what we could not do for ourselves. He has brought salvation to all men for all men. It doesn't matter who you are, where you are, male, female, slave, master, rich, poor, whatever nationality or race. There is one God and one mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, we'll look at that passage out of Timothy a little bit later. That's what God has done to provide salvation, it brings salvation to all men. That's why we read in Luke 24 that salvation, repentance for sins in His name, would be proclaimed to all the nations, because He is the only Savior. That's why we carry this message. Aren't we glad? Living in the United States of America the gospel has come to us, that salvation that Christ provided by His death 2000 years ago on the cross, sealed with His resurrection down through the millenniums, the two millenniums that have passed since that event. And we have come to hear it and believe it, it is a salvation for us, the same as people in other countries, other nations, it is one salvation provided for all men.

That grace brings salvation to all men and it provided salvation by grace. Back up to Ephesians 2, in Ephesians 2 Paul is unfolding the truth that we are talking about. Ephesians 2:1 opens up, “You were dead in your trespasses and sins in which you formerly walked.” You'll note the connection here between our dead spiritual condition and the life we lived in that condition. Death in Scripture is not non-existence, death in scripture is separation. Physical death is when the body is separated from the spirit, the immaterial part, the body without the spirit is dead the Bible says, it's a separation, the person has left his physical body, physical death occurs. Spiritual death is when a person is separated from God, he is spiritually dead, there is no relationship between him and God that is favorable and good. Eternal death is being sentenced to hell, separated from God for eternity. So when he talks in verse 1, “You were dead in your trespasses and sin,” that's the realm in which you now walked, you lived. We had no spiritual relationship with God, we were the enemies of God, we were in rebellion against God, we were serving the devil. That's what he says, we walked “according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.” Anyone who has not placed his faith in Christ and Him alone is walking in disobedience against God, rejecting the salvation He has. We all lived there, that was the state, that is the state of everyone until they come to understand and believe the salvation God has provided in Christ.

“But God,” verse 4, ”being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead…, made us alive together with Christ.” How? “By grace you have been saved,” and then He brought us from death to life “so that,” verse 7, “in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace.” The grace of God has appeared, providing a Savior so that the only thing we can do…, the Bible calls it a gift, the wages of sin is death but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ. So when you hear the message of the death and resurrection of Christ to pay the penalty for your sin and you believe in Him… I'm going to quit trusting my good works, my church, my baptism, sacraments, whatever, and I'm going to trust Him and Him alone and what God promised to do in and through Him, then I am saved. So it is by grace.

Verse 8, “For by grace you have been saved through faith.” That's all there is, there is nothing between God and you but your sin and when that sin is dealt with and you are cleansed, now you are brought into direct relationship with God. I am not a priest to stand between you and God, you are a priest who goes directly to God, that's the point. We have been saved through faith by grace, it's not our work, “it is a gift of God, not as a result of works.” Could God be any clearer? “That no one may boast,” we have nothing to boast about. I am saved, how did you get saved? God said, here is a gift, and I received it by believing what He was giving me was true and that brought my salvation.

We'll come back to Ephesians 2 in a moment, but come back to Titus. “The grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all men.” Again, that is what Jesus said, repentance for forgiveness of sins would be preached in His name to all the nations. It's the same for any nation, doesn't matter whether you are in China or in Russia or in the United States or in Latin America, it doesn't matter. The beauty of it is that one salvation provided by that one God-Man dying on the cross is sufficient for all who believe in Him so it has appeared for all men.

Note verse 12, it is “instructing us.” So remember Titus…, Paul had been writing to Titus about conduct and he has instructed about conduct. We just gave an example in the first ten verses, how older men were to conduct themselves, older women, younger men, younger women, slaves. What is proper conduct? He told us. What is the basis of that? That's what we have here, verse 12. This grace that has appeared and brought salvation is now instructing us. We get the English word pedagogy from that word translated instructing here. It has the word for child in it, so it was often used of instructing children. But it carries that idea of instructing and all that is involved there. Instructing us, we learn from it. You'll note, “the grace of God has appeared,” that happened in the past, it is used as an aorist tense here, now it is presently continuing to instruct us about life and how to live. You cannot separate. You see the order is important. The salvation that we have in Christ changes us within, makes us new within. The old are corrupted by sin, enslaving us to sin, that has been dealt with, now He has made us new, now we have to learn what has God's grace in salvation done that we now learn from. It is “instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts (desires).” Ungodliness is everything contrary to the character of God, everything that would be consistent for someone who belongs to Him. Godliness, a life conforming to the character of God because now we are the children of God through faith in Christ, the salvation, so that we were born again, born from above, the new birth. You have that through faith in Christ. So now we are being instructed and learning, we have been taught to “deny ungodliness and worldly desires,” the things that are characteristic of this world. That doesn't mean we withdraw from life, but the things that the world would hold out at important and necessary.

Come over just to one passage, 1 John 2, and John who also wrote the gospel of John but this is his epistle, says in verse 15, and he is writing, 1 John 2:1, to “little children,” so you see it is children, the children of God. I'm writing to you to instruct you so you don't sin. We are to live lives pleasing to God. Verse 15 then, “Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.” And that is all temporary. “The world is passing away and also its lusts, but the one who does the will of God lives forever. Children, it is the last hour.” We are moving toward where Paul will go in Titus 2 shortly. So that's what he is talking about, ‘in the world.’ We live in this world, we have things that are needed, food, clothing shelter, we enjoy those things but they cannot get the love of our heart. There are things that we have that we use, but they don't control us. We are living in a time of pressure, not only in our country but the world, with the virus going on, people concerned but we realize these are things that are temporal. That doesn't mean we don't take it seriously, doesn't mean we don't want to follow the rules as we are, but really if I lose everything here I have not lost anything of true eternal value because it is all passing away. So we hold those things lightly even as we enjoy them and what God has provided but they are not the love of our heart. We always want to keep that focus so that when things come along that may impact the things of this world, they don't impact us in the same way they do the world. Because what we have of value is stored away in heaven as a treasure, an inheritance God is reserving for us.

Come back to Titus. That is what he is talking about when he says we “deny ungodliness and worldly desires.” The things that drew me before do not any longer. And then he moves to the positive, those are the negative, that's what we learned in the saving grace of God, that He has cleansed me, forgiven, made me new. Now he is instructing me as His child how to live a new life. I deny ungodliness, worldly desires, I am to live…, and he goes on with a list here. ‘Sensibly,” this has been one of the favorite words of Paul as we looked at that word. Sensible, he has used it four times already. It means with sound mind, clear thinking, I am now thinking as God would have me think. We sometimes express it with eternity's values in view, we set our mind, not on the things of the world. I'm starting to think sensibly; before I was thinking irrationally in light of eternity. Its all caught up in this. I am amazed, you see men with vast wealth, nearing the end of their physical life and it seems they have no care about eternity. It makes no sense to be caught up with the things of this life, we're constantly reminded of this in scripture. Peter put it, all these things are going to be burned up when God makes all things new with a new heaven and new earth, at the end of Revelation. I don't want my whole life to be invested here, but I want to live here in a way that is pleasing to God, live sensibly. That means think biblically, sound mind, balanced. So what comes along with the world… now things have changed so drastically, you say I have never seen it like this before, never happened in my lifetime, first time in the history of our country this has been declared… Yes, but I'm still balanced. Doesn't mean if I have lost my job I don't have concerns, but I take it to the Lord in prayer, He is taking care of me today. I have a balance, a sensibleness.

You live righteously, that would be the other side, “righteously and godly.” We live according to what is right, what is just, what is according to the character of God. That's the next word, godly, the contrast to ungodly. The character of God, I want to be a righteous person, a godly person. And I love the way it is put, “in the present age.” It literally says in the now age and I like that because it reminds you, the present age, there is just something about that word ‘now.’ If we say we are going to do it now, it brings to your attention a brevity. This is the now age, this period of time in which we are living, it's the now age, it will pass, it will soon be gone. We read in 1 John 2, the things of this life are passing, our lives are passing, most of my life is behind me and we look, see that people have lost much of what they counted dear in a relatively short period of time. Just a reminder, this is the now age, this is the period of time where God is instructing us how we live, this is an opportunity and a privilege that is unique. And we who have been saved by God's grace are now to live for Him in this now age, a unique period of time where we are privileged to represent Him, manifest His character in a world of darkness. We don't want to be swept along with the world, we don't want to live like the world. This is the day of opportunity so “live sensibly, righteously and godly in the now (present) age.”

So you see he took us from what Christ did for us in His death and resurrection, that's the foundation when we have believed in Him and experienced that salvation, now we are learning that grace and that is what we call the maturing. That's what we are studying in Romans 6, 7 and 8, sanctification, living godly, holy lives. Here is how we are to live and we live with a future view. So you see he has talked about the past, he has talked about the present, now “looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus.” What a tremendous statement. We are living in the now age, but we are looking for the age to come, we're looking for the future, we're ‘looking for’ and that word carries the idea of that eager expectancy. You know, you are straining to look, there is expectancy. This ties to what we call the imminency of the Lord's return, we are expecting Him. And we'll talk some about that in our study this evening as I answer some questions that have come in. The imminency of the Lord's return, it gives an expectancy, I'm looking for it. That's what he is saying, “looking for the blessed hope” which has been promised in the coming of Christ, and particularly for us as the church, the first phase of what we call the Second Coming, with the rapture of the church. Looking with eagerness, anticipation, expectancy for the blessed hope, the hope of the believer. We don't have time to go through all the passages on the hope of the believer, we see them throughout Paul's letters, not just his letters, but particularly that hope. It is not something that may come or may not come, it is something that is assured and we just can't wait for it to get here is the idea. God cannot lie, He has promised that Christ is coming. Jesus promised before He left, He said in John 14 I'm going to leave, but if I leave I will come again and gather you to Myself, that where I am there you may be also. What does that involved? In my Father's house there are many dwelling places, I am going to prepare a place for you. So you note what I'm doing while I am gone and then I'll come and get you and take you to what I have prepared. Oh boy, we ought to be living on the edge of expectancy. That's what this word ‘looking for,’ that eager anticipation.

The blessed hope is a hope that will bring all God's blessings that have been promised to us. We saw this in our study in Romans 8, the whole creation is groaning, anticipating the time when the sons of God will be revealed, all that is involved in the Second Coming of Christ, whether we talk about the first phase or the Second Coming, when we enter into our inheritance. Remember Jesus said don't store up for yourselves treasures on earth which can be corrupted and destroyed by all kinds of things. Lay up for yourselves treasure in heaven. Then Peter wrote about the inheritance we have, that's the blessings associated with our hope so it is the “blessed hope and the appearing of the glory.”

You note in verse 11, “the grace of God has appeared.” Now we'll have down in verse 13 “looking for the blessed hope and the appearing.” Christ is coming again, He appeared in the past, He's going to be appearing again in the future. And some day He will come and He'll descend from heaven and the clouds and all will see Him as He comes to establish His kingdom. It's the ‘appearing’ and ‘of the glory.’ When Christ walked the earth 2000 years ago, there wasn't the display of the glory that is His, but when He comes to earth again there will be the full display of His glory, manifest for all to see. That's why He said if they tell you Christ has come and He's here or Christ has come and He's there, don't believe them because when I come back to this earth the next time I will come with the display of the glory that everyone will see. That's talked about in Matthew 24 and 25, Peter talks about it in his epistles. So we are looking for the appearing of the glory. We have based our salvation on what He did for us when He appeared on the earth to suffer and die for our sin. And we are looking with anticipation to all that is involved in His Second Coming, and the appearing of His glory, the One who is “our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus.” And that involves…, we'll talk about it tonight, but the first phase of that Second Coming when we are gathered and transformed into conformity which is what John was talking about and what Jesus was talking about in John 14, I'll take you to My Father's house. Then He'll, when He is ready to return to earth in Revelation 19, He will be ready to reveal the bride of Christ, the church, and all His glory for all creation. And it's “the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus.” This is one of those passages that clearly displays the deity of Jesus Christ. When He walked the earth 2000 years ago it was veiled in human flesh, all the fullness of deity dwelt in Him in bodily form, but it was not displayed with the fullness of His glory. When He comes to earth again His glory will be fully displayed. He is man but He is more than man, He is the God-Man, fully God and fully man. That deity was veiled but when He appears again it will not be veiled.

He is called ‘our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus.” That is a testimony of His deity, one of many passages like John 1, the opening verses of the gospel of John, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” This is one of those passages…, we're not going to go into the details grammatically, if you read the better commentaries they'll go into it. The rule of Greek grammar called Granville Sharp's rule and when you have this kind of construction, the great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, you are referring to the same person so it is “our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus.” He is the great God and Savior, and we could take time but we won't, but there are numerous passages and numerous other evidences of Christ's deity in the scripture and this is just one of them. But there are a variety of places where He is directly called God and then where He has the characteristics, the attributes of God. He is the One who will judge all men in John 5, the Father will not judge any, He has committed all judgment to the Son. They are both God, not different gods, but Father, Son, and Holy Spirit comprising one God, three different persons. He accepts worship, prayer, these things. So here we are looking for a full unveiling. Remember John walked and served with Him as a faithful disciple, the Apostle John, during Christ's earthly ministry. Then when John saw something of the glory that was revealed to him of the resurrected Christ, he fell at His feet as a dead man in the opening chapters of the book of Revelation, particularly chapter 1. So some day that glory will be revealed to all and then we'll cower in fear if they have not believed in Him and judgment will be established.

So that's what we are looking for, when He comes to fulfill all. And He is just talking about the general coming, just like the Old Testament talked about the coming of Christ, it didn't distinguish and clarify that there would be two comings to earth, it just talked about when the Messiah would come. Later revelation in the New Testament revealed what was prophesied would happen at the first coming and then 2000 years whatever later certain things would happen at the Second Coming. So those things were not revealed, everything that was talked about about His Coming will be fulfilled exactly as it said, but later revelation tells He's coming twice, the first coming to suffer and die, the Second Coming to rule and reign.

So we are looking for that hope. Now what does that do for us? Again, what He has done for us in the past, He brought salvation, and we are learning from that how to live righteously and godly. Now we are looking for the blessed hope because of the salvation we have based upon His first coming. He's the One, verse 14, “who gave Himself for us,” he takes us back to the first coming, “to redeem us.” So you see how he ties this all together in this one long sentence. “The grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men,” and it is teaching us how to live and how to have our focus on the Second Coming because He is the One who gave Himself for us, taking us back to verse 11. So both our present life and our future hope are tied to what He did for us in providing redemption. He gave Himself for us, the sacrificial death, He gave Himself to redeem us, it was for us. To redeem us, it means to set someone free, lutreo, set someone free by paying the necessary price. You could purchase a slave out of the slave market and set them free, you paid the price. We were enslaved to the devil, to sin, to the consequences of our sin, to the penalty for our sin, to the requirements of God's justice. But God sent Christ who came to give Himself, to take our place. Peter puts it in his epistle, He Himself bore our sins in His own body on the cross so we might die to sin and live to righteousness. You cannot break apart justification and sanctification, you must understand the distinction between the two but they are never to be separated.

A number of years ago we had great controversy in the evangelical realm over what is called the lordship of Christ and lordship salvation. And there was confusion generated all around, but the fact of the matter is He is the Lord Jesus Christ, and when He brings salvation to a life it is a transformed life. So verse 14, “He gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed,” not to leave us as we were. He purchased us from the slave market of sin, if you will, by paying our price to rescue us from our wretched condition and hopeless destiny, redeem us from every lawless deed. See what that means? We no longer live like we lived, we are no longer the same person. That's the only rescue… that's why we don't get involved in any serious way, doesn't mean we won't help people in need, but basically that is not what the church is about, we are on a rescue mission. Remember what Jesus said His followers were to do as a result of His death and resurrection, what we read at the end of Luke, that salvation can be proclaimed through repentance in His name to all the nations. To try to clean up people's lives, only God can do that. To teach anything else is a lie.

He gave Himself ‘to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself.” It's not enough to say this is what I don't do, I don't do those things anymore. Well, what do you do? I don't know, I've become a cabbage, I'm just here. No, you live “sensibly, righteously and godly,” verse 12. You have been purified, now note this, “to purify for Himself a people for His own possession.” What a privilege, how honored and exalted have we been, I belong, Jesus is my Savior, I belong to Him, He belongs to me. Not for the years of time alone but for all eternity, that truth that is sung. He redeemed us to purify for Himself so we could belong to Him, we could be His, His own possession. Is there any higher honor than to say you belong to the living God, you are His? He purchased you, that means all of you (talk to you a little bit tonight as well), also the immaterial part of a person. That includes us, all of us, our bodies, our souls, our spirit. We are purified within and without and to separate that you create a dichotomy. Then you think He has cleansed me within, I do things with my body that I shouldn't but at least I'm being cleansed within. The Bible doesn't know that kind of cleansing. He purified “for Himself a people for His own possession,” note this, “zealous,” they have a zeal, “for good deeds,” good works. You see where good works are to come from, a transformed heart. And not just I don't… There is a passion for it, a zeal for it, we are zealots. I don't take it in a shameful way when people say those people are fanatics. We are, Christ called us to be fanatics, to let go of everything, all our possessions, even our family, grab onto Him, follow Him.

Be “zealous for good deeds.” The deeds are consistent with righteousness, godliness, the character of God. Zealous to represent Him, to proclaim Him, to tell people about Him, to tell them about the Person who can change their lives. Then along comes Easter and I hear people say this religious leader gave a message of hope, it was so good; the pope gave a message of hope, it was so good; this pastor gave a hope, it was so encouraging. Did they tell you how you can have hope? Well, the coming of Christ, the resurrection means we have hope, Well, there is an element of truth in that, but do you understand what the element of truth is? Christ Jesus has come to provide salvation and when you trust in Him you enter into the provision of that salvation, you are cleansed, you are forgiven, you are made new, you have hope. Without that you are just talking Alice in Wonderland. These are days to have hope; we are people of faith, we have hope; there is hope we will get through this. What does that have to do with what the Bible is talking about with hope? You can be a fool and fool yourself with false hope, with transitory hope. Whether we'll get through this virus and the consequences, I don't know, God knows. I assume we will, thus we are entering to the age of those last days and even then they'll probably… The United States could get wiped out, wouldn't change biblical prophecy but I don't know. I want to tell people about real hope. They want to tell me our pastor talked about hope, our priest talked about hope, we really like to hear… People don't want to hear the negative.

I did a funeral sermon here a number of years ago and I talked about all that God had prepared for those who love Him, the glories of what He has said about the New Jerusalem, the inheritance. Everybody is sitting out there in smiles. Then I said now I have to tell you the bad news, not everyone is going there, there is not only an eternal heaven, there is an eternal hell. And I was afterwards told some people went out of there livid. I had one man that I had shared the gospel with and he was livid that you would talk about that at a time like this. It's a time to talk about positive things, things of hope. When do you talk about… You may not have hope, this person did, but that doesn't mean you do. If I lure you into thinking… If I'm a medical doctor and tell you this virus won't affect you and I know your lungs are collapsing, I know you are not able to function on your own for maybe an hour, you're near the edge and I just say it is going to be all right, don't worry about it, have hope, have hope. I'm going to see the next patient where there may be hope. Wait a minute, that's not a real doctor, maybe he could have done something. Yes, but they wouldn't want to hear bad news, they wouldn't want me to tell them we're going to do this because it could rescue you, in fact it has rescued people but I know you don't want to hear that. No. There is real hope and if we have doubt look how he wraps this up and leads into the next chapter, where we will be as we pick up in our study next time.

“These things speak and exhort and reprove with all authority.” Command, these are not recommendations, these are things that must be done, these are things for God's people. “Let no one disregard you.” Titus, as Timothy, evidently a younger man, we've talked about that, doesn't have anything to do with your age, I'm telling you what the Word of God says, that's what matters. Now, we as believers better take it to heart, He is telling believers why they ought to be living godly lives. Why does the church get in such a mess? Well, one reason is not everyone attends a service in a building is truly a believer, and unbelievers get mixed in with believers and sooner or later the Word antagonizes them to the point they cause trouble. And then there are believers who are somewhat comfortable in their ungodly life and don't want to be told that they can't live like that and be considered a believer and they get unsettled. That doesn't matter, “These things speak and exhort and reprove with all authority,” not because I have authority or you have authority, but God has authority, and we have the authority to tell them what God says. They have authority to reject my opinions, they don't have authority to reject what God says. That needs to take us back to the opening verses of chapter 2, what he said about men, women, their conduct, their differences. The way the world presses us and pushes us to conform us into its mold. Do we really believe the salvation God has provided? Are we really living it out, accepting the instructions from God's grace that are unfolded in His Word so that my life, my desire is that in every area it will conform? And sometimes the Spirit convicts me. That's sometimes the problem we have with the Word, it is a cutting Word, it is sharper than any two-edged sword and it pierces even to the innermost recesses of my life. Don't run away. We think of Jonah trying to run away from God and we say, how foolish. Some unbelievers think, I won't go back there, I don't go to church anymore. Why? I don't like what I hear. Well, we have to start out, do you like the message of salvation? If you come to love it, believe it, then the responsibility follows through, it teaches us something. No one wants to create a dichotomy, I'm saved, I'm just not living like I should. They say that like it's nothing. I can accept that, I say I don't see any evidence you are saved because the grace of God that brings salvation changes you and changes your desires and by your own admission that hasn't happened to you. You still love the world and things in the world, the Bible says if anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

We have to have reality, these are great truths, Easter's message is thrilling and all of us, including the pastor who is preaching, is to constantly evaluate and look. Is my life really conformed to this, is this the zeal and passion of my life? Have I found it easy to let it go, that it's as God rebuked His people Israel in the Old Testament, you have become weary of Me, you say how tiresome it is. We want to be careful we don't drift there in our spiritual life as God's people, it is never acceptable. I don't want God to say to me, you have become weary of Me, I'd be embarrassed, that would be terrible. You find it tiresome, those things that you found thrilling, that thrilled your soul, that you couldn't get enough of, now that's a little bit tiresome. Then I need to renew, come back, I want to be zealous, passionate, my passion ought to grow not diminish as we celebrate and remind ourselves Jesus Christ is alive. And the work of His salvation is going on to bring men to salvation and then to instruct, build up and teach those who have come to salvation so that we can be purified and that we can be zealous, that we can be those who are committed to Him in all of life.

Let's pray together. Thank you, Lord, for the hope that we are reminded of in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, because He lives we, too, shall live. Some day He is coming again, we will be gathered to Him in glory, these mortal bodies will be transformed into immortality, we will share the glory that is His, we will enter into all that you have promised to those who love Him, we will be taken to the place that He has prepared for us in the glory of your presence. Lord, in these days of uncertainty and a world of darkness and uncertainty we give you praise that we have a sure salvation. We can live every day with confidence and assurance that we live with a fixed hope even in a world that is passing by. Bless this day, the days you give us ahead. We pray in Christ's name, amen.