Great Promise, Great Consequences #1

What we're going to see here today and what you're going to hear are profound things that for some of you perhaps you have never heard before. These are things that are not often taught on, but they are profound, they are clear in the Word of God, and they will change your understanding of salvation. As Christians, we are the heirs of the great promise of salvation, and from that promise comes some glorious consequences. And on this edition of the Truth Pulpit, Pastor Don Green looks at both as he continues our series, Titus, God's Glorious Plan of Grace.

Hello again, I'm Bill Wright. Don, we can easily be misled into thinking of our salvation in too narrow of terms, can't we? Well my friend, especially in the nature of the church today, it's easy to start thinking about what Christ can do for you rather than what his purpose was in saving you in the beginning. You know, you are set apart for Christ if you are a Christian.

You are secure in Christ, and he saved you so that one day you will see him face to face and be able to rejoice in his glory and in the blessing that he has secured for you for all of eternity. We continue in Titus chapter 1 as we join Pastor Don Green now in the Truth Pulpit. We're just going to focus on one little phrase that, although it is brief, has profound implications. Look at Titus chapter 1, verses 1 through 2 is what we're going to read. The Apostle Paul, writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, said, Paul, a bondservant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the faith of those chosen of God in the knowledge of the truth, which is according to godliness, in the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised long ages ago. Look at that phrase at the end of verse 2. God, who cannot lie, the unlying God, you could say, promised this long ages ago.

Long ages ago. What I want you to see, just as we start to introduce this, is to realize that Paul is bringing our mind into something that transcends our life and that occurred and was accomplished and was promised long before you or I ever lived, long before we were ever born. In fact, we're going to see that it goes much, much further back than that. We're immediately transported out of our immediate present realm to think about something that God did and that God promised. So we have to set aside our lives and we have to set aside the things that we normally think about in order to get in line with what God is saying in his word here today. We have to embrace the opportunity to do that. We are being brought, literally, we are being brought into the realm of the throne of God before the universe began.

This is utterly, utterly inexpressible in its glory. What Paul has written here opens up untold glory about the reality of our salvation. And what we're going to see here today and what you're going to hear are profound things that for some of you perhaps you have never heard before. These are things that are not often taught on, but they are profound, they are clear in the word of God, and they will change your understanding of salvation and make you greatly more worshipful and appreciative in response. And it will have the certain effect of bringing us to a more God-centered view of our salvation than what we are accustomed to.

We're going to build this around two points, they're brief points. First of all, we're going to see the great promise, the great promise of salvation. Look at it again with me in verse 2. Paul is speaking about the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised long ages ago. Before time began, before the creation of the world, God promised a redeemed people to His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. God, before time began, when it was just the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in their inter-Trinitarian councils, in their intra-Trinitarian eternal existence, God promised to our Lord Jesus Christ, I am going to give you a redeemed people that will love you throughout all of eternity to come. This is magnificent, this is glorious, this is inexpressible in its wonder that it should have on our minds.

It helps us to see, it helps us to see that there is a Christ-centered aspect to salvation that belongs to the Father and the Son alone, and all we can do is kind of step back in wonder and awe and bow down and worship and, as it were, put our hands over our mouths because these things are so wonderful and so inexpressibly great, there comes a point for human silence to bow in response in honor of the wonder of what we are seeing. Before time began, God promised a redeemed people to His Son. Now, look at that phrase at the end of verse 2, long ages ago in the New American Standard that I'm preaching from. In the Greek, that phrase, and I very rarely do this, I very rarely refer to the Greek, but today we need to do it. In the Greek, that phrase that's translated here, long ages ago, literally means before times eternal. The King James Version translates it before the world began. The New King James Version reads before time began. The English Standard Version translates it before the ages began. The New International Version translates it before the beginning of time. Beloved, what God has given us in His Word here is He has given us the privilege of stepping beyond time, stepping out of our time, out of our culture, out of our present circumstances, and as it were, mentally lifts us and carries us back before creation in order to see what was happening then and what was the point of the interactions among the members of the Trinity. Before time began, God made a promise about salvation. Now, think with me for just a moment. This is all very evident and plain to see. It's very logical. You don't have to be a theologian to understand this at all.

Just think with me for a moment. Before time began, before the world began, God made a promise. Who was there to receive the promise? Who was God making a promise to before time began, before the creation of the world? Who was there for God to make a promise to? There was no one there. There was no man there.

That's what's so crucial here. There was not a man present before the beginning of time. That came later. That came into Genesis 1 after God had created the heavens and the earth. Paul here is referring to something that precedes time, that precedes creation. Look at 2 Timothy 1, verse 9.

You see this echoed in slightly different language. 2 Timothy, just one book prior to Titus. Paul says in verse 9, God has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according, watch this, to his own purpose and grace. This is the purpose and grace of God which was granted us in Christ Jesus.

Christ is the focus of the purpose and grace, and it was granted from all of eternity. And so, what's going on here? What is the question that is being answered here? Who is the recipient of this promise? There can only be one answer.

There can only be one answer. This is not referring to a promise that God made to men. God has made lots of promises to us in his word, but this promise was not a promise made to man because it was a promise made before the beginning of time. What we're going to see is that this is a promise, this is referring to a promise that God the Father made to God the Son and in essence said, I am going to give you a people to redeem that will love you throughout all of eternity.

That's what the promise is. And we see this brought out more plainly in scripture as we allow scripture to interpret scripture. As you turn back to the Gospel of John chapter 6, we'll go back and forth between John and Titus here today, but in John chapter 6, you're going to see Christ speaking about the redeemed as a people that God the Father has given to him. God the Father has given a people to Christ. Oh, this is just inexpressible. You know, look, there are times where, and don't freak out with what I'm about to say to you here, when you preach the word of God, afterwards there's sometimes a let down, and you think back, I wish I'd said it a little bit differently this way or that, and the energy has gone forth of preaching and you say, oh, I think I'm going to resign.

And then you wake up Monday and everything's back to normal and you never act upon those impulses. Today I wanted to resign before I preached because this subject is so magnificent and lofty and holy that you can only feel your utter inadequacy and unworthiness to speak of what God has revealed in his word. This is so lofty and magnificent that you cry out with Isaiah, woe is me, I live among a people of unclean lips and I'm a man of unclean lips. We're not worthy to speak of these things that go back to the holy counsels of God before the beginning of time. You see, we have to approach this with reverence and worship and humility and to realize that in one sense we're talking about something that only indirectly involves us. God has invited us in, as it were, into the way that he communicated, the way that he loved, and the promises that God the Father made to God the Son before time began. And men and women, both redeemed and unredeemed, should not enter lightly into that discussion. This is a high and lofty theme that we're looking at, and we need to treat it with the utmost humility and reverence that God would grant grace to our souls to bring up. John 6, verse 37.

Let's go back to verse 35, just to set a little bit of context. Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will not hunger, and he who believes in me will never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. I'm the Son of God right in front of you.

You see me and you don't believe. Verse 37. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and the one who comes to me I will certainly not cast out. See, Jesus is speaking about the redeemed as a people that the Father is giving to him, that the Father has given a people to Christ that he is to redeem with his lifeblood.

Verse 38. I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. Before Christ came to earth in the incarnation, the Father had expressed his will, and his will was that Jesus Christ would have a people that would one day belong to him forever. And the will of the Father is that Christ would come and purchase that people with his own blood to be crucified for the sake of their salvation. So Christ, having come to earth, being on earth, speaking these words, watch this, is there in the furtherance of an antecedent will of God that sent him in the first place. A prior will of God existed that compelled Christ, that sent Christ to earth, and he gladly submitted to that in order to please his Father.

I've come down from heaven. Look at it, verse 38. I've come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. The will of God was formulated before Christ was formulated in the womb of Mary. This is preexistent.

This is magnificent. Now look at it in verse 39. What was that preexistent will of God? Verse 39. This is the will of him who sent me.

Jesus is going to tell us. He says, this is the will of him who sent me. This is the will that I came to earth in order to further end and fulfill. This is the will of him who sent me, that of all that he has given me, I lose nothing but raise it up on the last day. He's given me all of these people, all of these people as an expression of his will, of the Father's promise to me that he has given to me. He's promised them to me. What's the will of God?

It's that I would not lose them, but I would raise them up on the last day. How can we know these people that belong to Christ? Verse 40. This is the will of my Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in him will have eternal life, and I myself will raise him up on the last day. The will of the Father was for the Son to have a people. Christ came in order to purchase them with his life. The will of the Father is that on the final day Christ will raise them up and none of them will be lost. This is the promise and the purpose of God. God promised the redeemed to Christ before time began so that they would honor Christ when time ends. What does that mean for us? That brings us to our second point that we would title this way. We saw the great promise and now we're going to see secondly the glorious consequences.

Let me just preface this with this little bit of overview. If you're here and you're a Christian today, you need to understand that God planned all of that out before the foundation of the world. You need to understand and be in awe of the reality that God included you in that redeemed humanity that he promised to his Son.

You were part of a love gift from God the Father to his Son and that the Son reciprocated the love to the Father by laying down his life to secure your salvation. We have to move beyond the self-centered way that we've been taught to view salvation as if God were simply a means to further our earthly purposes and our earthly life. Stop it.

Stop it. We can't think that way anymore. We cannot think that way anymore. God does not exist to further your purposes in life. You exist to further the purposes of God and the promise of God to his Son.

There is a total reversal in our thinking that needs to take place. We exist for the glory of Christ. We exist to live out and to fulfill the promise that God made before time began to his Son. That is the high and lofty and unspeakable, inexpressible privilege that is ours as Christians.

And when you understand that, when you embrace that, when you internalize that, it completely changes the perspective with which you view your existence. Beloved, God is gracious to us, God is good to us, and God cares for us in our needs. He provides for what we need and he provides for us as we go through the joys and sorrows of life. He is a compassionate, caring, loving God and his mercies are over all of his works, Psalm 145 says.

We're the beneficiaries of that. But don't distort that into thinking that this is all about us. This is all about Christ. That's a means to an end that the Father's inexpressible, eternal love for the Lord Jesus Christ before time began would be expressed through a redeemed people that honor his Son. As it were, God gives this people to his Son and then steps back. Oh, watch this.

Watch this. As Christ's people worship him and honor him, now and throughout all of eternity, God the Father will look on that and say, yeah, you know what? You're seeing what I saw from the beginning of time, before the beginning of time.

You love my Son and I do too. And we've been added voices to add to those who express praise and glory and thanksgiving and honor to the name of the perfect, impeccable Lord Jesus Christ. That's why we exist. That's the purpose of your salvation. Not just in time, but throughout all of eternity. And so, what that does is it transcends our thinking. It transforms our thinking and makes us realize that our salvation and our walk in this life and our hope for eternity to come, it transcends what happens to us. Salvation is utterly transcendent.

It's about a promise that God made to his Son before time began. I realize that it's really easy to find teachers who will tickle your ears about what you can get from God. There's no shortage of teachers like that. What I want you to see is that when teachers come and talk about your health, your wealth, and all of that stuff, is that it's an utter defacing of the purpose of salvation to make it all about you.

They're not doing you any favors when they teach you that kind of stuff. Christians find their purpose, they find their joy, they find their satisfaction when they see and understand why they exist and then live out according to that. And you exist in order to be an expression of the Father's love to the Son. And that's what you're going to be doing throughout all of eternity. What are the glorious consequences?

I'll give you three. First of all, what are the consequences of the fact that God promised a redeemed people to his Son before time began and now you and I are here as part of that redeemed people. What are the consequences of that?

Well, they're very straightforward actually. First of all is this. First of all, we are set apart for Christ. We are set apart for Christ.

That's the first consequence. If you're taking notes, the first of the glorious consequences are that we are set apart for Christ and we exist for him to further his purposes rather than him existing to further us and our bloated sense of self-importance. Go back to the book of Titus and you'll see this with utter clarity and then we'll jump back to the Gospel of John again. Titus chapter 2 verse 14. This defines why you exist as a Christian. It's all about what is expressed here in chapter 2 verse 14 as a furtherance of that great promise that God made to Christ before the beginning of time.

Start at verse 13. We are looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Christ Jesus who, speaking of Christ, Christ gave himself for us. He laid down his life on the cross for our sake. Why did he do that? Why would he bother?

Why would the Son of God come down from heaven and seek to redeem you during the course of his incarnation and to redeem your brief transient life? Why would he do that? Why?

Why? There's nothing about us that really contributes anything to the perfection of Christ. Why would he do that? He gave himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed and to purify for himself a people – here it is – for his own possession, zealous for good deeds. Christ came down and purchased us out of the slave market of sin and delivered us from that so that we would belong to him, so that we would love him as the Father promised him that we would do, so that we would serve him and honor him and worship him and belong to him, so that we would separate ourselves from our love and affection and bondage to the things of this world and set our minds and our affections on the purity and the perfection and our loyalty to our Lord Jesus Christ.

That's why! It's so that we could be a people that belonged to him! As we see the world beset with divisions, bitterness and loss of traditional morality, we should be offering daily prayers of thanksgiving that God has sanctified us, in effect, pulling us out of that world and preserving us for Christ. Pastor Don Green will detail more great consequences of our salvation next time on The Truth Pulpit. We do hope you'll join us then.

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