“For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. 12. Teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously and godly, in this present world; 13. Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ: 14. Who gave Himself for us,that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.”
The world is always looking for a blessed hope. All over the world people are looking for hope. In some areas of the world hope is a hard thing to find because there is so much poverty and war. What the world needs to know is that we already have that blessed hope. We read about it in Titus 2:11-14. Here is the essence of that blessed hope. It is based on “the grace of God that brings salvation.” The Bible presents God as the source of all hope. This is why many people never find the hope that they are seeking, because they are looking for it in the world. The problem is that everything in the world is temporary, and the hope that people really need has to come from a higher source. God has given the blessed hope of salvation by His grace. This means, of course, that the world does not deserve it, but God gives it anyway. All over the world where people have received Christ by the grace of God, the blessed hope lives. One of the reasons why people do find the hope that they long for is that it is hope that changes our lives. We can’t have the blessed hope on our own terms. We can’t live like we want to and realize the only blessed hope that is available. Here is the goal of God’s hope in our lives: “Teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously and godly in this present world.” It is this that turns a lot of people off. They want the peace and safety that hope brings, but they do not want that hope to change their lives. We call this,“trying to eat your cake and have it too.” This means that if we want God’s hope, we need to find it God’s way, and if we refuse that we do not realize the eternal hope that God has for us. The fullness of the message is that what happened was, “the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ.” Jesus was/is the game changer. He brought the blessed hope to us because “he gave Himself for us…” Here we read the content of the blessed hope that Jesus Christ brought into the world. First, “Jesus gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity.” This means that Jesus bought our hope with His lifeblood. Paul wrote of this in 1 Corinthians 6:20: “For you are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.” Second, “Jesus gave Himself for us…that He might purify unto Himself a peculiar people.” The blessed hope leads us to a live of purity. Jesus called us to be pure, partly as an example to the world. He called us to be “a peculiar people.” “Peculiar” as used here does not mean that we are to odd balls, but that we should be different from the world. The blessed hope calls us to be examples to the world. Third, “Jesus gave Himself (that we might be) zealous of good works.” The first two points inform us that God called us to be what He wants us to do. The third point calls us to do what God wants us to do. We are to take the blessed hope to the world and we are to do it zealously, which means that we will be serious about it. The world needs to know that there is real hope and that this hope is found in Jesus Christ. Bro. Joe t
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AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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