The apostle Paul wrote in Titus 2:11, “the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all people”.
Something historically has happened that has revealed the grace of God. And part of His grace is that salvation is available to all people.
I want to first give you some reasons to believe this, and then we’ll talk about what this salvation is that the grace of God has made available to all of us.
There was an extraordinary man who lived in the land of Israel 2000 years ago named Yeshua.
Or we say “Jesus.” It’s not just what the Bible says. Even if you’re skeptical about the Bible, if you will honestly research the writings of antiquity of the 1st and 2nd centuries A.D., writings like those of 1st century Jewish writer Flavius Josephus and Roman writer Tacitus and the Jewish Talmud and others, you will be forced to conclude that Jesus is no made-up, mythical character. Several ancient sources outside of the Bible written by people who were not Christians talk about this extraordinary man Jesus.
It was commonly acknowledged by the Jewish people of the first few centuries that this man Jesus did things that appeared supernatural. Josephus wrote that Jesus was “a doer of marvelous deeds.” In the ancient writings of the Jewish Talmud, it says Jesus practiced sorcery and received His power from the devil. The New Testament writings in the Bible, of course, say it was by the power of God that He gave sight to the blind, strength to the legs of the lame, instantly cured leprosy and all kinds of diseases and infirmities, walked on water, raised the dead, and so forth. So how He did these “marvelous deeds” was explained in different ways by different people. But it was not denied that He did seemingly supernatural things.
There’s no question that Jesus taught people about God and claimed to be our Savior. Ancient sources outside the Bible confirm He was put to death on a cross at Jerusalem under the orders of governor Pontius Pilate, under the pressure of the Jewish leaders, and His tomb, not long after, was found empty. People had various theories to explain the empty tomb. In the Jewish community the story was that somebody stole the body. Many others believed He rose from the dead. There were even many who testified to having seen Him alive and talked with Him. And remarkably, those eyewitnesses would not be quiet with their testimony when threatened and punished for it. Through the extremes of persecution and to their deaths they proclaimed Jesus is alive from the dead and God has made Him Lord of all and He is our Savior.
Much due to Jesus’ powerful deeds and this testimony, Christianity arose in Jerusalem and spread like wildfire all over the known world in that 1st century. And that was just the beginning of the impact that that man Jesus has had on the world.
There has never been another person in all of history who has had such an impact on the world.
H.G. Wells said, “I am a historian, I am not a believer, but I must confess as a historian that this penniless preacher from Nazareth is irrevocably the very center of history. Jesus Christ is easily the most dominant figure in all history.” And he said, “Christ is the most unique person of history. No man can write a history of the human race without giving first and foremost place to the penniless teacher of Nazareth.”
The very calendar system most of the world uses for historical years, BC and AD, is based around His birth. Countless schools, hospitals, orphanages, shelters, other charities have emerged because of His influence. Almost a third of the world today would identify as a Christian of some flavor. Millions and millions, myself included, can testify to how their lives have been radically changed for the better after coming to know Him.
An anonymous author wrote,
“Here is a man who was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman. He grew up in another village. He worked in a carpenter shop until He was thirty. Then for three years He was an itinerant preacher. He never owned a home (at least as far as we know). He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He never had a family. He never went to college. He never put His foot inside a very big city. He never traveled two hundred miles from the place He was born. He never did one of the things that usually accompany greatness. He had no credentials but Himself. While still a young man, the tide of public opinion turned against him. His friends ran away. One of them denied Him. He was turned over to His enemies. He went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed upon a cross between two thieves. While He was dying His executioners gambled for the only piece of property He had on earth, and that was His coat. When He was dead, He was laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend. Just about twenty long centuries have come and gone, and today He is a centerpiece of the human race and leader of the column of progress. I am far within the mark when I say that all the armies that ever marched, all the navies that were ever built; all the parliaments that ever sat and all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of man upon this earth as powerfully as has that one solitary life.”
These are historical facts that can be established even without a Bible.
But here’s a phenomenal fact about the Bible itself.
Most of the Bible, three quarters of it, was written long before this man Jesus was ever born.
One easy way to prove that is by the Dead Sea Scrolls found in the caves of Qumran by the Dead Sea, which contain copies of these writings dating before 1st century A.D.
We call it the Old Testament section of the Bible. It’s a collection of 39 little books that the Jewish people revered as the word of God, written by various prophets of God throughout the ages before Jesus came.
That’s remarkable because throughout the pages of those ancient writings from beginning to end there is a common theme of One that God would send for us. Those Scriptures said God would one day raise up for us a king greater than any king ever before and He will reign forever. He will reconcile His people to God, lead them in righteousness, deliver them from their distress and their enemies, and shepherd them and bring them peace and security forever (Isaiah 49:5-7; Micah 5:4; Ezekiel 34:23-31). They said He will be served by people of all tribes, languages, and nationalities (Daniel 7:13-14; Isaiah 42:1-9; 49:5-7). They said He will be called by names like, “Wonderful counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6-7). They said He will be a descendant of King David (II Samuel 7:16; Jeremiah 23:5-6), and He will come forth from Bethlehem, a little town south of Jerusalem (Micah 5:2). They said He will come before the ruler’s staff (or governing authority) departs from the tribe of Judah (Genesis 49:10). The book of Isaiah chapters 52 and 53 described this one who will be highly exalted over all but it will be so surprising because He will have no stately form or majesty that we should look upon Him, no beauty that we should desire him. He won’t look physically like anyone special (Isaiah 53:2). And He will be rejected and abused and put to death. But it won’t be for any sins of His own. He will be pierced through for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities, chastened for our well-being, wounded for our healing, cut off of the land of the living for the transgression of those to whom the stroke was due. Yet then He will be highly exalted, make many righteous (Isaiah 52:13-53:12; Psalm 22). The prophets said many more things about this One to come.
Do you realize that this extraordinary real man named Yeshua, who has become the very center of history, came of the foretold lineage, at the foretold time, from the right little town, was rejected and abused and killed as forepictured and all the rest of the prophetic description fits Him perfectly?
Those are just a few of many reasons to believe that the God who made us has grace and His grace has appeared!
I’m convinced not so much for those reasons, but by…
My experience of Jesus and the grace of God.
I could not escape certain addictions and habits in my own will power until I sought His help with them. His word that I’ve studied about every day for the last 17 years never ceases to amaze me with its depth and wisdom. I’ve experienced His Spirit very tangible ways at times in prayer. I’ve received visions and dreams from Him. I’ve seen people delivered from demons through commanding them to leave in the name of Jesus. I know He’s alive. I know His Spirit lives inside me. I know He hears my prayers. I know He’s everything the Scriptures say He is.
If you don’t already, you will know too, if you seek with Him with all your heart. He won’t let you seek Him in vain. He has promised, keep seeking and you will find.
Who is He?
He was in the beginning with God and was God. He was sent from the Father God’s side to be born of a woman as a human being like us. In His character and the way He lived and treated people, He showed exactly what God is like. And He taught the truth about God. He also showed us how we are to live ideally, how we human beings are to live in fellowship with God, trusting and loving Him with all our hearts and obeying Him even to the point death, even death on a cross. And we’re love our neighbors as ourselves. He lived the completely righteous life that we haven’t.
When His enemies finally got their way with Him and tortured and crucified Him, it was no unfortunate tragedy. It was planned in the mind of God all along and even prophesied about in the ancient scriptures that were written long before Jesus was born (Psalm 22, Isaiah 53 and others). It was the ultimate demonstration of the love God has for us. The Son of God, God in the flesh, was willingly being offered in our place. He was taking the penalty that is due to us. He who had never sinned had all of our sins transferred to Himself and He bore the punishment for us. He paid our debt.
On the third day after His death God put His stamp of approval on Jesus by raising Him from the dead and allowing Him to be witnessed by many. And God exalted Him to heaven to His right hand and has made Him king over all and has given Him all authority, not only over this world but even over the unseen realm, over the highest of the angels. God has given it to Jesus to decide what happens to everyone and everything. It’s all up to Jesus. He is in charge now. He is the boss. He is Lord and King of all creation.
And King Jesus along with the Father God offer grace to every living person. They offer what we don’t deserve, what we haven’t earned, but that He has earned for us. “Salvation” the apostle Paul, calls it in Titus 2:11. “The grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people.”
What is the salvation God offers to all?
Most people have a way too limited view of salvation. The most common view seems to me is just of safety from hell, that to be saved means you have your insurance policy for the afterlife… your ticket to heaven. Salvation is viewed as a one-time transaction where a person’s sins are considered paid in full by the death of Christ and the person granted the legal standing of not guilty and acceptable to God, and so when they die they go to heaven.
And people have some very bizarre ideas about what existence in heaven will be like. Some thing along the lines of the Philadelphia Cream Cheese commercials, everybody in white, with wings and halos, floating around on clouds and playing harps. And I don’t know about you, but I don’t get too excited about being a cloud potato for all eternity.
Well, salvation does include a transaction where your sins are considered paid in full by the death of Christ and you are set free from the penalty. That part of salvation the Scriptures frequently call justification. To be justified is when God counts you as righteous, as not guilty, though you don’t deserve that status.
But the salvation described in the NT that Jesus offers is bigger and our hope is greater than most think. It includes justification / forgiveness of our sins. But it also includes all the power, help and guidance we need the rest of our lives to get out of our sinful habits and distorted ways of thinking, to think and love and live like Jesus. That’s why in Scriptures like I Corinthians 1:18 and 15:2 it says that as followers of Jesus we are being saved. It wasn’t just a one-time past transaction. It’s also a process. We are being saved, being saved from foolishness and corruption, from greed and dishonesty and impurity, from bitterness and anger and fear and self-centeredness and futile ways of life. We being conformed to the image of Christ. Scriptures often call this part of salvation sanctification. It’s the process in which we are cleaned up from sin and our character is formed into the likeness Jesus. And it’s an indispensable part of salvation. You can’t enjoy forgiveness and have the rest of salvation without also yielding to the process of sanctification. Hebrews 12:14, “Strive for peace with everyone, and for the sanctification without with no one will see the Lord.” We have to cooperate with God and allow Him to clean us up, teach us and change us.
So the salvation He offers involves justification, where you’re set free from the penalty of sin. And it involves sanctification, where you are set free from the power and practice of sin.
But it’s even bigger than that. Salvation is a process that will eventually culminate in the complete restoration of everything God intended us to be and intended for us when He created us. You could call this glorification. And God’s great goal for us is not some disembodied, ethereal existence forever. It is not floating around on clouds with halos and harps. If we receive Jesus’ salvation, we are getting new bodies. Did you know that? Philippians 3:21 says when the Lord Jesus returns, He “will transform our lowly body to be like His glorious body”. The bodies of His people who have died, will be raised, but they will be immensely upgraded, says I Corinthians 15:35-53. They won’t be weak, perishable and mortal like these ones. They will be powerful, glorious, imperishable and immortal. We will have a new kind of physicality.
And did you know we will share and rule over a new world with God our Father and our Lord Jesus? When you get toward the end of the Bible in II Peter 3 and the last few chapters of Revelation it tells us that when the Lord Jesus comes back in all His glory with the angels of heaven, the angels will separate the righteous from unrighteous. And there will be judgement and destruction of all those who would not submit Jesus as Lord. And there will be major demolition of this present heavens and earth. And there will be major renovation. There will ultimately be a new heavens and new earth without what Satan and sin have done to this world. Can you imagine no more sin, no more crime, no more bad parts of town, no more need for locks on doors or banks, no more war, no oppression, no more unkindness, no more slandering or gossiping, no more scams, no more lying (I’m so sick of people lying to me), no more politics, no more rebellion against God? Imagine no more weeds, no more thorns or thistles, no more having to work so hard to live, no more disease or pollution, no more poverty, no more hunger, no more growing old and weak and getting sick and having to say goodbye, no more death. All the effects of sin undone. And imagine all that is good and beautiful and right about this creation being magnified and enhanced in its goodness and beauty. That’s the picture we’re given in the Scriptures of where we’re headed if we receive the salvation Jesus offers.
That’s why Scripture speaks of full salvation as something still in the future. None of us are fully saved yet. Hebrews 9:28 says, “Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for Him.” He’s coming back to save us fully. Romans 13:11 says, “Salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed.”
Do you see what God up to? A whole new creation. But with this new creation He is creating things in reverse order. In the first creation He made the heavens and the earth and then made men and women to live in it. The new creation is just the other way around. He’s making new men and women first and then He will make a new heavens and earth for them to live in with Him. If anyone is in Christ, says II Corinthians 5:17, he is a new creature.
The grace of God has made it available to all of us to be part of His new creation.
But He doesn’t force it on us. I Timothy 2:4 says, “God desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” He wants everyone to be saved, but unfortunately not everyone will be saved, because He’s given us a choice. II Peter 3:9. “The Lord does not wish for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance.” Repentance means to turn from going about life your own way, to listen, learn and go about life God’s way by following Jesus. And that’s what it means to truly believe in Jesus. It doesn’t mean to just acknowledge some truths about Jesus. It means to trust Him enough to let Him teach you and lead your life. On that simple condition you will be justified, sanctified and ultimately glorified by the grace of God.