But as for you, speak the things which are proper for sound doctrine: 2 that the older men be sober, reverent, temperate, sound in faith, in love, in patience; 3 the older women likewise, that they be reverent in behaviour, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things— 4 that they admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, 5 to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed. Titus 2:1-5
Now, coming back to Titus. He tells us how we should live in the present. He says,
12 teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, Titus 2:12
So, the consequence of believing in Jesus is that you turn away from the things which are ungodly and you begin to live in the path which is godly.
I think a lot of the reasons why people actually reject Jesus is not because they’ve got all these intellectual doubts Him but because they know that, if they accept Jesus, they’re going to have to change their lives, they’re going to have to change from living a life which is ‘going their own way, breaking God’s commandments’ to now trying to keep God’s commandments and walk in His ways.
Verse 14 it says,
14 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 2:14
Jesus came to redeem us from our sins, to take us away from the life which we lived before and to enable us to be purified and to be zealous for good works, to do what is right in His sight.
And Paul talks about redeeming us and purifying us. So, redemption is being bought out of the slave market of sin by believing in Jesus purifying us. This is what we call sanctification which is the process which begins when you become a Christian, when you’re born again, when you receive the Holy Spirit.
It goes on to speak about ‘being saved through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit’ in the following chapter. So, this is an experience which everybody can have, which is to be born again. And the Bible says you must be born again.
I was born again when I sat in a room in West Hamstead and asked God to forgive my sins which are many, and to come into my life and give me new life in faith in Jesus. It happened over 50 years ago.
I don’t know when you were born again, but you must be born again. So, you should have some experience in your life when you know that you became a follower of Jesus the Messiah. You may not actually know the day or the hour. I do know the day and the hour because it was the 1st of January 1970. So, it’s a significant date: New Year’s Day. I couldn’t really get away from that and it was connected with a New Year’s Eve party the previous night during which I knew that I’d sinned. But I know that becoming a Christian was a real thing and that it changed my life.
We should have some experience of regeneration which is the change from the person we were before we became a Christian to the person who God wants us to be. This passage speaks about some of the things which are going to happen when you are redeemed.
You’re going to turn away from being foolish, disobedient, deceived, seeking various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. Now, none of that should happen in the church, should it? Yet, sometimes it does. But that’s because we turn away from the Lord.
We should live in newness of life and we should love God and love one another, that is very clear. Paul talks here about having this past, about the present, and he says that you must be born again, have a new life.
By the way, what he’s saying also is that your first birth is not good enough. I don’t know if you realize that. I am not saying anything against your parents. They might have been very nice people, brought you into the world which was full of sin and you inherited a sinful nature from your parents, from their parents, from their parents’ parents going right back to the beginning, to the Fall described in Genesis chapter 3.
It doesn’t matter how bad or how good you’ve been in your life. It’s not good enough to save you. Your own works can’t save you. You have to be born again.
It’s also not bad enough to prevent you from being saved if you repent and believe the Gospel. So, if you’ve done lots of bad stuff, it doesn’t stop you from becoming a believer and being saved because the moment you accept Jesus, all your sins are blotted out and, as far as God is concerned, they’re removed as far as the west is from the east and nothing can separate you then from the love of God which is in Jesus Christ our Saviour.
