It's on page 1199 if you're using the red-covered Bible.
Let's hear God's Word.
Reminds the people to be subject to rulers and authorities,
to be obedient,
to be ready to do whatever is good,
to slander no one,
to be peaceable and considerate,
and to show true humility towards all people.
At one time, we too were foolish, disobedient,
deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures.
We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another.
But when the kindness and love of God our Saviour appeared,
he saved us,
not because of righteous things we had done,
but because of his mercy.
He saved us through the washing of rebirth
and renewal by the Holy Spirit,
whom he poured out on us generously
through Jesus Christ our Saviour,
so that, having been justified by his grace,
we might become heirs,
having the hope of eternal life.
This is a trustworthy saying.
And I want to stress these things
so that those who have trusted in God
may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good.
These things are excellent and profitable for everyone.
Peter.
Before Peter opens up that to us,
we're going to pray,
and I'm going to pray for Peter as we do this.
So let's do that now.
Father, thank you for your word.
Thank you for the truth of this letter,
your word to us.
And we thank you for Peter,
for his gifts.
Thank you for this past year,
for his opportunity to be studying
theology there in the US.
We pray that you will continue to bless him
in the year ahead
to comprehend and understand your word better,
but that it would also change his heart
and change his life more and more.
And we pray that for ourselves right now,
that this would not just be a head exercise,
but a heart-changing exercise.
We pray for Peter,
that you would fill him with your spirit
to communicate clearly your truth,
that we may understand it and apply it
and be people who see the greatness
and the goodness of God all the more.
So we thank you for him
and we thank you for your word.
In Jesus' name.
Amen.
Thanks, Johnny.
Well, it's a pleasure to be here.
We're delighted to be back in Ireland
and I think as we've been in the States,
we've experienced so much blessing over there,
but we felt a large part of that blessing
is from the church here.
So we've been thinking a lot about you all
and praying a lot about you all.
So we really appreciate your support
and your prayers.
Yeah, as we have read,
we're going to look at Titus chapter 3,
just the first eight verses this week
and the remainder of the chapter next week.
So in the past few weeks,
we've been working through this short letter
that Paul writes to Titus.
So we're going to pick up
where we left off a couple of weeks ago
at the start of chapter 3.
I think one of the things we've experienced
a lot in the States
is a huge generosity from people.
So within the first week of us arriving,
some guy that we had just got to know
came over for tea
and he heard that I played the guitar
but didn't have a guitar
and he offered to loan me his guitar
for the whole year,
which was a great blessing
and it's really nice to be able to play and sing.
One of the songs I started singing
is by an Irish singer-songwriter
called James Vincent McMorrow,
which is a real Irish-y name.
And the song starts with the line,
If this is redemption,
if this is redemption,
why do I bother at all?
Nothing to mention and nothing has changed.
And as I learned the song,
I was thinking,
is this an appropriate song to be singing?
Because it sounds very pessimistic
and very sceptical.
But the more I sang it,
the more I've realised
that that's something
that we often feel as Christians.
So we know we have been redeemed,
we know the Gospel is true,
and yet we look at our lives
and we wonder,
has anything changed?
We wonder,
why is it that we still seem
to have such short tempers
with our children?
Or why is it that we seem
to be so reluctant
to obey those
who are in authority over us?
We perhaps see anxiousness
in our lives
or we see a lack of joy in Christ.
And it's interesting
because we're not the only ones
who ask this question of ourselves.
So you need not think for too long,
but when you realise the way
that people who aren't Christians
think about Christians,
they ask this question all the time.
So they look at us and they say,
well, these people claim to be redeemed,
they claim to be Christians,
and yet it seems that nothing
has changed in their lives.
In fact, it seems they're greater hypocrites
than the rest of us
because they're supposed to be
these transformed people,
and yet they live lives
that don't give that impression.
We've seen that especially
for those who are in roles of authority
or who are in public roles.
And sometimes the criticism is fair
because Christians often do things
that are not in keeping
with being Christians.
So it's a big question.
If we have been redeemed,
what change has that had in our lives
or what change should that have
in our lives?
And it's the question, I think,
that Paul is dealing with here
in the start of chapter 3.
He asks,
what effect does redemption
have in our lives?
And in particular,
in chapter 3,
what effect does redemption
have in our lives
as we live them in society
and as we live them
in relationship to
the rulers and authorities
around us?
And the way we're going to
open up these eight or so verses
is just to think about
three different things.
We're going to think about
what God has saved us from.
We're going to think about
what God has saved us to.
And we're going to think about
what way we should live
as a result of those two things.
So the first thing we want to see
is what God has saved us from.
And that's what Paul is dealing with
in verse 3 of this chapter.
So he says,
at one time we too were foolish,
disobedient, deceived,
and enslaved by all kinds of passions.
We lived in malice and envy,
being hated and hating one another.
Sometimes with Paul,
when he reels off these lists of things,
you sometimes wonder,
is he just filling space?
But as we break them down
into maybe into couples of words,
we see the different things
that Paul is getting at.
So he says, firstly,
the first couple of words
is that we were foolish
and disobedient.
So in other words,
we were foolish in our minds
and we were disobedient
in our morals.
So there was a corruption
in our minds
and a corruption in our morals,
the way we thought
and the way we acted.
He says,
he goes on to say,
we were deceived
and enslaved
by all kinds of passions
and pleasures.
So maybe you could say
the first couple of things
are internal,
they're to do with
who we are in ourselves.
But this second couple of things
are external,
that we were deceived
by something outside of ourselves,
or we were enslaved
by something outside of ourselves,
by passions and pleasures.
The third couple of terms,
that we lived in malice and envy.
In other words,
we not only hated people,
but we also envied them.
We wanted what they had.
We coveted what they had,
to use an older terminology.
And of course,
this hatred,
this coveting,
resulted in us
hating one another
and being hated.
And as we read these things,
it's a little bit unnerving
and it's a little bit unpleasant
to hear about what Paul says
we once were.
But I think he wants it to be that.
He wants us to feel
that there is no escape,
that this is a bleak and black picture
of who we are,
or who we were in fact.
And part of the reason he does that
is because at the start of verse 4,
he says,
but,
so he wants to draw a contrast
between what he has just said.
And we see that the contrast
is with this kindness
and love of God our Savior.
Instead of one who is foolish
or disobedient,
God is kind and loving.
And so as we turn
from the bleak picture
of who we were
to the picture of who God is
and the way in which God acted
in our lives,
there is a stark contrast.
And I think there is a contrast
not only in who God is
and who we were,
but there is also a contrast
between who God is
and who we often think he is.
Even as Christians,
who we often think he is.
Paul says God is loving
and God is kind.
And God is our Savior, he says.
And when we reflect on these words,
maybe we realize
that this is not precisely
how we thought about God this week.
when we woke up in the morning
and we considered
whether we should
commit ourselves to God
for the day,
did we do it willingly
or did we feel
that God was a God
who was out to get us there,
a God of anger,
a God who didn't care about us,
a God who was distant?
But no, Paul says
God is kind and loving
and that he is our Savior.
I think it's clear
that he is kind and loving
in the order
in which Paul writes these things.
So he says,
when the kindness and love of God,
our Savior,
appeared in verse 4,
he saved us.
The order is very important
because we're sometimes
deceived into thinking
or enslaved into thinking
that because Christ died for us,
therefore God loves us.
But what Paul is saying here
is that it is because God loves us
that Christ died for us.
So Paul gives us
the correct order of the gospel,
I guess,
the correct order
in which these things have happened.
And when we weigh that
against other verses
that we know,
other verses that we're familiar with,
we realize that's
the consistent message
of the gospel.
John 3.16, for example,
for God so loved the world,
that's the source,
that's the reason
that he sent his only son
to die for us.
So what Paul is saying
is that the kindness
and love of God
is the source of the gospel.
And I think it's interesting
that he says,
God our Savior,
so we're used to thinking
about Jesus as our Savior.
But conclusively,
Paul says,
God the Father
is our Savior as well.
That Father, Son, and Spirit
are all at work
in order to save us.
And Paul demonstrates this
if you look as he goes on
through verse 5,
it says that God saved us,
not because of righteous things
we had done,
but because of his mercy.
And so what Paul is emphasizing
is that this Christian gospel
that we believe in
is totally different
to all other religious beliefs.
It's totally different
to all other man-made ideas
of how we might save ourselves.
Paul says that God saved us.
God is the one
who took the initiative.
These three simple words
stand at the very heart
of our belief.
They stand utterly opposed
to any idea
of how we might save ourselves,
might be formulated.
That God saved us,
as it says twice in verse 5,
stand opposed to the idea
that we can save ourselves.
That God saved us
makes it clear
that we did not save ourselves.
That God saved us
highlights the personal,
the particular nature
of salvation.
God, our Savior,
had us in mind.
When Christ died on the cross,
he had us in mind,
particular people.
And at just the right time,
as Paul goes on,
this historic event,
this historic act of Christ,
God the Son,
was applied to us
by the rebirth,
the washing of rebirth,
it says in verse 5,
and renewal by the Holy Spirit.
So it's a comprehensive salvation.
It's a pure redemption
by God the Father,
God the Son,
and God the Spirit
in our lives.
He responds to our desperate need
in love and kindness.
He demonstrates his mercy
in the cross of Christ,
and he applies it
to each one of us
who have believed.
And so from start to finish,
there is nothing left to chance.
From start to finish,
this is pure redemption
by God.
He has saved us
from what we were.
And the question then for us
is how do we respond to this?
How do we respond to God's
saving work in our lives?
And I think Paul hints at it
at least in verse 7.
He says those who have,
sorry, in verse 8,
those who have trusted in God.
The only appropriate response,
the only ongoing response
to all that God has done
is to trust in him,
to believe him,
to have faith in him.
As it says in the Gospels
and in all of the New Testament
and all of the Old Testament,
that to turn to God
in faith and trust
and belief in what he has done
in history
is the only appropriate response.
Paul says,
uses this phrase,
this is a trustworthy saying
a couple of times
in his letters.
In other words,
he's saying what he's talking about
is worthy of our trust
because the one he is talking about
is worthy of our trust.
God has saved us
from what we were
is the first thing
that we want to see.
The second thing
is that God has saved us
to what we will be.
We're going to be a little bit brief
around these points,
but I think it's interesting
as we read through the Bible,
there's things that happen
in the Bible
that for those people
at that particular time,
they were still future events,
they were still waiting to happen.
Sorry.
One of the first things
that hit me
as I got off the plane
was a head cold.
God has saved us
to what we will be.
So,
as we read through the Bible,
we see that
God makes promises
to his people
throughout the Bible.
He made promises
to Israel
that they would be delivered
from Egypt.
And as this future promise
came into their present
and worked through
into their past,
they were able to reflect
on what God had done
and to say,
well,
this was something
that was future
and we experienced it
and now it is past.
And because it is past,
there is a certain sense
of definitiveness about it.
This has surely happened.
But what Paul is saying
to us here
is that these things
that are still future for us,
this eternal life,
this hope of eternal life
in the end of verse 7,
even though it's still future,
it's absolutely sure,
it's absolutely definite,
it's as if it has already happened.
And in reality,
when we think about eternal life,
we realize that this
has actually happened
to some extent for us.
So when Jesus talks
about eternal life,
he says,
eternal life is to know
God the Father
and to know Jesus Christ
who God has sent.
And so when we think about it,
if we know God the Father,
if we know Jesus Christ
whom he has sent,
then in some sense
we already have eternal life
right now,
which is an amazing thought.
But at the same time,
there is an eternal life
that is still future.
We still have to enter
into the fullness
of this eternal life.
We have been reminded
this week,
horrifically,
how sin still exists
in our world,
how things still happen
that disturb us,
seriously disturb us,
because we have not
entered into the kingdom
of God fully.
We have not fully attained
the eternal life
that is set before us.
And so there is this sense
that eternal life
is now ours.
God has saved us
to this now,
and yet it is something
that God has saved us
to that is still future.
And so as we think
about what God
has saved us from,
as we think about
what God has saved us to,
we realize that we're
between the past
and we're between
the past and the future.
And so as we consider
how we should live
accordingly,
we will realize
that we're affected
by both our past
and our future.
It can be a hard thing
though sometimes
to think about
how we can be
heirs of eternal life
and this can be true now
and at the same time
it can be future.
But the word heirs
that Paul uses
is very helpful
in verse 7,
at the end of verse 7.
When we think about
an heir,
we realize that
a firstborn son
or daughter of a king
is immediately part
of the royal family,
so they're immediately
their royal lineage,
their heir to the throne,
so the minute
the king dies
and the heir to the throne
will ascend the throne,
which explains partially
why there's so many
stories about royal pregnancies
and things like that
in tabloid magazines
because one day
this little baby,
who is only a baby,
will rule over a nation
either literally
or figuratively
in some cases.
But it helps us
to understand
what it is
to be sure
of something now,
so this heir
to the throne
is sure
that they will
one day be
on the throne
and yet it is
a future event
for that child.
I don't know
if any of you
are argumentative,
but if you are,
you might say,
well,
what if the heir dies?
What if the heir
is overcome
by some disease
or sickness
and they can't
fulfill their duties?
The genius,
I think,
of what Paul
is saying here
is that when we
think about
our being heirs
of eternal life
or of the hope
of eternal life
is that all
the potential obstacles,
all the potential
deterrents,
all the potential
hurdles to our
being able to
enjoy eternal life
have already
been removed.
So if we ask
ourselves,
what if I sin?
We can say,
well,
Jesus has paid
for my sins.
If we ask
ourselves,
what if I die?
Which is so
ultimate and so
definite.
God tells us
death has no
sting anymore
because Christ
has died in our
place.
And so we realise
that the
comprehensiveness,
the purity,
if you will,
or the density
of what God
has done in the
past is matched
by the density
of what he has
prepared for us
in the future,
the purity of it,
the comprehensiveness
of it.
There is no doubt
what we have
been saved to.
And so the
final thing we
want to see,
having thought
about what God
has saved us
from and what
God has saved
us to,
the more practical
of you will
want to know,
well,
what does that
mean for us?
I think,
first of all,
we have to
reiterate that it
does mean we
need to believe
in these things.
So the expectation
as Jesus preaches
through the Gospels
is that you repent
and believe.
That's the first,
that's the ongoing,
that's the essential
response to these
truths,
what God has
saved us from
and what he has
saved us to.
But it's not the
only response.
And we've seen
that already in
chapters 1 and 2
of Titus.
There are practical
things that should
flow out of this
faith response.
And again in
chapter 3,
Paul highlights
some of these
things.
You'll have noticed
that we started
in verse 3 of
chapter 3,
but in verses 1 and
2 and in verse 8,
there are very
practical things
that Paul calls
us to do.
He says,
remind the people,
writing to Titus,
he says,
remind the people,
that is,
believers,
to be subject
to rulers and
authorities,
to be obedient,
to be ready to
do whatever is
good and so on.
And in verse 8,
he says that we
are to be devoted
to doing good.
Now the reason
we've taken
these verses
last is because
we want to make
clear the logic
of the Gospel.
So we need
to realise
that the but
at the start
of verse 4
is very important.
It's because
God has done
all these things
in the past
and it's because
God has promised
us all these
things in the future
that then we
seek to live out
verses 1 and 2
and verse 8.
And in fact,
the whole of
the letter to
Titus.
It is because
of what God
has done
that we are
to be subject
to rulers
and authorities.
It is because
we are to
remember that
we were once
disobedient and
that we have
been changed
from that life
that now we
are called
to be obedient.
So as a result
of the work
by God
in our lives
we are to
live differently.
Paul reminds
us of what
we were.
Not so that
we can be
despairing,
not so that
we can be
boastful
that we have
been changed,
but he reminds
us of what
we were so
that we can
be conduits
or vehicles
or channels
of the love
that we have
received from
God to those
people who are
still in a
position where
they don't
know God,
to those people
who are still
disobedient and
foolish and
enslaved.
So as we look
at the people
around us in
our families,
in our friends,
in our society,
who seem to be
rebelling against
God, who seem
enslaved to work
or whatever it
might be,
there should be
a humility
because we
were once that
and it is God
who has set us
free.
So Paul
reminds us of
these things
so that we
might be now
living lives
that are
reflective of
God's love.
I think,
I guess it
can be pretty
abstract and it
can be pretty
hard to get a
handle on,
but maybe a
couple of
illustrations will
hopefully flesh
out the idea
a little better
that what God
has done should
affect how we
live.
I don't know
if you've seen
the Shawshank
Redemption
movie.
If you
haven't, you
should, and if
you have, then
you'll know the
ending.
But at the end
of that movie
there's a
character called
Red, and Red
is Irish I
think, and he
has been in
Shawshank prison
for decades, and
he's finally been
released, he's
finally free,
totally free,
free to the
point that if he
went back to the
prison and asked
let me in, they
wouldn't let him
in, because
he's free.
And yet at the
same time, there
are things in
Red's life that
he can't seem to
shake from his
imprisoned past.
So when he's
working in the
supermarket, he
asks the
manager whether
he's allowed to
go to use the
bathroom, and the
manager is getting
frustrated because
he doesn't need
to do this, and
yet Red keeps
asking whether he
can use the
bathroom because
he's living in a
way, even though
he's free, he's
living in a way as
if he was still
imprisoned.
So I think that
helps us to
realise that there
are things that
have happened to
us, we've been
delivered from
these ways of
acting so that we
need to no longer
live that way, we
need to no longer
be disobedient or
disleaved or
enslaved.
I think if we
think about the
future element of
it, a second
illustration might
help.
I don't know if
you remember, maybe
five years ago or
so, Prince Harry
was in all the
tabloids for all
the wrong reasons.
So Prince Harry
over in England
was going to a
costume party and
he wore what was
an incredibly
insensitive costume,
a Nazi uniform,
and he was in all
the tabloids, in all
the broadsheets as
well being talked
about, and much
was written, but at
the very heart, at
the essence of the
problem was that
Prince Harry is
third in line to the
throne of England,
husband, and he
acted in a way that
was not in keeping
with how an heir to
the throne should
act.
We as heirs of
eternal life should
act in a way that is
in keeping with what
it is to be heirs of
eternal life.
We shouldn't act the
way we once acted.
We should live lives
that are peaceable, we
should live lives that
are considerate, that
show true humility to
all men.
I guess as we finish, we
want to ask what
repercussions that has
for how we live our
lives in Carragalline,
how we live our lives
in relationship to the
government of our
country.
I think in Ireland we
have a somewhat patchy
relationship to leaders
in government or in
church life or in
financial life.
We want to ask whether
the way in which we
relate to our team
leader at work or the
people that we work
with is in keeping
what Paul calls us to
hear.
It's interesting as we
read through verses
1 and 2 that Paul is
focusing on rulers and
authorities in verse 1
but in verse 2 he
broadens the net.
He says we're to
slander no one and he
says we're to show
true humility towards
all men.
So if you ask what
about the person who
cut me off in traffic
this morning, who I
don't know, I
don't know.
Yeah, Paul says no,
we're not to slander
them, we're to show
true humility towards
them.
What about the person
who seems to have a
vendetta against me?
Paul says yeah, that's
included in this
category, we're to
slander no one and to
show true humility
towards all men.
And the amazing thing
is that as we do this
people will see and
realise that we have
been loved by God, we
have been redeemed by
God.
There is a pure
redemption at work in
our lives that causes
us to live in this way,
in a way that is
different to what we
were and hopefully in a
way that stands in
contrast to the world
also.
As we finish, I guess,
if we're being honest,
we are sometimes like
red in the Shawshank
Redemption.
We do sometimes return to
old patterns of life.
But I want to encourage
us this morning and
this passage encourages
us that we need not
live that way.
We need not be
enslaved to our old
patterns of life.
We have been saved
from our old selves.
We can live
accordingly.
And we are sometimes
like Prince Harry as
well.
We're living in a way
that is not in keeping
with people who are
heirs of eternal life.
And so again, to
encourage us this morning
that as we look
towards the coming
week, to keep
eternity in mind,
to keep this bright,
radiant future that
God has promised us
in mind.
It's true that there
certainly are challenges,
there certainly is sin
going on in our lives.
But hopefully as we
look to the goal,
hopefully as we look
to what God has
prepared us for,
we will be able to
live in a way that is
in keeping with what
he has done in our
lives.
We are called to
devote ourselves to
good.
I think that's probably
a good summary.
As Paul puts it in
verse 8, we are
called to devote
ourselves to good
because God has
saved us from what
we were, because
God has saved us
to be something
entirely different
and to enjoy
eternal life, to
know him and to
know his son, our
Lord Jesus, forever.
So as we close,
I'd encourage us to
keep those two
things in mind
this week as we
live in society,
in public, as we
relate to others
around us, that
they too might be
able to say at
some point in the
future, I was once
like that, but when
I knew the kindness
and the love of God,
my Saviour, perhaps
through somebody in
this church, I was
able to rejoice and
realize that he
saved me too.
so let's pray and
commit ourselves to
God.
Father, we're so
grateful for the
work that you have
done in us.
Father, we pray that
you would work
through us this
coming week.
We're only too
conscious that
sometimes we all
too often fail to
live in a way that
is reflective of
what you have
done in our
lives.
We are conscious
that we all too
often fail to
live in a way that
is reflective of
the eternal hope,
the eternal life
that we have
before us, this
sure and definite
promise that you
have given us.
Help us to know
your presence and
your power as we
seek to live out
these truths.
Thank you,
Father, so much
for this time
together.
Thank you that we
can come to the
table together and
remember once more
what you have done
for us.
In Jesus' name we
pray these things.
Amen.