God’s Sign of Baptism

WEBVTT 1 00:00:01.679 --> 00:00:08.349 Let's turn to titus chapter three, versus four through eight, taking a little 2 00:00:08.390 --> 00:00:13.669 break in preaching through the gospel of John, so that we might reflect a 3 00:00:13.750 --> 00:00:19.949 little bit more on what it is the Lord has done and symbolized in baptism. 4 00:00:35.340 --> 00:00:46.530 So Titus chapter three, let's start actually in verse three. Titus three, 5 00:00:46.649 --> 00:00:54.960 verse three, for we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, let us 6 00:00:54.960 --> 00:01:00.159 stray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and 7 00:01:00.320 --> 00:01:07.109 envy, hated by others and hating one another. But when the goodness and 8 00:01:07.310 --> 00:01:11.310 loving kindness of awe of God, our Savior, appeared, he saved us, 9 00:01:12.269 --> 00:01:18.620 not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his 10 00:01:18.700 --> 00:01:23.739 own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and the renewal of the Holy Spirit 11 00:01:25.819 --> 00:01:32.060 whom he poured out on US richly through Jesus Christ, our Savior, so 12 00:01:32.260 --> 00:01:37.489 that, being justified by His grace, we might become heirs according to the 13 00:01:37.650 --> 00:01:42.609 hope of eternal life. The saying is trustworthy. I want you to insist 14 00:01:42.730 --> 00:01:48.480 on these things, so that those who have believed in God may be careful 15 00:01:48.560 --> 00:01:53.560 to devote themselves to good works. These things are excellent and profitable for people. 16 00:01:57.680 --> 00:02:07.189 God bless his word to us so to understand better what it is exactly 17 00:02:07.389 --> 00:02:15.389 that God is symbolizing for us and promising, promising to us in the sign 18 00:02:15.469 --> 00:02:20.139 and seal of baptism. We come to titus three, versus three through eight, 19 00:02:20.300 --> 00:02:23.979 here to grow in that, to grow in what we might say the 20 00:02:24.180 --> 00:02:30.009 knowledge of God's grace. This is one of those passages of scripture that just 21 00:02:30.449 --> 00:02:36.330 very clearly and very plainly sets out for us what it is God has done 22 00:02:36.449 --> 00:02:40.129 for us, what it is God has done for us. And so let's 23 00:02:40.250 --> 00:02:46.719 read and let's hear God's word so that we might understand who God is, 24 00:02:46.000 --> 00:02:53.159 what he has done and how that changes things. As we consider that, 25 00:02:53.479 --> 00:02:59.389 notice how the notice the context of this passage. This is a letter to 26 00:02:59.750 --> 00:03:04.270 a man named Titus. Titus is like a church planter, he's a missionary, 27 00:03:04.469 --> 00:03:07.629 and the Apostle Paul is riding to him and giving him instructions on how 28 00:03:07.830 --> 00:03:14.139 to how to be a good pastor how to do well in the church according 29 00:03:14.180 --> 00:03:17.860 to the calling God has put on his life. And so that's why he 30 00:03:17.979 --> 00:03:23.419 says in Verse Eight, this saying or this saying is trustworthy and I want 31 00:03:23.500 --> 00:03:28.210 you titus to insist on these things, another words, make a big deal 32 00:03:28.330 --> 00:03:32.490 about them, say I'm a lot over and over, keep impressing on these 33 00:03:32.530 --> 00:03:38.129 things, insist on them. Why does Paul want him to do that? 34 00:03:38.009 --> 00:03:40.409 Well, Paul wants him to do that. One of the reasons, and 35 00:03:40.520 --> 00:03:46.400 the reason he gives here, is that there's an expected result, that if 36 00:03:46.479 --> 00:03:52.360 titus carries out his ministry in this particular way, by insisting on these things, 37 00:03:52.439 --> 00:03:55.509 which will focus on in a moment, by insisting on these these things, 38 00:03:57.030 --> 00:04:01.509 something is going to happen, and it's this those who have believed, 39 00:04:01.789 --> 00:04:06.830 so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to 40 00:04:06.990 --> 00:04:11.900 good works. Right, who doesn't want to have a church, be a 41 00:04:11.939 --> 00:04:15.740 pastor of a church, to a member of a church where everybody's devoted to 42 00:04:15.979 --> 00:04:19.459 good works? Right, wouldn't that be a great place to be? Here 43 00:04:20.339 --> 00:04:25.089 the Apostle, Paul writes the titus and says here's what you need to do, 44 00:04:25.290 --> 00:04:29.730 right, here's the program here's your here's the lesson for Pastoral Ministry. 45 00:04:29.850 --> 00:04:34.410 Insist on these things so that those who have believed in God may be careful 46 00:04:34.449 --> 00:04:41.040 to devote themselves for good works. These are excellent things. They're profitable for 47 00:04:41.160 --> 00:04:45.639 people. If you give people these things, it will be a value to 48 00:04:45.680 --> 00:04:50.240 them and it will be of value to others as they do good works. 49 00:04:51.910 --> 00:04:57.069 So then, what are the things that tied US needs to insist on? 50 00:04:57.230 --> 00:05:00.389 What are the what are the what's the message that he's supposed to focus on? 51 00:05:02.670 --> 00:05:05.829 Well, it's what he says really, and all of Titus, but 52 00:05:05.949 --> 00:05:14.899 here's summarized by this contrast. He wants the he wants titus to go and 53 00:05:14.939 --> 00:05:19.620 speak to these people and remind them of a contrast between what they were and 54 00:05:19.819 --> 00:05:27.850 what they are and how that change happened. He begins with what they were. 55 00:05:28.810 --> 00:05:33.129 He says in verse three. We ourselves were ones, foolish, disobedient, 56 00:05:33.209 --> 00:05:38.480 let us stray, slaves to various passions and pleasure, US passing our 57 00:05:38.480 --> 00:05:43.480 days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. How 58 00:05:43.519 --> 00:05:47.480 do you like to live in that kind of community? Right, a bunch 59 00:05:47.519 --> 00:05:56.790 of people acting in every bad way, captive to their their passions, in 60 00:05:56.910 --> 00:06:05.339 their desires, slaves to them, confused, foolish and against one another. 61 00:06:09.139 --> 00:06:14.899 Something changed, though, this people of God, that people that have been 62 00:06:14.939 --> 00:06:21.170 called together. Something dramatic happened and Paul described why it happened in verse four. 63 00:06:23.930 --> 00:06:27.649 In verse three we have this bad past. In in verse four we 64 00:06:27.730 --> 00:06:32.480 are introduced to this amazing future and present now that these people enjoy, and 65 00:06:32.519 --> 00:06:39.120 of course we do as well who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. This 66 00:06:39.279 --> 00:06:44.800 is what happened. This was the dramatic change in their lives. The goodness 67 00:06:45.439 --> 00:06:51.029 and the loving kindness of God, our Savior, appeared. This is like 68 00:06:51.750 --> 00:06:58.430 when you're in a really bad spot and all of a sudden hope right. 69 00:06:58.470 --> 00:07:01.819 Imagine you are trapped in a dark cave, your ground, and then all 70 00:07:01.860 --> 00:07:06.500 of a sudden somebody shows up with a light and your heart lifts and you 71 00:07:06.620 --> 00:07:12.740 rejoice and you say it's gonna be okay, the light has appeared. This 72 00:07:12.779 --> 00:07:16.209 is very similar to the way John Speaks at the beginning of his Gospel. 73 00:07:17.089 --> 00:07:21.610 Right, he says the light of God has come into the world and the 74 00:07:21.730 --> 00:07:28.490 darkness is not overcome it. Right, the light shines in the darkness and 75 00:07:28.610 --> 00:07:32.120 the darkness is not overcome it. The light they're described in the beginning of 76 00:07:32.199 --> 00:07:39.120 John is described here by Paul as the goodness and the loving kindness of God, 77 00:07:39.480 --> 00:07:48.470 our Savior. A lot of people today doubt the goodness of God. 78 00:07:49.829 --> 00:07:56.269 They doubt that he is truly good, that he is truly holy. In 79 00:07:56.430 --> 00:08:00.819 fact, many people today spend much of their time accusing God of not being 80 00:08:01.100 --> 00:08:07.620 good. They don't follow him because they think he is bad. But Titus 81 00:08:07.620 --> 00:08:13.050 says it's just the opposite. Not only is God good, but the goodness 82 00:08:13.089 --> 00:08:18.410 of God appears, and that itself is an amazing thing. There's no reason 83 00:08:20.370 --> 00:08:24.490 that God owed to us his goodness. There's no reason that God had to 84 00:08:24.649 --> 00:08:30.519 come into the light or bring his light into the darkness of our sin and 85 00:08:30.680 --> 00:08:37.440 depravity and hating one another. But he did, not only in other words 86 00:08:37.440 --> 00:08:43.110 as God good, but in his goodness he appeared to us. He gives 87 00:08:43.230 --> 00:08:48.429 that to us. Who of us deserve God's grace? Who of us have 88 00:08:48.590 --> 00:08:54.549 done so many wonderful and good things that we that God owes something to us 89 00:08:56.539 --> 00:08:58.019 that we can say, well, that's not really good, he just kind 90 00:08:58.019 --> 00:09:01.299 of owed it to me. Really, of course, none of us can 91 00:09:01.340 --> 00:09:05.220 say that. And so even in the appearing of the goodness of God, 92 00:09:05.700 --> 00:09:13.929 we have the goodness of God and the loving kindness of God, the steadfastness 93 00:09:13.049 --> 00:09:18.049 of God, the God not only is good, but that he loves us. 94 00:09:18.169 --> 00:09:22.330 He he appears to us in a way that cradles us and cares for 95 00:09:22.330 --> 00:09:28.279 us and wraps us up in his arms and takes us as his own. 96 00:09:28.840 --> 00:09:33.720 Earlier I mentioned Jesus saying unto these and such as these is the little as 97 00:09:33.840 --> 00:09:37.950 the Kingdom of God. You remember, there was that moment when there were 98 00:09:39.029 --> 00:09:41.870 people wanting to bring their children to Jesus and the disciples. No, no, 99 00:09:43.070 --> 00:09:45.710 no, he is too busy, and he says no, bring them 100 00:09:45.750 --> 00:09:54.740 under me, don't hinder them. Jesus loves US IN OUR WEAKNESS. Children 101 00:09:54.820 --> 00:09:58.500 don't have anything to offer Jesus. Of course, adults don't either, but 102 00:09:58.580 --> 00:10:03.620 we like to think as adults that were something special right, that we've matured 103 00:10:03.700 --> 00:10:07.169 and we're all capable and good at all of these wonderful things. But of 104 00:10:07.210 --> 00:10:11.570 course, if we're honest, we know that we are still needy to we 105 00:10:11.769 --> 00:10:16.490 still struggle to and in the children Jesus helps us to underste that helps us 106 00:10:16.529 --> 00:10:24.399 to know where there, understand, to see those things, to neel, 107 00:10:24.720 --> 00:10:28.879 to know that we need him, not in all of it, not only 108 00:10:28.000 --> 00:10:31.519 in all of his glory, but we need his glory and his goodness to 109 00:10:31.639 --> 00:10:39.629 come to us in loving kindness. Can you imagine if they'll all holy? 110 00:10:39.909 --> 00:10:45.710 Only Good God came to us, apart from loving kindness and perhaps, let's 111 00:10:45.750 --> 00:10:50.059 say, in the goodness of his justice, there would know be there would 112 00:10:50.100 --> 00:10:54.820 be no comming to me, all you who are heavy Laden and I will 113 00:10:54.860 --> 00:11:00.820 give you rest. It would be depart from me, you workers of iniquity, 114 00:11:01.500 --> 00:11:07.289 for I am good and you are not. But he comes to us 115 00:11:07.289 --> 00:11:09.769 not only in goodness, but he comes to us in loving kindness. In 116 00:11:09.970 --> 00:11:15.809 our weakness, in our inability, in our in our our a la lack 117 00:11:15.889 --> 00:11:20.799 of capability to do anything good for God, in and of ourselves. He 118 00:11:20.000 --> 00:11:26.200 comes to us. He appears and he doesn't just appear, but he saves 119 00:11:26.279 --> 00:11:35.389 us. He actively saves US, Paul says. Why does he save us? 120 00:11:35.429 --> 00:11:37.070 And this will take us back to the loving kindness, he says in 121 00:11:37.190 --> 00:11:43.710 verse five. Not Because of works done by us in righteousness, but according 122 00:11:43.710 --> 00:11:50.899 to his own mercy, according to his own mercy. As I said, 123 00:11:52.620 --> 00:11:56.179 we don't come to God and sort of lay out our things on the table 124 00:11:56.299 --> 00:12:01.179 and say, let's make a deal. Perhaps these things will be good enough 125 00:12:01.340 --> 00:12:05.809 for me to enter into your heaven. What do you say? Paul says, 126 00:12:05.889 --> 00:12:11.250 the Apostle. Paul says that that he would trade all of his good 127 00:12:11.409 --> 00:12:16.480 works, he would throw them away, he counts them as rubbish, so 128 00:12:16.639 --> 00:12:22.080 that he might have Christ. The Bible says that our good works are like 129 00:12:22.600 --> 00:12:28.600 filthy rags. We don't have anything to bring to God, and God knows 130 00:12:28.639 --> 00:12:31.950 it, and so that's why he saves us, not according to works that 131 00:12:33.029 --> 00:12:37.309 we've done in righteousness, but according to his own mercy. We're like little 132 00:12:37.389 --> 00:12:41.470 helpless babies, we can't do anything. We need the Lord, we need 133 00:12:41.669 --> 00:12:48.779 him to work for us, and he does that. He does that in 134 00:12:48.860 --> 00:12:56.820 Jesus Christ and he does that in the Holy Spirit. These two missions of 135 00:12:58.019 --> 00:13:03.330 God is there's sometimes called in theology, these persons, the second person, 136 00:13:03.570 --> 00:13:07.769 the third person of the Trinity, scent in Perfect Unison with the father, 137 00:13:07.929 --> 00:13:15.360 to accomplish his holy will expressed here. In this way, he saved us, 138 00:13:15.399 --> 00:13:18.279 not by works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own 139 00:13:18.320 --> 00:13:22.200 mercy, by the washing of regeneration and the renewal of the Holy Spirit whom 140 00:13:22.840 --> 00:13:31.830 he poured out on US richly through Jesus Christ, our Savior. So we 141 00:13:31.950 --> 00:13:33.789 of course know, as for those of us who have been here and we've 142 00:13:33.789 --> 00:13:39.990 been going through thinking about Jesus, Jesus crucifixion in John Chapter Nineteen. We 143 00:13:41.190 --> 00:13:46.539 know how it is. We are saved by Christ. He dies for us, 144 00:13:46.580 --> 00:13:52.580 he goes to the place of judgment and gives up his own life so 145 00:13:52.659 --> 00:13:56.769 that we would not be judged. He also pours out his Holy Spirit, 146 00:13:58.009 --> 00:14:01.049 having ascended to the right hand of God, having been enthroned in the new 147 00:14:01.289 --> 00:14:05.769 creation, in the new kingdom, this kingdom that is to come. But 148 00:14:05.889 --> 00:14:11.840 he doesn't distance himself totally from us. Instead, he unites US perfectly to 149 00:14:11.919 --> 00:14:18.440 himself by the Holy Spirit that new creation that he has entered into, that 150 00:14:18.559 --> 00:14:24.000 he is king over. He sends the Holy Spirit from above to cause us 151 00:14:24.000 --> 00:14:37.269 to be reborn, reborn and we look at infants and we see how the 152 00:14:37.389 --> 00:14:43.860 world has not yet affected them. In some ways that's bad, right. 153 00:14:43.940 --> 00:14:46.779 We want them to grow up and become wise and capable in these kind of 154 00:14:46.860 --> 00:14:50.379 things. And of course, in some ways we think it's so good right 155 00:14:50.740 --> 00:14:56.610 that they do not yet know all the sorrows of this world. But nevertheless, 156 00:14:56.649 --> 00:15:03.129 even apart from all of that, we know from God's testimony and work 157 00:15:03.210 --> 00:15:05.769 in our lives, from the testimony of scripture that all of us are are 158 00:15:05.929 --> 00:15:11.559 born undersin, that all of us are in need of His grace, no 159 00:15:11.679 --> 00:15:16.240 matter how young we are, David says, in sin did my mother conceive 160 00:15:16.399 --> 00:15:22.830 me? All Children of Adam, all children of the fall, all born 161 00:15:22.950 --> 00:15:28.190 into a world that's cursed. We need new life. How can people be 162 00:15:28.470 --> 00:15:35.899 born under the curse enter into a curseless, blessed Kingdom of God? You 163 00:15:37.100 --> 00:15:41.379 can't, unless, of course, you are given a new birth. You 164 00:15:41.460 --> 00:15:48.259 are new creationized, you are born again, renewed, with emphasis on the 165 00:15:48.379 --> 00:15:56.169 new. And that's what God does. He begins the work of the resurrection, 166 00:15:56.529 --> 00:16:00.210 even here now, in this world, by causing us to die in 167 00:16:00.330 --> 00:16:04.919 Christ and be born in him. How does that happen? It happens by 168 00:16:04.960 --> 00:16:10.320 the will of God and the Holy Spirit, whom he pours out on US 169 00:16:10.360 --> 00:16:18.870 richly through Jesus Christ, our Savior, this glorious rebirth of the spirit. 170 00:16:18.029 --> 00:16:23.549 We don't know exactly when these things happen. It happens according to God's will 171 00:16:23.590 --> 00:16:27.830 because, after all, the salvation that we have is not from below, 172 00:16:29.710 --> 00:16:33.179 it's from above. The Salvation we have is not something that we can will 173 00:16:33.299 --> 00:16:40.019 into existence, work into existence, create into existence were creatures after all, 174 00:16:40.139 --> 00:16:45.019 not creators. No, we need God to do that creative work, and 175 00:16:45.299 --> 00:16:52.850 God does that creative work in this world. And that's what happened for this 176 00:16:53.049 --> 00:16:59.210 church that Paul is writing to, for this church that titus is over. 177 00:16:59.250 --> 00:17:04.000 These people are looking at their lives and they're saying we're new creatures. We're 178 00:17:04.119 --> 00:17:10.160 living already now in the light of the new life and the resurrection, the 179 00:17:10.279 --> 00:17:15.950 Holy Spirit in dwelling us being poured out on US richly. What a wondrous 180 00:17:15.990 --> 00:17:22.269 thing God has done. They are people who have, as verse seven goes 181 00:17:22.349 --> 00:17:26.109 and we come to an end here, they are people who have been justified 182 00:17:26.190 --> 00:17:33.180 by His grace. They no longer stand as those who are guilty and condemned 183 00:17:33.259 --> 00:17:37.900 under the wrath and curse before God. They stand as those who are proclaimed 184 00:17:37.940 --> 00:17:47.250 by God innocent and pure, having the righteousness of Christ, justified by His 185 00:17:47.490 --> 00:17:56.569 grace that we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. So 186 00:17:57.759 --> 00:18:07.720 why will people like that be devoted to good works? Because they can't do 187 00:18:07.880 --> 00:18:15.549 anything else. People that have been born into the new creation, that the 188 00:18:15.630 --> 00:18:19.829 Holy Spirit, it is in dwelling them that is pre is producing the fruit 189 00:18:21.069 --> 00:18:29.420 of the spirit in their lives, and that's a glorious thing. These people 190 00:18:29.420 --> 00:18:33.299 will devote themselves to good works because they have been born of God, who 191 00:18:33.339 --> 00:18:41.180 is nothing but good. Now, of course, sin is still in US 192 00:18:42.130 --> 00:18:48.450 and there is a battle going on, and so that's why, in this 193 00:18:48.730 --> 00:18:52.049 time, God says to Paul, who then says to tide us, and 194 00:18:52.210 --> 00:18:57.359 says to all of us, keep insisting on these things right. We need 195 00:18:57.640 --> 00:19:03.000 courage for the battle. We the victory is already been one. Christ is 196 00:19:03.119 --> 00:19:07.680 already ascended to the throne, eternal life has been secured. The hope is 197 00:19:07.799 --> 00:19:11.789 ever sure. We just need to press on. It's easy to lose hope, 198 00:19:11.869 --> 00:19:17.069 though, it's easy to get discouraged, it's easy to feel a sin 199 00:19:17.470 --> 00:19:22.349 pressing in around us, and so that's why God speaks to us over and 200 00:19:22.549 --> 00:19:26.779 over and over again, because we need it. We need to be reminded 201 00:19:26.900 --> 00:19:30.140 of these things. We need to be reminded of the Gospel. We need 202 00:19:30.220 --> 00:19:34.740 to be reminded of what God has done, Father Son and Holy Spirit, 203 00:19:36.099 --> 00:19:40.609 in saving us, not according to our works but according to his righteousness, 204 00:19:40.970 --> 00:19:45.890 according to the goodness and stead fat loving kindness of his appearing. And when 205 00:19:45.930 --> 00:19:49.369 we remember these things, and we put our faith on them, he fills 206 00:19:49.410 --> 00:20:02.400 us again, encourages us and builds us up. Beloved, as you see 207 00:20:02.440 --> 00:20:07.549 the Lord signifying these things in baptism, as you see these Lord signifying these 208 00:20:07.589 --> 00:20:11.309 things in a moment in the Lord's Supper, as you hear these things preached, 209 00:20:12.589 --> 00:20:18.789 put your faith in them. Because in these words, in Jesus, 210 00:20:18.829 --> 00:20:23.099 who is proclaimed this one, anointed by the spirit, pouring out the spirit 211 00:20:25.339 --> 00:20:30.940 on the world, in him there is life. And as we trust in 212 00:20:30.980 --> 00:20:36.730 the Lord Jesus Christ, as we trust in the father who has given us 213 00:20:36.769 --> 00:20:40.049 the sun, as we trust in the spirit who is in US and working 214 00:20:40.089 --> 00:20:45.650 in us, God promises to not let us down. We have been justified, 215 00:20:45.690 --> 00:20:52.200 we have been renewed, we have a hope in eternal life. So 216 00:20:52.319 --> 00:20:59.359 let's throw aside our sin, let's throw aside our pride and cling steadfastly to 217 00:20:59.559 --> 00:21:03.200 this hope. With all glory to God, let's Pray