To Encourage You

Titus 2:11-12 “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age”

You’ve heard the expression, “Don’t put the cart before the horse.”  A similar expression is this one: “First things first.”  These sayings are talking about the fact that there is a necessary order to things, and to violate that order will result in problems that we could otherwise avoid. 

One of the things to which this idea can be applied is salvation.  If you talk to people about spiritual things, you’ll find that most of them have views that are completely opposite of the truth.  For example, if you ask most people the question, “Do you think you’ll go to heaven after you die?” I’ve found that most will say “Yes” or at least “I hope so.”  If you follow that up with the question “Why?” you often will hear an answer such as “I’m a good person.” It’s the concept that, although we may not be perfect, at least our good deeds outweigh our bad, so God will reward us with eternal life as a result.  In other words, it’s the idea that our “goodness” or “righteousness” will lead to salvation, when the truth, according to the Bible, is the exact opposite. 

One place we see this is in the verses from Titus 2 above. There it tells us that “the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all people.” Grace is a word that means “unmerited favor.” It means that salvation is totally and completely unmerited. That means it’s not a result of our good works.  The Bible tells us that “We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment” (Isaiah 64:6).  Even more stark terms are used to describe us in our natural condition in Romans 3:10-18, where it says, “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one. Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive. The venom of asps is under their lips.  Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.  Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes.” Not a very flattering description, would you say? 

This is God’s answer to any person who has a view of themselves that he or she is a good person, but it’s a truth that any person who hopes to end up in heaven someday must come to grips with.  You see, an understanding of our own wickedness is a prerequisite to being saved from that wickedness and all its consequences.  Salvation is the prerequisite to a righteous and godly life, and not the other way around.

Again, looking to the verses above from Titus 2, we are told that salvation is the means by which God “train(s) us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age.”  It is salvation that makes these things possible, a salvation that is unmerited, and a salvation that is provided to those who admit they are sinners and accept God’s free gift of forgiveness that is given despite our wickedness, rather than because we are good.  It is only when a person is truly saved that they are enabled by God to live a life that is based on a new mindset, one that renounces the ungodliness and worldly passions that are part and parcel of the sinful nature we are born with, that is inclined toward control of those ungodly desires and pursuit of that which is truly good.

Only salvation, being born again, can transform us into a condition of being able to distinguish what is upright and godly from what is unrighteous and ungodly, and only salvation can produce in us brand new desires, a hungering and thirsting after the true righteousness that is such a wonderful and gracious gift of God. 

So, has this ever happened to you? Have you ever understood that you are a sinner and that your own righteousness is meritless in the eyes of God? Have you ever asked God to forgive you and cleanse you from all unrighteousness? Have you ever been given a heart of gratitude toward God for His gift of grace, a heart that is zealous for good works as a result of the love He has shown you?  If not, if you think you will go to heaven because you are a good person, know that you are putting the cart before the horse.  It’s a life out of order. It’s a life where first things have not been placed first, which like anything else in this world where this has been tried, will never end well.  You see, Jesus said “I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance” (Luke 5:32).  For the “righteous,” i.e., the self-righteous that think they are good enough without Him, will never turn to Him to ask for the gracious gift of salvation which is a gift that can only be given to sinners.  It will never be given to those who see themselves as naturally good.