holy and infallible, inerrant word, remind them to be submissive to rulers and to authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people. For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. 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. This far is God's word. May he bless it to our hearts. Brothers and sisters in Christ, the basic concern of the passage that we just read is that we go from a state of wrath to a state of grace. It's a passage that is jam-packed filled with many, many many themes to it. In fact, this is a little bit of a review for the last time that I preached on this passage. The basic theme of this whole passage is that God takes us as the disobedient fools we are. You can actually follow this passage rather fluidly. God takes us, the disobedient fools, as we are. What does he do? He saves us, he grants to us to stand in his presence. We're renewed, we're justified, we're washed by the Holy Spirit, and now this is a perpetual reality for us. And we can even say this, it's so perpetual that the only thing that can override it is if someone is more powerful than the Holy Spirit. And that's a fool's errand to go finding that person or thing, because there is nothing more powerful than the Holy Spirit. So this is a perpetual reality for us who are in Christ. At one point we were in darkness, as the text says rather clearly. At one point we were in darkness, being carried off by the desires of our hearts. We're bound over to the world, we're bound over to the flesh, we're bound over to the devil, and then the king of the universe comes in. And what does he do? Well, he, in the words of the book of Esther, he extends the scepter to us by his grace and grace alone. This is heaven's initiative to undo all the powers of the world, to undo all the powers of the flesh, undo all the powers of the devil. That is to say, he undoes all of the powers of this age. Why? Because he can. He's powerful enough to do so, and he's willing to do so. This sermon this evening, as I said before, is given over to the beginning portion of this passage, particularly verse 3, where it says, when the goodness and loving-kindness of God, our Savior, appeared. Believe it or not, there is a ton of stuff right there, and it's our hope that I unpack it for you and that the Spirit would be dispatched to bring it to your hearts. Brothers and sisters, the book of Titus is a book that works hard and plays hard. When it gives you, in other words, the milk of Christian practice, you don't get the milk. You get the Land O'Lakes heavy cream. Okay, the really expensive stuff, the $7 stuff, not the Aldi friendly farms version, you get the real heavy cream. And then when it gives you the meat of Christian doctrine, it doesn't give you the 80-20 ground beef that you'll get at Aldi or Meijer or something like that, nothing against that, but it gives you the Wagyu tomahawk ribeye. That's exactly what it gives to you. So it works hard and it plays hard, and there's really not much in between, I suppose, besides the greetings that it gives in the last few verses from, what is it, 12 through 15 at the end of chapter three. It's a book that works hard and plays very hard. You get the meat and the milk, and that's exactly what we have here. So I think this passage warrants us to dive down deep into the elements of the passage to give us a feel for what this passage, how it contributes to the entire book. And in order to do this, as I typically do, I want to stress this one particular phrase that's printed in your bulletin right here for us this evening. The appearance of Jesus demonstrates the climactic revelation of God's goodness and kindness. The appearance of Jesus demonstrates the climactic revelation of God's goodness and kindness. And we're gonna be looking at this through these three points that I have printed in your bulletin. God's goodness, God's loving kindness, and God's appearance. God's goodness, God's kindness, and God's appearance. in Christ. And to begin with the first point, there was a time that I heard an illustration, a story about a man who got into an argument with someone else at some party or something like that, and the one guy pushed the other guy up against a wall and he threatened him. Someone called the cops, and then the cops came and arrested him, dragged him into court, charged him for simple assault. But before the court was in session, this guy who now has this lawyer He assured him that the judge would be lenient. He says, don't worry. A judge is going to be lenient. It was just a couple of scrapes, if anything. No serious injuries is going on. The judge and I are old pals. Our kids play with each other. He's a good man. He's going to let you off easy. Just say you're sorry. You're going to be slapped with $100 fine, slap on the wrist. He's a good man. Well, then the trial itself was going. It really wasn't going too well for him. And then they reach the point where they can have a recess for a little bit and the guy... You know, sweating buckets, he looks at his lawyer and says, you know, I don't know about this case here. Things ain't looking too good for me. Any possible way that you can kind of call in some favors for me? It doesn't look like I'm going to get that slap on the wrist thing with the $100 fine like you were telling me about. The lawyer said, no, don't worry about it. He's a good man. It looks bad now. I've seen this plenty of times before. You're going to see. You're going to see. He's a good man, OK? So they went back in. And after about 20 or so minutes, the judge then said, all right, heard everything that I wanted to hear. He pounds that gavel. He renders him guilty, and then he just threw the book out. I mean, boom. I mean, maximum sentence. He's got a $1,500 fine. He's got a couple of months behind bars, two years probation, and the like. And then this guy charged with the simple assault, he's being dragged out of the courtroom. He's kicking and screaming. He yells at his lawyer. He says, hey, what's up with this? You promised me that I'd get off easy. You told me that he's a good man. What's up with that? And then the judge stops and he asks the guy who's being dragged away, he says, your lawyer said that I was a good man. He looks at the lawyer, looks back at the guy, he says, When was goodness a synonym for lenience? When was goodness a synonym for lenience? And now, of course, this analogy about the courtroom, this illustration, can break down. I suppose all of them do at some point. But the basic summary of it is that, in part, what makes for goodness is its ability to be consistently against whatever does not make for goodness. So when the judge is described as a good man, when he's described as a good man, what's commonly thought of him, what's commonly thought of the judge is usually applied towards God, that God's goodness is thought of to be that characteristic of his which can overlook sin or where he can exercise some leniency so that the harshest punishment does not fall upon the guilty sinner. Fallen man normally thinks of the goodness of God as that thing that is going to save him when in fact that is the very thing that will condemn him. So we got to kind of get on board with what the Bible means when it says things like God is good. Okay, we have to get on board with what the Bible means when it says that his goodness has appeared or God is good because the biblical understanding of that phrase does not match up at all not even in the same ballpark of the popular understanding of that phrase. So with this in mind, let's go and unpack this in just a little bit. What does it mean in our passage that the goodness of God our Savior appeared? Well, in the form that it's given in verse three, when it says the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he's using a word in the original language that is exclusively used by Paul the Apostle. From Romans to the book of Philemon, those are the writings of the Apostle Paul He is the only person in the New Testament that uses this word here for goodness, that's translated goodness. Every other time it appears in Paul's letters, he either uses it to contrast something that is in the immediate context, or he uses it to highlight something that is in the immediate context. There's a way that the goodness of God contrasts something that was found in this immediate context, and then there's a way in which the goodness of God amplifies or highlights or bolsters something else that's directly here in this context. You can see the way that Paul is using the goodness of God to contrast our former ways. He's using the goodness of God to contrast our former ways of depravity that's found in, what is it, verse three. We ourselves were once foolish. We ourselves were once disobedient. We were led astray as slaves to various passions and pleasures. That phrase various passions and pleasures quite literally means many colored sins, many colored passions and pleasures. We loved sin, we wanted more of it. and thus we're passing our days in malice and envy. God does the opposite of this by displaying his goodness in Christ. He sets his goodness on display in the Lord Jesus. How do you know that God is good? He sent his Son. He sent his son to us. He's the very embodiment of the law. The law, if nothing else, is the very basis upon which God judges. It is good, it is a good thing. The Lord Jesus is the very embodiment of the law. And he lives a life consistently approving of the will of his father in all things. We looked at one time, if not in the recent past, we're certainly gonna get up to it in the Gospel of John, Jesus says in John chapter 4, my food is to do the will of him who sent me and finish his work. Jesus never sinned. He never sinned. Why? Because it's not within his prerogative to sin like it is within our prerogatives to sin. He wasn't even born with original sin, which is why, by the way, the virgin birth is such an important doctrine that we need to, as Christians, die on a hill for. That is a hill to die on. If Jesus is not born of a virgin, he has original sin given to him. He is no longer the savior of the world. Jesus, he delights in God's law. He approves of his will. He demonstrates this very goodness and then the perfection of his character. This is what we call in Reformed theology Christ's active obedience, his active obedience. That is, the life that he lives is in perfect obedience. He's actively caring about his obedience in his very life and in obedience to his Father's will over against our own active disobedience that we considered just a moment ago. So we have the idea present in this text that God's goodness is contrasted with the depravity of this world and with the bad guy that you often see in the mirror. I think it's also important to briefly mention where this idea of goodness, this word goodness, highlights something else. It highlights his saving activity. It amplifies his saving activity. Not only does his goodness contrast our depravity, but it also highlights the beauty of his work and the kindness that he actually has in displaying his goodness in Christ. Now this might be a difficult concept to grasp, but part of God being good is that he is always perfectly consistent with himself. Part of God being good is that he is always perfectly consistent with himself. That is to say this very briefly, he will never pardon the guilty. ever. I was sharing the gospel with some people at the Boardwalk Chapel, actually to a couple of cops, actually, at the Boardwalk Chapel over the summer, and what I told them is exactly this. And they said, well, God's goodness is going to get me out. And I said, no, actually, well, let's look at the law of God. And we can contrast God's goodness with their goodness. And I said, God will never pardon the guilty. Why? Because, well, the judge of all the earth, we've read in the Abraham series, Genesis 18, the judge of all the earth will always do what is right. He will never pardon someone who is guilty, ever. So how is it that a sinner can be forgiven? Those cops actually asked me later on, he says, so are you going to heaven? I said, yeah. And they're like, wait, you just said that. Yeah, I know exactly what I said. God will never pardon the guilty. So are you guilty? Not in God's eyes, I'm not. I'm washed, I'm regenerated by the Holy Spirit. And that led into a gospel conversation where I don't find my righteousness as something inherent within myself. As a matter of fact, verses three and following describe me pretty well. One through three describe us pretty well. But my righteousness comes from Jesus Christ. So how is it that God's goodness results then in our being saved? Well, this is the beauty of the work of Christ in giving his life for the life of the world. The goodness that he demonstrates to the world in Christ, he gives. This goodness that he demonstrates, he gives. He applies this very standard of goodness to us. How? By us working to attain it? No! No, not at all. By imputing the righteousness of Jesus Christ to us, accounting our sins to him on the cross and then accounting his righteousness to us. Yes, he will never let the guilty go unpunished, yet in Christ our punishment is paid out in full and his righteousness, all of it is given to us on the cross and in the empty tomb. We are no longer guilty, brothers and sisters. We are no longer guilty and therefore His saving activity accords perfectly then with His goodness. Why? Well, because the judge of all the earth will always do what is right. This is why 1 John 1 verse 9 says this, that God is faithful and just to forgive us of all our sins, to cleanse us of all unrighteousness. There is a faithfulness of God and there is the justice of God in cleansing us from all unrighteousness. God remains good And he remains just while forgiving sinners, not because he overlooks their sin, not because he overlooks them, but because he's actually done something about it. He's actually punished those sins upon Christ's body on the cross. His act of forgiveness corresponds perfectly to his goodness. He remains just while justifying sinners because all of the benefits that Christ worked for now become ours. How does that happen? Well, the text actually tells us through the washing of regeneration and the renewal of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is applied to us. Well, not only is his goodness demonstrated to us in Christ, but Paul also uses the words loving-kindness, that's translated loving-kindness, to express the character of what is revealed to us in Christ. And this is gonna be our next thought and our next point this evening. Now, this word kindness is a rather unique word in the original language, mainly because it's only used one other time in the entire New Testament. You'll find in Acts chapter 28, Paul is shipwrecked at a certain island and he comes up to these people who exercised loving kindness to him. Yes, God's goodness is revealed in Christ, in the appearance of Christ, and we've seen the twin sides of his goodness as it relates to both himself and us, but as we navigated those complexities a little bit with this, that his goodness has an inward and outward dimension to it, But this, his loving kindness, we can say, is rather unique in that it is something that is directed purely and expressly outward, away from God, away from himself. God manifests his unique interest and sympathy to mankind by showing them of his kindness, of his loving kindness. It's that characteristic of his, it's that affection of his that points directly outward towards even the world. Again, we can say that this showing of loving kindness is undeserved. God, in other words, was under no compulsion to show this to us. There was no obligation on his part. Nobody twisted God's arm to say, well, you gotta show these guilty sinners loving kindness. No, he doesn't. No, he doesn't, but he does to us in Christ by his grace. Now, to point out the unique quality of this word, loving kindness, it's helpful to see at this point what's going on in this context. Remember, what's being addressed in the whole of the passage is the great contrast between what our dilemma is on the one hand and how God rescues us from this dilemma on the other hand. In other words, if you take a look at the passage, you'll see that the goodness of God in verse four is the antidote to the first section of the stuff in verse three. Namely, his goodness is the antidote to us being foolish, to us being disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and in envy. So in contrast to this, His goodness has appeared. Now after we see things a little bit more closer up, we can say that God's loving kindness is the antidote to the second section of the stuff that is found in verse three, that is hated by others and hating one another. You'll see that in verse three. In other words, And to put it this way, whereas we are perfectly efficient at being hateful, whereas we are perfectly efficient at hating one another, God perfectly shows us not only his goodness, but his loving kindness as well. In other words, this is such a great contrast between what we are best at and what he shows to us. God perfectly shows us. His goodness and loving kindness. So we're in rebellion against God. We're in rebellion. And we also show that same rebellion, we show that quality of rebellion, if you want to call it a quality, towards one another. We've been doing this since the fall. So as an antidote to our ability to hate, to be hated, God's loving kindness has appeared. Now this phrase, loving kindness, is a fascinating one to consider and it should get a lot more attention than apparently it doesn't and unfortunately this phrase loving kindness is quite literally in the original the word philanthropy. And it's a word, philanthropy, the love of man, expressing love for man. It's the word philanthropy. And it suggests in this context many of the same things that you might commonly assume about this modern day practice of philanthropy. And I'll fill in some historical gaps in a minute. But quite literally, the way in which the original should be read is like this. But when the goodness in philanthropy of God our Savior appeared, he saved us. Now, when we think of philanthropic practices, when we think of philanthropy, we think of those who give a lot of money away to the needy or some cause or some charity or something like that. We have a similar thing that's going on in this passage as well. This, in other words, is sorta kinda like God's way of practicing philanthropy. There is a giving on behalf of the needy, in other words, isn't there? Humanity is in an impoverished and destitute state. There is a cause among men which requires outside intervention. I mean, it's already been seen in this passage that we're a race that wouldn't help ourselves even if we could. You could see that in verses one through three. I mean, think of this like this rather raw. This describes us outside of our union with Christ. We're hateful, hating one another. And God shows us his love, his philanthropy, in a way that would blow away all of the YouTube philanthropists. They can't even come close to it. As a matter of fact, if you really think about it, they would be out for their own glory. So we've looked at God's goodness in Christ. We've looked at the great condescension that he has for us. He demonstrates his goodness towards us in Christ, which is very admittedly contrary to the way in which we demonstrate our hatefulness, our hatred towards one another. He reveals his goodness, he imparts his goodness, he remains good while imparting his goodness to us in Christ. He shows us his sympathy. And for this evening, I'd like us to consider this last point, the idea of God's appearance in Christ. the idea of God's appearance in Christ. Now, as we go into the thought of God's appearance in Christ, I'd like us to look again at verse four, okay? I'd like us to look again at verse four and to consider this. Verse four says this, when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared. One of the things that you might not notice, or one of the things that I didn't mention until right now, when you look at these verses, there's a glaring fact that is so obvious it's right on the page that perhaps you've looked over. That these are nouns. These are not adjectives. That might not seem like a large detail or even anything worth noting, but contrary to what might be thought, This is an extremely important detail. Again, nothing is irrelevant in the Bible. Nothing is there by mistake, without reason, without purpose. When God speaks, every word of his is important, including and especially these. It doesn't say that his appearance was good. It doesn't say that his appearance was an example of loving kindness or something like that. It doesn't say that his appearance was loving. His appearance was kind. It says that the very thing that did appear that was among us was his goodness, was his loving-kindness. The thing that did appear was the two nouns, his goodness and loving-kindness of God our Savior appeared in front of us. The substance of what has made its manifestation here with us wasn't just merely described as being good or being loving or being kind, but it says that it is God's goodness. It is God's loving kindness that was appeared before us. And it should bring us back to that small sermon series that I gave on the attributes of God. In that sermon series, we actually looked at the goodness of God as a communicable attribute. So to bring us back a little bit, God's communicable attributes. He has incommunicable and communicable attributes. His communicable attributes are those which, to a degree, are shared by us. Now, God's goodness and his loving kindness are communicable attributes, and we're seeing the sense here in this very passage in which they're communicable. They're communicable not only in the sense that we as human beings made in the image of God can reflect some sort of goodness and loving kindness to a certain degree. They're communicable not only in that sense, but they're communicable to the degree that they were actually personified by us in Christ. He is the attributes of God's goodness and loving kindness walking around among us. Now, in the scope of Paul's theology, there admittedly are relatively few phrases that scream the deity of Jesus Christ, such as this one does right here. If you can somehow walk away not knowing that Jesus is God, you have not read this passage, you have not taken note of the syntax, the word order, you have not taken note of the words. The thing that appeared isn't merely described as being good or kind. The thing that appeared is the very goodness and is the very kindness of God himself. So his appearance of his goodness and kindness is his very attributes, it is the very goodness with which God is attributed. And that was the thing that made his appearing. There's another phrase in theology, I don't know if I looked at this in that small sermon series, one of what's called divine simplicity, divine simplicity. And to say it this way, it's a very simple understanding of this. God is his attributes. God is his attributes. When we say that God is good, we don't mean that there's some sort of standard of goodness outside of God that he somehow just happens to meet and just every day he does. Same with God's loving kindness. There's no standard of loving kindness outside of himself that he has to wake up to every single morning and he's got to do things to prove that he is loving and kind. He's got to meet up to the standard all the time that's outside of him. He is the very standard of goodness. He is the very standard of loving kindness. And now that substance of God's goodness and loving kindness has appeared in Christ. Which means that the whole of his person and the whole of his work is the appearance of God's goodness. We can state it this way. If God is his attributes, and if goodness is an attribute of God, and it has appeared, then Jesus Christ is God in the flesh, made his appearance among us. In a very similar way, we understand this phrase, this passage, and I believe I preached on this, on his goodness, when Moses and God have this interchange in the book of Exodus. He says, show me your glory. What does God say? He says, I will let all my goodness pass before you. So what Paul is saying here that in the life of Jesus, his entire life is God's goodness passing before us, his entire life. We beholding the face of God in Christ Jesus and being changed then from one degree of glory into another. Again, brothers and sisters, this passage screams the deity of the Lord Jesus. Even one of the sources that I used to study from, it has this to say about the phrase, goodness and loving kindness appeared. Apparently it was commonly in reference to Hellenistic kings who were seen as the image and representation of God on the earth. Another one of the commentaries that I consulted has this to say about this phrase, goodness and loving kindness. He says, Paul's use of language suggests, in keeping with ancient descriptions and depictions of Greco-Roman rulers, that God is cast as the supreme benefactor of humankind. The thought here is of a sovereign lord who makes an act of unprompted and undeserved favor to his subjects, and he does so in a personal appearance. Brothers and sisters in Christ, God is good. He is loving and he is kind. I'm using two words to describe the word philanthropy here because again, it's one thing that tests the human, the English language to describe to you the beneficence of God, the goodness of God. His goodness and his loving kindness has come down to us from above. This is Heaven's greatest act of charity, we can say, to the human race that's put on display perfectly in the Lord Jesus. He is the embodiment of the goodness of God, who in his sympathy for us has lived the only good life that's ever lived. And he's given that life as a benefit to us through faith. This, brothers and sisters, we can say whatever we want about those YouTube philanthropists. This is a kind of loving kindness. This is a kind of philanthropy that is unparalleled. This is a kind of condescension that is unparalleled. It's in a class all by itself, and therefore it should mean something to us. It should mean something to us. It should mean to change our lives. This passage ought to grab us. This is one of those many passages where, yeah, you again ascend the mountain of doctrinal preeminence. This is a passage that really should grab us and just ask us point blank, what are you going to do about it? What are you going to do about it? And there's a billion ways to apply this passage to us personally, but I'll close with just a couple of points about our broader application of this passage. So a couple of points of application for us as we close. Firstly, brothers and sisters, grow in the confidence that you have of God's goodness and kindness toward you. grow in confidence of God's goodness and kindness toward you. This wasn't a major theme when we were looking at it before, but God's goodness means a lot more than just his moral uprightness. It means that he remains good, whatever the circumstances are, and he remains good, whatever the circumstances are that happen even in your life. Brothers and sisters, suffering will happen in your life. That is inevitable. Suffering will happen in your life. Dark providence will occur, and we may never see the purpose of it. Why am I suffering? We may never see the purpose of it in this age. Perhaps never. But rest assured, there is no tear in this age that will be shed in vain. There is no cry that will go unheard. There is no injustice that will not go unheard. unpunished, that won't be straightened out in the goodness of God. How do I know? Because the goodness of God has appeared among us in Christ. That's how I know. He's walked our streets. The Lord Jesus has seen our suffering. He's even experienced it firsthand. The only innocent person, the only good person to actually ever live, we crucified. It is the most violent act in all of human history. crucifying the Lord of glory. And yet, he's experienced this suffering firsthand himself. The only innocent person who did not deserve to suffer suffers. That's what gives us the confidence of his ability to experience grief and yet to look beyond it and know that still the judge of all the earth is going to do what is right because that's who he is. We can be confident of this. So grow in the confidence of God's goodness and his kindness toward you. Secondly, Seek to demonstrate biblical philanthropy towards others, now that you know what that is. Seek to demonstrate biblical philanthropy towards others, now that you know what that is. In other words, don't just be there for people's physical needs. Many sermons are given over to being there for people's physical needs. I don't think I have to preach on that. You'll find a lot more of that than you will find sermons on being there for their spiritual needs as well. and present to give to them the gospel of the Lord Jesus, as you will, to be there for their physical needs as well. We need to learn to be a people who put ourselves in the way of biblical philanthropy, however that looks. So yes, be generous. Yes, be generous with your time, be generous with your money or your talents, build a reputation of gospel-centered good works, which again, verse 8 is the entire payoff of the whole passage. That's the payoff of this whole passage that we be filled with good works. And let that be the thing that people know you by is your biblical philanthropy. And while you're at it, brothers and sisters, be encouraged, be encouraged. The Father sent his Son to demonstrate his goodness and his kindness so that the Holy Spirit would send and apply those same things to us.