1.     My message this morning is entitled, “The Kindness & Love of God Our Saviour” (Titus 3:4).

2.     Our text gives us a wonderful view of God’s plan of salvation.  We find here the kindness and love of God (3:4) and the mercy of God (3:5).

3.     We have here the great doctrines of salvation, regeneration, and justification (3:5-7). 

4.     We see in our text all three members of the Godhead – “God our Saviour” (3:4), “Jesus Christ our Saviour” (3:6), and the Holy Ghost (3:5b).  All three persons of the Trinity cooperate in the work of grace.

5.     By the way, Isaiah 43:11 says, “I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no Saviour.”  And yet here in Titus 3:5, 6 it says the Holy Ghost is “shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour.”

6.     Throughout the NT, the Lord Jesus Christ is referred to as our Saviour.  In fact, His very name means “Saviour.”  Matthew 1:21 says, “and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.”

7.     Have you been saved from your sins?  This is the most important question anyone could ever ask you.  Is Jesus your Saviour?

8.     This morning I am going to speak on the kindness and love of God our Saviour, and my outline is simple and easy to remember.  God has demonstrated His kindness and love…

I.        BY NOT ALLOWING US TO DIE IN OUR SINS

II.     BY SAVING US BY HIS GRACE

III. BY GIVING US HIS BLESSED HOLY SPIRIT

I.    BY NOT ALLOWING US TO DIE IN OUR SINS (3:3, 4).

1.     Titus 3:3 is a vivid picture of the lost sinner.  Paul includes himself – “For we ourselves also were…” (3:3).

·  sometimes foolish – lacking spiritual discernment.  “Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools” (Rom. 1:22).

·  disobedient – no regard for God’s law

·  deceived – by various false teachers and false religions

·  serving divers lusts and pleasures – slaves to sin

·  living in malice – bad attitude towards others

·  and envy – begrudging others their good fortune

Envy motivated the religious leaders to hand Jesus over to Pontius Pilate.  Matthew 27:18 says, “For he (Pilate) knew that for envy they had delivered Him.”  Acts 7:9 says Joseph’s brothers sold him into Egypt because they were “moved with envy.”  Envy is a terrible sin.

·  hateful and hating one another – antagonistic, disagreeable; odious.

2.     Then verse 4 says, “But after that…” In other words, Titus 3:3 describes the unregenerate sinner before he is justified by the grace of God, before he is regenerated by the Spirit of God, and before he is transformed by the Word of God.

3.     I do not want to spend too much time here in verse 3.  I just want to stress the kindness and love of God our Saviour in not allowing us to die in our sins.

4.     There are some lost sinners here this morning.  God has graciously allowed you another day to live.  He has allowed you to come and hear the Gospel this morning.  You ought to think about that.

5.     I thank God that I did not die in my sins.  Many of my childhood friends died at a young age – car accidents, drowning, drug overdoses, suicide, etc.  As far as I know none of them was saved.

II.    BY SAVING US (3:4-7).

1.     What a difference now in verse 4!  “The kindness and love of God” stands in sharp contrast to the human disposition pictured in verse 3.

2.     God’s love and kindness toward man has “appeared” (3:4; cf. 2:11).  The word “appeared” reminds us that these qualities of God were always there but are now clearly manifested in this dispensation of the glorious Gospel of Christ.

3.     Notice that God has “saved us” – past tense (cf. II Tim. 1:9).  Some people cannot understand the certainty of salvation.

4.     Here in our text, salvation is looked at both negatively and positively.

(A)   Negatively – “Not by works of righteousness which we have done…” (3:5).

(B)   Positively – “but according to His mercy He saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost” (3:5).

5.     Often in the Bible, salvation is defined both negatively as well as positively (cf. II Tim. 1:9).  This is because fallen man wants to try and work his way into heaven.  All false religions teach salvation through good works.

6.     All religions (except for Bible Christianity) teach a “DO…do…do” religion, but the Bible teaches a “DONE” RELIGION.”

7.     The hymn-writer put it this way,

Jesus paid it all,
All to Him I owe;
Sin had left a crimson stain,
He washed it white as snow.
For nothing good have I
Whereby Thy grace to claim,
I’ll wash my garments white
In the blood of Calvary’s Lamb.

8.     This is why the apostle Paul states in Ephesians 2:8, 9, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.”

9.     The Bible could have simply said, “For by grace are ye saved through faith.  It is the gift of God.”  That is wonderful.

10.But God knows the hearts of fallen men.  God knows the flesh likes attention.  Carnal men love to boast and brag.  Like the proud and self-righteous Pharisees, sinful men want to be religious, but do not want to humble themselves before God.

11.So the Spirit of God added these important words, “NOT OF WORKS, LEST ANY SHOULD BOAST.”

12.Titus 3:5 speaks of both regeneration and renewal, and I would like to deal with both of these important doctrinal terms.

13.First, let me stress that regeneration must always precede the process of renewal.

14.Secondly, regeneration happens instantly when a sinner repents and receives the Lord Jesus Christ as his Saviour; whereas the “renewing of the Holy Ghost” is an ongoing, continual operation of the Holy Spirit. 

15.Paul wrote in II Corinthians 4:16, “but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.”

16.Some people think the washing is a reference to baptism.  I do not think they are right, but even if we were to agree that “washing” here refers to baptism, I would still have to insist that while baptism may symbolize the new birth, it is never the means of securing it. 

17.Baptism is the consequent testimony of the washing that has already taken place.  We see the same idea in Romans 6:4.

18.Baptism is symbolic.  It is an outward sign of the inner experience – regeneration is spiritual.  It is by the agency of the Holy Spirit.

19.Throughout the NT, it is assumed that baptism will follow saving faith.  Our Lord said, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned” (Mark 16:15, 16).

20.In Ephesians 5:26, Paul speaks of the cleansing of the church “by the washing (same Greek word) of water by the Word.”

21.Note: “by the Word.” This cleansing is effected through the application of the Word of God to heart and conscience.

22.There are many instances in Scripture, where water symbolizes the cleansing power of the Word of God.

·  “Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word” (Psalm 119:9).

·  Our Lord told His disciples, “Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you” (John 15:3).

·  Notice our Lord said, “Ye are clean through the Word…”  The Spirit of God regenerates us and cleanses us with the Word of God.

·  First Peter 1:23 says, “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.”

III.    BY GIVING US HIS HOLY SPIRIT (3:5, 6).

1.     Some think Paul is referring in verse 6 to the day of Pentecost.  But Paul was not there on the Day of Pentecost, and here he says, “Which He shed on us abundantly…”

2.    Paul is speaking here of the baptizing work of the Holy Spirit, which is available to all those who are saved.

3.     Paul says, “shed on us (all believers) abundantly.” All Christians can claim this promise.  Romans 8:9 says, “Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His.”

4.     Our Lord said in John 14:17, “For He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.”  What a glorious promise!

5.     As I have already mentioned, the renewing work of the Holy Spirit, begins at regeneration and continues on in the life of the believer (3:5b, 6).

6.     This is also the idea in Ephesians 5, where it says Christ sanctified and cleansed the church “with the washing of water by the word, That He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish” (Eph. 5:26, 27).

7.     Romans 12:2 says, “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind…” The Holy Spirit transforms and renews our mind by the Word of God.

8.     Harry Ironside, in his commentary on the book of Titus, wrote,   “The washing is the application of the Word of God to heart and conscience; thus producing through the Spirit’s power, the new nature.  Having been thus washed from our old behaviour, we are daily being renewed by the Holy Spirit, which God shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour.”

9.     In other words, we are regenerated but once.  But after we are regenerated we need to be renewed daily.  This comes as we walk in the Spirit and as we stay in the Word.

CONCLUSION:

1.     Let me ask you this morning – have you been (spiritually) washed?  Or are you still defiled and contaminated by sin?

2.     Have you been washed from your sin?  Are you saved (3:5)?