God's Grace

Titus 2: 12-14

We're being shown how to turn our backs on a godless, indulgent life, and how to take on a God-filled, God-honoring life. This new life is starting right now, and is whetting our appetites for the glorious day when our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, appears. He offered himself as a sacrifice to free us from a dark, rebellious life into this good, pure life, making us a people he can be proud of, energetic in goodness. (The Message)

And we are instructed to turn from godless living and sinful pleasures. We should live in this evil world with self-control, right conduct, and devotion to God, while we look forward to that wonderful event when the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, will be revealed. He gave his life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and to make us his very own people, totally committed to doing what is right. (New Living Translation)

In the lesson "The Compelling Prospect of Grace" from Captured by Grace David Jeremiah makes these points.

"The focus of these verses is in the "present age" in which we now live. The grace of God is our teacher, the Greek word being akin to paidagogos, or pedagogue, a teacher of children. The grace of God tutors us in how to live victorious over sin.

In God's curriculum of grace, there are five key subjects.

Grace Teaches Us to Renounce Sin

... When you become a Christian, you become a brand new creation in which the old is passing away and everything is being made new (2 Corinthians 5: 17). It is the grace of God that makes this transition possible. But it's not the grace we hear a lot about in our society today - the grace of acceptance, of toleration, of living my life, of just "getting along." No, this grace is the power to renounce sin in any and all forms. When grace enters our life, we cannot tolerate sin in our heart; and finally we have the power to disown it.

Grace Teaches Us to Rule Self

... That's what grace does. It so overwhelms us with the holiness of God and the price that was paid for our salvation that we are motivated to please the Lord - to live "soberly, righteously, and godly." To be sober-minded speaks of thinking clearly and carefully, to have a disciplined mind, to see things as they really are. To be a Christian in today's world, you have to be sober-minded. We don't live in a Christian culture. That means there are many conflicting ideas and worldviews coming at us every day. You've got to be thinking clearly to survive (Romans 12: 3; 1 Thessalonians 5: 6, 8; Titus 2: 2; 1 Peter 1: 13; 5: 8).

Peter's warning to be sober in light of the presence of Satan is a serious warning. Satan wants to tear down your life, your church, your pastor, your marriage, and family - and the only way to keep that from happening is to live soberly, to be on the alert."

Turning Point


Note: There are three other points which I'll cover later this week.