18 October 2020 AM – Titus 3:3-6 – Tit20 – Scott Childs
Introduction: Your mother may care for you. Your spouse may care for you. Your family or friends may care for you, but as hymn writer Charles F. Weigle’s wrote, “No One Ever Cared for Me Like Jesus.” He wrote, “I would love to tell you what I think of Jesus, Since I found in Him a friend so strong and true, I would tell you how He changed my life completely, He did something that no other friend could do. No one ever cared for me like Jesus, There’s no other friend so kind as He, No one else could take the sin and darkness from me, Oh how much He cared for me.” That hymn very aptly describes our text this morning.
Transition: As we look at the first half of this two-part sermon that I have entitled, “No One Ever Cared for Me Like Jesus”, I want us to examine the first three of six evidences, which reveal that no one ever cared for me like Jesus. These ought to convince you of the same.
The 1st evidence that no one ever cared for me like Jesus is that …
1. He Demonstrated that He Cared for Me (Tit 3:3-4)
a. I was unworthy (v.3).
1) Last week, we saw the uncomplimentary description of our sinfulness (Read v.3). I do not deserve God’s care.
2) After last week’s message, I was reminded that we are sinful, not just because we do bad things, but because we were born sinners. That is so true! Parents do not teach their children to be selfish, stubborn, rebellious, liars. All that and much more is part of our inborn sin nature.
3) Whether your parents were god-fearing or godless, you were born a sinner. King David wrote, (Psalms 51:5) “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.” We inherited a sin nature from Adam and were sinners from the moment of conception.
4) I am not worthy of God’s tender care and neither are you. (Ecclesiastes 7:20) “For there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not.“
b. Though unworthy, Jesus still cared for me (v.4)
1) He was kind to me. I did not earn God’s kindness. Nothing about me that makes God want to be kind to me. Kindness is part of God’s very nature. That is a huge blessing. In the goodness of God’s heart, He cared about me. (Psalms 118:1) “O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: because his mercy [i.e., kindness] endureth for ever.“
2) He loved me. (Read v.4 again). The word is Philanthropia from which we get our word philanthropy – benevolent love toward the human family.
a) (Romans 5:8) “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (1 John 4:10) “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.“
b) O the love that drew salvation’s plan, O the grace that brought it down to man, O the mighty gulf that God did span, at Calvary!
3) It was not until God’s love appeared to me, or became known to me, that I could receive what He did for me.
The 2nd evidence that no one ever cared for me like Jesus is that …
2. He Saved Me (Tit 3:5)
a. He saved me from judgment to come
1) The phrase “he saved us” completes verse 4. Then the phrase “not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy” is parenthetical. It explains how he saved me. If you will mark this parenthesis in your Bible, it will help you remember it.
2) What does it mean, “He saved us”? To save is to rescue from danger. Because we are sinners from conception and have often sinned, we cannot get near to God. We will miss heaven. God’s holy righteousness demands that He must separate all sinners from himself and send them to an eternal hell. (Romans 6:23) “For the wages of sin is death; ...“. That is eternal death.
3) This grieved God so much that He had Jesus, God the Son, become a human to die and pay the debt of our sin. (1 Peter 3:18) “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened [made alive]by the Spirit:” (Romans 5:9) “Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.“
b. I did not deserve God’s salvation
1) Jesus did not save me by my righteousness. (Read v.5 again). I could do nothing to erase my sinful record. Doing good today will never erase yesterday’s sin. I could do nothing to merit God’s forgiveness. The most righteous things I can do are filthy compared to God’s perfection. (Isaiah 64:6) “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.” Justice never uses “right – vs – wrong” scales as many imagine. My good outweighs my bad will not work with a police officer who tickets you for speeding, and it certainly will not work with God.
2) Jesus saved me by his mercy. Jesus had compassion on me. He pitied my helpless state. I did not want God to examine my record – my record was badly stained by countless sins. I did not want God’s justice – I was justly condemned to hell. I did not want a lighter sentence – even one day in hell would be dreadful beyond comprehension. I needed and longed for God’s mercy.
a) Do you remember the story Jesus told of the Pharisee and publican who both prayed in the temple. The Pharisee bragged on himself, but the publican beat on his chest and cried, “God be merciful to me a sinner.” Jesus said, (Luke 18:14) “I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.“
b) Praise God for His mercy. (Ephesians 2:4-5) “But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)“
The 3rd evidence that no one ever cared for me like Jesus is that …
3. He Changed Me (Tit 3:5-6)
a. Jesus washed and renewed me
1) The washing of regeneration cleansed my heart of all sin and gave me a new nature within.
a) To regenerate is to give new life. He gave me a new nature that is able to please Him.
b) (2 Corinthians 5:17) “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.“
2) The renewing of the Holy Spirit performed the regeneration. He renovated me completely. No one but the Spirit of God Himself can change a poor lost sinner, lift him from the miry clay and set him free.
3) We are like the ugly caterpiller that spins a cocoon around itself and miraculously God transforms that ugly critter into a beautiful butterfly. Only God can transform a caterpiller into a butterfly, and only God can transform a sinner into a saint.
b. These changes come through Christ
1) God shed (i.e., poured out) this regeneration and renewing on me abundantly (v.6). God does not hold back His salvation as a stingy old man. He pours out His blessing abundantly until we are running over.
2) He did all this through Jesus Christ our Saviour.
Conclusion: I have showed you three evidences that no one ever cared for me like Jesus. However, He cares for you just as much as He cares for me. He offers you His kindness and love. If Jesus has not yet saved you and changed your life, He is waiting for you to ask Him to do so. Why not ask Him today so that you too can exclaim, “No one ever cared for me like Jesus.”
