The Formation of Faith

November 6, 1988

Titus 3:3-11

Introduction:

The most wonderful and rewarding assignment I can imagine is preaching to the Church. The main calling of the pastor-teacher is to "feed My sheep," as Jesus said to Peter. This is a task that I love. I want to be a growing Christian myself, and I want us to grow together in every aspect of God's grace.

But there may be a danger in a teaching ministry of assuming; assuming that everyone understands the basic, elementary, even introductory truth. It is good from time to time to say some of the things we all assume.

We need to understand that it is possible to grow IN grace, but it is NOT possible to grow INTO grace. (Illuminate?) In other words, we need to say from time to time:

I. "PEOPLE STILL NEED TO BE SAVED!"

(Text, verse 5) "(God) saved us through the washing of rebirth..." And also verses like John 3:3: "(Jesus: 'Unless one is BORN AGAIN he cannot SEE the kingdom of God' and 'Unless one is born of WATER and of the SPIRIT he cannot ENTER into the kingdom of God.' and 'You must be BORN AGAIN!'"

1. This is CONTRARY TO the "wisdom" of our sophisticated society! You need to understand that you will be considered a fool by many so-called cultured people to talk about being born again, or being saved. It goes against the 'I'M OK/YOU'RE OK' truism of humanism.

   For by the simple sense of the word "saved," if some are saved, then others are not saved.

   At the very time when third-world countries are discovering God's saving grace through Jesus Christ, modern "Christian" denominations are questioning the need for sending the gospel to other cultures. [Why interfere with their native customs and religions? Their idols or superstitions are equally true with Christian faith ...] "We" question the need for being saved because we have lost the clear understanding of what it means NOT to be saved... to be LOST!

   [Zimbabwe report of Richard Menees, in Banket, Zimbabwe; a surging hunger after vital Christian faith.]

2. (BUT) ...it IS the clear language of the Bible.

   In the text Paul reminds Titus of what "we were" before we were saved: it is a realistic look at the fact that people NEED TO BE SAVED! He could have made a much longer list, but Paul says three things about the unsaved:

   1. To be unsaved is FOOLISHNESS. This kind of foolishness has little to do with intelligence, or grasp of facts and figures. Rather it has to do with understanding values.

      This foolishness acts as if there is no God; it is disobedient to the One who loves us, and seeks our best. This foolishness is deceived, and spends energy and time and life and love in pursuit of satisfaction that never quite comes.

   2. To be unsaved is LONELINESS. Paul speaks of spending life in malice and in envy. Apart from God's family and God's love, there is comparing our lot with others, and somehow we are always getting the short end of the bargain; we end up filled with hate: "hating one another."
   3. To be unsaved is HELPLESSNESS. Paul briefly mentions here "being ENSLAVED TO VARIOUS LUSTS AND PLEASURES." The illusion of freedom apart from God's grace is just that: ILLUSION. The sinner may think he or she can quit and walk away from sin, and its guilt and its enslaving power.

      But he or she cannot simply "quit sinning" and be a child of God. PEOPLE NEED TO BE SAVED BECAUSE THEY ARE CAPTIVES OF SIN

[It may be elementary, but we need to say it: "People still need to be saved!" But we also need to say: ]

II. "PEOPLE CANNOT SAVE THEMSELVES!"

1. This is a bitter pill for us to swallow. PRIDE is such a peculiar thing! It seems as though the one who has the least to be proud about is the one who needs pride the most! And when it comes to admit that we are captives to sin and need a SAVIOR, we ALL seem to have trouble.

   We want to say with the Rich Young Ruler: "Good Master Jesus, what can we DO in order to have eternal life?"

2. We are helpless until God's grace draws near!
   1. (Titus 2:11) "The GRACE OF GOD brings salvation!" How basic that is! God's Riches At Christ's Expense!
   2. Clearly nothing we have done/can do (verse 5) can bring us deliverance.
   3. This grace draws near (BECOMES VISIBLE) in the kindness and love of God (verse 4.)

[What basic and elementary things can we say about what being saved IS? Look again at the text:]

III. BEING SAVED MEANS WASHING AND RENEWING AND JUSTIFICATION AND ADOPTION

In short, it means being "set free."

1. The EXODUS STORY is THE paradigm for salvation.

   Here was a great body of people held captive in a land that despised them and made slaves of them.

   They were in a captivity that wasn't really their own fault; they had been born into it. [Later on God's people were sent into captivity and bondage as judgment for deliberate sins. But here God's people were not yet formed into a nation; they lay in miserable captivity, waiting to be set free and established as a chosen people, loved by their God.]

   In their captivity they had heard about a great God who had made promises to their forefathers. But for all purposes they were dead in captivity until a miracle happened, and they were WASHED in the waters of the Red Sea of deliverance. And then they were RENEWED (or called into being as a people) at the Mountain of the Giving of God's LAWS.

   A SACRIFICE OF ATONEMENT was inaugurated that looked forward to a coming PERFECT SACRIFICE. They were justified by sacrifice. And best of all, THEY BECAME GOD'S CHOSEN PEOPLE!

   Here is washing and renewing and justification and adoption!

2. The CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST is the New Testament "Israel"

   (I Peter 2:9-10) Speaking to the church: "But YOU are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; for once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; you had not received mercy, but now YOU HAVE RECEIVED MERCY!"

   The church is made up of those who have been WASHED and RENEWED and JUSTIFIED and MADE HEIRS.

[Perhaps the last simple statement I ought to make from time to time is:]

IV. "PEOPLE STILL CAN BE SAVED!"

1. It is true that we are saved into the community of faith. We become a part of the Body of Christ. But we are saved one by one as we respond to the "kindness of God our Savior" and when "His love for (us) appears!"

   Illus:(!)

2. We are born under prevenient grace, but "with our backs to God." Until we respond to God's love by an act of choosing, by a deliberate act of repentance and faith, we are NOT saved!

   But when we DO respond we are WASHED, and we are JUSTIFIED,[{Romans 5:1}] and we are RENEWED (REGENERATED)[{II Corinthians 5:17}] and we are ADOPTED (MADE HEIRS ACCORDING TO THE HOPE OF ETERNAL LIFE.)[{Romans 8:15}] We are SAVED!!! We are brought into face-to-face fellowship with God.

(Conclusion:) I am going to continue to emphasize growing in grace. As God leads, I believe that will continue to be the center of my ministry. But please, let's never get too far away from the foundations of our faith! Don't try to GROW INTO grace! You can be saved, and you can KNOW it! Let us pray:

Lord God, You know if there is anyone here who has never made a clear-cut decision to belong to You, and let You wash them, and let you forgive all their sins, and bring them into your family!

If someone like that is here- help their faith just NOW! AMEN!

EH #85 He Touched Me