Bigger News Than Sin

9/23/2012 – Evening Service - 5pm

God Our Savior

(Titus 3:4-7)

[4] But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, [5] he saved us,

Jesus is God our Savior. So is the Father, and so is the Holy Spirit. But it is especially in the coming of Christ in the flesh, in His cross, and in His resurrection from the dead that the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared. God has saved us from a world that was fatally infected with sin by the disobedience of one man.

not because of works done by us in righteousness,

We could not get ourselves out of the mess of the fall. Isaiah says that even our righteousness is as filthy rags before the holiness of Almighty God. The fall of mankind through Adam was an offense against God that man could not fix.

but according to his own mercy,

There is much in this world that is impossible for man. But what is impossible for man is not necessarily impossible with God. God was the offended party when sin entered the world. In the case of every sin ever committed, it is God who has been wronged. It is God who must determine the terms of satisfaction and reconciliation.

But what if God's requirements, perfect and perpetual holiness, cannot be satisfied by any man? It is not for us to lower the standards for the Lord. We look to Him for the solution to every problem that is too big for us. In the case of our salvation we know what was required. His Son would have to come as our substitute and die for us.

Knowing that answer is different than having the Answer come. We could not force God to do this. The gospel would have to come to us solely from His mercy.

by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,

It was the mercy of God that brought us Christmas, Good Friday, Easter, and Pentecost. And it was the mercy of God that touched our lives at just the right time. We know what we were according to the verse prior to this passage. But now we have been washed with the regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit.

[6] whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior,

This Spirit was not given to us as a separate plan from the gift of Jesus as the Son. The two are part of the One gift of God to us. The Spirit comes through the power of the reigning Son of God, and He brings benefits to us that come through the merit and mediation of Jesus the Messiah alone.

[7] so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

The way to the benefits of eternal life which we have now inherited is through the grace of God and not through any merit that we deserve. We have been counted as righteous before God and as heirs to the promises of God through Father, Son, and Spirit. Our pride in our own achievements is not the answer for us, but the problem Jesus solved through His humble and powerfully effectual love. Praise be to God our Savior forever and ever!