June 3, 2001

Denying, Living, and Looking

Titus 2:11-14

I would like to say a few words this morning on the topic of holiness. We talked about this a little bit recently, but holiness is a topic that we will not wear out anytime soon, and there are a few things about holiness that I want to say. That is one of the great blessings of being the preacher. If there is something that needs saying, you get to talk first, you get to talk last, and if there is enough time, you even get to talk in the middle. And that's what I plan to do.

If you have your Bibles with you today, and I hope you do, turn to Titus 2:11. " For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,
Tit 2:12 Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;
Tit 2:13 Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;
Tit 2:14 Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works."

Several things I want us to notice in this passage. First, Christ has come once and He is coming again. Verse 11 tells us that the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. Jesus Christ was the grace of God manifest in the flesh, and He has appeared once already, and His gospel has gone, and is still going, to all the ends of the earth. In verse 13, we read that He is coming again, and in between those two appearances is where we are today. If you heard about His grace, and believed and received Him for salvation, then you are one of the ones that he is speaking to in verse 12.

Verse 12 is for every Christian here today. If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, then verse 12 applies to you. Verse 12 is a continuation of verse 11, so it reads like this: "For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;"

The grace of God. It has appeared, and it is teaching us. It is going out to all the world, but it has a special purpose for believers, and that is teaching us. The word for teaching here has a special meaning. If you were a wealthy person back in those days, you would hire a person called a pedagogue to teach your child. This would be a personal tutor, and it was his full time job to teach your child all the arts and sciences, physical education, medicine, good manners, morals, ethics, everything you wanted your child to know to be a well educated, polite and moral member of society. Here in these verses, we learn that this is what the Holy Spirit is doing for us today. God doesn't hire some person with a lot of degrees behind their name to teach us how to live, He does it Himself, and He does it by His grace.

And just like so many other things that involve God, what He wants us to do comes in threes. We are to deny, we are to live, and we are to look.
Verse 12: "denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;" Denying, living, and looking.

What do we deny? Ungodliness. What is ungodliness? That is when we act as if God is not a factor in what we are doing. Ungodliness is practical atheism. Or practicing atheism. If we come in here on Sunday and sing and praise God, and talk about how much we love Jesus, and then go out on Monday and leave our religion laying on the nightstand, then for all practical purposes, we might as well be atheists, because that is what we are acting like. When you go to work, and there is some person there who is rotten and horrible, and messes with you all the time, and you are just waiting for the chance to even the score, how are you any different from some heathen? You aren't. Where is the love of Christ manifested in you? It's not. You might as well be an atheist, because what you are acting like is how the world sees your testimony. If you are not Christlike, but ungodly, how will you go and tell anybody about the Saviour, and expect to have anybody pay any attention to you? You have no credibility.

There is a very real sense in which we need to earn the right to tell people about Jesus. Jesus will not accept just any testimony, even if it's true. Turn over to Acts 16:16: "And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying:
Act 16:17 The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us the way of salvation.
Act 16:18 And this did she many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same hour."

Paul was in Thyatira, and this demon possessed girl followed Paul and Silas around, calling out to everybody around that they were the servants of God, and could tell people how to be saved. That was not a lie, that was the truth. But it says that Paul was grieved by what this spirit was doing, and commanded the spirit to come out of the girl, and it did. The point here is not whether what was being said was true or not, it was that a girl known to be demon possessed was not a fit person to give testimony for the things of God, and the same thing is true of us. It is not enough for us to know the gospel and be able to give it clearly, although we should, it is also a requirement that we be clean enough and godly enough to be fitted for any work that involves a holy God. God requires clean hands and a pure heart, and no matter how important the work is, if your behavior is ungodly, then Jesus can't use you. God will accomplish His purposes through somebody else.

Deny ungodliness. Also, we are to deny worldly lusts. When we deny something, we tell it no, we refuse it, we reject it, we don't want it. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life. Worldly lusts. Do you feel like you always want the biggest steak? More desserts? Do you have a problem with your sexual appetite? When you look in the mirror, do you lose your humility? When the conversation involves you, does your mouth make you become the greatest thing since sliced bread?
Just like the song says, are you a sucker for younger women, older whiskey, faster horses, and more money, in all their various shapes, forms, and disguises? The Holy Spirit will teach you how to reject and not want that stuff, He will teach you how to reject ungodly living, but if you don't listen to Him, and do what He tells you, you won't learn a thing.

We are to deny those things, but the Christian life is much more than denials, the Christian life is composed not only of negatives, it is also full of positives, and it is full of life. We deny, and we also live.
Verse 12 also tells us that we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world. What does it mean to live soberly?

Our bodies are fearfully and wonderfully made, and sometimes it doesn't take much to throw them off kilter. Alcohol can do it, drugs, medicine, the right herbs in the wrong combination, too much food, a lot of things can make us act goofy. But what Paul is saying here has to do with how we indulge our bodily appetites. Do we govern our selves, do we exercise control over our physical and sensual desires? Do we have a sound mind, are we temperate, are we discreet? Do you have self control? Do you have restraint over what you do and don't do? Say and don't say?

A person who is mentally and emotionally all gas pedal and no brake is not sober, whether they ever touch liquor or not. A person who is lacking in sound judgement, lacking common sense, and has no restraint in what they say or do is no different from a person who is intoxicated by alcohol. Being intoxicated with alcohol is just the most obvious manifestation of not being sober minded, it's almost a cheap shot. To look only for drunken- ness as the criteria for sobriety and ignore everything else is superficial, and God seldom concerns Himself with the superficial.

Did you ever drive down the street, and there was a squirrel out in the road, and as you got closer ,the squirrel went five ways at once, and four of them were wrong? Living squirrely, that is the opposite of living soberly, and God wants us to quit acting like a bunch of squirrels. Alcohol is treacherous, intoxication is contrary to godliness, but if you define living soberly only in terms of alcohol you really miss the point...

Next, He tells us to act righteously. No cheating. Not at work, not at home, not in anything. No lies. Nothing untrue. No deceit, in anything, at all, period. When you sell something; full disclosure. When you disagree with your mate, be truthful, even when it frustrates your opinion. Dishonesty and false hood are the opposite of godliness. Maybe you think that unless you shade the truth, you won't do as well at work, you won't look as good to others, you won't measure up to everyone else that is shading the truth. You just tell the truth and let God take care of the results.

Do what's right. Do what's true. Do what's honest and fair. Let God take care of the results. If you do things His way, you accomplish two things. Maybe more, but at least two: you put yourself in a position where He can bless you, and if your honesty works to your disadvantage, then He can righteously show forth His power and bail you out. And then you'll have something extra neat to have a testimony about. You don't always need to be trying to work everything to your advantage. Be willing to let others have the advantage, and then let God be God. The judge of all the earth will take care of doing what's right, and He'll take care of you. You don't need shave the truth to help Him help you. All that does is guarantee that you'll end up with second best.

The last thing that we are to be living is godly. Godliness. What does God mean to you? Do you think of God once a day, or maybe twice? Do the words of God come often to your mind, or do you just think of Him on rare occasions? Is your head filled with the thoughts of God's Word, or is it filled with thoughts of what you want, what you like, what pleases you? When you make decisions, do you factor God into the equation, or is God just some spoilsport that gets in your way?

When you are trying to decide if something is going to work, do you have the strength and confidence of God on your side, or is God just a wishful thought to you? Do you practice the presence of God, or do you have to hide God under the sofa cushion several times a day, because sometimes you don't want Him to see and hear what you are doing? Is godliness a reality to you, or is it just a word in a Sunday school lesson somewhere? Godliness is not just a theory, it is a practice. We are to live godly, it is to be a part of what we are, God is to be a part of how we think, our thoughts and inclinations are to reflect His presence inside us.

Notice in the last part of verse 12, where and how we are to do all this. We are to do it in this present world. We are to live this way in the world that we live in, no matter how good or how rotten it is. God does not tell us to go off and hide somewhere in order to stay unstained and unspotted from the filth of the world. He tells us that He can equip us to get through it as it is. The world is like a flood that has swept through our town, and we open our front door and the water is waist high flowing past our door, coming into our house, and it stinks, it is nasty, and it befouls everything it touches. It gets on us, it gets on our kids, and it gets into everything we have, everything we do. Does God want us to slam the door and start bailing the water out the windows? No. He tells us to let Him tie a Holy Spirit rope around our waist, and then we need to go wade out through the current and grab one of our neighbors that is getting swept away. Let Him tie you to Himself, and then go get right in the middle of the muck and mess and grab your brother or sister, some parent or child, some co worker, some neighbor, and drag them out of the flood before they get carried away. God has not called us to be hermits, He has called us to be heroes, and it is high time we got on with it.

And then finally we are to look. Verse 13 tells us: "Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;" When a person has sin, or guilt, or shame in their life, they are not usually very happy to meet other people, especially people that are in authority over them. When you have broken the law, you are not happy when the sheriff appears. When you are loafing at work, you are not happy when the boss appears. Christians: are you happy thinking about what condition Jesus will find you in when He appears?

If we let the Holy Spirit teach us how to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, if we let Him teach us how to live soberly, righteously and godly in this present evil world, then we can look forward to the coming of Jesus Christ with full anticipation. When Jesus Christ comes back, it is going to be a great thing, it is going to be glorious, it is going to be the most wonderful thing there could possibly be, and you need to be looking for it without any mixed feelings. You don't want to be thinking; "Well, I could have done better." "I could have done more." "I didn't do very good." "I meant to do this or that but I got busy and I forgot." "I didn't really mean to do this or that, but I got hungry and lonesome, I wanted the attention, and I gave in to my desire." Don't be there. God wants you to be looking for Jesus with total enthusiasm, and you need to deal with these issues, so that you can be 100%.

One final thought. Verse 14: "Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works." Jesus did not just get us a get-out-of-hell-free card. Our redemption started the moment we got saved, and it continues into heaven. It is not something that is on hold while we are in the flesh here on earth, it is not something pending, it is right now. When you got saved, your redemption from sin started right then. When you got saved, you were dead to sin right then. Christ died for your sin, your acceptance of Him as your substitute took away your sins, and they were gone, why are you still living in them? He redeemed you from them, why are they still around? Some of us live like people that have been cured of some horrible disease, and we keep going back to the hospital and hanging around the waiting room, like maybe we need to catch something again. That's insane. He chose us to Himself to purify us unto Himself. That means that He wants to make us holy like He is holy, and we need to quit trying to frustrate Him.

This phrase here; a peculiar people- we need to understand what that means. It speaks of a unique people, something special. In the original, it means an unusual treasure or jewel that has a special significance to the owner.

My wife doesn't wear a whole lot of jewelry. She has never cared a whole lot for it, even when we were both teenagers. Years ago, when we were on Okinawa, she decided she wanted a certain kind of ring. Okinawa had a lot of jewelers, but she never found the right one. It wasn't until we got to Hong Kong that she found just the one she wanted.

This is the ring here. It has four sapphires and four rubies in it, and I have always thought of it as the ring that she particularly wanted, that she looked for for a long time. Within the context of what this verse means, it would be a peculiar ring, a special ring, a unique treasure. That is how Jesus Christ sees us. We are His special treasure, His peculiar treasure, His peculiar people that He values very greatly. He owns the cattle on a thousand hills, the wealth in every mine, but that is not important to Him. Deuteronomy 32:9 tells us that "the LORD's portion is His people." A peculiar people. A people zealous of good works.

What are you zealous for today? Power? Praise? Fame? Being well spoken of by those around you? Twenty four hours after you're dead, you could count on your fingers the number of people that will ever think about you more than once a week.

Are you zealous for material possessions? Wealth? Brian Marchant wore a t-shirt to class Thursday that said; "He who dies with the most toys is still dead."

What are you zealous for? Are you zealous to do the works of Jesus Christ? Feed the hungry? Comfort the sick? Take care of the unfortunate? To tell people the Good News that Jesus Christ has paid the penalty for sin, and God has made a way of salvation through His Son?

God has made us new creatures in His Son, He has given us His Holy Spirit to live inside us, to enable us to live soberly, righteously and godly lives. We need to live up to who we are.

We are His crown jewels, we are His prized possession, we are His peculiar treasure, and we need to start acting like it. We need to ask God the Holy Spirit to help us change our priorities to His priorities, and our desires and goals to His desires and goals.

If we ask, He will answer. He will make it happen. He will enable us to be something different than we are, something more than we are, something that the world can look at and see Jesus in. Do it. Ask Him. He is waiting.