Welcome to the Wilton Baptist Church, where we worship God, walk with others, and win people to the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm Pastor Steve, and our congregation is pleased to share this message with you today, and we pray it'll be a blessing and encouragement to you. Blessings as you listen or watch. We're in the book of Titus. We have two more messages, Lord willing, in this phenomenal book as we've been going through verse by verse. And here we are in Titus chapter three. Give you a little bit of a history lesson about Nero for just a moment as we start. Although the Bible text never mentions Nero by name, his rule marked the beginning of Rome's official persecution of the church, and you find a lot of persecution that's mentioned in the book of Acts and throughout the New Testament letters as well. And a lot of that started around 64, AD 64 with the burning of Rome. And he had this incitement of rage and anger against the Christians saying they were the ones responsible for the great fires that broke out all around the city. Well, Nero had, he was known, he was really known even back then for his debauchery and his cruelty, and I'll give you some of those descriptions in a moment. I was interested, and it was kind of interesting to me that he also was a person of the arts, and he loved music, and he loved drama and sports. He liked the theater and music and sports, and so you have a lot of these coliseums for sporting events and things like this. And that played a darker role later on in his life. But early on, he was promoting the arts, he was promoting sports, he was talking about building things. And he was adopted by the emperor at the time. And he saw his father, who adopted him, as someone who was in the way of him coming to the throne. He saw a sibling and a rival and others who were rivals to him becoming the emperor himself, and he would kill them along the way. Some of those he killed with his mother's help. Eventually, he kills her as well. During the day, the early days, he displayed all manner of liberalitas, which means generosity, and clementia, which means mercy, and comitus, which means accessibility. And that's how their government was ruling back then, as he was the one in charge. But he became overbearing. He became very boorish. And he had his music and his acting, and when he would give speeches to their forums and things, he would be long-winded. And it was kind of funny, I was laughing that people in the audience would fake seizures to try to get out of listening to. So they had people being carried off on stretchers just to not have to hear Nero giving his long speeches because of how long-winded and boring they were. Historians tell us also that he would put on musical competitions and he would always win. He would pay the audience to clap the loudest whenever he would perform and he would bribe the judges and he also would execute those musicians who were better than him on occasion as well. History tells us these things. Well, he saw his mother as a threat at some point after a lot of the other assassinations of others. His stepbrother, Britannicus, he was put to death and his father who had adopted him was put to death as well. And he finally comes to the throne and after several attempts of poisoning his mother, that failed, he had engineers construct a false ceiling in her bedroom that was supposed to collapse and it would fall on her and kill her. Well that didn't work out, the poisoning didn't work out, so he designed a ship that would fall apart after several miles or kilometers or however, stadia, I guess they would measure it back then, they would go out into the sea, and the boat fell apart, but his mother, she was pretty tough, she swam the shore. She survived that. Eventually, he put up some false accusations about her trying to overthrow him, and he sent some soldiers to execute her, and that's what they did. He had several of his wives killed. He kicked his wife Octavia to death. She was pregnant. He kicked her to death. He was a violent, cruel man. He was the leader when Paul wrote these words that we're about to read and give them to Titus for Titus to tell his church and churches that he was helping to establish and to tell us today. That was the leader who Paul lived under and who Titus lived through. There's so many other things I could describe about his terrible rule. He drained the bank accounts, but because of the sports and things that he was funding, people still loved him. As the society declined, his popularity increased, and then one infamous night, after trying to find ways to pay for this golden house that he built, everything was gonna be covered in gold, increasing taxes, stealing from people, he was running out of money, and he wanted to build it in a specific part of town, so he sent arsonists out to put fires all throughout the town, all throughout Rome, and that's what they did, and then he blamed the Christians, and so you have this portrait, you have many paintings, people know, you know, here's Nero, watching everything burn, and he blamed the Christians, and people bought it, and for the next 10 emperors, there's waves of persecution of people finding Christians, the followers of the way, and trying to give them a hard time, if not all outright, just execute them, and that was taking place. Now, as we have gone through this book of Titus, we've studied this good life, and the good life includes good preaching, and good pastors, and good minds, and good mentors, good grace, and today, good mercy. good mercy, as we find in this text. And for some Christians, this will be a hard text to read. And every four years, as there's national elections, some Christians don't like these verses that we're about to read. And too bad for that, because we are to follow what these scriptures tell us. So notice in the text, chapter 3, verse 1, Put them in mind, that means to remind them to be subject. Now, he is helping establish elders and pastors in churches around the island of Crete. That's what Titus is doing. Paul said, I've appointed you to do this, this is your task, God's called you to do. And he said, I want you to remind all these people in these different churches that you're helping to establish to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey authority or magistrates, that means authority, to be ready to every good work. Now, out of the 11 times in 10 verses, this is one of them, we have the word good, and it's the word agathos, and it means to be generous or good, to be generous and good. with your works, be good with your works, do good things, be generous with your works. To speak evil, that's the word blasphemy, to speak evil of no man, to be no brawlers, but gentle, showing all meekness unto all men. And meekness means strength under control. For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish. One time you were like this, you were foolish, disobedient, deceived or caused to wander, serving diverse or a diversity of lusts and pleasures, living in malice. That word means wickedness, just sheer wickedness and envy. hateful and hating one another. This is who you were before Jesus and before mercy. But after, that's a great conjunction right there, something happened, Jesus happened, mercy came. But after that, The kindness and love of God our Savior toward man appeared. The word love there is philea, Philadelphia love, brotherly love. That's Jesus manifest in the flesh. Jesus, agape love, but manifest like a brother to us. That's that love that God gave to us and demonstrated to us. A greater love, brotherly love, hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friend. Jesus demonstrated that. So with this great love, he demonstrates this. He appeared not by works of righteousness, which we have done." It's not what we accomplish, but according to his mercy, he saved us by the washing of regeneration. And the word washing has the idea of taking a bath. It's not just a sprinkling. It's not just a wipe. It's like all the way in. You're submerged with this. You are immersed with this. This washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost. When you trusted Christ, if you're a Christian, He indwelt you. You're immersed in Him. He's all in and through you. Which He shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior. that being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. I love these verses. Some of these verses are verses that our kids in Awana, as they're being discipled and as they are being mentored in Awana, some of these verses, they will learn. that I just read to you from this text. Some fabulous verses about mercy and about grace, and in particular today, we'll unpack this idea of mercy. Good mercy is part of the Christian life and part of the good life. Mercy could be defined this way. Mercy and compassion. denote care, concern, and an empathetic feeling toward or for another person. In the Bible, mercy and compassion are most perfectly demonstrated and characterized by God's own merciful and loving care for his people, and in particular, the gift of mercy through Jesus Christ. Now, mercy could be this, God not giving me what I deserve. Now, at the same time, we're thankful for God's grace. It's mentioned in the text as well. Grace is God giving me better than I deserve. So where I deserve death and hell and punishment for my sin, mercy sweeps in and says, I'm not gonna get what I deserve. At the same time, grace comes alongside and says, I'll even give you better than what you deserve. That's grace and that's mercy. So here's mercy. Can you read the definition with me? Mercy, God giving me what I, God not giving me what I deserve. See, we gotta get this right. Okay, let's try it again. Mercy, God not giving me what I deserve. That's what it is. Now here's grace. God giving me better than I deserve. I love these simple but forthright definitions of mercy and grace. There was a daughter of a poor lady who had left, this daughter had left her home And she was led astray by others. The daughter had been led astray. She had forsaken the guide of her youth. She had forsaken the teachings that she grew up with. And her mother was praying. Prayer was her only resource. She resorted to prayer, but that was not in vain. The prayer was not in vain. Late one night, the daughter returned home. It was close to midnight, and as she went to the door, she twisted the handle, and it was unlatched. It was unlocked, and she came in, and she woke her mother up and said, Mom, why was the door open? It had been a long time, and the mother said, I've always left it open ever since you left. It's always been open because I've always prayed that you would come back, and God has answered my prayer. prayer, there's some mercy there that she was praying for, and she received that mercy. If you wanna know about mercy, read Psalm 136. His mercy endureth forever. Time and time again, it's like the mercy chapter of the Bible. His mercy endureth forever. You could read that at some point. But God's mercy, it changes everything. God's mercy changes everything. Here's several scriptures about mercy. Ephesians 2, verse 4, but God who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us. So he's rich in his mercy, he's abundant in his mercy towards us. In Romans 9 verse 23, and that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy which he had aforeprepared unto glory. You think about vessels of mercy, that's us. There are vessels for honor and vessels for dishonor, and we're to be vessels of honor to God, to the praise of God. but you are a vessel of mercy. God has given you mercy. You're carrying it around with you if you're a Christian. It's part of you because God's shown that mercy to you. James 3, 17, but the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, easy to ask for. And that mercy or that wisdom is also full of mercy, good fruits, without partiality, without hypocrisy. In Jude 21, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ into eternal life. Every day, it's a good practice to look where God has not given you what you deserve. Fresh breath, roll out of bed, that's all mercy. It's grace as well, but it's also mercy. God not giving us what we deserve. Notice how verse three reads that before this mercy came, this is what we would be or should be as it declares this, for we ourselves were also sometimes foolish, and disobedient, and deceived, and lustful, and malicious, or wicked, and envious. It has to do with jealousy, and coveting, and hateful, even hating ourselves and hating others. This is who You were before Christ. And by the way, isn't this a summary of life before Jesus for everyone, for those who are not yet with Christ? But, in verse 5, the kindness This loving kindness, this mercy of God appeared in the form of Jesus. And it's not by our works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to his mercy, he saved us by the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost, the Holy Spirit. So it's his works. Not our works. It's His washing, His bathing of us. Not our effort. It's His regeneration. It's not your New Year pledge. It's not gonna do that. It's His renewing. It's not ours turning over a new leaf. It's His Holy Ghost. It's not by my might or my spirit. It's His Spirit. in us. That's what He does when His mercy arrives. And so because of Jesus, after mercy in verse 4 and also in verse 7 then, notice in verse 7 in particular, that being justified by His grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life." What a fabulous verse. What an amazing thing. Friends, we are receivers of God's grace. If you've received the gift of God, if you've believed the gospel for yourself, not only that, but He's justified you by His grace. You don't deserve it. We can't earn it. We can't work for it. but I am justified. There's two sides of this coin of justification, just as if I never sinned and just as if I have all the righteousness of Jesus. So in other words, when God looks at you and you just think about yourself and how despicable you really are, it's okay to admit that, it's good to admit that, he sees you as if you are perfect, just like Jesus. no sin, no iniquity, no evil, no wrong, justified by His grace. And then we're made heirs to the kingdom of God. We're made heirs. That means we've been purchased or bought or adopted into God's family. and we are sons and daughters with an eternal inheritance with our God. By the way, when it talks about this life here, eternal life is not like life on this earth. It's not like this. And I was thinking about this in the many funerals that I've been preaching recently. Sometimes we say eternal life in heaven and people get a misconception like, well, if life is anything like, if eternal life is anything like life on earth, I don't want anything to do with it. This life is sinful. Our bodies are corrupt and falling apart. We have pain, we have suffering, we have hurricanes, we have disasters, and we have people. Life could be hard, and people think, well, I don't want life, but eternal life is so much better. There's no sin. There's no suffering. There's gonna be a lot of people there, but there's no problems there. Because Jesus fixes all the problems before we get there. We get new bodies that are incorruptible. They can't have any problems. They're perfect and forever will be, like Jesus. What an amazing truth that is. One person wrote about mercy, that every misery that I miss is a new mercy. Every misery I miss is a new mercy, and I think that's a true statement. So we are changed after God's mercy shows up. God's mercy changes everything. Have you let it change your life? Is His mercy continually changing your life? I'll give you three areas. Number one, what does mercy change? My attitude toward authority. In verse one, put them in mind or remind them to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work. Subject means to place under rank. Some of you in the military or in your workplace, you have different assignments and job descriptions and you're placed under rank. I mean, somebody's in charge and somebody's subordinate to that and somebody's, it's tiered, it's all tiered. and you have different levels. And that's what the word subject means, to place or to rank under. And that tells us some things. Well, some things are not my call. Some things I'm not in charge of. Some things I'm not responsible for. And that's all right. I'm under rank. I'm submitting to somebody who is in charge or who is the one responsible for something. Some things are just not my decision. In our American society, sometimes we're really quick to forget that, you know, and we seek to be so independent that we forget sometimes that my attitude towards authority is one of beginning with submission here. Number two, obedient. And he says to obey, and that's what obedience means, to obey a ruler or a superior. And so I'm going to listen to their advice. I'm going to fall in line, similar to the word subject. And then finally, number three here in this verse is to be prepared or ready to do good works. to do generous things with our works. That's what the word agathos is, or good. I'm gonna be generous with good things that I'm doing. I'm gonna be doing good. Friends, we need to be prepared to do good. A lot of the world's prepared to do wrong and evil. The Christians should be prepared to do what's right, to do what is good. Now, if an authority is asking you to do something wrong, it's evil, or it's immoral, or it's against the Bible, you don't have to obey that. Because it's better to obey God rather than men. We get that passage in that example in Acts chapter 5. And Peter is told by the authorities, stop talking about Jesus. Stop preaching about the way. Stop using the name of Jesus in our town, in our city. And then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, we ought to obey God rather than men. And so we are to obey authority, but if it violates a Bible mandate or a clear teaching of Scripture, a Christian conscience that is rooted in authentic interpretation and understanding of the Scripture, you obey God rather than men. So with that said, know this, speed limits Roundabouts, intersections, some people love them, some people hate them. Magazine capacities, internet access, electric or gas cars, those are not things that Christians should be fighting about, or arguing about, or bickering about, because it has nothing to do with the practice of our faith. You can have an opinion about it, but make sure you don't confuse Bible Christianity with an opinion. about something that really doesn't matter. Now here's another thought. Just because something is legal does not mean it's right. Just because something is legal does not mean it's right. I'll give you an example. Exodus chapter one. verses 15 through 20. The king of Egypt spake with the Hebrew midwives, of which the name of one was Shaphira and the other Pua, and he said, when you do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew women and see them upon the stools, this would be where they would be delivering their babies, if it be a son, then ye shall kill him, but if it be a daughter, then she shall live. But the midwives feared God, and did not, as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the men children alive. And the king of Egypt called for the midwives, and said unto them, Why have ye done this thing, that ye have saved the men children alive? And the midwives said unto Pharaoh, Because the Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian women, for they are lively, and are delivered, ere the midwives come in unto them. So what they say is, okay, why aren't you killing these babies? Well, the midwives, or these Hebrew women, you know, they're not like the Egyptian women, when it's time for them to go, they go. You know, the baby just comes, we get there too late, and we can't kill it before they know what's going on, so we just couldn't do it. They made that up, of course, some of them were right there, they were, this gets into the ethics of, situational ethics type things. We're not talking about that today, but, They say, we're not going to kill these babies. We're gonna preserve life. We're gonna do the right thing. And just because it was legal, because Pharaoh said it was legal, in fact, he told him to do it, didn't make it right. It was murder. It was immoral. It was wrong. You could just name your list, things like this. You know, it was wrong. Now, we're really blessed. We raise puppies. Sometimes we have litters of puppies. Here's some puppies. And I tell you what, it's fun. I like it. It's a lot of work. You can ask Natalie, and it is a lot of work. But we have these golden retriever puppies. That's a two-hour-old photo. Two hours old. So suppose three hours before this photo, isn't that still a puppy? Four hours before that, isn't that still a puppy? Okay, I know they kicked because we felt them, but how about two weeks before that? Is it still a puppy? Okay, it's still a puppy. Imagine, imagine if I said, you know, we didn't want this dog to be pregnant, and I don't like these male, there's one male, that's the male on top right there. We don't want the male, and so I take a long needle, put it through the cervix of the mother, and then put it through the puppy's amniotic sac, it's the puppy's sac, it's not the mother's sac, it's the puppy's amniotic sac. And you know where dogs like to get petted on the back of their head? and I insert that needle, puncture right through that, and suck its brains out. I don't even like describing that. Could you imagine the uproar if I said, you know what, that's what we're gonna do, we didn't want that male puppy? Could you imagine, I mean, there'd be protesters, there'd be people just advertising how terrible this guy is who's doing that. People would hate me if I did that, and I'd hate myself. I would hate myself. I mean, my goodness. There's been two that have died. One was in the canal too long and they come out stillbirth. That happens sometimes. But at another time, we did CPR. because I wanted that baby to live. Your whole mouth can fit over a puppy's face, and it came back to life. It's a great dog. It's still living two years later. Just think about this. How terrible that would be if that happened. Killing a baby is pure evil. How far back do you go before it's not a baby? How far back do you go? Premature babies, preemies, they're still babies, right? Aren't they still little human beings? Still little human beings. Abortion is terminating or taking the life of a new unit. You have the semen that goes to the egg of the woman and it makes something new. It's something new, it's something different right there. And it's all encapsulated then and it grows. And just because it's micro doesn't mean it's not what it is. Just because we can't see it. A man-made law does not mean that it's right. I can't imagine the hardness of somebody who would say, oh, I hate that puppy. I want it dead. I cry sometimes. When those have died, I have tears. I can't imagine the hardness of somebody saying, I want that baby dead. That's just the hardness. I think it's part of the judgment of God. When you read the Old Testament, when they started killing their kids, when they come out like what we just read in the scripture, that's part of judgment taking place. What a terrible thing. By the way, just to make it clear, abortion will always be a battle as long as inconsequential sex is the lust of society. That's the motivation, besides the people who make money from it, it's inconsequential sex that's the driver. Do what you want, there's no strings attached, there's no meaning behind this. God have mercy on our leaders. God have mercy on the people who advocate for pure evil. May they believe the gospel and know Jesus. Here, this says to be subject, but you don't need to violate your conscience and go along with things that are morally evil or that are directly contrary to clear teachings of Scripture. 1 Timothy 2 tells us, So praying for our leaders, pray for our leaders, God's mercy for them. Instead of condemning leaders, when you pray for them, you change your attitude towards them. God changes your attitude towards them. We're already condemned. Each of us, we're already condemned before Christ. And our leaders and people advocating for evil, they're already condemned. We don't have to condemn them, but we're told to pray for them. and pray for them, that'll change your heart towards them. In our relationship with authority, we are to be submissive and be obedient and ready to do good things, but don't violate your Bible conscience. I like how Sir Thomas Fuller said back in the 1600s, God giveth his wrath by weight, but his mercy without measure. He doesn't measure it out. It's just mercy after mercy after mercy. God have mercy. Let's seek that mercy. My attitude towards authority is affected. Number two, my interaction with others. He says to speak evil, it means to blaspheme of no man, to be no brawlers, but gentle, showing meekness unto all men, the strength under control. One person wrote and described the rays from the sun, yet they're not the sun. even our love and pity, though they are not God, but merely a poor and weak image and reflection of Him. Yet from Him alone they come. If there is a mercy in our hearts, let it, it comes from the fountain of mercy. If there's light of love in us, it's a ray of the full sunshine of God's love. So let God's mercy come to you, and then show that mercy to others. Embrace that mercy in how you deal with others. So my interaction with others is affected in verse two. He says to speak evil, to blaspheme no man. It means to slander or to speak lightly. We use the word blasphemy sometimes when something's irreverent towards God or someone's mocking God's name. He says, don't speak lightly of other people. Don't be demeaning towards other people. Do not slander other people. Speak evil of no man. Are you demeaning of others? Are you condescending towards others? when you talk to them or talk about them. Slandering other Christians, slandering other people should not be a practice in our Christian lives. What do we tell our kids? I know you're guilty of this. What do you tell your kids? If you have nothing good to say, don't say it at all. And they think of it in monotone like that, right? Okay, why don't we do that sometimes? Why can't we live with that? Consider the murmuring that is mercy, a mercy-embittering sin, a mercy-souring sin. As the sweetest things pour into a sour vessel become sour, or put into a bitter vessel bitter, so murmuring puts gall and wormwood into every cup of mercy that God gives into our hands. The murmurer writes a marra that is bitterness upon all of his mercies, and he reads and tastes bitterness in them all. As to the hungry soul, every bitter thing is sweet, so to the murmuring soul, every sweet thing is bitter. I think that's a good thought. So, what's your relationship, your interaction like with others? Avoid fighting is the next idea. He says not to be brawlers, but gentle. The Bible talks about that, endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirits in the bond of peace. 1 Peter 3, 8, finally be all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous. Meekness then, strength under control. Jesus said, blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. And we need to be meek, meekness. Take my yoke upon you, he says, and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest. unto your souls." Moses, of all the Bible characters, he has the descriptor that's given to him that he was the meekest man above all the earth, as the Bible tells us. He was the meekest man. So he was very strong. I think that he was very authoritative in his mannerisms and how he led the people and things, but he was very meek at the same time. And Miriam and Aaron start to argue with Moses. And basically, here's the argument. Who's in charge? Miriam's like, I think I could do better. Aaron says, well, I'm the one who's saying all the things to the people. You know, he was the mouthpiece. And Moses doesn't fight back with that. Here's what happens as this description of the meekest man is given. Numbers chapter 12. And Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married. They didn't like his wife. before he had married an Ethiopian woman. And they said, hath the Lord indeed spoken only by Moses? Hath he not also spoken by us? And the Lord heard it. Now the man Moses was very meek above all the men which are upon the face of the earth. And the Lord spake suddenly unto Moses and Aaron and unto Miriam, come out ye three into the tabernacle of the congregation. And they three came out and the Lord came down in a pillar of cloud and stood in the door of the tabernacle and called Aaron. Miriam, and they both came forth. And he heard, and he said then, hear now my words. Is there a prophet among you? I, the Lord, will make myself known unto him in a vision, and I will speak unto him in a dream. Who was God talking to? He was talking to them and says, he's my prophet. Moses is my guy, it's not you. Moses let God fight his battles. That's meekness, that's meekness. If you feel like I have to be defensive, I have to fight for myself, all this, well, Moses remained meek. Our faults are like the grain of sand beside the great mountain of the mercies of God. Thank the Lord for his mercy in spite of our faults, failures, and sin. Then that brings us to verse seven, and that's my standing with God. I don't know which is your favorite verse of all these. These are such great verses. That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. where our sin deserves death, and we are all sinners, it means that all of our mercies are undeserved mercies. Any apparent unfairness in God's treatment of us arises not because some have too much punishment, but because some of us have too little punishment. None of us will ever receive harsher judgment than we deserve. And a marvel of this is, in a biblical view, not that men die for their sins, but that we remain alive in spite of them. That's mercy. I mean, how is it that I'm still alive today? The mercy of God. Well, he should get more punishment. Okay, that's mercy too, but it's more miraculous and incredible that we're just alive to begin with, that God gives us an opportunity to begin with. Verse seven, we are receivers of grace. For by grace are ye saved through faith, and not of yourselves. It's the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. We are justified by grace, just as if I never sinned, and just as if I have the entire righteousness of Jesus Christ. You see, God sees the believer. Christian, he sees you with the perfection of Jesus himself. That's just a miracle. That's absolutely amazing. This is the mercy, the grace of God. We are justified, declared righteous, made righteous before our God. In Romans 4, verses 2 and 3, if Abraham were justified by works, he'd have wear of the glory, but not before God. Okay, if he could do good things, then he would be boasting and bragging about it, but God wouldn't be impressed with that. Oh no, for what saith the scripture, Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. How do I get in on this righteousness? How do I get this mercy? How do I obtain this grace? You can't work for it? You can't earn it? You don't deserve it? You accept it, you believe the gospel. By faith, Abraham believed God. Have you trusted Jesus for yourself? Abraham did a lot of good things, but that's not how he was declared righteous. And finally, we are then heirs to eternal life. Mercy changes our eternity. A Christian friend, don't let it just change your eternity, let it change you today. Let God's mercy change your life today as you receive God's mercy to then bestow or share God's mercy to those around you. Let him change your life now and forever. Like many young couples, Dan and Tracy went into their marriage without understanding a lot of basic things, some of that having to do with money management. And it didn't take them very long to get into a lot of debt. They went from no debt to a lot of debt, and they had a combination of bad advice, unplanned hospital bills, bad circumstances left them trapped. never having enough money. And month after month, they fell into more debts and further debt and more debts. And as the pressure increased, Dan prayed one of those prayers, and he wasn't really sure if he believed it or not, but he was saying, Lord, I don't know if it's going to do any good, but I'm praying that I know I don't deserve it. I don't deserve a second chance, but I've learned so much about good stewardship versus bad stewardship, about managing money, rightly versus managing it carelessly and recklessly. Lord, would you give us a second chance financially? And he was praying that. Well, his pastor come and talk to him and the pastor had noticed that they were starting to change some things in their life and were starting to set their finances in order. They had had some times where they were talking together and the pastor sensed their sincerity and he wanted to help them overcome their crushing debt. And so they started to talk about how to overcome that. expecting a harsh condemnation for being such poor stewards, bad managers, Dan and Tracy were shocked, the mercy that the pastor extended to them. And he said, hey, this happens sometimes, and here's a better way to go. And they were talking about this. And two weeks after that, some unknown Christian men, unknown to them, Christian businessmen, met with them, and they said, we have started a ministry where we loan money to aspiring business people and other Christians. We loan it with no interest, but you have to agree to three things, that you live by a budget, that you repay the loan so that others can benefit from this ministry in the future, and you stop going into debt, stop using those credit cards like it's money. And they said, we'll agree to that. and they got a second chance. And they prayed together and said, Lord, thank you for the second chance. Thank you for mercy. We did not deserve that. We deserve a lot worse. We deserve debt. We deserve debt, which is a form of slavery. We deserve that, but we're not having that anymore. We're getting out of it. They prayed for God to answer that, and God answered that. That's an example of mercy. What is it in your life that's going on right now? Commit that to God in prayer. Seek God's mercy daily for whatever it is, and let God's mercy change your life. God's mercy changes everything. So what's your attitude like? Here's our questions as we conclude. What's your attitude like towards authority? What's your interaction with others like? What's your standing with God look like? Here's our first question as we respond, and let's just take some time before we pray to think about this. Number one, I will look for God's mercy each day. I think it's a great practice. We're not even at Thanksgiving time yet, but we should count God's mercies every day. God help me to look for your mercy each day. Is that something God's challenged you about? Some of you are raising your hands right now. Go ahead, it's fine. God help us look for your mercy. Number two, I will practice showing mercy to others. There's somebody that I need to show mercy to. Lord, give me help that I would practice showing mercy to other people. They don't deserve it. I know, that's the whole point. I need to show mercy. Anybody like that? God help us, yes. They deserve a lot worse, but you could give them better. Show them mercy. God help us with that. Number three, I will let God's mercy change me. This is from the inside out. I will let God's mercy change me. That's my prayer today. Anybody like that? It's changing us from day to day, absolutely. A lot of hands are raised. Here's the first way that it'll change you, is that you accept Jesus, believe the gospel for yourself. Have you asked Jesus to forgive you of your sin and save you? Have you expressed to him faith in a resurrected Jesus who bled on the cross paying the price for your sin and died in your place? If you say, pastor, I'd like to know more about God's mercy and grace, his love, I'd like to know more about how I can have eternal forgiveness. That's something I want to talk about today. Anybody like that? I'd like to talk about the gospel to know my sins are forgiven. All right. Let's take a moment and give a prayer. Father, we thank you for this time to worship, this time to open the scriptures, to see this passage in Titus in very practical terms. Let us look for your mercy each day. We know we experience it. Father, let us then extend that mercy, show it to those around us, even the least of these, even those who maybe hurt us or people that don't deserve it. That's the whole point of this. We didn't deserve your mercy, but you gave it anyway. Let us show that to others. Lord, we thank you for justification through faith. And we pray if there's one without Christ, that today they would choose Jesus as their Savior. Again, we thank you for your mercy, for your kindness that you show to us. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen.