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THE MESSAGE OF HOPE - II
Titus 3:5b-7
Bob Bonner
May 10, 2009
The United States is now essentially a pagan nation, even though millions of Americans still attend church regularly and many more consider themselves to be Christians. Our Christian roots as a nation have been replaced by practical atheism and moral and spiritual relativism. What vestiges of Christianity that once manifested themselves boldly in our culture are now weak and compromised, at best. If you had told me in 1976, when we celebrated this country’s two hundredth anniversary, that its future leaders and people would not just ignore but attempt to arrest any signs of Christianity from the founding father’s original ideals upon which they birthed this country, I would not have believed it. But here we are, just 33 years later, and that is just what has taken place. As a result, we are faced with little choice but to vote for and submit to leaders who may be religious at best, but agnostics if not atheists at worst.
The situation wasn’t much better for Christians around AD 65 when the Apostle Paul penned his letter to Titus, giving him instructions as to how he was to establish and organize the church on the island of Crete. Hence as citizens living in similar times, we have much to learn from God’s Word about how we are to respond to the ungodly authorities God has placed over us.
Up to that point in Crete’s history, the island was made up of a citizenry who stubbornly resisted any form of authority over their lives. Rome did its best to subject the Cretans to its rule. The people hated the government, its taxes, and anyone telling them what they had to do. It was to this Christian citizenry that Paul instructed Titus that, as followers of Jesus Christ, the Christians on Crete were to submit to their unbelieving governing authorities--the same thing we are to do. But why?
The answer to that question is found in Titus 3:3-8. In these verses, Paul gives the rationale for why we Christians are not only to submit to governing authorities, but why we are called to work in concert with them for the betterment of our community. In verse 3 Paul clearly reminds us that, as Christians, we were ourselves once anti-God and anti-social, but God saved and changed us. We were just like the unbelieving authorities around us: foolish, disobedient, deceived, controlled by hedonism, and depraved. But God loves them every bit as much as He loves us, and He died for them so that they could be saved too! And so our assignment is to reach out to them with the message of the Gospel. But if you are going to be successful in reaching out to friends, family, and foes who don’t know Christ, you need to be careful not to dishonor them or become disagreeable. Hence, Paul instructs Titus as he does in verses 3-8.
A great way to approach the study of this passage, verses 3-8, is to isolate Paul’s six ingredients in this message of hope, the message of the Gospel, the good news of how to be saved:
Verse 3, Why salvation is necessary, its need
Verse 4, Where it originates, its source
Verse 5a, What it rests on, its ground
Verse 5b-7a, How it comes to us, its means
Verse 7b, What salvation leads to, its goal
Verse 8, How it proves itself, its evidence
In other words, what makes up our salvation? What happens to a person when he gets saved? What difference does the work of God’s saving our lives make in our life today? Who is responsible for the transformation of our lives?
Last time, we worked our way through the first three ingredients that make up our salvation. We saw that without God’s plan of salvation, we had no hope of ever being forgiven and reconciled to God, even if we wanted to, due to our own evil or depravity and the impossibility of a holy God being intimately connected to anything that is evil or depraved.
Second, we saw that the offer of salvation and the ability for one to be saved originates with God. As it says in verse 5, “He saved us.” God is active in salvation, changing what we humans could not change by ourselves. We saw in our study last time that Paul’s emphasis is on what God graciously did for us. Here are the main points:
Our salvation was not due to anything good in us.
Salvation is not a joint effort, where God does His part and we add our part. It is all from God and not at all from us.
God did not love us because we were worth loving, but rather because He is love.
He did not save us because He foresaw that we would believe in Him. That would make us, not God, the cause or initiator of our salvation. He had to take the initiative, because we were spiritually dead in our sins and could not help ourselves.
Hence in the end, we saw that the whole salvation process begins and ends with God. Salvation is totally of the Lord.
Third, we saw that the basis of our salvation rests solely upon the “mercy” of God. In other words, God was not obligated to help us be saved, even though it was impossible for us to earn the right to be saved. God’s offer of salvation, God’s offer of reconciliation between humans and Himself, is thus the greatest demonstration of His kindness and love.
This morning, we want to continue our study of these six ingredients of salvation, by looking at just the fourth ingredient, found in verses 5b-7a, which explains what is involved in our being saved. Because this point is so significant and vital to the way we live our lives today, we will take two messages to cover it.
Before we go there, let remind you of something I mentioned last time and add a little something to it. I told you that these verses 4-7 make up one long sentence, the main verb of which is “be saved,” mentioned in verse 5. Now let me add the point that these four verses give us a condensed but comprehensive account of salvation. These verses are perhaps the fullest statement of the subject of salvation found in any one spot in the New Testament. If this is not the fullest statement of the subject of salvation, it runs a close second to the Apostle Paul’s words in Romans 8:28-30.
As we look at this fourth ingredient to salvation, we are going to confine most of our study today to three significant terms mentioned in these verses that more fully explain the concept of salvation. Two are found in verse 5 and one is found in verse 7. They are the terms “regeneration” and “renewing” found in verse 5, and “justified” in verse 7. In looking at these terms, we want to understand not only their long range eternal significance to the believer, but also their immediate importance to the way we view and live our lives today. Now let’s read once more the entire sentence beginning with verse 4. Paul writes,
4But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind
appeared, 5He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done
in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of
regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, 6whom He poured out
upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7so that being justified
by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal
life.
Keep in mind that the overall subject matter of these verses is “salvation.” The term “salvation” can cover everything from the moment one first puts trust in Christ to be saved to that time in the future when we see Christ in our resurrected bodies. Sometimes, the context in which the term “saved” or “salvation” is used may focus on just how someone came to Christ or maybe what happens after they die. In our passage, the expression “saved” covers the whole gamut of salvation.
Our study this morning begins with an expression that precedes these three important terms, but stands as the basis of them. It is the expression “the washing.” The three key terms that follow are all the result of this “washing.”
Some commentators think that this “washing” deals with only the term “regeneration.” However, the Greek grammar reveals that this “washing” clearly results in “regeneration” and “renewing.” And as we will see, because of what the Bible teaches elsewhere, the term “justification,” found in verse 7, also is a result of this “washing,” because as Romans 3-5 teaches us, “justification” must precede “regeneration,” which is more fully explained in Romans 6.
Now what does this “washing” refer to? The word “washing” is used only in one other place in the New Testament, Ephesians 5:26. There, it refers to spiritual cleansing which comes as a result of being confronted by the Word of God and, in turn, trusting what God says. Some want this idea of “washing” to refer to the physical ordinance of water baptism, but it can’t, due to its definition given to us in Ephesians 5:26. There is no mention of water in Ephesians, just the instruction of the Word of God. So this can’t point to physical water baptism, only spiritual baptism, that process by which one is cleansed and forgiven for one’s sin and thus made an eternal member of God’s family.
This process of spiritual baptism or being “washed” has many aspects to it. Our three key terms in this passage are some of those important aspects.
Taking the three results of this “spiritual washing” in their chronological, theological, and logical sequence, we begin with “justification.” “Justification” is a legal term describing a pronouncement or declaration that a judge would make concerning the fate of a defendant. When a judge justified a defendant, that defendant was acquitted of all wrong doing and thus declared free. In this case, “justification” means that God declares one righteous, forgiven, and thus forever acceptable and approved of by God, based upon what Jesus Christ has done for the sinner.
When someone is justified, God imputes or transfers the very righteousness of Christ to the sinner, thus making the sinner forever acceptable and approved of by God. Please note: our acceptance and approval of God is never based upon or maintained by us or our ability to make God happy. Our righteous position before God rests solely upon the substitutionary work of Christ on the cross for sinners. If you would like to learn more about this subject of “justification,” I invite you to look at our church’s website under sermons and read through the several messages on Romans 3-5, beginning with Romans 3:21.
One last comment concerning justification as it is mentioned in verse 7. Paul tells us that our being acquitted by God is “by His grace.” God’s grace and mercy are often confused or thought to be the same. They are not. “Mercy” takes account of our helplessness. “Grace” references our undeservingness. In other words, what we have received from God comes to us not because we are worthy of it in any way, but simply because, out of God’s kindness, He makes it possible for us to be forgiven, accepted, and approved forever by Him.
Closely related to “justification” is this second aspect of salvation, that of “regeneration.” Whereas “justification” means that god declares us righteous, regeneration means that God makes us righteous through the indwelling power of his spirit.
At times, these two actions of God, His justification and regeneration are so closely tied together, that they overlap in meaning. For instance, in Romans 5:18-19 we read:
So then as through one transgression [Adam’s sin] there resulted
condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness
[Christ’s substitutionary death on the cross] there resulted justification of
life to all men. For as through the one man’s disobedience the many
were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many
will be made righteous.
The obvious conclusion about justification is that it doesn’t just declare us righteous, but it leads us to actually being made righteous in God’s eyes, even though we may still struggle with sin. Positionally, even though we sin, He does not register that sin against us. We have been declared righteous, and thus we are righteous.
But just so we don’t miss the importance of being made righteous, God more fully explains the finished work of His justification by telling us that when we put our trust in Christ, we were “regenerated” or made righteous, because His Holy Spirit now indwells us.
Justification points mostly to our status and regeneration points to our new birth. These two concepts are so closely tied together that one cannot nor should not try to separate them, for God always does both together. You can’t have one without the other.
Look closely at that word “regenerated.” In English, the prefix, “re” states that something that once was has now been reinstated. In other words, we were once spiritually birthed by God at creation. But when sin entered the world, all human beings were spiritually dead because God’s Spirit was removed from within us. But when we are regenerated, God’s Spirit, the Holy Spirit, the spirit of Jesus Christ, indwells us and we are born again or reborn. Ephesians 2:4-5 puts it this way: “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved).” This is what Jesus is speaking about in John 3:3, 5.
Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is
born again he cannot see the kingdom of God. . . . Jesus answered,
“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water [physical birth] and
the Spirit [regeneration or spiritual rebirth] he cannot enter into the
kingdom of God.”
Sometimes a picture helps when words tend to confuse. Notice these three concentric circles. (Chart is displayed.) They represent the three basics elements that make up a human being. We have a body, soul, and spirit. Some people like to define our souls as our minds, emotion, and will. However, when you study the Scriptures you will find that our spirits have intellect, emotions, and wills; so this definition of a soul isn’t really helpful. Hence, I have chosen to define the soul as personality--that which makes you different than someone else. Your soul plus your spirit equals your heart.
On the other hand, your spirit is the key to who you are. Your spirit is what makes you different than all the animals in the world. Animals have personality, but they don’t have a spirit. In Scripture, your spirit is described as your nature. Depending upon which period of your life you are speaking about, before you were saved or after you were saved, you are referencing the spiritual old nature or the old man or the spiritual new nature or the new man.
Allow me to show you the three changes that have occurred in the spiritual nature of human beings, beginning with creation. (Chart is displayed that will build three comparative sets of circles.) At creation, we were created in the image of God, perfect and without sin. When God breathed His Spirit into us, we were made spiritually alive because He dwelt in us. We were, at that point, empowered by God to do what was right, by God’s nature.
But with the fall, caused by man’s sin, God’s judgment against the human race resulted in His removing His spirit from within us, leaving us spiritually dead and incapable to consistently live morally righteous lives. At that point, according to John 8:41-47, another spirit began to influence our lives, the father of this world, Satan. Even though we may have wanted to do good, we could not consistently do so nor could we make ourselves good, because we no longer had God’s Spirit to empower us to do what was right. Our spirits may have been willing, but our flesh, our human ability by itself, was weak. Furthermore, at this point, we were separated from God and sin ruled our lives, affecting all parts of our lives, hopes, dreams, emotions, relationships, plans, and purposes.
But when we put our confidence in Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord, we are regenerated by His Spirit, who comes to live in us and empowers us to live righteously. Sin no longer resides in our spirit, but it does reside in our lives, as Romans 7 teaches us. When we choose to abide in faith and trust in His Spirit to help us do right, to love others and do good deeds, His spirit enables us to do so, and we produce spiritual fruit or good deeds, those things that spiritually will affect this world and the next.
Before Christ, in this state, we were labeled as sinners, because that is the only way we could live. But as a result of regeneration, we are now called saints, or “set apart ones,” whose purpose is to serve God. We are called saints, not because we can’t sin, but because of the power of His Spirit. As we trust in His Spirit, we can live righteously as individuals set apart to serve God.
Once again, how did we come to be born again? We did not do so by exercising our free will to be born again any more than Lazarus exercised his free will to come from death to life when Jesus cried out, “Lazarus, come forth!” James 1:18 plainly states, “In the exercise of His will He brought us forth by the word of truth.” The new birth, regeneration, is God’s doing, according to His will.
Water baptism does not regenerate your life. You don’t get saved nor are you made more acceptable to God because you have been baptized. Instead, water baptism happens after the new birth, as a picture and testimony of what God did in saving us. He washed us from all our sins. Water baptism is a person’s personal declaration that they have put their confidence in the finished work of Christ and have chosen to submit their lives to Him as master.
And this leads us to the third important term that is also a result of this spiritual “washing,” that of being “renewed” by the Holy Spirit. This word “renewing” is a synonym for the theological term “sanctification.” These three events, justification, regeneration, and renewing happen simultaneously when one is saved.
The “renewing by the Holy Spirit” refers to the ongoing process of the renewal or transformation of the soul that can even affect our bodies as well. It is that spiritual transformation that comes from within, created by God’s spirit so as to make us more like Christ. It comes as a direct result of our submission to the Spirit’s leading and empowering of our lives.
But how can we understand what the Spirit’s leading is? Through the study of God’s Word. The only way that the Spirit of God can transform our minds, emotions, and wills is in our study of the truth about God and what He says is true about us and the world we live in. As we understand and submit ourselves to the truth of God’s Word, our values, desires, hopes, feelings, outlook, attitudes, goals, and purposes change. The more we submit and trust in God to do His thing in us, the more He makes us like His Son.
Hence, the key to spiritual and emotional stability and maturity is understanding God’s Word and fellowshipping with each other to learn how to apply the truths of God’s Word to our daily lives. That’s one reason why we have developed our ReDi groups. It is in those groups that trusted relationships are built, whereby on a weekly basis, confronted by the Word of God, we can build into each other’s lives.
Where does this all lead? Let me show you with this next set of circles, which we will explain next time. It is God’s goal to create a people who were like those created in the beginning, but who forever will be able to withstand temptation of evil and who forever will love and serve Him and benefit from His blessing their lives. It is to return us to the perfect condition which was once ours and from which we can never fall.
In the meantime, He wants us to experience His supernatural power today, to live as He has called us to. And as we continue to study His Word, we will learn more how to do that, all the while being awed by His greatness, love, and mercy toward us, motivated to serve Him even more with our whole hearts.
Is it important to know what “justification,” “regeneration,” and “renewing” means and accomplishes for the believer? If so, why?
What practical difference does knowing these three terms make on Paul instructions that we are to submit to unbelieving governing authorities in our lives?
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