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Set in Order by the Grace of God | Titus 2:11-15

As preached by the Timothy O'Day.


The grace of God...

1) Saves from condemnation (11).

2) Saves a people for his own possession (12,14).

3) Saves for coming glory (13,15).


Set in Order by the Grace of God

Titus 2:11-15

November 3, 2024


Imagine you are in a conversation with someone who adopted a child. Here is how the conversation goes:


The adopter: “You wouldn’t believe the poverty of the orphanage. All of the children slept in the same room and there was no heat provided in the winter. Their meals are barely recognizable as food and they aren’t taught anything, barely able to do basic math.”


You: “That breaks my heart to hear that. I am so glad you were able to adopt your little one. How are you all adjusting?”


The adopter: “Yes, it was a joy to get him, and he has been so easy! The doghouse we provided for him is out of the way and he simply loves the scraps we give him after our meals. This hasn’t been a financial burden for us at all and, since he is so socially maladjusted, he really doesn’t want to spend that much time with us, so we can basically keep doing all the things we like to do.”


You: “Excuse me. Did you just say that he lives in a doghouse and he only eats scraps from your table? And you don’t spend time with him? That is completely inappropriate. That is neglect.”


The adopter: “Give me a break. It is better than what he had.” 


I hope you find this fictitious conversation ridiculous. It is not based on reality. But it is a reflection of how many people think of the gospel. If you are not careful, you will only recognize half of the glory of the gospel. What is easy for most people to spot is that the gospel speaks of a transaction: Jesus takes our place and saves us from the judgment we deserve for sin. This is a glorious reality, but it isn’t the whole picture. 


You aren’t just saved from something, you are saved for someone, namely God himself. The gospel is about a glorious transaction—Jesus in our place—but it is also about the glorious transformation that you undergo as you come to Christ. In Christ, you change from…

  • Sinner to saint

  • A child of disobedience to a child of God

  • A rebel to a citizen of heaven

  • Defiled to clean

  • Condemned to beloved


When you see the gospel as merely transactional, so much of what the Bible says fails to make sense. Consider just these two passages:


1 Peter 1:14-16, “As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, ‘you shall be holy, for I am holy.”


If you think of the gospel primarily as a transaction, then you will be confused as to why you need to be obedient. It suddenly sounds like works-based salvation. “Whoa, whoa, whoa,” you might say,” I am saved by grace and not by works, Peter. I don’t need to be holy, Jesus was holy for me.” But this is a false dichotomy (“Jesus was holy so I don’t need to be”) based on a truncated understanding of the gospel and God’s grace. 


Or think of Hebrews 12:14, “Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.”


Again, if the gospel is merely a transaction, then this verse will leave you confused. But the gospel is not merely about a transaction. It is about a transaction—executed and performed by Christ, not you—that leads to your transformation. 


Titus 2:11-15 in Context

This is what Titus 2:11-15 is all about. In 2:1-10, Paul laid out how those in Christ are supposed to live, laying out lives that accord with sound doctrine. In 2:11-15, he now points to that specific doctrine that leads us to live lives that are changed, specifically pointing to the grace of God revealed in Jesus Christ. 


Here is the gist of the argument of Titus chapter 2: if you grasp the grace of God, it will change the way you live. This is in deep contrast to the false teachers who, if you look back at 1:16, professed to know God but lived lives that did not reflect this profession. Titus, however, is instructed to teach the church to live like 2:1-10 because of the theology of 2:11-15. 


What is that theology? It is the theology of grace that we can sum up in three points. The grace of God…

  1. Saves from condemnation

  2. Saves a people for God’s possession

  3. Saves for coming glory


Let’s walk through each


First, The grace of God saves from condemnation ( verse 11)

Our passage begins with these words, “For the grace of God has appeared…” Which is to say that the fact that God is gracious has been manifested. It has been made known clearly. Now, God has not become gracious. He has always been gracious, but the full expression and clarity of his grace had not taken place until the coming of God the Son in Jesus Christ. We read in John 1:16-17, speaking of Jesus, “for from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” Which is to say that from God we receive grace after grace—the law was the first display of God’s unmerited kindness, 


He didn’t choose to set apart Israel because of anything that they had done, but simply because he decided to love them. That’s grace. And he gave them his law, which was a gracious act of disclosure and direction. 


In the manifestation of God’s grace in Jesus, we do not have grace in contrast to drudgery. We simply have a greater and full display of God’s love and kindness. The law was grace, but the grace of Christ is fuller and better. 


How is Christ better than the law? Because he is a full and final answer to the question of sin. The law was able to deal with sin, but not fully and finally. It was the grace of a steward keeping things in check before the Son of God would come. The law becomes dangerous when we try to use it for ends that it was not designed to be used—our full justification and right standing with God. 


The Grace of Jesus Christ Is Greater Than the Grace of the Law

The manifestation of God’s grace in Jesus Christ does at least two things that are pertinent for us to understand as we read this passage. There are two ways that it is better than the Mosaic law. 


First, it brings salvation to all people. This is what we read in the second half of verse 11. God’s grace in Jesus Christ brings salvation for all people. This means that all people are saved without distinction, but not without exception. We know that not every single person confesses faith in Christ, so not every single person is saved. But the coming of the gospel is greater than the law because we do not have to first become Jews in order to be in right standing with God. All kinds of people, without distinction—you can be Jewish or Gentile—are saved by the grace of God.

Second, it takes seriously the heinousness of sin and deals with it finally and fully. This is why all people are saved without distinction. The great barrier between a person and God, between you and God, is sin. We read of people in Isaiah 59:2 that “your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.” Our sins make a separation between us and God to the point that he will not listen to us. 


What then can we do? 


Nothing I do can make any difference, which is exactly why I need God to act on my behalf, and this is exactly what he has done for us in Jesus Christ. The difference between the Old Covenant and New Covenant is not that the Old took sin way too seriously and the New just shrugs at it. No, the difference is that in the New Covenant sin is fully and finally removed through the perfect obedience and substitutionary death of Jesus in our place. We see in verse 14 that Christ “gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify” us. It was in order to redeem us from the bondage and wrath that we deserve because of our sin that Christ had to die. To bring salvation to all people, God the Son, the second person of the Trinity, became a human like us, lived a life of perfect obedience under the law, and then took our place on the cross to bear the full wrath of God for sin. The grace of God is not a shrugging at sin, but fully and finally dealing with it. 


The cross displays God’s hatred of sin and his unimaginable kindness, goodness, and love toward sinners. 


What this means for us

Living in accord with sound doctrine means that we must be set in order by the grace of God, and this begins by looking back at the cross, the first coming of Christ, and dwelling on what he has done for us. 


Brothers and sisters, we simply must not stop thinking and talking about the cross. Your affections get confused, your thinking gets illogical, and your living is out of order when you forget the cross. 


As a church, we will be disordered if we do not meditate on and rejoice in the first coming of Christ and the grace he gives us in the cross. 


We should pursue holiness as we see the grace of God manifested at the cross of Christ. As we look to the cross, we see simultaneously the love of God that exceeds our wildest dreams and the horrible direction and nature of sin. As we sang this morning, the voice of Christ is…


“The voice that spans the years

speakin’ life, stirrin’ hope, bringin’ peace to us

Will sound ’til he appears

For he lives, Christ is risen from the dead.”


And since he lives, then you have eternal life as your faith is in Jesus Christ. 


But if that is all the reason you have to pursue holiness, it would fall massively short. You need something more—and God’s grace supplies it, which is our second point.


Second, the grace of God saves a people for his own possession (verses 12, 14)

This is what we see in verses 12 and 14. There we read that grace doesn’t just bring salvation in the sense of saving from condemnation. Grace also trains, teaches, and instructs us to say “no” to our former way of life and “yes” to the ways of God. Why does grace do this? Look at verse 14, as it speaks of Christ and why he died for us, saying of Christ, “who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness.” 


As sinners who reject God (and that’s everyone), you belong to sin and death. You live in the domain of darkness. Your wage is condemnation. But Christ gives himself for you so that you no longer belong to sin and death. Instead, you belong to God. You are adopted into his family. You are transformed. 


As we saw in verse 11, salvation has come to all people, which is something that Christians joyfully celebrate. But don’t sell salvation short. If you sell salvation short, which is to see it being less than what it is, then you will be confused about the place of holiness in the Christian life. Salvation is more—so much more—than forgiveness. Salvation is more—so much more—than justification. Yet so often what you can end up doing is seeing salvation as merely justification. But you must see that while salvation includes justification, it is so much more than justification. 


In Christian parlance, justification refers to justification before God by faith. Scripture teaches us that we are justified—declared to be in right standing with God—because, by faith in Jesus Christ, God counts your punishment and condemnation for sin as removed because of what Jesus has done on your behalf. Justification by faith means that you are acquitted and counted as innocent before God because you are united to Jesus Christ. That’s a transaction and a glorious transaction. Justification, then, is central to the gospel and central to Christian living! If you get this wrong, then you do not have the gospel! It is foundational. But it isn’t all that salvation is. If we think that justification is synonymous with salvation, then we are missing the whole picture. 


Full Salvation

Along with justification, the Bible teaches us that the following realities are also included in salvation…


Regeneration. Our statement of faith speaks of regeneration like this: “Regeneration, or the new birth, is a work of God's grace whereby believers become new creatures in Christ Jesus. It is a change of heart wrought by the Holy Spirit through conviction of sin, to which the sinner responds in repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Repentance and faith are inseparable experiences of grace. Repentance is a genuine turning from sin toward God. Faith is the acceptance of Jesus Christ and commitment of the entire personality to Him as Lord and Savior.” Regeneration, then, is being born again. It is being made into a new creation, with new desires, which causes us to turn from sin and turn to Christ in faith. Salvation isn’t just saying that you have new information or that God has said something about you; God does something to you. You are changed in your identity and are a new creature. 


Regeneration is what grace has done to you.


Glorification. Our statement of faith says this about glorification: “Glorification is the culmination of salvation and is the final blessed and abiding state of the redeemed. At the point of glorification, being achieved only after this life, the believer will be perfectly righteous, like his Lord. Thus, he will dwell with his Creator and Lord for all eternity.” This is our expectation and hope. When Christ returns, we will not just live under the reality of being declared to be righteous; we will be righteous. There will be no more sin. When we see him, we will be like him. 


Glorification is what grace will do to you.


Sanctification. This is the point I want us to dwell on because it is the specific aspect of salvation that is focused on in our passage. Our statement of faith summarizes sanctification well. It reads like this, “Sanctification is the experience, beginning in regeneration, by which the believer is set apart to God's purposes and is enabled to progress toward moral and spiritual maturity through the presence and power of the Holy Spirit dwelling in him. Growth in grace should continue throughout the regenerate person's life.”


Sanctification is what grace is presently doing to you.

God’s grace brings salvation because by faith in Jesus Christ God graciously…

  • Makes me into a new creature, which is regeneration.

  • Counts me as righteous before him, which is justification.

  • Empowers me to mature in Christ-like righteousness, which is sanctification.

  • Guarantees that I will be made Christ-like in the new creation, which is glorification.


That this is the case is made clear in verse 12. Grace gives to us and it trains us—that is to say, it causes us to learn; it corrects us. How does it train us? To do two things: put off and put on.


Put Off and Put On

Sanctification is God empowering us by his grace to put off a certain way of living with its behaviors and to put on a certain way of living with its behaviors. Look down at verse 12 with me and see what grace does. Through the new birth and the empowerment of God’s Spirit, we can say “no” to sin. We can renounce, reject, and deny ungodly living—that is living in a way that isn’t in accord with who God is—and say no to living a life that is characterized by this present age. 


This isn’t to say that it is easy to say no or that there will be no struggle. What I am saying is that through the grace of God that has appeared through the cross of Christ, more than just your justification has been purchased. Jesus Christ died to justify you and he died to sanctify you. Look at verse 14. Jesus “gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness.” That is more than just forgiveness. Do you know what that means? You have been liberated, ransomed, from sin. Sin is lawlessness (1 John 3:4). Jesus came to die for the penalty of your sin but also to rid your life of sin. To free you from its grip and its practice. 


Through the cross, God has graciously atoned for your sin and now made it possible for you to say “no” to sin. In fact, he has guaranteed that you will say no to sin because he purchased that through the blood of Jesus. The word “train” carries with it the idea of forming children. God has made us his children by faith in Christ and is working by his power to form us into Christ-likeness. 


What this means for us

We should pursue holiness because this is God’s design, direction, and gift to us. We do this by first and foremost receiving. We must receive with the empty hands of faith regeneration and justification; we must receive with the empty hands of faith God’s power and instruction to walk in the new life that he has given to us. 


But we can easily lose our way if we do not keep the right focus. We must not seek holiness for the sake of holiness itself. We must seek it because we seek first and foremost Christ himself, which is the last point of this passage.


Third, the grace of God saves for coming glory (verses 13, 15)

Pursuing holiness for the sake of holiness is drudgery and not the way God calls us to live. Seeking holiness for the sake of holiness turns into seeing God’s favor by what you do, which is soul crushing legalism.


The great risk of talking about holiness is that you will walk away thinking that you need to simply try harder and be better. “I’ve got to try harder and be better.” That is not the answer. What’s the answer? It is simple, profound, and beautiful: behold Jesus Christ. David Powlison gives us a helpful answer when he writes that sanctification is not getting our life together so that we can have a little more peace. Sanctification is being wedded to Christ more and more; it is experiencing him and his pleasure more and more. Sanctification is enjoying, beholding, and living in the riches of Christ for you. 


The exhortation in this passage is to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age. But this is grounded in a reason, motivation, and a method of verse 13,


“waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.”


The motivation for living a pure and holy life by the power of God’s grace is promise of the future grace of experiencing the coming glory of Christ, who is God and Savior. 


Verses 13-14 tell us these realities: Christ will come and make all things new for the people for whom he died to make new. 


Jesus Christ has come to rid the world of sin and the horror that comes with it. And he works to do this by ridding you of sin in your life. His purpose is to purify you and to change your direction. Without Christ, we are zealous for sin. But in Christ, our zeal changes toward good works. That is to say, we more and more eagerly desire to practice the things that God calls good and to practice those things in a way that shows God to be good. That’s what good works are: practices that God calls good done in a way that reveal God’s goodness. 


What this means for us

Your focus cannot just be on the past—what God has done on the cross of Christ. Your focus cannot merely be on the present—what God is doing for you now as you pursue holiness. Your focus must be on the grace to come as well, your full redemption and communion with God.


We need to set our gaze on all three things: God’s past grace, present grace, and future grace. But it is so hard to do this, which is why Titus is given the exhortation in verse 15 to “declare these things; exhort and rebuke with all authority. Let no one disregard you.” Titus is given this instruction that we, as a church, need to follow. The flow of our culture and the themes of this world and the present age do not lead to holiness and contemplation of God’s grace. 


We need to hear God’s grace declared. We need rebuke when our eyes stray from God’s grace in Christ. We need to make sure we do not disregard these things.


And the surest way of doing that is by standing in God’s church together. Verse 15 shows us what we need in our lives: the structure and authority of the church, with officers who faithfully instruct in God’s word, exhorting lives that fit with the word; members seeking to live in accord with sound doctrine, setting examples through word and deed for the rest of the church. 


This is what we are called to do because we are saved by God’s grace, claimed by his grace, and called to wait for the coming of God’s grace in the return of Christ. 


It is all of God’s grace, which is why it is so fitting for us to turn to the table as we close our time together, setting our minds and hearts on the work of God. This is exactly what we are instructed to do in 1 Corinthians 11:23-29, which explains what the Lord’s Supper is. There Paul writes,


“For I received from eh Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, ‘This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’ In the same way, also he took the cup, after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.’ For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.”


As we take this meal, we are making a corporate proclamation that we believe Jesus did all that was necessary to reconcile us to God and that he will come for us again. This meal, then, is for believers, as he goes on to say in verses 27-29,


“Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself.”


You must examine yourself in two ways. First, have you placed your faith in Christ alone for salvation? If not, please do not partake of this meal today. Instead, place your faith in Christ. You can even do that right now or we can talk after the service of how you can do that and then be baptized, coming into God’s people through your declaration of faith.


Second, if you have placed your faith in Christ, you need to examine yourself by asking whether or not you are stubbornly rejecting God’s grace and conviction. Are you living in sin? Do you need to confess something to the Lord or another person? If so, do it now. If that is you, the answer is not to abstain from taking this meal. The answer is for you to repent and then receive this meal, remembering that you receive God’s grace not because you deserve it. You receive it because God wants you to have it. 


I will pray for us and then we will take a moment of silence as I prepare the meal. 


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