I invite you to turn with me tonight to Titus chapter 2, as we read together the 15 verses of the chapter, drawing our attention specifically to verses 11 through 14 of Titus chapter 2. Hear now the Word of God. You must teach what is in accord with sound doctrine. Teach the older men to be temperate, worthy of respect, self-controlled and sound in faith, in love and in endurance. Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind and to be subject to their husbands so that no one will malign the Word of God. Similarly, encourage the young men to be self-controlled. In everything, set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching, show integrity, seriousness, and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us. Teach slaves to be subject to their masters in everything to try to please them, not to talk back to them and not to steal from them, but to show that they can be fully trusted so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive. For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say no to ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in this present age while we wait for the blessed hope, the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for Himself a people that are His very own, eager to do what is good. These, then, are the things you should teach. Encourage and rebuke with all authority. Do not let anyone despise you. There ends the reading of God's Word. May He add His blessing to the reading and consideration of it tonight. Beloved congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, Article 40 of our church order, that agreement by which we display our unity with our fellow United Reformed churches and by which we see to it that all things in the life of the church are done decently and in good order. That Article 40 says, at one of the services each Lord's Day, the minister shall ordinarily preach the word as summarized in the three forms of unity with special attention given to the Heidelberg Catechism by treating its Lord's Days in sequence. And that's indeed something that we strive to do here on a regular basis. And our confessions, the Reformed confessions, the three forms of unity that we hold to or subscribe to in a particular way, of course, are the Heidelberg Catechism, the Belgic Confession, and the canons of Dort. And these Reformed confessions, and there are others we know too, but these Reformed confessions, we say, are the church's studied response to what the Word of God teaches. We confess what these confessions state. We confess this with all who believe these as the fruit of the Reformation, that they accurately reflect the doctrines of Scripture. That they accurately reflect God's teaching concerning Himself, His teaching concerning man, His teaching concerning Jesus Christ and salvation and the church and the end times. Now recently, you recall, we completed a consideration specifically of the doctrines of God's grace in salvation taught in Scripture and summarized by the canons of Dor. The doctrines of God's grace in sovereignly choosing for Himself a people to save and actually accomplishing that salvation through the atoning work of Jesus Christ. And then along with that, the comfort and the security that all of that truth affords God's people. By God's grace, beloved, we believe that truth. We confess that truth. But now the question is, does it end there? Once we have come to faith by the blessing of the Holy Spirit, even once we have made profession of our faith, is that the end of the matter? Have we arrived? Is the label Christian all that there is to it? Is our spiritual life, Is our life of faith simply one compartment of our life that we are to be concerned about? And once we believe that compartment is all taken care of, it's all completed, we never have to concern ourselves with it again, and it never spills over on any other compartment of life, as we might say. And of course, we know that the answer is no. We know that that would be ridiculous. And Paul makes it clear, beloved, that the grace of God in our salvation transforms the believer's heart and his life. His present behavior. It transforms that heart and life in this time between the grace of God that has already appeared, as Paul says, and the not yet the glorious appearing of our God and Savior Jesus Christ that we look forward to. In that in-between time, The Christian life bears the stamp of God's grace. It is a time during which God's grace directs the Christian's life, as Paul teaches. Paul's emphasis to Titus in this short letter is on sound doctrine, on true doctrine, as well on the proper conduct, then, that flows from that true doctrine. And he emphasizes that because of the false teaching and because of the corrupt conduct that had invaded the church. He says in chapter 1, verse 16, they claim to know God, but by their actions they deny Him. They are detestable, disobedient, and unfit for doing anything good. They claim to know God, but by their actions, their actions, Paul is saying, deny Him. And therefore, along with sound doctrine, Titus is instructed to teach what the Christian life looks like. And he gives a bit of a sample in verses 1-10. And with this text then, Paul teaches that that new life in Christ Jesus that new life in Christ Jesus is then motivated, it is directed, or we might say informed by the saving grace of God. That saving grace of God that has appeared in the person and work of Christ Jesus, all that Christ is and all that He has done, it is all, the whole package, Everything we know about Christ is a part of that saving grace of God that has appeared. And the grace of God teaches us not only what we have in Christ Jesus, but it also teaches us how to respond. The very life and living of the child of God is transformed because of God's grace and salvation. And Paul teaches that the essence of the Christian life in this in-between time, the essence of the Christian life is godliness. From ungodliness to godly lives. The Christian life is to be synonymous with godliness, or we might say piety, understood correctly. And as the Bible teaches us, godliness is to be desired. Godliness is to be sought. It is to be developed. It is to enjoy growth. Not in order to be something in Christ Jesus, but because of who we are in Christ Jesus. And therefore, godliness is not an option for God's people. It's not just a good idea that we can take or leave, depending on how we feel at any given moment. But it is to be actual. It is to be real. And of course, we know we depend upon the enabling power of the Holy Spirit. But God calls us to be active. And this is the teaching of Scripture again. This is what Paul teaches in this text. Paul points to this as well when he talks about his task in chapter 1, verse 1. Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the faith of God's elect and the knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness. To Timothy, in 1 Timothy 2, verse 2, Paul says that we are to live peaceful, quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. In the same letter, chapter 4, verse 7, he says, "...train yourselves to be godly." Chapter 6, verse 11, "...pursue godliness." The idea of a relentless pursuing. Relentlessly going after without giving up. Peter in 2 Peter 3, "...in view of the day of the Lord, in which all things as we know it now will be destroyed," says what kind of people we ought to be. He says, "...you ought to live holy and godly lives." And the beauty here with all of this godliness talk is that Peter also says in the same letter that God's divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of Him. Beloved, godliness is action. It takes effort, again, equipped and enabled by the Holy Spirit. Yet what then is this godliness that is directed, even given by God's grace? It's given by God's grace indeed because apart from the grace of God, we wouldn't even care. We wouldn't even concern ourselves with it. But what is this godliness? As we think about godliness, we might think, first of all, of Christian character that's often described as being godlike or Christlike. Or we might think of Christian character that's outlined in the fruit of the Spirit. We might think of Christian conduct, doing what is right and pleasing to God. And all of that Christian character and Christian conduct is indeed included, but there is a foundation for all of that. God's grace directs the Christian's life, first of all, in the attitude of godliness. The attitude of godliness. It is possible for a person to be a moral person, or for one to be a generous person, or for another to be a zealous person, yet not to be a godly person. But a godly person will be, at least to some extent, moral and generous and zealous because of devotion to God. That is the attitude of godliness, devotion to God. A life centered on God, a life focused on God. William Law, a 17th century theologian, specifically on piety, wrote this, Devotion signifies a life given or devoted to God. He, therefore, is the devout or godly man who lives no longer to his own will or the way and spirit of the world, but to the sole will of God, who considers God in everything, who serves God in everything, who makes all the parts of his common life, parts of piety that is godliness, by doing everything in the name of God and under such rules as are conformable to his glory. Really, a beautiful definition of godliness, pointing out the attitude of godliness and as we'll talk about in a moment, the practicing of godliness. But this attitude of devotion to God, beloved, is the fruit of God's transforming grace in bringing one to faith. And this devotion is driven by the fear of God. Devotion to God includes the fear of God. Not in the sense of terror and dread of punishment. Not like the goats that we talked about this morning on Judgment Day. But understanding who God is. Fear of God in the sense of awe for Him because He is awesome. Fear of God in the sense of reverence for God. Honor for God, which comes from focusing on God. Focusing on His sovereignty. Focusing on His transcendent glory and majesty and holiness. Focusing on His supremacy over all things. Focusing on the greatness of His being. Fear of God. Being in awe of God. Recognizing that there is an infinite gap in worthiness and dignity between a holy God and unholy man and therefore confessing that God is unique. He is absolutely other than, different than all that He has created. Focusing on His majesty even as the angels in Revelation 15 who John hears sing Great and marvelous are your deeds, Lord God Almighty. Just and true are your ways, King of the ages. Who will not fear you, O Lord, and bring glory to your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before you, for your righteous acts have been revealed. He is great. He is marvelous. He is almighty. He is the King. He is holy. All nations will worship Him. And this awe of God, beloved, brings forth from transformed hearts adoration and love and reverence and honor for God. Beloved, the benefit of God's grace of salvation that has appeared, appeared in all that God has revealed through the person and work of Jesus Christ, the benefit is that that appearing of Jesus Christ and all that He has done demonstrates God's sovereignty and power, the divine entering humanity. It demonstrates His power and His victory on the cross over Satan, sin, and death. And the fear of God, understanding His greatness, being in awe of Him, then leads to understanding the love of God. What He has done for us. The love of God displayed in God Himself, bridging that infinite gap between the holy God and unholy man. And John tells us just exactly how he has done that. In 1 John 4, beginning at verse 8, whoever does not love does not know God because God is love. This is how God showed His love among us. He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him. This is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. You see, when you consider the awesomeness of God, the greatness, the majesty of God, and then understand His love poured out, it is amazing that in His love, this Supreme One who could have flicked us away just as easy as we flick away a dead fly, this awesome One gave of Himself and sent His Son to save us from His own well-deserved eternal wrath that should have been poured out upon us. And beloved, that is His love that the grace of God specifically teaches of, as Paul says. In verse 14, he says, Who gave Himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for Himself a people that are His very own, eager to do what is good, And then Paul says in chapter 3, beginning at verse 4, But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of His mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that having been justified by His grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. That is the amazing love of God. That the infinite, majestic God would give Himself for you and for me. The fear of God, being in awe of Him, and the truth of the love of God cannot help then but engage the believer's affections resulting in the desire for God. A desire for God that shapes our attitude of godliness. David thirsted for God. David longed for God for more intimate fellowship with Him. Do you? Do I? I'm afraid I don't often act like it. Paul says in Philippians 3, verse 10, I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection. Desiring God, longing for God, understanding more and more, again, the nature and the attributes of God, the awesomeness of God, and dwelling upon the riches of the mercy and the grace that He poured out on Calvary. The grace of God that brings salvation. That grace, by the power of the Holy Spirit, transforms the hearts of those for whom Jesus died, bringing them into an intimate relationship with Almighty God, a relationship of devotion with fear of God and love of God and a desire for God. And that attitude of godliness, beloved, does not then simply stay bottled up inside the child of God. It cannot stay bottled up. If you understand it in this way, it simply cannot stay bottled up inside the child of God. But devotion to God and desire for God is seen in a new and transformed life and living directed by God's grace, secondly, in the practice of godliness. We are called to be people, as Paul says in verse 14, eager to do what is good. Now, Paul clearly teaches that God's grace directs the Christian life in its performance, in its living. It directs it both in a negative way, or negatively speaking, and positively speaking. And of course, that's consistent with Paul, isn't it? In Romans chapter 5, Paul speaks of putting to death the old man and bringing to life the things of the Spirit. In Galatians chapter 5, Paul contrasts the sinful nature on the one hand with the fruit of the Spirit on the other hand. In Colossians chapter 3, he speaks of putting off the deeds of the old man and putting on clothing ourselves with the deeds of the new. And as we consider this morning in Ephesians chapters 4 and 5, again, the very same thing. There's that negative aspect of putting off and the positive side of putting on. The practice of godliness includes rejecting ungodliness. For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say no to ungodliness and worldly passions. It teaches us to say no to ungodliness. In a sense, to put our hands up and say no. The idea here is of renouncing, of denying what was once natural to us, what was once the course of our life, And the fact, beloved, that we are to be taught to say no to ungodliness is proof that we deserve the greatest punishment and instead we have received the greatest gift in Christ Jesus. By the power of the Holy Spirit, because of the work of Jesus Christ, we have been set free from slavery to sin and enabled to say no to ungodliness. To turn our back on it. To want nothing to do with that. It doesn't mean that we don't fall short of the glory of God as we know. But as Proverbs 8, verse 13 says, to fear the Lord is to hate evil. To have that righteous hatred for all that is evil. Ungodliness is to be given up because as verse 14 says, Jesus Christ gave Himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness. Ungodliness, we know, is that which is displeasing to God. It's that which warrants His anger. It includes actively engaging in sin and sinful behavior. It includes actively neglecting God, neglecting His worship, neglecting His Word, neglecting prayer with Him, neglecting that which we know pleases Him. In Romans 1, verses 18-32, Paul summarizes ungodliness with these two familiar words, idolatry and immorality. As well, he gives a few examples to Titus in verse 3. Teach the older women not to slander or to be addicted to much wine. Verse 9, teach the slaves not to talk back to their masters or to steal from them. Chapter 3, verse 3, At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived, and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. Ungodliness is demonstrated in indulging in worldly passion, longing for pleasure and power and position at all costs. In Galatians 5, Paul points to the acts of ungodliness. The acts of the sinful nature are obvious. Sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery, idolatry and witchcraft, hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, and envy, drunkenness, orgies, and the like. And he gives other litanies we know in Ephesians again, as well as in Colossians. Beloved, saying no to ungodliness is proof that for the sinner saved by the grace of God, it is never, ever, ever again life as usual. It's never again life as it was before, life like the world. It can't be. Because by the transforming power of the Holy Spirit, the Christian no longer thinks and speaks and acts like the world. Even when it comes to common behavior, things that we might do in common, it's not the same. Because the child of God has a different motive, has a different attitude. His actions come from devotion to God, which replaces ungodliness with embracing godliness. The grace of God teaches us to say no to ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in this present age. Once again, as we said toward the beginning, as we think of godliness, we might most often think of godly conduct. We might think of concrete actions. Paul speaks of it here as being upright, doing what is right. We might think of the sheep again in the story of the sheep and the goats as we considered this morning from Matthew chapter 25. And the sheep, their works of mercy that flow from love and devotion to God. Paul again gives a few concrete examples as he talks about having sound speech in another place. Speech that builds others up or doing what is good or forgiving others or doing all things to the glory of God. In another place, whether you eat or drink, whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. Indeed, the examples are endless. Yet, beloved, what is it that makes one's conduct godly? Indeed, we know it's a new heart by the power of the Holy Spirit. But it is godly character. It is those godly traits, those godly virtues worked by the grace of God, by the power of the Holy Spirit that give shape to godly conduct. Notice Paul speaks three times in the first six verses about being self-controlled, that the older men, that the older women, that the younger men are all to be taught to be self-controlled. Sober, we might say. Clear-headed. Being uncompromising in the Christian life. Standing firm in one's position in Christ. having a clear understanding, as Paul says in Philippians 4, of what is true, what is noble, what is right, what is pure, what is lovely, what is admirable, what is praiseworthy. He says, these things, think on them. We might say, act on them. Paul also gives some other examples here to Titus. Being temperate, reverent, pure, having integrity, being trustworthy. We think of the fruit of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, patience. kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law. He adds from Colossians 3, compassion, humility, and also in other places, contentment, thankfulness, considerateness, sincerity. There's a ton of them, aren't there? Beloved, the character of godliness is that character against which there is no law. There is no law condemning it. There is no law saying, Thou shalt not be humble. Thou shalt not be compassionate. Why? Because this godly character, these virtues, reflect the very character of God Himself. Dear people of God, practicing godliness is the call of God to His people transformed by His grace. Practicing godliness is to occupy the believer's time in between. It is godliness that keeps us focused on God as Satan continues to attack us. This godliness is to undergird and support our entire life and living by the blessing of the Holy Spirit. Again, Paul, in the Bible, and therefore God Himself says that we are to train ourselves to be godly. That we are to pursue, actively go after, without letting up, actively pursue godliness. Both working at growth in and more intimate devotion to God, as well putting this godliness to practice in our thoughts and words and actions of life and to train ourselves to pursue it by learning from God Himself, by desiring to fellowship with Him. Here again is an area that I find myself falling so far short in, and maybe you do too, fellowship with God. I go through the motions so often. I have my daily devotions. Often can't remember a half an hour later what they were about. And maybe you struggle the same way. My fellowship with God, in many ways, is lacking so much. Desiring fellowship with Him. Prayer to Him. Diligently reading, studying, meditating on God's Word, the manual, the textbook for godliness, learning more clearly what is pleasing to Him and walking nearer to Him. Beloved, it is my goal to pursue together with you this growth in godliness. As together we take some time, I'm not sure how long it will be, but to take some time before we turn once again to the Heidelberg Catechism, but to take some time to consider a portion at least of these godly character traits, these godly virtues. For example, the fruit of the Spirit. God calls us to humility. He calls us to love. He calls us to thankfulness and joy and kindness. So then what does He mean? What does it look like? What does He have to teach us? And beloved, as we consider the Christian life with its attitude and practice of godliness, may it always be our prayer that the Holy Spirit would always lay the truth of us, of each and every one of us, wide open before our very own eyes that we might see ourselves clearly. It may hurt. It may be uncomfortable. Yet, that's how He sanctifies His people. That's how He causes us to grow. And our comfort, beloved, is that our instructor itself, namely the grace of God in Christ Jesus by which we have this new life, this grace of God is the possession of all who trust only in the blood and the righteousness of Jesus Christ that alone cleanses us from all ungodliness, a possession that will never, ever be taken away from you and me. And for those who trust in Jesus Christ, that growth process of pursuing godliness, it will reveal, it will cause us to see our sin and our failure more distinctly and more clearly, yet that is not to drive us to hopelessness. Because as Paul says in verse 13, while we wait for the blessed hope, the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. It means that's a fact. That blessed hope is a fact. He is our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. And therefore, we know that our failures and that our sin that we continue to struggle with do not cancel out God's love for us. His love keeps us forever only because of Jesus Christ. And we are called, beloved, to practice godliness. Indeed, as Paul says, teaching about God, making the teaching about God our Savior attractive to those who might see. That's one of our goals, huh? God's grace separates His people from the world. And godliness distinguishes His people from the world. Jesus Christ has saved us from all ungodliness and in response God calls us to show forth the glory of His grace by being about the business of being and living as His people as we wait for the blessed hope, the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. Let's pray together. Dear Heavenly Father, we come before You at this time again to thank You and praise You for Your Word of Truth. To praise You again for a beautiful reminder of what You have done for us in Christ Jesus. To thank You, O Lord, that You have called us to be Your people. And not in name only, but to live as a people of God. And we pray, Father, that indeed You would continue to equip us for that very purpose, that we would show forth the praises of the glory and the grace of God to a world of darkness, that we might be lights shining into that dark world. Father, continue to bless us, we pray, day by day, moment by moment, that we might never be content to stay the same as we are today, but that we would desire to grow in faith, hope, and love, and in a demonstration of all of that for Jesus' sake. Indeed, O Lord, You are our great God and Father and we praise Your most holy name. Hear our prayer, O Lord, for Jesus' sake. Amen.