Titus 3:4-7

Now we have a welcome change to the positive. Titus 3, verses 4 through 7 emphasizes God's kindness, His love, and His mercy, who saves us not by works of righteousness which we have done. Nevertheless, a result of salvation is the need for good works.

The vibrancy of our life in Christ comes first from the realization that we were once no better than the unconverted people. Christian goodness does not make us proud, it makes us tremendously grateful and humble.

We should not regard others with contempt when we see them living worldly lives. It comes from realization what God has done for us in Jesus Christ. Paul mentioned seven incredible facts about God's work in us.

The first is that Jesus came to reveal God the Father and His plan of salvation through His Son to us, and to put us into a new relationship with God. Second, the love and grace of God to us are gifts that no one could ever earn. They can only be accepted in faith and obedience with humble thankfulness. Third, Jesus Christ mediates this love and grace of God to us through the church. They come through the washing of water, baptism, the laying on of hands, and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. We deliberately leave one way of life and enter another, or if we have grown up attending God's church, we choose faithfulness to God's way of life while rejecting Satan and the world's way of life early in life.

In this connection, Paul uses two words. He mentions regeneration, and this word implies a process that begins with spiritual conception by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. And when we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord, it is as if our life begins all over again. This is a newness of life which is similar to a new conception. Regeneration is the process of being spiritually converted into a new and better condition. Paul also mentions renewing. It is as if the life were worn out and when we discovered Christ, there is an act of renewal, which is not over and done with but repeats itself every day.

Fourth, is that Jesus Christ mediates the grace and love of God to us, which is done by the power of God's Spirit, and all the work of the church and all the words of the church and all the ordinances of the church are inoperative and ineffective unless the power of the Holy Spirit is there. God's Spirit empowers the mind to comprehend spiritual matters producing conversion. And it leads us to all truth, convicts us of sin and righteousness, imparts faith, the love of God, the power to overcome sin, and to receive other gifts essential to do His will.

Fifth, the effect of all this is that it brings forgiveness for all past sins and any genuinely repented of in the future. In His mercy, God does not hold our forgiven sins against us. Of course, we still have to continue overcoming sins throughout our lives and remembering that we have been forgiven should move us to be in awe of the forgiving mercy of God.

Six, the effect is also present life. The grace of God is not confined to what will be. It offers us here and now a more excellent way of life. It is a quality of life never before seen, and when Christ our Lord and Savior enters a person's life and accepts Him, we begin to live for the first time.

And then seventh, there is the hope of even greater things. For us, the best is still to come, and we know that no matter how blessed we are now, or how wonderful life on earth with Christ may seem, the life to come will be more extraordinary and indescribable with the human mind. This hope helps us put our lives in proper perspective because we know the wonder of past sins forgiven, the thrill of the present life with Christ, and the hope of the more excellent life to come.