What shade of grey are you? Do you fit verse 3 or are you a nice citizen with only a bit of foolishness, malice and hate? We all want to rank ourselves above others. That simply underlines one important point. We maybe better than others but we are all sinners to some degree. Let us be quite clear. Our gospel is honest about humans. We have the ability to commit the most appalling atrocities and to show the most amazing compassion. And in between there are all sorts of normal people, somewhat selfish, quite kindly but we are all sinners. We fail our own standards, we are ashamed of what we think and what we sometimes do.

The main reason atheism is popular is that when we ask God what he thinks, we know we have failed miserably against his standards. Bad enough trying to live with our own failure , so we leave God out to avoid having to imagine what he thinks.

Verse 4 cuts across this sort of thinking completely. Your meeting with God is not what you expect. When you meet with God you find him agreeing with you about your failure to live up to his standards but he is reaching out to you at a completely different level. He isn’t rushing to sanction you, cut your benefits and leave you in an impossible situation. He is kindness and love. He reaches out to save you not to sanction you. Our gospel is that God knows how you feel about yourself but you don’t know how he feels about you. He loves you. He saves you. He is the father rushing down the road to meet you when you are trailing towards him wondering if he will bar the door shout at you and send you away. What you have done is sin. But Jesus reveals himself to us as the one who has taken the initiative and done all that has to be done to secure your salvation. It is no longer what shade of grey are you but are you a saved by his actions or failing somewhere along the line of your own actions.

So how are we saved?

He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Saviour, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.

Paul is as good as quoting Jesus in John 3:5-8

“Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”

It is also the substance of Peter’s message on the day of Pentecost. Acts 2: 38-39

Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.

There are four things about our good news that we must hang on to and enjoy.

He saved us

1. through the washing of rebirth

2. and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Saviour,

3. so that, having been justified by his grace,

4. we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.

1. through the washing of rebirth

There is a bit of a mixed metaphor here. Being born again is mixed with the idea of being washed or cleaned up. If you were here at a baptism you will have seen this acted out. We dunk one another in water to demonstrate that our sins are washed away – we are cleaned up and at the same time we bury the person in the water then raise them up to new life. So when you ask Jesus to be your Saviour, several things are happening at the same time. Your sins are forgiven, written off, forgotten, and paid for by Jesus. You are transformed from heading for death and Hell to having a new eternal life.

2. and renewal by the Holy Spirit,

rebirth is a point of time when you asking Jesus to save you. The renewal by the Holy Spirit is an ongoing process leading to heaven.

2 Corinthians 4:16 puts it this way:

Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.

I want you to notice that your salvation is a work of God and therefore involves Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The kindness and love of God our Saviour appears. We are here reborn and renewed by the Holy Spirit whom Jesus has poured out whose death brings about justification. So let’s move on to

3. having been justified by his grace,

There are two special words here we need to understand. Justified and grace. In fact we need to more than understand them we need to accept them. Because without them we are a shade of grey, better than some, worse than others and still not acceptable to God. This is illustrated by Jesus in a parable he told about a wedding banquet. Matthew 22:11-14

“But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. He asked, ‘How did you get in here without wedding clothes, friend?’ The man was speechless.

“Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

¹⁴“For many are invited, but few are chosen.”

The point being the man was there in his own clothes, he had not received and put on the wedding clothes, whatever they were. You can be in among Christians, but if you are not justified by grace, you are just another one with a shade of grey. Without the rebirth and renewal of the Holy Spirit there is no life, you are the walking dead. So if you have never turned to Jesus, sorry for your sin and seeking his forgiveness and new life, do it now! Grace is receiving what you don’t deserve. Being justified is God’s mercy in action. It is not receiving the sanction that you deserve. In fact it is amazing. Because it goes further than a Royal pardon. A pardon releases you from the punishment you deserve, but you carry the stigma of that crime. Being justified means ‘just as if I’d never sinned’ As far as God is concerned your sins are forgotten, removed from the record. Not traceable. They can never be brought up again. So when you arrive at heaven, there are no questions to answer, no Peter with a check list, the pearly gates are open wide and God is running out to meet you to celebrate your salvation.

5. we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.

Paul says in Romans 5:5

And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

In addition to all the amazing things we have already spoken about, we are heirs having the hope of eternal life. When you say Yes to Jesus, you are reborn. You are born into the family of God as an heir. That is someone who has been promised eternal life. That is our hope. And it is secured by the love of God.

That is the motivation to good deeds.

This is a trustworthy saying. And I want you to stress these things, so that those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good.

In context this paragraph follows directly from 3:1-2 Your behaviour in this world should be directly related to your faith. It is knowing that

He saved us

· through the washing of rebirth

· and renewal by the Holy Spirit, ⁶ whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Saviour,

· so that, having been justified by his grace,

· we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.

Knowing that will transform the way you live your life. I cannot threaten you with hell, you have escaped that. That is why the medieval concept of purgatory was so wrong. Jesus has saved us from hell.

I cannot offer you a better place in heaven. Jesus has promised you a place with him. But I am called to press you to look at the cross and live your life knowing that Jesus died for every sin that you have done and will do. You are born again so live as sons and daughters of the living God. You are renewed by the Holy Spirit poured out generously so claim that energy when faced with temptation to sin, claim the promise of the words to say when you are speaking to someone and the conversation turns in a spiritual direction. Claim the strength of the Holy Spirit when you are ridiculed or persecuted because you claim to have eternal life.

You have been saved, so live as those who are saved!

This is so important that it is repeated in verses 8 and 14

¹⁴ Our people must learn to devote themselves to doing what is good, in order that they may provide for daily necessities and not live unproductive lives.

That is why Christians have a work ethic. Part of our response to the love of God is to manage our money, provide for and care for our families and care for one another.

That is why the church is committed to the care of the poor, whether it is foodbanks or more direct support. That is why we run so many of our activities, because we are devoted to doing good, providing daily necessities. Rather than complicate life with endless rules, checking someone’s entitlement, insisting on tracing lineage, we are called to provide food, housing, health, gas, water, electricity, phone.

I think the unproductive is about amassing wealth in the bank or in beatifying our homes just to show off. Jesus, after all, said we were to use money to build relationships. So invest in the good news. Use your assets to spread God’s love. Invest in Oli and Lucy through the Staff Fund, the General fund finances all the other work in the church and Mission funds, like TEAR Fund, SASRA, WEC supporting Stewart & Carol, Tim & Sarah whatever God draws your attention to. But do not stop at giving money. Invest time for your neighbour, the person you meet in the street, your brother and sister in Christ.

This letter was written to encourage Titus to develop newly planted churches. The Good News runs right through the letter as does the need for the church to live healthy spiritual lives, demonstrating in practical ways that they are born anew, renewed by the Holy Spirit, justified by grace and living the hope. That involves leadership and every part of the fellowship. It affects the way you respond to the authorities and to the temptations of our passions. The question is are your living the life of grace or are you faking it? Is the key motivation

^2:11 For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men.

Leading you

^2:12-13 to say "No" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, 13 while we wait for the blessed hope - the glorious appearing of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ,

the kindness and love of God our Saviour appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Saviour, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.

Leading you to

be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good.

We are sinners saved by grace. Our holiness demonstrates the power of God to transform lives.

You are saved! Be transformed by Jesus!

If you have never been saved, then I invite you to pray right now where you are or ask someone to pray with you at the end of the service. There is no form of words required but the following gives you the gist of what you want to say to God.

Lord Jesus Christ,

I am sorry for the things I have done wrong in my life,

Please forgive me. I turn from everything which I know is wrong.

Thank you that you died on the cross for me so that I could be forgiven and set free.

Thank you that you now offer me this gift of forgiveness and your Spirit. I now receive that gift.

Please come into my life by your Holy Spirit to be with me forever.

Thank you, Jesus. Amen.

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