I told you this morning, that when we are spoken to of the goodness of God which has been showed us in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ, we ought to be stirred up to holiness of life. For it is good reason that God who has bought us so dearly should possess us, specially seeing he shows us that the end of our redemption, as has been treated already, and as Zacharias declares it briefly in his song in the second chapter of Saint Luke, is that we being set free should serve our God all the time of our life.

And therefore Saint Paul here speaks of the grace of God that has appeared to all men, teaching us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, and to live soberly, justly, and devoutly in this world. For what purpose does Saint Paul touch upon these things? It is to show us what fruit ought to come from the knowledge of the grace of God. For if we confess that God has redeemed us, and that his grace has appeared to us, then must we also confess that it is to this end, that being redeemed from all iniquity, he should have a people purified to himself.

This is the argument that Saint Paul holdeth throughout this epistle, and which he presses in all his other writings, which is: seeing that God has been so merciful toward us as to draw us out of the pit of damnation and to reconcile us unto himself through our Lord Jesus Christ, therefore let us walk in godliness and righteousness. So that the doctrine of the gospel is not an idle speculation, but it is a doctrine which must work in us and bring forth fruit.

And therefore when Saint Paul saith that the grace of God has appeared to all men, he doth not mean thereby that God has given equal grace to all men, or that all men have received the same measure of faith. For we see by experience that it is not so. But he means that the grace of God has been published and set abroad through the whole world, that all sorts of men without exception might have access to it, if so be they would receive it with faith.

It is therefore a universal offer and invitation, and not a particular grace limited to some one people or nation. And in this the mercy of God shines most wonderfully, that whereas formerly he had made his covenant with the people of Israel only, and had given them his law and his ordinances, now he has enlarged the bounds of his grace and extends it throughout all the world, so that the Gentiles also are called to the same inheritance.

Now Saint Paul addeth further, that this grace teacheth us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts. Hereby he shows us what use we must make of the knowledge of the grace of God. It is not for us to say, God is merciful, therefore I may live as I list, and sin without fear. This is a most devilish abuse. But rather the grace of God, rightly received and understood, must serve as a schoolmaster and guide to reform us and bring us to the obedience of God.

And this is worthy to be marked well. For there be many who have the name of Christians, and who confess the doctrine of the gospel with their mouths, and yet in their lives they live as if there were no God, as if they had never heard of the grace of God in Christ Jesus. Such persons show plainly by their behavior that they never truly received the grace of God in their hearts, or that they have most miserably abused it.

But Saint Paul teacheth here that the true knowledge of the grace of God must needs bring us to this point, that we renounce all ungodliness and all worldly desires. For what is ungodliness? It is when we render not to God that which is due to him, that is to say, when we honor him not, when we fear him not, when we serve him not, when we give not glory to his name. And what are worldly lusts and desires? They are the corrupt affections which draw us to the love of this present world and its vanities, and pull us away from God and from true goodness.

Now Saint Paul in this place sets over against these two evils two virtues, or rather he sets down the three parts of a holy and Christian life. For he saith we must live soberly, justly, and devoutly. By soberness he means first of all the temperance and moderation which every man ought to observe in his own person, bridling his own affections and keeping them under a good order and government. For we are by nature headstrong and intemperate, carried away by our lusts, and unless we bridle them we shall fall into all manner of excess and disorder.

By justice Saint Paul means the equity and uprightness which we must show toward our neighbors, rendering to every one that which belongs to them, using no deceit or fraud in our dealings, hurting no man in word or deed, but rather helping every man as occasion serves, and contributing to the common good and welfare of all. For we do not live to ourselves alone, but we are bound to one another by the bonds of society and mutual fellowship.

And by godliness he means the worship and reverence which we owe to God, the true religion whereby we honor him, trust in him, call upon him, and submit ourselves in all things to his will and pleasure. For this is the chiefest part of a holy life, that we refer all things to God and direct all our actions to his glory. Without this root, all the rest would be a mere outside show and hypocrisy.

Now let us note the order which Saint Paul observes here. He places godliness last, not because it is of less importance, but because he is following a certain method, moving from what is nearest to our own experience to what is highest. For a man must first govern himself before he can live well with his neighbors, and a man must live well with his neighbors before he can render true worship to God. Though in truth all three hang together and cannot properly be separated.

Let us mark also that Saint Paul doth not here exhort us to the virtues of the philosophers, nor to the civil honesty which the world commends. He speaks of Christian graces, that is to say, of virtues which proceed from faith in Jesus Christ and from the working of the Holy Spirit in our hearts. For without faith and the grace of God, all the seeming goodness and virtue in the world is nothing but a painted sepulchre and a cloak of hypocrisy.

And therefore when Saint Paul would stir us up to holiness of life, he doth not say, be virtuous for the sake of reputation, or because reason requires it, or because it will be profitable to you in this world. But he grounds all upon the grace of God that has appeared, and upon the hope of the blessed appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ. For it is the gospel, rightly understood and laid hold upon by faith, which is the true spring and fountain of all Christian holiness.

Now he adds, looking for the blessed hope, and the appearing of the glory of the great God and of our Savior Jesus Christ. This is the second great motive which Saint Paul proposes to stir us up to holiness of life. For he shows us that this present life is not our home, and that we must not set our hearts upon the things of this world, but rather look upward and forward to the blessed hope which is laid up for us in heaven.

And what is this blessed hope? It is the glorious appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, when he shall come in the clouds with great power and majesty to judge the quick and the dead, and to give to every man according to his works. At that day those who have lived in the faith of the gospel and walked in holiness of life shall receive the fullness of their salvation and shall enter into the joy of their Lord. But those who have despised the grace of God and lived in sin and wickedness shall give account for all their deeds.

Now Saint Paul calls this hope blessed, because it is the completion and perfection of all the blessings which God has promised to his people. For in this present life we have but the beginnings and earnests of the grace of God, we have the first fruits of the Spirit, but then we shall have the full harvest. We have the dawning of the day, but then we shall have the full noonday brightness of the glory of God.

And he calls it the appearing of the glory, because at the first coming of our Lord Jesus Christ his glory was, as it were, hidden and covered under the veil of his flesh and his humiliation. He came in the form of a servant, he was despised and rejected of men, he suffered and died in great ignominy and shame. But at his second coming all this shall be reversed: he shall appear in the full brightness of his divine majesty, and every eye shall see him, and all the nations of the earth shall mourn.

Now the apostle here calls him the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ. This is a most notable and clear testimony to the divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ, whereby Saint Paul affirms that he who shall appear in glory is none other than the great God himself, and yet is our Savior who took our nature upon him and redeemed us by his blood. So that in this one person there are two natures perfectly joined together, the divine and the human, without mixture and without confusion.

And this is the ground of all our comfort and of all our hope. For if he were only a man, though ever so excellent and holy, his death could not have been a sufficient ransom for the sins of the whole world, nor could his righteousness have been imputed to us for our justification. But because he is truly God as well as truly man, his obedience and satisfaction are of infinite value and efficacy, and are abundantly sufficient to cover all our sins and to give us perfect righteousness before God.

He then addeth moreover, who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. Here Saint Paul declares the end and fruit of the death of Christ. He died not for himself, who had no sin, nor did he die by constraint or necessity. But he gave himself voluntarily, of his own free love and mercy, to be a sacrifice and a ransom for our sins.

And to what end? First, that he might redeem us from all iniquity. For we were all the servants and slaves of sin, sold under sin as the apostle speaks elsewhere, having no power to deliver ourselves. But Christ came and broke the power of sin and delivered us from its tyranny, paying the ransom of his own blood. And therefore the more we continue in sin after we have received this grace, the more ungrateful and unworthy we show ourselves to be of so great a redemption.

And second, he gave himself that he might purify unto himself a peculiar people. For God does not save us to leave us in our filthiness and corruption, but he saves us in order to make us holy and clean, to be a people fit for his habitation. And therefore holiness is not an optional addition to the gospel, but it is a necessary fruit and effect of it. He that says he is saved by grace and yet has no desire nor care for holiness, deceives himself and has no part in the grace of God.

And lastly, he says a peculiar people zealous of good works. Which means a people who belong entirely to God, who are set apart from the world and dedicated to his service, and who show the earnestness of their calling by their constant endeavor and zeal to do good works. Not that good works merit salvation, for we have seen that salvation comes wholly of grace: but good works are the evidence and fruit of salvation, without which faith is dead and the grace of God is in vain.

Let us then learn from this text to value the grace of God as it deserves, and not to abuse it by living carelessly and ungodly. Let us rather let the grace of God be to us both a motive and a means of holiness: a motive, because God has done so much for us in giving his Son to redeem us: and a means, because it is by the Spirit of Christ dwelling in us that we are enabled to deny ungodliness and to live soberly, justly, and godly. And let us look forward in faith and hope to the blessed appearing of our great God and Savior, knowing that the time of our pilgrimage and trial will soon be over, and that we shall then enter into the fullness of our inheritance.

Now let us fall down before the face of our good God with all humility, acknowledging our great unworthiness and the manifold abuse we have made of his grace, and praying him to forgive us all our sins for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to work in us by his Holy Spirit that true repentance and faith which shall make us holy and fruitful in every good work, to the praise and glory of his great name. Amen.