The Blessed Hope - Titus 2:11-15

We are studying through the book of Titus. This passage from Titus 2 which we are about to study is a favorite of many many people. It is the passage regarding the blessed hope that we have. We will see Jesus face to face. Our troubles and trials will once and for all be behind us. We wait with great eagerness and longing to be with Jesus! 

So let's go through this passage verse by verse and unpack it slowly:

Verse 11 - For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,
It is the grace of God that provides salvation for us. We read in Ephesians 2:8-9 -For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast

Salvation has been provided full and free for everyone. No one is excluded. All who are willing can be saved. When Jesus Christ came to earth the first time, He came to save us from our sin. The next time He comes, it will be to reign as Lord of lords and King of kings. Every knee will bow to Him and confess that He is Lord!

 Verse 12 Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;

Here in verse 12 we learn that we are to say "no" to the evil that presents itself before us. We are to turn from all that God calls sin, turn away from lust and sinful pleasures. We are to resist evil temptations. We are instructed to in complete surrender and devotion to God. We need to obey Him, do what He says in the Bible. Sometimes we may feel that we have already done what God requires when in fact we have only read about it. One example of this is repentance. We need to repent of our evil ways and turn from them once and for all. The reason why this is so is explained in verse 13.

Verse 13 -  Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;
 We are looking for the return of the Lord Jesus Christ! This is the blessed hope that is alive within us by the power of the Holy Spirit. This gives us hope to endure whatever we are enduring or facing today. This old world is not all there is. We are looking for Jesus to appear in the clouds and take us home! Then we will be with Him forever! No more sorrow, or pain, no more tears. All who are saved through faith in Jesus can rest in this blessed hope of eternal life with Jesus for eternity!

Verse 14 - Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.

Jesus died on the cross for each of us. He took your sin and mine, He became guilty of that which we have done wrong. Jesus was pure and sinless, but He died to pay for our sin.  He died to redeem us back to God. He died to cleanse us from our sin, to purify us for Himself. We belong to Jesus, we are set apart for Him. We are to bring glory and honor to Jesus by doing the good that He has called for us to do. He has something for each of us to do that will build His kingdom and bring the lost to Him for salvation!

Verse 15  - These things speak, and exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise thee.

Here in verse 15, Paul says to Titus that he must teach these things and encourage the believers to obey these teachings of our Lord. The Bible is the true Word of God. If you want to hear from God, then open your Bible and He will speak to you. Read the Bible every day, pray and obey the word of the Lord.

The Little Boat - a story of salvation

John 3:16 - For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Back in my Sundayschool days I was told a story that sticks in my mind to this very day. It is a story about a boy and his boat. That Sunday so many years ago, I remember the preacher came downstairs to the Sundayschool area to tell this story. You may have heard it told before as it is an analogy of salvation.

The Boy and his Little Boat                                               
There once was a boy who made his own little toy wooden boat. Day in and day out he worked on it carefully and lovingly carving it to be just the little boat he had imagined. He painted it a beautiful brown taking extra care with the various colors for trimming, and set it on the window sill to dry. The next day the little boy took his little boat out to sail it on the river. He admired it, how beautiful it was!,  and he watched it floating on the water. The boat began to drift farthur and farther away from shore and soon it was out of his reach. His precious boat was gone and this made him very sad. Would he ever see the little boat again? The little boat was always on his mind. Every day as he walked along he wondered if this would be the day he would find his little boat on the shore. He knew he would do whatever it would take to get it back home again.   One day while walking down the street, to his surprise and delight, he noticed his  little boat in the storeshop window. He went in to ask the storekeeper about the boat. Though the little boy had made the boat, the storekeeper insisted he would have to pay the full price for the boat if he wanted to take it home. The boy realized it would take everything he had, his every last penny. Was he willing to pay the price? Yes! The boy ran home and got all his money, every last cent, and paid the storekeeper the full price for the boat. The boy was overjoyed and said to his little boat - "You are mine, twice over. - First I made you and now I bought you though it cost me everything I had. You are forever mine."
The End.

We can plainly see that in this story, you and I are the little brown boat. God created each of us with his own special care - just the way He wanted us to be.
We set sail in our journey called life, and each of us have drifted through sin and have become lost from our Creator - our loving Heavenly Father. Each of us need to be saved and that is what Jesus did on the cross. He gave up His all - His everything to buy us back ( that is to redeem us ) to Himself. Now we are His "Twice Over" if we accept Him into our heart as Savior and Lord.

Ephesians 2:8
For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

Prayer to receive Christ as Saviour:
Dear Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner, ( lost just like the little boat). Thank-you that you gave yourself to redeem me back to the Father in Heaven. I believe you died for my sins on the cross and rose from the dead. Help me now to repent of my sin, I turn from it. Cleanse me from sin. I ask youto come into my heart and my life and be my Saviour and Lord of my life. Thank- you Jesus for saving me. Amen

Exercising Faith - Hannah

Faith that Believes God for Answers

Hebrews 11: 6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

What is faith? Faith is believing God - that He will provide all that is needed for a good result in our circumstances even when it looks impossible to the human eye. The good result we are looking for is God's will for us above anything that we want for ourselves. We know that He sees the end from the begining and in reality God alone knows what would be the best outcome to our situation.
Hebrews 11 is often called the heroes of faith chapter as it lists many of the great men and women in the Bible who displayed extra ordinary faith in their life circumstances. In this Bible study I want to look at what the word faith means in a little more depth and then I want to look at the story of Hannah and see her faith in her situation.

Faith - Hebrews 1:1 gives us the Biblical definition of faith. It says - Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Faith is the assurance in our heart that God will do what He says He will do - we are convinced by the truth of His Word in the Bible. When we are exercising our faith we are not trusting in ourselves - no, we place our trust in the One who answers prayer and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. In order to please God we must believe that He exists, that He is real, that He is concerned with our needs and our situation. We must believe that He will reward those who diligently seek Him. We must also realize that the Lord does not hear our prayers while our hearts are filled with sin.
Psalm 66: 18-19 If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me: But verily God hath heard me; he hath attended to the voice of my prayer.
Faith is to believe and trust in Jesus as He is presented in the Scriptures. He is the only begotten Son of God. He died on the cross for our sin to redeem us to God. He was buried and rose again on the third day.

Hannah - Now let us look us the faith of Hannah from 1 Sammuel. The story of Hannah is that she was married to Elkanah. Now Elkanah loved Hannah very much but he also had a second wife name Peninnah. Now Penninah was able to bear children but Hannah had no children. There was nothing that Hannah wanted more in all her life than to have a child. As though the stress of being barren was not enough, Peninnah would make fun of Hannah, provoke her and irritate her because of her barren womb to the point that Hannah was brought to tears and could not even eat. So Hannah was in great distress.
 So what did Hannah do about her problems? She brought her situation before the Lord in prayer. She wept before the Lord as she poured out her heart before Him. 1 Sammuel 1: 10 - 13 describes her prayer:
And she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed unto the Lord, and wept sore.
¹¹ And she vowed a vow, and said, O Lord of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid, and remember me, and not forget thine handmaid, but wilt give unto thine handmaid a man child, then I will give him unto the Lord all the days of his life, and there shall no razor come upon his head.
¹² And it came to pass, as she continued praying before the Lord, that Eli marked her mouth.
¹³ Now Hannah, she spake in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard:

Sometimes we may wonder if it is okay or even wise to pray alone. We may have been told that we should pray in a group or that we should first seek the advice of other people before we pray. But that is not what Hannah did.  She prayed alone and no other person really knew the depths of the burden on her heart but she poured it out before the Lord.
What did Hannah do after she prayed? The Bible says that she went on her way, she was no longer sad and she was able to eat and the best part is she worshipped the Lord! 1 Sammuel 1: 18-19  So the woman went her way, and did eat, and her countenance was no more sad. ¹⁹ And they rose up in the morning early, and worshipped before the Lord, and returned, and came to their house to Ramah: We know that Hannah had faith because it clearly says that she was no longer sad. She was exercising faith in God that He had indeed seen her situation, heard her prayer and God would take action on her behalf. This is so beautiful - I just love it!!
What happened next? Hannah went home with Elkannah and life continued. And God did not forget about Hannah! ( he never forgets His own). Hannah was able to become pregnant and God gave a baby boy to Hannah and Elkannah exactly as Hannah had prayed!
1 Sammuel 1: 19-20 and came to their house to Ramah: and Elkanah knew Hannah his wife; and the Lord remembered her.
²⁰ Wherefore it came to pass, when the time was come about after Hannah had conceived, that she bare a son, and called his name Samuel, saying, Because I have asked him of the Lord.

As Christians, we serve the very same God as Hannah does in this study. He loves and cares for His own. He knows our situation.
 It is important that we go to the Lord in prayer and humbly pour out our hearts before him. After we have entrusted ourselves into His care, we can go about our daily tasks with joy because we have faith to believe that God will do what is the best for us in our situation. We worship and praise the Lord even before our situation changes and we must remember to continue to give Him the honor and praise as well once we have seen the answer to our prayers come to take place.