Preacher: Jeremy Herbert
Text: Titus 2:11-15
Theme: Thanksgiving
Notes:
Titus written about 20 years after events in Acts 20.
The New Testament doesn’t glamorize the early churches–they are given to us warts and all.
Epimenides, a Cretan poet: “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, and lazy gluttons”.
Thanksgiving is a right attitude outflow of a spiritually healthy heart.
Past – 2:11, “the grace of God has appeared to all men”
- What is grace?
- Grace is a Person, not a thing
- When the Scripture speaks of “more grace”, it’s not more of a substance–it is more of the experience of drawing near to Christ
- Grace = God’s goodness given to us through the Person and work of Jesus Christ
- No Christian is given any more grace than any other Christian
- Those who spend more time in God’s presence experience more of Christ’s goodness
Present – Titus 2:12, “training us to renounce ungodliness….to live…godly lives in this present age”
- “in this present age” – it doesn’t matter what place or time, God’s grace can teach us to live godly
- 1st century Crete
- 16th century Europe
- 21st century America
- Acts 2 – Cretans listed among believers at Pentecost
- We can fall into two opposite errors:
- Trusting grace apart from means: “Just let go and let God make me holy”
- Trusting means apart from grace: “If I work hard enough God will make me holy”
- Correct: trusting God to provide grace by use of means that He has given
- We labor AND trust God to transform
- “training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions”
- saying no to things, so that we might say yes to better things
- we deny ourselves those things that are against God (ungodliness)
Future – 3:13, “waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of…God and Savior Jesus Christ”
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