Titus 2:11-14, “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lust, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.”
Within this passage there are some things that we are to deny ourselves. They are ungodliness and worldly lust. Ungodliness means: “impiety, general impiety, ungodly deeds, of lusts or desires after evil things” (Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words). Lusts denotes: “strong desire” of any kind, the various kinds being frequently specified by some adjective (Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words, Copyright). In this case it is “worldly lusts.” Thus, from Titus 2:11-12 we find that we are to deny ourselves the strong desires of the world. John declares that we are to “love not the world neither the things that are in the world” (1 John 2:15). We are to deny ourselves anything that would lead us away from God. This is what God, grace, and the Gospel demands of each of us that are Christians.
The grace of God also demands of us that we “live soberly, righteously and godly in this present world.” Soberly is defined as: “of sound mind” “self-controlled, “to be free from the influence of intoxicants”, “to cause to be of sound mind, to recall to one’s senses; the training would involve the cultivation of sound judgment and prudence; it suggests the exercise of that self-restraint that governs all passions and desires, enabling the believer to be conformed to the mind of Christ (Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words). Righteously means: “just,” without prejudice or partiality, (Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words, Copyright). Then godly means: piety which, characterized by a Godward attitude, does that which is well-pleasing to Him. Denotes “piously, godly” (Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words, Copyright).
One might say that a careful reading of the above passage states quite clearly that this is the “grace of God” that demands this kind of living but the title of the article is “Gospel Demands.” Please consider, Romans 1:16, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.” The “Grace of God” in one passage is equal to the Gospel of Christ in the other passage, for they both are said to bring salvation to those who believe or obey.
Salvation from our sins is what we desire; there is a code of conduct that we must conform ourselves to have this salvation. The Grace of God; or the Gospel of Christ states clearly what that code of conduct is. This code of conduct demands of us that we deny ourselves a certain kind of life. We cannot live as we want. We cannot do the things that we want. To have salvation from sins and to live with God in heaven for eternity we must do and live as this code of conduct states. There are also, according to this code of conduct, a certain way we are to live. We must not do some things, but we must do some things.
Are you willing to live according to the Grace of God or the Gospel of Christ? Are you willing to give up a life of sin and rebellion? Are you willing to live a life that points to God? Are you willing to have “the mind of Christ (Philippians 2:5)? Then live as the code of conduct states. Live as the Gospel demands!
Love, Keith
