Titus 3:4-7

Sometime in the middle of the first century Paul wrote a letter to Titus that included the following sentence:

"But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life."

Wow! There is so much packed into this sentence. We could talk about God's goodness, His loving kindness.

We could talk about how He has appeared to man in various ways from the Garden of Eden, to the burning bush, to the crucified Savior, to the risen Lord, to the Almighty God of the book of Revelation.

We could talk about how He saved us, not because of our good works, for we fall so short of His perfect standard. Rather, we could talk about His mercy.

We could talk about regeneration and renewal, and the Holy Spirit.

We could talk about the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

We could talk about how, by His grace, we are justified. He makes it just as if we had never sinned through the atoning work of Christ.

We could talk about our eternal inheritance.

Many people think that being a Christian is just about living a certain way, worshipping a certain way, following certain rules of conduct. Read Titus 3:4-7. Being a Christian isn't about what we can do for Him, but about Him, and what He has done to make a way for sinful people to enter into His kingdom through Jesus Christ.