“Exhort servants to be obedient to their own masters, to be well pleasing in all things, not answering back, not pilfering, but showing all good fidelity, that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things.” Titus 2:9-10.

 

“For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works. Speak these things, exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no one despise you.” Titus 2:11-15.

Titus 2:9-10 was covered in Quiet Witness, Part 4 it has been entered here to maintain context. This post will concern Titus 2:11-15.

We can begin with the first phrase in Titus 2:11 because there are a couple of things of interest, “For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men…”

The word grace means God’s unmerited favor which in this case brings salvation to all men. If grace is unmerited favor this would indicate that there is no way that mankind could work their way to heaven. This is unmerited favor, not favor one can earn.

“For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” John 3:16.

“But now the [imputed] righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God which is through faith in Jesus Christ to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus…” Romans 3:21-24.

So, by God’s grace, each person on earth can accept Jesus Christ as their Savior, the full payment for their sins, and have “…even the righteousness of God which is through faith in Jesus Christ to all and on all who believe.”

“For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men…” Titus 2:11a.

It states above that the grace of God has appeared to all men. In a world with 8.2 billion people in it, many, many of them deep in the jungles of Africa and South America, and some third world countries having a population of over 1 billion people.

Many of these people are under the demonic thumb of Voodoo, Santeria, Hare Krishnas, Hinduism, Sikhism, various forms of idolatry, the murderous Thuggees worshipers of Kali, and Satanism among the many.

My problem which must be the same as many others is, how is it possible to say, that the grace of God has appeared to all men?

With 8.2 billion people on this earth, most of them in dark places blinded by Satan and held in his grip by idolatrous trickery.

How is it possible for them to know?

“First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of [to laud, celebrated] throughout the whole world.” Romans 1:8.

The Lord’s 12 disciples were sent by Him into the entire world, see Matthew 28:18-20. By the power of the Holy Spirit, it is possible for them to accomplish their ministry and to increase the spread of the word by making disciples who in turn went out and made many more disciples.

Think of it like this, someone offers to give you a penny at the beginning of the month and the next day they will double it and so on daily for a month. Hot dog!

So, the first penny comes in on day 1, day 2 you receive 2 cents, day 3 you receive 4 cents, next day 8 cents, then 16 cents, 32 cents, 64, $1.28, $2.56, $5.12, $10.24, $20.48, $40.96, $81.92, $163.84, $327.68, $655.36, $1310.72, $2621.44, $5242.88, $10485.76, $20971.52, in just 22 days you have over $20,000 thousand dollars and this with eight days to go!

Imagine if this worked when disciples were saved then they preached to others, then 1 person is saved, then 2, then 4, 16, 64 etc. consider this, the population of the earth in Jesus’ day was approximately 200,000,000 people.

Muslims believe in dreams and visions, even though nearly all Christians have been driven out of those countries, thousands of Muslims are drawn to Jesus by dreams and visions and becoming Christians.

Even in darkest Africa and South America missionaries have preached the gospel of Jesus Christ and had natives come to them afterward and tell them that they knew that there had to be something like this.

By the power of the Holy Spirit, God has never been without a witness through time and throughout the earth. Yet, though God could do it all by himself, He wants His children to love others enough to evangelize mankind for Him.

“For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age…” Titus 2:11-12.

“…denying ungodliness” the word ungodliness is impiety, disregard of God in worship or His commands – wickedness.

“…worldly lusts”, the word worldly tells us that this involves the things of the world, God has told us that He has given us all things to richly enjoy.

At the same time, we are told that all the world lies in the hands of the wicked one, Satan, and he has designed many things to take our minds off the Creator and on to the things of the world.

So, the term “worldly lusts” means being so entranced by the things Satan has designed that one forgets all about God, even denies Him.

The lusts do not have to mean sexual lusts, it can mean anything one is passionate about, such as striving to gain riches, be a billionaire, be a great actor, athlete, gambling, politician, power, anything that drives one to have or accomplish.

Denying “worldly lusts”, does not mean you cannot go golfing, watch football, go boating or camping if these things do not become an idol which distracts you from becoming closer in your relationship with our beloved God and Savior, Jesus Christ.

“…we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age…” Titus 2:12b.

The word soberly above, means to live in the manner of a person in his right mind, self-controlled, temperate.

Righteously, the life actions of a person who is holy in heart and who practices the divine commands in all their ways, a righteous Christian.

A godly life means to live a pious life in reverence for God and His words. According to the dictionary a pious person is devoted to God which is marked by a sense of reverence, awe and respect.

“…in the present age” is right here, right now.

“…we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works. Speak these things, exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no one despise you.” Titus 2:12b-15.

We should live a sober, self-controlled life. A righteous life which outwardly shows a person who is inwardly holy in heart and who practices the divine commandments in all their ways. Our godly life denotes one of pious devotion to God in reverence, awe and respect.

It is time to meditate on these things and study them in Scripture because “the present age” is right here, right now.

“…looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ”. Christians should not be sleeping; we must keep our eyes open looking for the day when our glorious Lord and Savior returns for us, lest we be sleeping or engaging in some sordid sin.

Notice that this passage speaks of Jesus as “…our great God and Savior Jesus Christ”.

People get confused when we speak of Jesus as the Son of God. What does that mean, well He is the Son of God just like the rest of us have sons. Afraid not.

That is emphatically untrue Jesus Christ is a part of the Godhead, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, they have existed from eternity past with no beginning and no end.

Jesus became a man when He came down from heaven as a baby born of a woman, Mary, that He could live among us, preach good news of salvation for mankind and do many miracles as proof that He was who He said He was, God incarnate.

“For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him [God the Father] who sent Me.” John 6:38.

After living a sinless life, He became the Lamb of God crucified on a cross for the sins of all mankind. Jesus rose from the dead on the third day and after being seen by many He ascended on high and is seated next to God the Father.

This is the blessed hope, when Jesus our Savior returns to take us home with Him to be with Him for eternity, see 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 for comforting words.

“…looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.” Titus 2:13-14.

“…our great God and Savior Jesus Christ”, this phrase refers to one person only, Jesus Christ is our Savior and our God.

“…who gave Himself for us”, the crucifixion of Jesus was not a misfire, or God caught off guard, it was a volitional act wherein He allowed a mob to arrest Him, brutally mistreat Him, and after an illegal trial they crucified Him.

“…our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.” Titus 2:13b-14.

“…Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us”, gave wholeheartedly Himself on the cross without reservation for us, you and me.

“…that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.” Titus 2:14b.

Jesus died to redeem us through the shedding of His own precious blood, the blood of God the Creator. Jesus not only redeems by paying for all our sins, but to cleanse our lives from every lawless deed, which is sin or iniquity.

Having saved us Jesus wants to purify us for Himself as His own special people by bringing us to full maturity as Christians who are zealous, for good works (or “eager for good deeds” New American Standard Bible).

These 5 posts describe the Quiet Witness of a church that embraces the teachings that the Apostle Paul wrote herein to Titus. They speak to you and I and show us that Jesus Christ’s church needs to grow, not in numbers, but in maturity and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ that they might show the face of Jesus, not in words only but in actions and their love for one another.

The words below are not just for Titus, they are for pastors, teachers, elders, and evangelists.

“Speak these things, exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no one despise you.” Titus 2:15.

Quiet Witness, Part 5 taken from godisrevealed.com posted on 12-8-24 ck.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version, copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission, all rights reserved.