[audio:http://crosschurch.net/media/audio/10march28.mp3]
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Sermon Outline:
1. Recognize Your Duty (v.1-2)
2. Remember Your Depravity (v.3)
3. Realize Your Deliverance (v.4-7)
4. Render Good Deeds (v.8)
Sermon Text:
Titus 3:1-8
3:1 Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work, 2 to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people. 3 For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. 4 But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. 8 The saying is trustworthy, and I want you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works. These things are excellent and profitable for people.
Sermon Notes
A Worship-Centered Life (pt 2)
They are the true circumcision, Paul says. They do not worship in the flesh. The “flesh” here is not referring to our physical bodies, for there is nothing inherently wrong with physicality. What Paul is referring to is human effort or trust in ancestry – trusting in it for our redemption. Worship in the Spirit of God also means that the source of our life and walk in Christ is the Holy Spirit who unites us to Jesus Christ. “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh counts for nothing.” (John 6:63) Gal 5:25 likewise says, “If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.” Thus both our conversion and our sanctification can be attributed to the work of Christ applied by the Spirit.
The mark of a Christian here, Paul says, is that they glory in Christ, that is, give our weight to Him, not anything else. To glory in someone one must have affection, desire and are driven by that someone. Christ is the one they will cherish above all [His sinless life, His once for all sacrifice on the cross for the elect, His bodily resurrection from the grave, His rule and reign as Lord and King, His second coming for His church, etc.] Of course this is a constant struggle even for a Christian. There is a constant heavy pull in the world to glory in ourselves or in something else, but the Spirit who lives in us preserves us. We think we can find ourselves in something less than the real thing and so we disbelieve God’s promises. But the Holy Spirit uses such instances to discipline us as children to draw us nearer to Himself.
Paul says, they have utterly despaired of themselves. When the Holy Spirit does a work of grace in someone, He convicts them of their sin. Not just sins, but convicts of the fact that they are sinners by nature and can do nothing to save themselves. There is no pride in physical decent or in natural abilities. This means one who is brought to faith, repents of both their good works and their evil works. Both are equally worthless to God. False teaching glories in something other than in Christ alone, always pointing to something that we can do; a résumé we can bring before God to curry His favor, not realizing that He has already adopted us as sons. Not unlike the older brother in the Prodigal son who glories that he has worked for his father all his life, not realizing that God does not first ask us to meet conditions to obtain his love. Those who have confidence in the flesh also tend to believe in Christ PLUS this or that. That Christ saved them, but they must maintain their justification before God. Glorying in Christ is the antithesis of glorying in the flesh. Pharisees boast before God of what they have done for him. The Christian is one who has empty hands every day and can only thank God for His mercy. He thus relies solely on the righteousness of Christ. (author unknown)
