I invite you to turn in your Bibles this morning to the letter of Paul to Titus. Titus. You'll find that on page 1158 in most of the Pew Bibles. And as you're turning there, I'm going to read from Matthew chapter 28, reminding us of the great commission that Jesus Christ gave his disciples before ascending. No need to turn there. You're familiar with it. Again, to Titus. Reading from Matthew, chapter 28, verse 16. Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshipped him, but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. The Great Commission, given to the eleven and to the Apostle Paul as one untimely born. And it was to this Great Commission that Paul labored in the Gentile world. And with him was a young man by the name of Titus, a Greek convert who spent much of his time with Paul in his ministry, so much so that Paul referred to him as his partner and fellow worker. And according to the greeting of this letter, as his true son in our common faith. A very close bond. They labored together on the island of Crete where the gospel was believed and the church took root. And Paul was able to leave to attend to other business and he left behind his capable partner Titus. to finish up the business of establishing that church. And by way of this letter, he reminds Titus of the blueprint he would have him follow to establish the church. The first order of business for Titus was for Titus himself to be a man who was above reproach. A man who taught in accordance with sound doctrine and in his living to do everything to set an example of doing what is good. And the second order of business was for Titus to appoint elders in every town. Men who also embraced sound doctrine. Not only to encourage others by it or to rebuke those who opposed it. But also men who lived in a way that was consistent with it. That they too would be men who lived lives that were above reproach. And the third order of business is found in our scripture for this morning in chapter 3. It's actually throughout the letter, but it comes to a focus here. This third order of business is also twofold. First, teaching the congregation to avoid the foolish controversies of unbelievers and to believe the wisdom of the gospel, to hold the true doctrine. And secondly, to urge them to stop living for themselves and to start living like Christians, doing what is good, that they too would live lives that were above reproach. It is the call of the Christian life. This blueprint for establishing the church in Crete is a perfect blueprint for every congregation in the church of Jesus Christ. But the saints who are called to follow it are not perfect. We are imperfect. So whether we are ministers or elders or believers in the pew, even our best efforts to uphold true doctrine and to live by doing what is good, we'll be frustrated by the sin that clings to us. We tend to return to cling to falsehood that need correction by the truth. We tend to revert to the ways of living that need correction by discipline. But even though this is true, that we imperfectly follow the call that we've been given, and even though this will remain true throughout our lives, we are not to despair, brothers and sisters. There is a greater truth that we must continually remember, a truth that forms the unshakable foundation upon which we stand, a truth that motivates us to press on when we stumble, and a truth that points us to the goal of it all. This truth reminds us that the reason we even struggle to begin with is not so that we can learn enough or do enough good that we merit God's salvation. No, not at all. It's because we have been saved. We have been changed. We desire the truth. We desire to do good even though we do so imperfectly. So Paul reminds Titus and us of this truth by way of a trustworthy saying. That is the text that we will focus on this morning. A trustworthy saying that many believe is a baptismal form used in the early church for the converts to Christ. A form very likely used here in Crete to which Paul is calling to their mind as a reminder in the face of the struggles they have in pursuing godliness, the truth that they must remember. And through this trustworthy saying we are called to remember that our triune God has already accomplished His salvation for His people so that out of gratitude we can press on imperfectly as we do, but we can press on as His people. This Word of God calls us to remember our Trinitarian salvation which is according to the Father's mercy which is accomplished by the Son's appearing and which is applied by the Holy Spirit's washing. Hear now from the Word of God. Titus chapter 3, we'll read as our scripture verses 1 through 11 and return for our text, which is verses 4 through 7. Hear now the Word of God. Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good, to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate and to show true humility toward all men. 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. 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. This is a trustworthy saying. And I want you to stress these things, so that those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good. These things are excellent and profitable for everyone. But avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and arguments and quarrels about the law because these are unprofitable and useless. Warn a divisive person once and then warn him a second time. After that, have nothing to do with him. You may be sure that such a man is warped and sinful. He is self-condemned. Again, our text this morning, a trustworthy saying in verses 4 through 7. 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. Here ends the reading of God's Word this morning. In this faithful saying, the first thing we want to remember, we are called to remember about our Trinitarian salvation is that it is according to the Father's mercy. Paul introduces this saying in verse 3 by reminding not only the Cretan Christians, but every Christian, including himself, of how we lived apart from our salvation. 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 hated, hating one another. Based on this description, there is no way that we could do any righteous thing, let alone enough righteous things, that we could earn our salvation. Left to ourselves, we were fools who embraced the deception of others and our own self-deception, Believing whatever we saw, whatever we felt, whatever we wanted at any moment. To be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth that we are to live by. At least for the moment. We were enslaved to our own desires. Living as fools who were only concerned with what's in it for me. We loved ourselves and we hated everyone else. Not necessarily openly, but in our hearts. And we told ourselves that they deserved it because they hated us first. We not only could not do any righteous thing, we didn't want to do any righteous thing. That's where we were. That is our natural state. But, Paul writes in verse 4, even so, he reminds us that God our Savior, He saved us. Not because of righteous things we had done, but because of His mercy. Above all, when we remember our salvation, we are to remember that God, our Savior, is the actor. We are the recipients. According to verse 4, it was because of His mercy that His kindness and His love were revealed to us. According to verse 6, it was because He poured out His Holy Spirit on us. And verse 7, it's because of His grace that we have been justified. It is He who adopted us as His heirs. Paul said it this way in Ephesians chapter 2, verses 4 and 5, because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions. Indeed, God the Father is rich in mercy. Jesus Himself said, the Father is merciful. He has made it clear throughout Scripture that although He is rich in mercy, He is not merciful to everyone. Out of all the men and women He has or will ever create, He has chosen to be merciful to some. He says of Himself when He revealed Himself to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy. But in showing His mercy, God the Father is not arbitrary, willy-nilly moving to give grace to one and mercy to one and not to the other, just because, for no good reason. That's the God of Islam, Allah. No, the God of the Bible gives his mercy because he gives it for a reason, a very good reason. A reason that we have already seen cannot be because we somehow deserve it. We deserve death. The wages of sin is death. That's what we deserve. No, the reason God shows mercy is because for his own good pleasure, from before the foundation of the world, he promised his son that he would give him a people. And he promised to his people through Abraham in Genesis chapter 17. On an oath he said, I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your seed after you for the generations to come. To be your God and the God of your seed after you. He promised to be a covenant keeping God. And under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit in Luke chapter 1, Mary sang a song of praise to God that connects that promise to its fulfillment in her son. She connects the promise of God to the mercy of God and she sang, his mercy extends to those who fear him from generation to generation. And he has helped his servant Israel remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his seed. forever, even as he said to the fathers. And how did he show this mercy? By conceiving in Mary, the son of the most high God, whom she was to name Jesus, because he would save his people from their sin. God is rich in mercy, and he's promised to show his mercy, and he has shown us his mercy in Christ. But not only does this trustworthy saying remind us that our salvation is according to the Father's mercy, it also reminds us that for those who have trusted him, this salvation is accomplished and abiding. It is done. He saved us. Past tense, continuing effect. In the NIV translation, if you look at your page, if you have the NIV, This phrase, He saved us, is found twice in verse 5, even though it appears only once in the original. If you have an English Standard Version or a King James, you'll find it just once. And the reason they did so was to make sure that we see how this one phrase serves two purposes. This one phrase, He saved us, serves two purposes. It's plucked in the middle of two different things that we must see in our salvation. And yet it serves to bind them together as the one work of God out of His mercy for us. So the first aspect of our salvation that it directs us to, directs our attention to the when of our salvation. When it was accomplished. That statement ends with this phrase, He saved us. And it reads like this, When the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy, he saved us. The second aspect directs our attention to how this salvation is applied. It begins with this phrase. 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. You see, it is with this placement in the middle, he saved us. that this saying unites the once-for-all accomplishment of salvation for all believers with the personal experience of salvation of each believer. It is one and the same salvation of our merciful God and Father. And so we turn our attention now to the first aspect of how this trustworthy saying helps us remember our Trinitarian salvation was accomplished with the Son's appearing. The when, the timing of our salvation is to be tied to a specific event in the history of the world. In Romans chapter 5, verse 6, Paul says that it was just the right time. When we were still powerless that Christ died for the ungodly. That's when. And the testimony of Scripture is clear that the salvation of all who are to be saved was accomplished in the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God in the flesh. To live and to die, to be resurrected and to be ascended in the place of His people. And the focal event of all of that work that He accomplished from His incarnation to His ascension and even now at the right hand of God the Father is focused at the cross of Calvary where he suffered the fullness of God's wrath because of our sin and he offered his perfect life as a sacrifice to God in our place. Hebrews chapter 10 verse 10 says that the elect of God have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Christ once for all. And Peter says it again in chapter 3 of his first letter, Christ died for sins once for all. The righteous for the unrighteous. To bring you to God. This trustworthy saying affirms this assuring truth in a very beautiful and yet indirect way. We read in verses 4 and 5 that according to the Father's mercy, when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, He saved us. When the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared. kindness is to show action or show inaction being helpful and beneficial to others showing goodness and generosity and in the appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ God showed his kindness and the generous help and benefit he gives to his people Paul warned the Gentile converts in Romans chapter 11 And using a contrast so we can understand this kindness better, he warned the Gentile converts against unbelief, saying, Consider therefore the kindness and the sternness of God. Sternness to those who fell, meaning the Jews. Kindness to you. And he goes on to say and remind them that all who remain in unbelief, whether Jew or Gentile, makes no difference. If you remain in unbelief, all you will ever know is the sternness. But to those whom God reveals his kindness, there will be belief in the Son of God. They will know his kindness now and forever. Paul reminds us in Romans chapter 2 that it is God's kindness that leads his people to repentance. Well, joined to this kindness of God is his love. But this is not love in the abstract or in general. Rather, it is a particular kind of love that we call philanthropy. When Bill Gates gives a million dollars to a foundation, that's called philanthropy. A benevolent or caring concern for an interest in mankind that's expressed in efforts to help, to be a benefit. Our philanthropy is shown to others because they are human beings, just like us. We can empathize with them. But our philanthropy is not the same as God's philanthropy because we are not his equals. He does not love us as human beings because we are his equal. He loves us as human beings because he is the ruler who has established us as his human subjects. That is God's philanthropy. And in the appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ, God expressed his love. He expressed his philanthropy to his subjects in this. He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. Considered together the kindness and the love of God really speak of one thing. And this one thing is the same thing that Paul mentions in chapter 2, verse 11 when he says, The grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. This one thing is, in fact, one person. The kindness and the love of God, the embodiment of His grace to us, is His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And Paul says as much in Ephesians chapter 2, he says, The incomparable riches of God's grace are expressed in His kindness to us in Christ Jesus. Only those who are joined to Him, to Christ, through faith, enjoy this salvation. For He alone is the fulfillment of the promise of the Father's mercy. The promise He gave to the Son before the foundational world. The promise He told to Abraham. The promise He fulfilled in Jesus Christ in the womb of Mary who gave praise for His mercy. The promise that Paul reminds us in Galatians chapter 3. that was spoken to Abraham and to his seed. The scriptures do not say, and to seeds, meaning many people, but to you and your seed, meaning one person, who is Christ. Salvation is found in Christ alone, for the promise was made to him alone. And therefore our salvation is the corporate salvation of the church of Jesus Christ that is joined to him through faith. Apart from the church, the body of Christ, there is no salvation. Because unless you're a member of the body, you stand apart from the body. We've been reminded that the salvation is because of the Father's mercy. That our salvation is accomplished once for all by the Son's appearing. And finally, this trustworthy saying reminds us to remember that our Trinitarian salvation is applied through the Holy Spirit's washing. You see, we have to be joined to Christ to enjoy it. The Father sent Him, Christ accomplished, but unless we're joined to Him, there is no salvation. The how, the manner of our being joined to the one body of Christ is the work of the Holy Spirit. Picking it up again in verse 5, we read it this way. 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. See, Jesus Christ came not only to die on the cross, he came to live, to die, to be resurrected, and to ascend to the right hand of the Father, where he received the promised Holy Spirit for his people. In a very public and powerful way, the Holy Spirit was poured out on the church on the day of Pentecost. Not too long ago, we remember that day. But we must not limit the outpouring to that day alone, for even on that day, through the sermon of Peter in Acts chapter 2, a promise was given that before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord, everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. And according to the Great Commission, they will be baptized and they will receive the Holy Spirit. Yet in a very personal and powerful way, the Holy Spirit continues to be poured out on all who will be saved, one at a time. How He does this is a mystery. That He does this is not only undeniable, it is irresistible. Jesus taught Nicodemus in John chapter 3. He says, I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he's born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives first birth to flesh. Spirit gives first birth to Spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying you must be born again. The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear it sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it's going. So it is with everyone who's born of the Spirit. See, through the washing of the Holy Spirit, the elect become new creations in Christ. It is His work that transfers us, that recreates us in Christ. As new creatures, we also enjoy a new status. No longer are we God's enemies outside the camp, but according to verse 7, having been justified by His grace in Christ, we have been washed by the Holy Spirit so that we might become heirs, having hope of eternal life. all who have been joined to Christ through faith by the power of the Holy Spirit are children of God, members of His household, not only now, but forever. Our hope of eternal life is certain because the eternal life for which we hope is certain. Peter says it this way in 1 Peter chapter 1. He says that our inheritance is one that can never perish or spoil or fade that is kept in heaven for you and for which God Himself guards you to bring you to it. It is certain. We need to know these things because as new creatures who long for that day when our faith will be sight and that inheritance is ours, we will struggle to hold on to the truth and to do what is good. But as we struggle, we are to be assured that the Holy Spirit has been given to us and is working inwardly to renew us day by day as He prepares us for that day. You see, He Himself is the deposit that guarantees the inheritance. And we can depend on His work within us to guide us into all revealed truth as we read God's Word so that more and more our doctrine, our thinking, our beliefs are true. And we can depend on His work within us to more and more direct our desires and direct our efforts to do what is good. The reformer Martin Luther said that the trials and tribulations of the Christian life, the entanglements of sin, the failures in our efforts, should cause us to remember our baptism and what was spoken there. Remember our baptism and what was spoken there. And what should we hear spoken when we remember our baptism in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit? You don't need to remember the whole form. And you can remember more than in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. You can remember this trustworthy saying. Through faith, we should hear this trustworthy saying when we consider our baptism. When the kindness and love of God 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 in Jesus Christ, our Savior, so that, having been justified by His grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. This is done in those who believe. And by way of our Trinitarian baptism, that speaks of this trustworthy saying, we are called to remember our Trinitarian salvation, the work of our Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And we're to be encouraged By the fact that we've been saved according to the Father's mercy, even when we agonize over the misery we encounter in our lives. We are to be encouraged by the fact that our salvation was fully and forever accomplished by the Son's appearing. Even when we're pressed down in the darkness of doubt. And we are to be encouraged by the fact that our salvation has been applied through the Holy Spirit's washing with the blood of Jesus Christ so that forever we belong to the household of God even when we feel estranged or feel distant because of the sin that still clings to us. Even when we know failure in our efforts to hold fast to the truth and in our efforts to do what is good we are to be encouraged when we remember our Trinitarian salvation. Let us pray. Almighty God and Father, we thank you that we may come to your word this morning and find encouragement. For the life in this veil of tears is clouded and difficult and uneven and unsteady. And we bump up against our sin day after day in all that we do and all that we fail to do, all that we think and all that we fail to think. and we can feel the weight and we can give credence to our feelings that are so strong, that is so strong that we are pressed down and we lose heart and we're tempted to give up. Father, this morning you call upon us to remember our salvation, that it is a Trinitarian salvation fully accomplished by our Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. You've shown us mercy when we didn't deserve it. You sent the Son to take care of everything. And you've given us the Spirit to bind us to Him. We thank you that this is a fact that we can take to the bank. This is a fact that we can stand on when we feel like we're in the quagmire and sinking. It's true. It's certain. Grant us, Lord, to know that certainty, to be encouraged in our efforts in this life. For the sake of Christ our Lord, we pray. Amen.