Download Ch. 1 Leadership Lessons

Titus 2 – Laity Lessons – Lessons Of Grace – Part 2
(Grace Teaches Us About Looking For The Prospects)
(Titus 2:13)
Introduction:
Ch. 1
Ch. 2
Ch. 3
Leadership Lessons
Intro. “Acquainted With Titus”
1. Paul Talks About Acknowledging Some Principles
2. Paul Talks About Appointing Some Pastors
3. Paul Talks About Ascertaining Some Problems
Laity Lessons
1. Lessons For Groups
a. The Demanded Characteristics Of Aged Men
b. The Desired Conduct Of Aged Women
c. Educating The Young Mother
d. Exhorting The Young Men
2. Lessons Of Grace
a. Grace Teaches Us About Living In The Present
b. Grace Teaches Us About Looking For The Prospects
c. Grace Teaches Us About Liberty And Its Process
d. Grace Teaches Us About Laboring As A Pastor
Life Lessons
1. Paul Highlights Some Shared Lessons
2. Paul Highlights Some Salvation Lessons
3. Paul Highlights Some Social Lessons
vs. 1-4
vs. 5-9
vs. 10-16
vs. 1-2
vs. 3
vs. 4-5
vs. 6-10
vs. 11-15
vs. 11-12
vs. 13
vs. 14
vs. 15
vs. 1-3
vs. 4-7
vs. 8-15
In chapter two we have considered Lessons For Groups – these age specific and gender specific lessons for the various
groups in the church. Now Paul reminds Titus of a glorious reality that applies to both genders, to every age and every
stage of humankind.
(Titus 2:11-12) 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;
Paul says that grace has appeared, and it is “teaching us,” which means that it is training us like children and causing us
to learn. (From Thayer’s Greek Lexicon) So now we have not only Lessons For Groups, but also Lessons Of Grace.
What is grace teaching us? First of all, in verse 12, it is teaching us about Living In The Present.
(Titus 2:12) Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in
this present world;
And last week we dealt with verse 12 where…
1. Paul Says That Grace Is Teaching Us To Live The Negative Life
2. Paul Says That Grace Is Teaching Us To Live The Needful Life
3. Paul Says That Grace Is Teaching Us To Live The New Life
Tonight, from verse 13, let’s notice that grace is teaching us about Looking For The Prospects.
(Titus 2:13) Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;
looking - [Greek prosdechomai] to await (with confidence or patience); to accept; “as with necks stretched out, or with
heads put forth” (John Trapp) The word has the idea of directing your focus towards the receiving of something.
I. Why Are We Looking?
(Titus 2:13) Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;
A. We Are Looking Because Of The Blessed Character Of This Hope
(Titus 2:13) Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;
blessed – Greek 3107. makarios, mak-ar'-ee-os; a prolonged form of the poetical makar (meaning the same); supremely
blest; by extension it means fortunate, well off:--blessed, happy (X -ier).
We are looking because it is that blessed hope!
The hope is blessed; or the word “happy” may, perhaps, be substituted with advantage. Because it will be full of
blessedness when it is a reality, therefore it is full of joy while it is but a hope. The characteristics of that future
manifestation of glory are not such that its coming is wholly and universally a joy. There is something terrible in the
beauty, something menacing in the brightness. But it is worth noticing that, notwithstanding all that gathers about it of
terror, all that gathers about it of awful splendour, all that is solemn and heart shaking in the thought of judgment and
retribution for the past, the irreversible and irrevocable pest, yet to Paul it was the very crown of all his expectations of,
and the very shining summit of all his desires for, the future—that Christ should appear. The hope is a happy one. If
we know “the grace” we shall not be afraid of “the glory.”
(Alexander Maclaren from The Biblical Illustrator)
B. We Are Looking Because Of The Blissful Certainty Of This Hope
(Titus 2:13) Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;
hope – Greek 1680. elpis, el-pece'; (to anticipate, usually with pleasure / or bliss); expectation or confidence – faith.
(Strong’s Concordance)
hope – Greek NT:1680. joyful and confident expectation of eternal salvation (From Thayer’s Greek Lexicon)
Cf. (Titus 1:2) In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;
II. What Are We Looking For?
(Titus 2:13) Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;
A. We Are Looking For A Magnificence
(Titus 2:13) Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;
glorious – Greek NT:1391. the majesty which belongs to Christ; and the kingly majesty of the Messiah, to which
belongs his kingly state, the splendor of His external appearance, the retinue of angels, and the like; in this sense it is
said that Christ will come hereafter to set up the Messianic kingdom, clothed by the Father in kingly array. It involves
His absolute perfection, magnificence, excellence, preeminence, dignity, and grace.
(From Thayer’s Greek Lexicon)
(Matthew 25:31) When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon
the throne of his glory:
(Mark 13:26) And then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory.
(1 Peter 4:13) But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed,
ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.
B. We Are Looking For A Manifestation
(Titus 2:13) Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;
appearing – Greek NT 2015. epifaneia; an appearing, appearance. This word was often used by the Greeks of a
glorious manifestation of the gods, and especially of their advent to help; in 2 Maccabees of signal deeds and events
betokening the presence and power of God as helper. In the N.T. the “advent” of Christ – not only that which has
already taken place and by which his presence and power appear in the saving light he has shed upon mankind, (2
Timothy 1:10); but also that illustrious return from heaven to earth hereafter to occur…
(1 Timothy 6:14) That thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukeable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus
Christ:
(2 Timothy 4:1) I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead
at his appearing and his kingdom;
(2 Thessalonians 2:8) And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his
mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness (epiphaneia – the breaking forth) of his coming:
(From Thayer’s Greek Lexicon)
e·piph·a·ny (¹-p¹f“…-n¶) n., pl. e·piph·a·nies. 1. Epiphany.a. A Christian feast celebrating the manifestation of the
divine nature of Jesus to the Gentiles as represented by the Magi. b. January 6, on which this feast is traditionally
observed. 2. A revelatory manifestation of a divine being. 3.a. A sudden manifestation of the essence or meaning of
something. b. A comprehension or perception of reality by means of a sudden intuitive realization: “I experienced
an epiphany, a spiritual flash that would change the way I viewed myself” (Frank Maier). [Middle English epiphanie,
from Old French, from Late Latin epiphania, from Greek epiphaneia, manifestation, from epiphainesthai, to appear :
epi-, forth; see EPI- + phainein, phan-, to show; see bh³-1 below.]
Illustrate: On the movie “Hook” Mr. Smee said, “I’ve just had an apostrophe.” But he meant to say “epiphany.”
III. Who Are We Looking For
(Titus 2:13) Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;
A. We Are Looking For The Supreme One
(Titus 2:13) Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;
great – [Greek megas] big (lit. or fig., in a very wide application):--(+ fear) exceedingly, great (-est), high, large, loud,
mighty, + (be) sore (afraid), strong, X to years.
God – [Greek theos] a deity, especially the supreme Divinity; fig. a magistrate; by Heb. very:--X exceeding, God, god
[-ly, -ward].
B. We Are Looking For The Saving One
(Titus 2:13) Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;
The great God and our Saviour (or even our Saviour) Jesus Christ; for they are not two subjects, but one only, as appears
by the single article.
(Matthew Henry)
Saviour – Greek 4990. soter, so-tare'; from G4982; a deliverer, i.e. God or Christ.
His Name (Jesus – Jehovah is Salvation) and His Nature (Christ – the Anointed One) authorizes Salvation!
Conclusion:
While preaching on the radio on the subject of the second coming of Christ, the Rev. C.A. Blackmore
was outlining some of the marvelous things that would happen to Christians at the Rapture.
A lady who had been bedridden for twenty-three years heard the message and wrote, “Will I really be well?
Will all pain and sorrow actually be gone?”
Blackmore replied: “Yes, my friend, some glorious day, when Jesus comes, you will leap from that bed with all
the vigor of youth and never know pain again.”
Blackmore’s son, Carl, was greatly impressed with the reality of this coming event. As he pondered the glorious
prospects, the words and melody of a chorus took form in his mind, and he said to his father: “Dad, you should write
some verses for this chorus.”
After much prayer, early one morning, unable to sleep as he anticipated the thrill of the rapture, the elder
Blackmore rose from his bed and wrote the verses of “Some Golden Daybreak.”
They used to sing this song every Sunday morning at Tabernacle Baptist Church in Greenville, SC where I went to Bible
College. Some Golden Daybreak
Some glorious morning, sorrow will cease, Some glorious morning, all will be peace;
Heartaches all ended, Labor all done, Heaven will open, Jesus will come.
Chorus: Some golden daybreak, Jesus will come; Some golden daybreak. Battles all won,
He’ll shout the vict’ry, break thro’ the blue, Some golden daybreak, for me, for you.