Episode 169: Titus 3: God Comes to Our Rescue | +Quigg Lawrence

I wasn't going to do this with the second service because you all are all grown ups, but the kids had so much fun with this. I need two volunteers. Oh, Amesa, come on up. Anybody doesn't like these little things, turn your bible to page nine ninety nine. We're going to be in Titus three, but we want to set it up. Now, I need another volunteer. Who would you like to pick? Go ahead and pick somebody. Pick anybody you want. Natalie. Natalie, come on up.

Okay. Now, this is meant to be a parable like Jesus taught to illustrate a truth. So, what do we have right here? An egg. An egg. This particular egg is called Humpty Dumpty. Do you know him?

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall. Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. All the king's horses and all the king's men—

There's gospel in there. Okay. So here's what we're going to do. I want you guys to hold this now. Hope I don't miss. Oh. Humpty. He's done. What can we do to put him back together? He's done. We can't put him back together. No. All the king's horses and all the king's men? Okay, could you give that to somebody and get it out here? Thank you so much.

Now, Bible. Titus. Titus paints a very similar picture of that little parable. Titus three really has three parts. Our condition before we met Christ and before he began to do his work in us. And then what did God do about it? And then there's kind of our response. So it's kind of one, two, three, boom.

Alright. So it starts out with some pretty tough news. It says this, for we ourselves—and I love this because he's talking to Christians. When Christians think that they're just so holy, they never sin, I want to go, one, you're a liar. Two, you don't read the Bible. Even the great Saint Paul said, the good I want to do, so often I don't do it. And the bad things that I don't want to do, most often those are the things that I end up doing.

Who can save me, wretched man that I am? But thanks be to God for our Lord Jesus Christ.

So I love the honesty of the scriptures. The Bible is actually a book of human failure and a merciful God that chases after us. It's a book of human failure. The first time I started actually reading, and I was a church person for so many years, when I actually cracked the book, I'm like, who would ever write this in their family history? Who would record the failings? I mean, these guys were pathetic. Even the twelve apostles, right before Jesus is going to die, they're like, hey, Jesus. We want you to do whatever we ask you to do. Like, he's getting ready to sweat bullets in the garden, knowing he's going to be put to death, and they're asking, "Hey, would you be our concierge? Would you be our Aladdin's lamp? Just do whatever we want you to do, because you're here to serve us."

The picture painted is:

For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others, and hating one another.

Now, when I first read that, I think that describes my years at UVA. Right? We were foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in all kinds of malice and foolishness. If you went to Tech, or JMU, or wherever you went, or maybe tech school, could you agree that there's a time in your life where you just like the lug nuts were coming off? You were free, but actually you weren't. So we ourselves were all these things—foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions. Can anybody here say, yeah? I'm not going to raise my hand and walk down the aisle, but I mean, in Celebrate Recovery, they say, "Hey, I'm Quig Lawrence. I'm a grateful follower of Jesus Christ, and I'm here, and I struggle with so and so." Some people say, "I struggle with A to Z." That means there's a whole bunch of stuff we struggle with. Do you struggle with these things? I do. And a collar doesn't make it go away. And so there are the pictures painted of not only them, the world, but also us. And it's a hard truth to look at.

God Shows Up

But then in verse four, something really amazing happens. God shows up and he invades our world. Look in Titus three:four.

So in spite of the fact that we were foolish and disobedient and led astray by all these passions, it says, "But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy."

And so the first thing I want to point out in that verse is, "But when the goodness and loving kindness of God appeared." See, if your God doesn't look like that, then I don't know what god you're thinking God is. If Jesus isn't holy and good and also loving, kind, then the Jesus you're following probably is one made by man and not the God of scripture. I'm not saying he's not holy. I'm not saying he doesn't have judgment.

Scripture says God's kindness that leads to repentance. You don't beat people to turn to Christ. It doesn't work. Yelling at people, judging people—Jesus said, "I didn't come to condemn. I came to save." It's his kindness that leads to repentance.

So it goes on. It says, "God, our savior appeared." And this is what a lot of folks don't like. Look in verse five. He says, "When God, our savior appeared, what do saviors do?" It's not really a hard question. Saved us. Now, what's the problem with that? For God to intervene and have to do this thing to save us means what? We need saving.

I know you all are so tired of my old stories, but I do remember I was a lifeguard at Virginia Beach, and I remember I was right in front the amusement park. It's gone now, but it was a busy place then. I remember there was a lady, she's a lot bigger than I am, and she was drowning. When I say drowning, I don't mean sort of kind of drowning. I mean she was drowning. I got my little buoy, and I swam out there, and she, about 300 pounds of her, took me under the water and almost drowned me.

So then I'm like, well, I'm strong. I'm 21 years old. I'll just get her, and she took me under again and again. Finally I had to back off and say, she doesn't want to be saved. I'll let her come to the end of herself, and when she realizes that she's not going to be able to fix this situation, then I'll scoop in and grab her. And that's exactly what happened.

So the Lord, when God our savior appeared, it says he saved us. We need saving. The good I want to do, so often I don't do it. The bad things I don't want to do, that's what I do. Who can save me, wretched man that I am? We have a sin problem. We have a brokenness problem, and it's not them, it's us. He saved us.

Why did God save us? Because you start being real Christian? You got a Christian bumper sticker in your car? You're at a Christian bookstore? Is that why God saved you? You quit dancing at the go-go? Why would God all of a sudden have mercy on you? Have you put English on the ball and convince them all of a sudden that now, after all that stuff you did and all that stuff within you, now somehow he's obliged to come rescue you?

Because he did come. Christmas is about rescue. And it says, "He saved us not because of works we've done." In other words, we're not going to manipulate God. We're not going to put English on the ball. He's just going to do it only because he's a God of mercy. No one deserves his love. No one deserves his grace. Least of all us. But he, as a savior, saves us because of mercy. He's a God who has mercy.

It says, "He washes us by regeneration." That's a big word. It just means he gives us a new birth. You've all been born, right? I remember my church growing up. Somebody say, well, so-and-so got born again. I'm like, what? We don't talk that way in our church. That's where people across town go bowling and stuff. We're Episcopalians. We don't talk about that.

The reality, friends, if you read your Bible is we all need a new birth because of sin. We're broken. The wages of sin is death. We need a new birth. The Bible actually says, "Be born from above"—that's actually the term in Greek. We need a birth from heaven down. And that's why he came to save us and to make us his sons and daughters and give us the right to become children of God. You don't inherit that. God doesn't have grandchildren, right? He gives you the right to receive this gift and become a child of God.

And he saves us. You know, I used to think being saved was stupid until I realized how lost I was. And I met Christ, and he saved me. And all I could say is, thank you, Lord. I've tasted mercy. Have you tasted mercy? Real mercy. Boy, I tell you what, it's intoxicating. It's beautiful. Mercy. Mercy.

Let's finish up. It says, "But according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration or new birth and by the renewal of the Holy Spirit, he poured out on us richly." Now, what I want you to get here is that God doesn't just pour out this grace, this ticket to heaven, this relationship. He doesn't like let it fall like snowflakes from on high. It actually comes in a person. He rescues us. He saves us.

Again, not by force, not by an edict. He does it through a person, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. You can read about him in Isaiah chapter 53. You can read about him when Jesus comes to be baptized. John says, "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world."

And so this God saves us. He shows us mercy. He gives us a new birth. And he pours out his grace on us richly, but it's through a person, Jesus Christ, our savior. I want to close with this.

How many have ever been to a birthday party? If you haven't, you're lying. Everybody's been to a birthday party. How about this? Have you ever been to a birthday party for somebody you didn't know? Yes. Dreadful. Bloody dreadful. Right? It's dreadful. You go to a birthday party, all the kids know this kid, you don't. Maybe your mom gave you a present, you bring it.

Friends, what I want to tell you is, I don't want anybody coming to Jesus' birthday party and not knowing him. It's just really no fun. Today, I want you to know that we have a God who is a God who's invaded our Earth and invaded our planet because he loves us. He's on a rescue mission. He wants you to be a son and daughter. He wants to pour his mercy on you. He wants you to drop your nets and come and follow him.

The question is, do you know the one whose birthday we're celebrating? Because if not, Lord, have mercy. How boring this must be for you. But I'm going to pray right now that this Christmas would be the night that you actually meet the guest of honor. The one who gave his life for you. That though he were rich, yet he became poor.

Would you bow your head? I'd love to pray for you.

Father, I pray it's a little assignment. I pray every person here will read Titus three, verses three through seven, like 50 times in the next two weeks.

Titus 3:3-7

Read it. Read it. Read it. And Father, I pray as we read it, we would understand who we are before Jesus and outside of Jesus. What he's done about our situation. That Christmas is actually a rescue mission, a SEAL Team six mission, so that we could experience his mercy and grace and become his children. Father, may that Christmas be in us.

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.