We have seen some shared truths I verses 1-3; now let us see some salvation truths in verses 4-7.
As we saw in our last study, Paul encouraged Titus in 3:1 to remind those to whom he preached of certain things. The words “put them in mind” are in the present tense which indicates continuity and regularity. In short, there are some things we are never to forget.
We should never forget our conduct, our commission, and our conversion. It is our conversion that Paul elaborates on more in verse 4-7.
May we never forget God’s salvation!
I. The MOTIVE of God’s salvation
“But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared”
Two words give us the motive behind God’s salvation – “kindness and love.” In these two words we see God’s character and compassion.
A. “Kindness”displays His character
It was kindness that caused God to prompt a saving plan.
God is kind. What do we mean by that? The word literally means "goodness of heart." It means that He has a concern in His heart toward people in misery.
God has no pleasure in the death of the wicked. He is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. He will have all men to be saved. And this reflects His heart of kindness toward sinners who are His unworthy enemies. The whole plan of salvation is initiated in the uninfluenced and sovereign kindness of God
Our salvation issued wholly from God’s kindness.
It was God’s kindness that initiated our salvation.
B. “Love”displays His compassion
"But after that the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared."God loves mankind.
Love here literally means pity, compassion, eagerness to deliver from pain or distress because of strong affection.
When did they appear?The full visible, personal manifestation of the kindness and the love of God came in the incarnation of Jesus Christ. He was compassion. He was pity. He was love. He was kindness.Jesus was the eternal God made visible.
II. The MEANS of God’s salvation
“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”
A. What is denied – excluded– stated negatively
“Not by works of righteousness which we have done”
Paul begins first by telling us how salvation does not happen. He counters the false thinking that has plagued humanity from the beginning.
His words could not be more plain: “Not by works of righteousness which we have done.”
Salvation's foundation is not based on what we've done but upon what God has done. There is no salvation on personal merit.
Christ is the only way to heaven; all other roads are detours to doom.
B. What is declared–emphasized - stated positively
“but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost”
Salvation is not in our morality but in His mercy.
Salvation by grace, through faith, apart from human works, distinguishes Christianity from all other religions of the world.
We are saved by God's mercy, not by our merit—
by Christ's dying, not by our doing
A little girl came home from school one day, and she said to her mother, “Mother, how was I born?”
And mother said, “Why the stork brought you.”
And she said, “And you, mother?”
“Well, I was found in a cabbage patch.”
“And grandmother?”
“Well, she was found under a rose bush.” And so the next day she went back to school and she wrote in her theme. “There has not been a natural birth in our family for three generations.”
Now, she did not understand a great deal, but her mother’s answers no more explained human birth than some do today when they refer to the new birth as a work that is produced by our faith. It is not a work that is produced by our faith. Why the very fact that we are born physically is the evidence of the fact that we are the product of the work of our parents.We do not have anything to do with our spiritual new birth, than we do with our physical birth. It is the work of God.“Salvation is of the Lord” (Jonah 2:9). We are not responsible for our new birth any more than we were responsible for our natural birth. It is the work of the God from start to finish.
1.It is through the regeneration of the Holy Spirit
“Washing”come from a word that means to bath the whole person....it means a complete bath. Man is so vile that a complete bath is needed.
The agent of the washing is the blood of the Christ which cleanses us from all sin. Only the blood of Christ is an effective sin-stain remover.
“Regeneration”means literally a birth again and so to be born again.
Regenerationcarries the idea of receiving a new life, of being born again, or born from above. Regeneration is characterized by or accompanied by the action of washing.
When people put their faith in Christ, they are born again. This new birth is the result of the mercy of God and the activity of the Holy Spirit as He applies the blood of Christ to our life.
Works of righteousness play no part in salvation.
To be highborn is nice, but to be newborn isnecessary!
Repentance is a change of the mind, and regeneration is a change of the man.
The message of salvation is regeneration—not reformation. Paul says,“ If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature ” ( 2 Cor. 5:17 ). The new birth is not an overhaul of the “ old wreck, ” or a new paint job. The old Adamic nature is so incorrigibly corrupt that even God will not attempt to fix it up. He insists on completely rejecting the old and making a new man.
2. It is through the renewing of the Holy Spirit.
“Renewing” - means to cause something to become new and different with the implication of becoming superior - a renewal, a complete change for the better, a renovation. In the two NT uses it refers to a renewal which makes a person different than they were in past - new heart, new Lord, new home, new purpose and goal, etc.
“of the Holy Spirit”- The renewing agent is the Holy Spirit. We cannot make ourselves new. It is a supernatural divine work of God’s Spirit.
This is a radical renewal. Second Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”
III. The MANNER of God’s salvation
“Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”
A. The manner is seen in the amount of our salvation - “which he shed on us abundantly”
“abundantly” - God has not held back from us. God always gives extravagantly. He is never stingy. Believers can never blame God for our spiritual "short fall," as if He had not given us adequate provisions to live this new life.
B. The manner is seen in the agency of this salvation – “through Jesus Christ our Saviour”
“through -is a preposition indicating instrumentality or the mode by which something was transferred.
"through Jesus Christ our Saviour” - All things are from Him, through Him and to Him. To Him be the glory forever and forever.
C. The manner is seen in the assurance of this salvation
“That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”
1. Law is forever satisfied
Sin disrupted our relation to God and estranged us from God, but when we received Christ as our Savior, we were justified or declared righteous, given standing as just in God's sight and brought into His favor.
The law has no claim against a justified person. Justification is greater than forgiveness. A justified person has been acquitted; he has no record of being guilty of any wrong.
The child of God has been exonerated of his or her sins through Christ’s cleansing sacrifice. It is through Jesus’ atoning blood that we freely receive our acquittal.
Isidore Zimmerman served 25 years in prison for a crime he didn't commit. Because of false testimony at his trial, he was convicted of killing a New York policeman. In time, however, his innocence was proven, and in 1962 he was released. But did he "live happily ever after"? No.
Even though he had been innocent all along, Zimmerman couldn't escape the stigma of being an ex-convict. What few jobs he could get soon ended when employers learned that he had served time. His record was cleared, but society did not fully accept him.
What a striking contrast to our standing with God when we trust Jesus as our Savior! We are guilty. Yet on the merits of Jesus' sinless life and atoning sacrifice, we are not only declared righteous, but we are fully restored to favor with our heavenly Father. He treats us as if we had never broken His law, reconciling us to Himself and adopting us into His family. That's full acceptance.
2. Life is forever ratified
Paul tells us that we are “heirs.” One becomes a heir through the death of another. Through the death of the Lord Jesus we have become an inheritor. What have we inherited? We have inherited “eternal life.”
The inheritance that God has promised to those who believe is based on the condition of faith, by which we become children of God and are placed in Christ, by which also we receive now the righteousness of Christ. Having been made righteous by the grace of God, we are also made heirs"according to the hope of eternal life."Because all charges brought against us have been thrown out of court, we are heirs of eternal life (see Romans 8:33-34).
There is no question that this inheritance will be received. It is a signed, sealed and settled issue.
Conclusion
We have seen in this final chapter thus far some shared truths and some salvations truths. May we never get away from these eternal truths of the Word of God.
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