Episode Transcript
WEBVTT
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Let's turn to titus chapter three,
versus four through eight, taking a little
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break in preaching through the gospel of
John, so that we might reflect a
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little bit more on what it is
the Lord has done and symbolized in baptism.
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So Titus chapter three, let's start
actually in verse three. Titus three,
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verse three, for we ourselves were
once foolish, disobedient, let us
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stray, slaves to various passions and
pleasures, passing our days in malice and
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envy, hated by others and hating
one another. But when the goodness and
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loving kindness of awe of God,
our Savior, appeared, he saved us,
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not because of works done by us
in righteousness, but according to his
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own mercy, by the washing of
regeneration and the renewal of the Holy Spirit
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whom he poured out on US richly
through Jesus Christ, our Savior, so
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that, being justified by His grace, we might become heirs according to the
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hope of eternal life. The saying
is trustworthy. I want you to insist
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on these things, so that those
who have believed in God may be careful
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to devote themselves to good works.
These things are excellent and profitable for people.
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God bless his word to us so
to understand better what it is exactly
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that God is symbolizing for us and
promising, promising to us in the sign
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and seal of baptism. We come
to titus three, versus three through eight,
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here to grow in that, to
grow in what we might say the
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knowledge of God's grace. This is
one of those passages of scripture that just
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very clearly and very plainly sets out
for us what it is God has done
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for us, what it is God
has done for us. And so let's
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read and let's hear God's word so
that we might understand who God is,
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what he has done and how that
changes things. As we consider that,
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notice how the notice the context of
this passage. This is a letter to
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a man named Titus. Titus is
like a church planter, he's a missionary,
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and the Apostle Paul is riding to
him and giving him instructions on how
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to how to be a good pastor
how to do well in the church according
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to the calling God has put on
his life. And so that's why he
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says in Verse Eight, this saying
or this saying is trustworthy and I want
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you titus to insist on these things, another words, make a big deal
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about them, say I'm a lot
over and over, keep impressing on these
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things, insist on them. Why
does Paul want him to do that?
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Well, Paul wants him to do
that. One of the reasons, and
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the reason he gives here, is
that there's an expected result, that if
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titus carries out his ministry in this
particular way, by insisting on these things,
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which will focus on in a moment, by insisting on these these things,
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something is going to happen, and
it's this those who have believed,
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so that those who have believed in
God may be careful to devote themselves to
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good works. Right, who doesn't
want to have a church, be a
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pastor of a church, to a
member of a church where everybody's devoted to
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good works? Right, wouldn't that
be a great place to be? Here
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the Apostle, Paul writes the titus
and says here's what you need to do,
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right, here's the program here's your
here's the lesson for Pastoral Ministry.
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Insist on these things so that those
who have believed in God may be careful
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to devote themselves for good works.
These are excellent things. They're profitable for
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people. If you give people these
things, it will be a value to
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them and it will be of value
to others as they do good works.
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So then, what are the things
that tied US needs to insist on?
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What are the what are the what's
the message that he's supposed to focus on?
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Well, it's what he says really, and all of Titus, but
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here's summarized by this contrast. He
wants the he wants titus to go and
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speak to these people and remind them
of a contrast between what they were and
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what they are and how that change
happened. He begins with what they were.
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He says in verse three. We
ourselves were ones, foolish, disobedient,
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let us stray, slaves to various
passions and pleasure, US passing our
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days in malice and envy, hated
by others and hating one another. How
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do you like to live in that
kind of community? Right, a bunch
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of people acting in every bad way, captive to their their passions, in
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their desires, slaves to them,
confused, foolish and against one another.
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Something changed, though, this people
of God, that people that have been
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called together. Something dramatic happened and
Paul described why it happened in verse four.
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In verse three we have this bad
past. In in verse four we
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are introduced to this amazing future and
present now that these people enjoy, and
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of course we do as well who
believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. This
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is what happened. This was the
dramatic change in their lives. The goodness
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and the loving kindness of God,
our Savior, appeared. This is like
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when you're in a really bad spot
and all of a sudden hope right.
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Imagine you are trapped in a dark
cave, your ground, and then all
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of a sudden somebody shows up with
a light and your heart lifts and you
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rejoice and you say it's gonna be
okay, the light has appeared. This
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is very similar to the way John
Speaks at the beginning of his Gospel.
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Right, he says the light of
God has come into the world and the
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darkness is not overcome it. Right, the light shines in the darkness and
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the darkness is not overcome it.
The light they're described in the beginning of
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John is described here by Paul as
the goodness and the loving kindness of God,
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our Savior. A lot of people
today doubt the goodness of God.
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They doubt that he is truly good, that he is truly holy. In
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fact, many people today spend much
of their time accusing God of not being
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good. They don't follow him because
they think he is bad. But Titus
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says it's just the opposite. Not
only is God good, but the goodness
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of God appears, and that itself
is an amazing thing. There's no reason
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that God owed to us his goodness. There's no reason that God had to
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come into the light or bring his
light into the darkness of our sin and
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depravity and hating one another. But
he did, not only in other words
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as God good, but in his
goodness he appeared to us. He gives
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that to us. Who of us
deserve God's grace? Who of us have
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done so many wonderful and good things
that we that God owes something to us
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that we can say, well,
that's not really good, he just kind
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of owed it to me. Really, of course, none of us can
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say that. And so even in
the appearing of the goodness of God,
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we have the goodness of God and
the loving kindness of God, the steadfastness
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of God, the God not only
is good, but that he loves us.
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He he appears to us in a
way that cradles us and cares for
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us and wraps us up in his
arms and takes us as his own.
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Earlier I mentioned Jesus saying unto these
and such as these is the little as
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the Kingdom of God. You remember, there was that moment when there were
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people wanting to bring their children to
Jesus and the disciples. No, no,
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no, he is too busy,
and he says no, bring them
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under me, don't hinder them.
Jesus loves US IN OUR WEAKNESS. Children
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don't have anything to offer Jesus.
Of course, adults don't either, but
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we like to think as adults that
were something special right, that we've matured
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and we're all capable and good at
all of these wonderful things. But of
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course, if we're honest, we
know that we are still needy to we
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still struggle to and in the children
Jesus helps us to underste that helps us
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to know where there, understand,
to see those things, to neel,
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to know that we need him,
not in all of it, not only
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in all of his glory, but
we need his glory and his goodness to
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come to us in loving kindness.
Can you imagine if they'll all holy?
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Only Good God came to us,
apart from loving kindness and perhaps, let's
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say, in the goodness of his
justice, there would know be there would
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be no comming to me, all
you who are heavy Laden and I will
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give you rest. It would be
depart from me, you workers of iniquity,
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for I am good and you are
not. But he comes to us
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not only in goodness, but he
comes to us in loving kindness. In
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our weakness, in our inability,
in our in our our a la lack
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of capability to do anything good for
God, in and of ourselves. He
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comes to us. He appears and
he doesn't just appear, but he saves
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us. He actively saves US,
Paul says. Why does he save us?
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And this will take us back to
the loving kindness, he says in
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verse five. Not Because of works
done by us in righteousness, but according
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to his own mercy, according to
his own mercy. As I said,
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we don't come to God and sort
of lay out our things on the table
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and say, let's make a deal. Perhaps these things will be good enough
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for me to enter into your heaven. What do you say? Paul says,
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the Apostle. Paul says that that
he would trade all of his good
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works, he would throw them away, he counts them as rubbish, so
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that he might have Christ. The
Bible says that our good works are like
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filthy rags. We don't have anything
to bring to God, and God knows
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it, and so that's why he
saves us, not according to works that
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we've done in righteousness, but according
to his own mercy. We're like little
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helpless babies, we can't do anything. We need the Lord, we need
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him to work for us, and
he does that. He does that in
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Jesus Christ and he does that in
the Holy Spirit. These two missions of
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God is there's sometimes called in theology, these persons, the second person,
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the third person of the Trinity,
scent in Perfect Unison with the father,
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to accomplish his holy will expressed here. In this way, he saved us,
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not by works done by us in
righteousness, but according to his own
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mercy, by the washing of regeneration
and the renewal of the Holy Spirit whom
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he poured out on US richly through
Jesus Christ, our Savior. So we
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of course know, as for those
of us who have been here and we've
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been going through thinking about Jesus,
Jesus crucifixion in John Chapter Nineteen. We
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know how it is. We are
saved by Christ. He dies for us,
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he goes to the place of judgment
and gives up his own life so
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that we would not be judged.
He also pours out his Holy Spirit,
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having ascended to the right hand of
God, having been enthroned in the new
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creation, in the new kingdom,
this kingdom that is to come. But
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he doesn't distance himself totally from us. Instead, he unites US perfectly to
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himself by the Holy Spirit that new
creation that he has entered into, that
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he is king over. He sends
the Holy Spirit from above to cause us
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to be reborn, reborn and we
look at infants and we see how the
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world has not yet affected them.
In some ways that's bad, right.
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We want them to grow up and
become wise and capable in these kind of
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things. And of course, in
some ways we think it's so good right
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that they do not yet know all
the sorrows of this world. But nevertheless,
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even apart from all of that,
we know from God's testimony and work
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in our lives, from the testimony
of scripture that all of us are are
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born undersin, that all of us
are in need of His grace, no
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matter how young we are, David
says, in sin did my mother conceive
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me? All Children of Adam,
all children of the fall, all born
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into a world that's cursed. We
need new life. How can people be
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born under the curse enter into a
curseless, blessed Kingdom of God? You
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can't, unless, of course,
you are given a new birth. You
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are new creationized, you are born
again, renewed, with emphasis on the
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new. And that's what God does. He begins the work of the resurrection,
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even here now, in this world, by causing us to die in
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Christ and be born in him.
How does that happen? It happens by
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the will of God and the Holy
Spirit, whom he pours out on US
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richly through Jesus Christ, our Savior, this glorious rebirth of the spirit.
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We don't know exactly when these things
happen. It happens according to God's will
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because, after all, the salvation
that we have is not from below,
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it's from above. The Salvation we
have is not something that we can will
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into existence, work into existence,
create into existence were creatures after all,
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not creators. No, we need
God to do that creative work, and
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God does that creative work in this
world. And that's what happened for this
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church that Paul is writing to,
for this church that titus is over.
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These people are looking at their lives
and they're saying we're new creatures. We're
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living already now in the light of
the new life and the resurrection, the
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Holy Spirit in dwelling us being poured
out on US richly. What a wondrous
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thing God has done. They are
people who have, as verse seven goes
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and we come to an end here, they are people who have been justified
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by His grace. They no longer
stand as those who are guilty and condemned
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under the wrath and curse before God. They stand as those who are proclaimed
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by God innocent and pure, having
the righteousness of Christ, justified by His
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grace that we might become heirs according
to the hope of eternal life. So
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why will people like that be devoted
to good works? Because they can't do
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anything else. People that have been
born into the new creation, that the
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Holy Spirit, it is in dwelling
them that is pre is producing the fruit
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of the spirit in their lives,
and that's a glorious thing. These people
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will devote themselves to good works because
they have been born of God, who
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is nothing but good. Now,
of course, sin is still in US
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and there is a battle going on, and so that's why, in this
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time, God says to Paul,
who then says to tide us, and
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says to all of us, keep
insisting on these things right. We need
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courage for the battle. We the
victory is already been one. Christ is
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already ascended to the throne, eternal
life has been secured. The hope is
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ever sure. We just need to
press on. It's easy to lose hope,
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though, it's easy to get discouraged, it's easy to feel a sin
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pressing in around us, and so
that's why God speaks to us over and
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over and over again, because we
need it. We need to be reminded
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of these things. We need to
be reminded of the Gospel. We need
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to be reminded of what God has
done, Father Son and Holy Spirit,
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in saving us, not according to
our works but according to his righteousness,
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according to the goodness and stead fat
loving kindness of his appearing. And when
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we remember these things, and we
put our faith on them, he fills
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us again, encourages us and builds
us up. Beloved, as you see
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the Lord signifying these things in baptism, as you see these Lord signifying these
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things in a moment in the Lord's
Supper, as you hear these things preached,
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put your faith in them. Because
in these words, in Jesus,
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who is proclaimed this one, anointed
by the spirit, pouring out the spirit
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on the world, in him there
is life. And as we trust in
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the Lord Jesus Christ, as we
trust in the father who has given us
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the sun, as we trust in
the spirit who is in US and working
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in us, God promises to not
let us down. We have been justified,
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we have been renewed, we have
a hope in eternal life. So
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let's throw aside our sin, let's
throw aside our pride and cling steadfastly to
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this hope. With all glory to
God, let's Pray
