Text: Titus 2:11-14

11 For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath 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 Saviour 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.

Introduction:

1773 John Newton wrote the song “Faith’s Review and Expectation” (Amazing Grace) It had 8 verses. The last verse was not written by John Newton.

In 1788, Newton published a ten-thousand-word pamphlet called, “Thoughts upon the African Slave Trade”. In it he confessed his own part in years of the trade and realized there was nothing he could do now to repay the evil in which he had taken part. He wrote, “I hope it will always be a subject of humiliation to me, that I was once an active instrument in a business at which my heart now shudders.”

As he approached death many years later, Newton would claim that much of his memory was fading. He wrote, “but I remember two things,” that I am a great sinner, and that Christ is a great Savior.”

In 1852 Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote the novel “Uncle Tom’s Cabin. It would be this book that would personalize the issue of slavery for many Americans of the time. When Abraham Lincoln met the author, he said “So you’re the little woman who wrote the book that started this Great War.”

Harriet Beecher Stowe’s novel tells the story of a Christian slave who is sold to Simon Legree. He has taught himself to read the Bible, but his new master allows no free time for his slaves. Legree demands that Tom deny his faith and live for the devil. Tom replies, “I’ll hold on. The Lord may help me; but I’ll hold to Him and believe Him to the last.”

This determination inspires Legree to new levels of cruelty. Tom weakens under the constant barrage of his master but holds on to his faith with his last reserves of courage. Then one night he sits at a dying fire, deep in despair, when a vision rises before his eyes, the thorns are transformed into rays of heavenly glory. The figure bends closer to Tom and encourages him with the promise of heaven.

The vision fades and Tom is suddenly awake, and “the triumphant words of a hymn” fill the silence of the night. He remembers the song from happier days and begins to sing. His melody happens to be three verses of “Amazing Grace.” The first two come from Newton’s “lost verses,” the ones we seldom use today.

The slave’s third verse, however, is very well know to us: (show slide of last verse).

Tom is a changed man now. He gives up any idea of physical freedom and embraces the eternal freedom that is his legacy as a follower of Christ. He devotes himself wholeheartedly to sharing this hope in Christ with his fellow slaves. The outcome is not hard to foresee. Simon Legree has Tom whipped to death, and the slave joins His Savior in the ultimate fellowship, where a crown of glory awaits those who finish the race.

This is the first use of the final verse of the song “Amazing Grace” that can be found. As John Newton helped bring an end to slavery in England, so did the book help bring an end to slavery in America and the two are forever connected through the verses of the song “Amazing Grace”.

Last Verse

When we've been here ten thousand years
Bright shining as the sun.

We've no less days to sing God's praise
Than when we've first begun.

John Newton may not have written the last verse but towards the end of his life he constantly talked about eternity. Just before he died he started signing his letters, by adding the phrase: “Time, How short! Eternity, how long.

1.                  Grace of God hath appeared

Titus 2:11

For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,

a.       Greek word for appeared

NT:2014  ‎epiphaino (ep-ee-fah'-ee-no); from NT:1909 and NT:5316; to shine upon, i.e. become (literally) visible or (figuratively) known:

KJV - appear, give light.

1.                  The Greek word translated “appeared” gives us our modern word epiphany. We use it to describe a sudden and intense realization of truth. An epiphany is that proverbial light bulb appearing over your head.

2.                  But When the Greeks spoke of an epiphany, they were referring to the breath taking view of sunlight bursting in power over the edge of the world to illuminate the darkened earth. The Grace of God, Paul says has suddenly brought light to our world.

John 1:14

And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

b.      Grace changes people as nothing else can do. It cleanses the sins of the past. It enables righteousness in the present. And one thing it does for certain: it constantly surprises us. For the essence of grace is surprise. There is nothing shocking about giving people exactly what they deserve. God’s grace subverts the rules and gives people what they don’t deserve. It is motivated by the warmth of love rather than by cold calculation. Therefore, God’s grace is always doing something we didn’t expect.

c.       Grace teaching us

Titus 2:11-12a

11 For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,

12 Teaching us…

2.                  Grace Teaching Us to Renounce Sin

Titus 2:12

12 Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;

a.       Grace teaches us how to deal with the problems of the old life.

b.      Greek word for denying

NT:720 ‎arneomai (ar-neh'-om-ahee); perhaps from NT:1 (as a negative particle) and the middle voice of NT:4483; to contradict, i.e. disavow, reject, disown:

KJV - deny, refuse.

3.                  Grace Teaching Us how to Live - In This Present World

Titus 2:12

12 Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;

a.       Soberly- Self control of mind

Three situations calling for sober-mindedness:

1.      In anticipation of Christ’s revelation

1 Peter 1:13

Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;

2.      In preparation for Satan’s temptation

1 Peter 5:8

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:

3.      In evaluation of our place in fellowship

Romans 12:3

For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.

b.      Righteously - Right living

Philippians 2:3

Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.

c.       Godliness - is possible by god grace

2 Peter 1:3-4

3 According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:

4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

4.                  Grace Teaches Us to Watch for our Blessed Hope

Titus 2:13

Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;

5.                  Closing

Titus 2:14

Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.

Galatians 2:21

21 I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.

1 Corinthians 15:10

10 But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.