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Bibleline Bibleline, here God’s Word on Bibleline, everywhere, every time. Here God’s truth on Bibleline. Welcome to Bibleline with Dr. Ralph Yankee Arnold, pastor of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida. Clearly declaring the gospel of Jesus Christ through the radio and the internet. Your regular prayers and monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue on the air. You can reach us toll-free at 1-800-576-3771. Online donations may be made by clicking on the donations link on the BibleLineMinistries.org homepage. We pray that you will enjoy our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ, and that today’s first part of this two-part message will be a blessing to you and your family.

Turn in your Bible to the book of Titus, the book of Titus. I want to continue the thought that I had this morning and we talked about the subject of fallen from grace and how that you can reject living by grace and if you do then you have no desire and power to do the will of God because that’s where it comes from. I also We also talked a little bit in Sunday school about how to make God look good.

Everything that we say and do should be because we want to magnify the Lord. We want people to see the Lord. And the best way for people to see God is the gospel of grace. Because see, that is the lens by which people are able to see just what God is like. You add works to the gospel and you marred the picture. You marred the image by adding works to the gospel. You take away the true, the real image of what God is like.

Because God says that He so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believed in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. So that by believing we can have eternal life and know that we’re going to heaven. You add one word that you have to do and it depends upon you in any way, then you have taken away that which shows the love and the kindness and the goodness of God. So here in the book of Titus, it talks about some things that were pretty bad, the way that we were, the way God sees the world.

So look in chapter 3, the book of Titus, and look in verse 1, put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers to obey magistrates to be ready to every good work. Once we have trusted Christ as our Savior, it is the will of God that His children walk in good works. He says in verse 2, to speak evil of no man, to be no brawlers, but gentle and show an all-meekness unto all men. But we ourselves else also were sometime and he kind of gives us a picture that when we were lost and didn’t know any better.

When you didn’t know the Lord, the way you were, he says we were foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lust and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. What that is in the picture of the world. That’s the way the world is. And then in verse 4 he says, in spite of all the way we were, but after that the kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared against that kind of a backdrop. Because you see, when you see how bad man is, then you can see how good God is.

But when people try to prove how good they are, then they can’t see God how righteous and holy he really is. It marves the pitch. You can’t see as clearly as you ought to. So it demonstrates what grace means, the way we were and hateful and hating one another, then but God demonstrated his kindness and his love toward us. And then you’ll notice there in verse 5 where it says, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy He saved us.

Saved us as past tense. So I was, I am now, I have been justified, sanctified, regenerated by the power of the Holy Spirit. Given a new birth, I am now a child of God. So in view of this, God says, now that we have been justified by what he’s done for, see there in verse 6, which he shed, on us abundantly through Jesus Christ, our Savior, that being justified by His way, by His grace. So we talk a lot about grace, and sometimes I’m not sure if people really understand what God is saying.

So He tells us here in the book of Titus how it works. What grace does, a man wrote a book one time called disciplined by grace. Grace doesn’t let you alone. Grace is something that really works in a person’s life. It’s God’s desire and power working in your life and you don’t want it to be in vain. You see me now and you think that I’m really polished but you don’t know me when. Now if you could have saw me when I was 17 years old.

Well, I’m glad you can. I wasn’t that bad. I just wasn’t that good. I just wasn’t real bad. But I can tell you this, since I trusted Christ as my Savior, I’m not the same man that I used to be. And I don’t believe you should be the same person you used to be. I believe that if you We trust Christ as Savior, we should love the Lord. We should walk with the Lord. It’s our reasonable service, but not everybody does.

And if they don’t, that doesn’t take away their salvation. That doesn’t mean they’re not saved. It just means they’re in disobedience, carnally minded, babe in Christ. Now look in Titus in chapter 2. in chapter 2, the Bible talks to us about being strong in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Talk about it in Timothy. Salvation by grace is what makes God looks good. Because see, that’s what really impressed me more about God than anything else. When I saw that salvation was free and no gimmicks, no strings attached.

That’s how I knew and that’s how you probably understood God must really love me. That He would do all this for me without any strains attached. And that I didn’t have to serve Him, but He loved me anyway. How would you like to die and to pay for the sins of somebody that you knew would reject what you did? Exactly. But God loved us while we were yet sinners, displayed His love toward us. So He says that God loving us when there’s nothing lovable about us, teaches us how to live.

I know that sounds strange. But here in Ephesians in 2, 8, and 9, maybe you’ve heard those verses before. If you know it, quote it with me, for by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works lest any man should boast. Not of works lest any man should boast. If it was by one work, a man could brag about that one work. But it’s not of works, that means no works at all.

It means that God will save me by my faith in what Christ did for me and give me eternal life as a freak gift. Now it doesn’t getting to better than that. You’ve seen those commercial with all the guys that’s going to want to know what they’re drinking their hand. You know it doesn’t get any better than this. Oh buddy, you don’t know anything. There isn’t anything better than knowing the Lord and knowing He loves me and then serving God and the peace and the joy and the happiness that you have because you’re doing so.

And it means that I’m looking forward to the day that I’m going to be with the Lord. But there’s some things that are mentioned here in Titus in chapter 2, but look there in verse 11. Verse 11 shows you that salvation hath appeared unto all men. It means it’s for everybody. It is for everybody. And when He says that this grace of God that bring of salvation hath appeared to all men, then look there in chapter 3. But after that the goodness or the kindness of God, the love of God our Savior toward man appeared.

It appeared in grace. You see, grace shows you how kind God is, how loving God is. It helps you to see the real picture of God. Now if you studied the Old Testament and a lot of people they studied about the law and the vengeance of a mighty God that just came out. It’s a bloodthirsty, Old Testament God that’s out to get everybody. And he’s so mean and… No, no, no, no. That’s not the real picture of God. God has wrath, but God has love also.

And so you need to understand why. Is he so angry? It’s because of sin. But he loves me, and he loves you. So God uses the wickedness of man to demonstrate the goodness of God. And whenever you try to destroy that picture of the gospel, and God loving me just like I am, then you marred his picture and the image of God is distorted. And people don’t get a clear picture. So that’s why we try to make the gospel clear and simple because we want them to see how beautiful God is.

We want God to look good and the gospel is what makes God really look good. And when you mess up that God doesn’t look so good because He left you to try to earn your salvation by your good works. And if you don’t live right, see that’s not grace and that’s not the way God is. So if you write some things down, write some of these down, give me seven things real quick. Salvation by grace makes God look good.

And understand this when it says, have the period of all men, it means that God’s grace is unlimited. His grace is unlimited. It’s for everybody. It’s for everybody, not just a few people. And the second thing I want you to write down is God’s grace will show us how to live. God’s grace will show us how to live. Look there in verse 12. You see, it appeared unto all men and His grace teaches us something about ourselves and about God.

us, as you’ll see there, it says teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lust, you’re going to line these two words, we should live. So the grace of God teaches you and I how to live. And how should I live? How did God treat me when I was so bad? When I was so wicked God loved me. You and I to demonstrate that grace to somebody else and to let God’s salvation teach me how to live. Then I know that regardless of how bad people are, how wicked people are, how unkind they are, how hateful and mean they are, I want them to see how much God loves them and how are they going to see?

Well, they could see it through the gospel message itself and they can also see it through me. They need to know that you really care and you really love people. So therefore, the grace of God teaches you and I how to live. Now, there’s something else in this verse, but notice in verse 12 when He says, it teaches us there’s some things denying ungodliness. Ungodly means it’s not like God. If they say you’re a godly man, it means you’re like God.

So you and I are supposed to live a godly life means live like God wants us to live. And ungodly, the grace of God teaches us not to live an ungodly life. So when you hear people say, I’m just living by grace. and they’re living an ungodly life. They’re lying. They’re not living by grace. Living by grace teaches us that we should deny ungodliness in our life. Look what he says, that we should live soberly, righteously, godly, and I want you to see number three, that God’s grace will get us through this present world.

See, this is teaching you and I how to live in this present world. This is where we are. We know we’re going to heaven. We’re not there yet. We’re still here. So while I’m here, how am I supposed to live? I’m supposed to live in such a way that I deny ungodly things as part of my life because this is my present life. This is the only thing that I can control is right now, this day, this moment where I am, it’s my life.

And it belongs to the Lord. And so because of God’s love for me, I should allow that. love the challenge and motivate me to live the way God wants me to live. Should, live, should. See that? You don’t have to. You can deny the grace of God in your life, where it has absolutely no effect on your life. You see, when you trusted Christ, God gave you a new birth and new desires, but you can deny those desires and not obey them.

You can obey the desires of the flesh and they’ll become strong and monsters in your life and ruin your life. So he says here the last part of that verse in this present world. So if it’s talking about in this present world then it must be enough to sustain us as long as we are in this present world. If you’ve ever heard of a verse that says come to the throne of grace that you may obtain grace to help in time of need.

So in this present world there’s times when you need. So you go to the Lord and his like going to the throne of grace, you can get a little bit more desire and a little bit more power to do the will of God for your life. God’s grace is sufficient for every man. And he also makes a statement in the book of Ephesians in chapter 4 talking about how that God has given us grace according to the measure of grace.

He’s given every one of us all the grace we need for the life we need to live. But you don’t have to obey God, yield to God, walk with God, love God, let you should. So should I. So this is what God wants us to do. But see, grace means that we do it because we want to, because I love Him. love should respond to love. And this is why the more you study the Word of God, the closer you find out God wants to get to you and you want to get to Him.

God doesn’t want anything between you and I or between us and God. So get what He said. Now in verse 13 the Bible makes this statement, God’s grace teaches us to look for the blessed hope. The grace of God teaches us to look for the blessed hope. Do what’s the blessed hope? It’s that glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. The Bible talks about all those who love His appearing. There’s laid up a crown of righteousness, but not only to me only, but also to them who also love His appearance.

You see, you should live every day, every moment. Believe me, you know, the Lord could come back today. But if you don’t, I’ll be looking for him tomorrow. And if you don’t come back, I’ll look for him today. I’ve been looking for the Lord for 53 years. Should I stop now? I don’t think so. And He’s always like keeps you on the edge of your seat.

And I think this is what He means. He wants us to be living on the edge of our seats. He wants us to live expectingly, expecting at any time, any moment, all of this life will be over with. We’re no longer be in this present world. We’ll be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye and caught up to meet the Lord in the air. And so shall we ever be with the Lord. So the Bible teaches us that in verse 13, you and I ought to look for the Lord to come back again.

This is the living hope. This is that hope that purifies your life, as he says in the book of 1 John in chapter 3, that we haven’t seen him yet. We don’t know what we shall be like, but we know that we shall be like him, but we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath his hope in him purify himself. So see, if I believe Christ could come back tonight, did you know that that belief helped me to purify my life at this moment?

It helps me to guard what I think about, my attitude, the things that I say, the places that I go. It should affect every area of life. See, God’s grace. Grace. It teaches us all these wonderful things. It wasn’t just grace to save you and give you eternal life, it’s grace to live by. But see, God wants us to do it because He has done so much for us. I shared this before, but let me just very briefly show you.

Our standing in the flesh, that is our position. That’s a positional truth. I was born into this world under the jurisdiction of the law. And because I had a flesh birth, I was born with a sinful nature, and therefore I could not obey the righteous law. Nothing wrong with the law. The law says it’s spiritual, it’s good, it’s holy, it’s righteous, there’s nothing wrong with the law. The only problem with the law was that I have a flesh birth and I can’t fulfill the righteous demands of the law.

So the law condends everyone born into the world. That is my position. That’s my standing. Now DRAGON, when I trust Christ is my Savior, God gave to me a new position. I am now a child of God. This isn’t this one manipulated in some way. It’s not this one converted. I didn’t take a garage and convert it into the living room. Now the garage is no longer there. That’s what some people take. Hey, that’s not true. God did touch this one.

He gave me a new birth. Holy brand new. This one had nothing to do with this one. This one was born of God and if it’s born of God, then God is my Father. God is my Father, then I am His child. If I am His child, I have His nature. Dwelling with me is a divine nature. This birth, here she doesn’t have a sinful nature because my Father didn’t have a sinful nature. Therefore my my my my my my birth and I don’t have a sinful nature and if I have no sinful nature I can’t sin if I have no sinful nature and they can’t sin I can’t die So that’s why once you become a child of God you have Eternal life and he can never unborn you never lose you you’re his child Forever over here.

I have a sinful nature because I sin I die and everybody dies This was my position before I trusted the Lord. After I trusted the Lord, God has moved me from this position to this position. Now, my new standing is in Christ. And that’s why He says that we stand by grace. This is our standing, the book of Romans in chapter 5 verse 1 and 2. This is our new position, are standing in Christ. Now this was because of God’s grace.

I didn’t get there by cause of any good deeds that I’ve done.isSpecial I got there only by grace. So God says now because you’re in this position we’re no longer under the law. We’re under grace. That’s my position. That’s my standing in Christ that can never, never be changed. So as a child of God, God says, now as my child, this is what I want you to do with your life. want to teach you, it helped you and guide you.

See, the law would never do that for you. The law would not forgive. The law would not help you. The law would not do anything for you. The law has no mercy. The law had no grace. The law just condemned. The law had no love. Christ has all of that. Now He wants me to live showing those characteristics of my Father. Show mercy, show kindness, show goodness, show grace, give forgiveness, all those things God wants me to do because I’m a child by grace.

That’s who I am. That’s where I am. That’s my position in Christ. And it’s a wonderful thing to know. And so one day when Christ comesnaissancelatest Berks {*661 Hebdo He’s only taking those that are over here. So once you trust in Christ as your Savior, God sees you differently than you were before. You see, when you do some things that you should not do and you have sin in your life, it doesn’t mean that the new birth doesn’t exist.

It just shows it the old man. Oh man, still exist. And that’s why you still do the things you do, because you still exist. But God sees us, we have two births. This was born of God. This one isn’t. So one day He’s going to come back and He says for us to look for that blessed hope and that glorious appearing of the great God in our Savior Jesus Christ. See, that’s who He is. This is what He’s done for us.

Now in this verse some other good things and write this down God’s grace will free us up see there in verse 14 God’s grace will free us up He said who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all Iniquity now, this is not just talking about I believe that he paid for yes all of my sins sins, but not only to pay for my sins so that I’m delivered from the penalty of my sin, which is death and hell, but from the power of sin in my life.

So I have been saved, I am being saved, and I will be saved. See, I was saved from the penalty of my sins, because Christ paid that for me. In my life, the Holy Spirit that indwells me and indwells you is for the purpose of redeeming us from the power of sin in our life in this present world. Because everyone still has this sinful nature and he’s trying to get his tentacles into us and ruin our life and trying to get us to fulfill the sinful desires that only would trap this.

That’s why Christ says, if you’ll be my disciples, the truth will make you free. And so as we study the truth of the Word of God, and that’s why he prayed that night in chapter 17 of Gospel of John, sanctify them through thy word, thy word is truth. It’s truth that sets us free. It’s lies that enslave us. So now we have the Word of God given to us, and God wants us to realize the importance that sin will do to us, but what grace can set us free from its power.

And what you do is everyone that lives according to the most powerful desires they have. Everybody lives according to how they really want to live. And that desire to serve God has to be strengthened. Now you don’t feed a desire, but you do feed a nature, feed a nature. You feed those desires and those desires grow and become strong. So if you feed upon the Word of God and you meet with other Christians and you pray and do all things good, you become stronger and stronger and those desires become stronger and those desires is the motivation for you to serve the Lord.

Those strong desires is powerful. You’ve been listening to Bibleline, a teaching ministry of Calvary Community Church in Tap of Florida with Dr. Ralph Arnold. We pray that you were blessed by today’s message. Part 2 of this teaching will conclude with tomorrow’s broadcast. If you have enjoyed our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ, you can reach by the line and pledge your support to keep us on the air in your area by dialing toll-free 1-800-576-3771. That’s 1-800-576-3771. To listen to today’s message again or to obtain a free download of any of our Bible line programs, just go to our homepage at BibleLineMinistries.org and click on the Radio Broadcast link.

If you are in the area, we welcome you to visit us. The address for Calvary Community Church is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. Our Sunday morning services begin at 10-30 and at 6 o’clock on Sunday evening. broadcast of our services may be seen by clicking on the Calvary Community Church link at BibleLineMinistries.org. Thanks for joining us on Bibleline, and now a closing thought from Pastor Arnold. Friends, one day it will happen. The trumpet will sound, and we will be changed.

Caught up to meet the Lord in the air. So live today and every day, believing that the Lord is coming soon, and just keep looking up.