The Goodness & Lovingkindness of God | Titus 3:3-7

About this Episode

Preacher: Joel Fair
Scripture: Titus 3:3-7

CG Questions

1. In verse 3 or our passage Paul describes the state of humanity before God intervenes in verse 4. Whenever there is a conversation around the Gospel it requires talking about sin. How do you describe sin in your life, both in confession and in order to better relate to those you are speaking to about grace?
2. Do you tend to see salvation as what God has brought you to or as what he has taken you from? How does this understanding of God saving us point to His goodness and loving kindness?
3. How does Satan use the lie of a "Jesus and ..." salvation in your life? Where do you struggle to believe that "he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy"?
4. Read Ezekiel 36:22-29 together. What does this prophecy have to do with what Paul tells timothy about the work of the Spirit in saving sinners?
5. What have you done to deserve the blessing promised to you in Christ? How does this motivate you to good works, including telling everyone about God’s grace? What are the good works God is currently producing in your life?

Scriptures & Quotes

Thomas Merton
But the man who is not afraid to admit everything that he sees to be wrong with himself, and yet recognizes that he may be the object of God's love precisely because of his shortcomings, can begin to be sincere. His sincerity is based on confidence, not in his own illusions about himself, but in the endless, unfailing mercy of God.

Psalm 145:9 (ESV)
The LORD is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made.

Psalm 31:19 (ESV)
Oh, how abundant is your goodness, which you have stored up for those who fear you and worked for those who take refuge in you, in the sight of the children of mankind!

\John 3:16 (ESV)
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Psalm 136:3 (ESV)
Give thanks to the Lord of lords, for his steadfast love endures forever;

Hosea 11:4 (ESV)
I led them with cords of kindness, with the bands of love, and I became to them as one who eases the yoke on their jaws, and I bent down to them and fed them.

Psalm 145:17 (ESV)
The LORD is righteous in all his ways and kind in all his works.

John Piper
God loves to lavish kindness on us. The bigger your conception of God, the more amazing this is. God is the creator of the universe. He holds the galaxies in being. He governs everything that happens in the world, down to the fall of a bird and the change in your hair color. He is infinitely strong and wise and holy and just. And Paul says, he is kind. And because of this kindness we were born again. Let your very existence as a Christian tell you every hour of every day: God is kind to you.

Ephesians 2:10 (ESV)
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Titus 2:11–14 (ESV)
For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.

Titus 3:1 (ESV)
Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work,

Psalm 25:6 (ESV)
Remember your mercy, O LORD, and your steadfast love, for they have been from of old.

Ephesians 2:4–7 (ESV)
But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 
5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

Colossians 1:15 (ESV)
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.

Ezekiel 36:25–28 (ESV)
I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God.

Dane C. Ortlund, Gentle and Lowly
It is one thing, as a child, to be told your father loves you. You believe him. You take him at his word. But it is another thing, unutterably more real, to be swept up in his embrace, to feel the warmth, to hear his beating heart within his chest, to instantly know the protective grip of his arms. It's one thing to hear he loves you; it's another thing to feel his love. This is the glorious work of the Spirit.

Romans 8:16–17 (ESV)
The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

Brennan Manning
We should be astonished at the goodness of God, stunned that He should bother to call us by name, our mouths wide open at His love, bewildered that at this very moment we are standing on holy ground.