Love Worth Finding

Guest (Male): Are you falling for the devil's distractions from living a life of grace? Listen to Adrian Rogers.

Adrian Rogers: The devil does not want you to hear the message of the grace of God, and so he would deny grace. But if he cannot deny grace, then he would try to distort grace and have you to believe that since we are saved by grace and grace only, then since works do not help save us nor keep us saved, then it doesn't make any difference how we live. There is no more devilish lie out of the pit of hell than that. And today, you need to pray that God will keep your life from being a disgrace to grace.

Guest (Male): Welcome to Love Worth Finding, featuring the timeless teachings and practical lessons of Pastor Adrian Rogers. Grace is God's love, which he gives at a great cost to himself. Salvation is something we could never obtain ourselves. It is only by his grace that we can be saved. There is not one spiritual thing to earn, but there is so much to learn, and it's so important that we are not a disgrace to God's grace. If you have your Bible, turn to Titus chapter 2. We'll begin in verse 12 as Adrian Rogers shares part one of, "Don't Be a Disgrace to Grace."

Adrian Rogers: Find Titus chapter 2, if you would please, beginning in verse 11. And this verse begins in a wonderful way because it begins with these words, "For the grace of God that bringeth salvation, hath appeared to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world. Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. These things speak and exhort and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise thee."

The title of the message, "Don't Be a Disgrace to Grace." Don't be a disgrace to grace.

Now, what is grace? Grace is God's love to us. Grace is God's love that causes God to give to us. And grace is God's love that gives at great, great cost to God himself. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. Anybody, any place, any time, no matter how wicked, how vile, can come to him in repentance and faith and will be saved gloriously, instantaneously, radically, dramatically, eternally saved by the grace of God. Not one thing to earn, but there is much to learn.

Now, listen. The grace of God, verse 11, that brings salvation hath appeared unto all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lust, we should live righteously, soberly, and godly in this present time. So, let's look at this passage of scripture. We should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world.

What is the deed, what is the lifestyle that is a disgrace to grace? It is worldliness. Worldliness. Verse 12, "Teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts." Worldly lusts. Many of us love the message of grace, but we don't want to hear our pastor teach much about worldliness.

However, look in verse 15, "These things speak and exhort and rebuke with all authority, let no man despise thee." The devil does not want you to hear the message of the grace of God. And so he would deny grace. But if he cannot deny grace, then he would try to distort grace and have you to believe that since we are saved by grace and grace only, then since works do not help save us nor keep us saved, then it doesn't make any difference how we live. There is no more devilish lie out of the pit of hell than that.

And today, I want to say to you, you need to pray that God will keep your life from being a disgrace to grace. Now, often, we hear about a worldly Christian. A worldly Christian really is a contradiction in terms. Billy Sunday said, "You might as well speak of a heavenly devil as to speak of a worldly Christian."

I am aware of the fact that in this generation, we don't hear a lot of preaching about worldliness. As a matter of fact, the world has become so churchy and the church has become so worldly that people really don't understand the principle of biblical separation. What do we mean by worldliness? What is the world?

Well, when the Bible uses the passage world here in Titus 2:12, it's not speaking of the planet Earth. Nothing wrong with this terrestrial globe as it is. God made it, God created it. Jesus loved nature. He said, "Consider the lilies, how they grow." The Earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. The rocks, the trees, the hills, the rivers, all of this is the handiwork of God. Thank God for it. If you love nature, you love what Jesus loved.

So, when the Bible speaks of the world, it's not speaking of the planet Earth. And when the Bible speaks of the world, it's not speaking of the people who live on planet Earth. There's nothing wrong with loving people. If you don't love people, there's something wrong with you. The Bible says concerning the world of people that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son. Now, if God loved those people, you can love them. Say, amen. You ought to love everybody.

What does the Bible mean, therefore, when it speaks of the world and worldliness? The word that is translated world is a Greek word cosmos. And it means a system. It means an order of things. It means a philosophy. For example, we speak of the world of sports, or we speak of the world of business, or we speak of the world of fashion.

Now, put this verse in your margin. First John 2 and verse 15. First John 2 and verse 15, "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him." Now, that's a very strong verse. You cannot love this world system and love God Almighty at the same time.

The world has a prince. A prince. Who is the prince of this world? Put this scripture down. John chapter 12, verses 31 and 32. Jesus is facing the cross and this is what Jesus said, "Now is the judgment of this world and now shall the prince of this world be cast out." The prince of this world. Now, who is the prince of this world? He is Satan himself.

And then put this scripture down. John 14 and verse 30. Jesus said, "Hereafter, I will not talk much with you, for the prince of this world cometh and hath nothing in me." That is, there's nothing that Satan could accuse Jesus of. There's no temptation that Satan could allure Jesus with. Jesus had no itch the devil could scratch. Jesus had no wrong the devil could accuse. "The prince of this world cometh and hath nothing in me."

And then Jesus spoke of the Holy Spirit who would come and bring judgment and put this scripture down. In John chapter 16, verse 11, he says, "The Holy Spirit will convict of judgment because the prince of this world is judged." And in these few chapters, Jesus has spoken three times of the prince of this world. Who is the prince of this world? His name is Satan.

Now, John, who wrote the Gospel of John, also wrote the Epistles of John, and in First John chapter 5 and verse 19, he said to the believers, "And we know that we are of God and the whole world lieth in wickedness." Scholars tell us that, "lieth in wickedness" literally means, "is cradled in the lap of wickedness." And the word wickedness means the wicked one. That is, it is Satan who has this world system in his arms, rocking it to sleep in the lap, in the bosom of the wicked one.

Now, secondly, the world has a philosophy. That's the second P. The world has a philosophy. There is an enticing network of ideas and values that are skillfully woven together to enslave the guilty and to entrap the innocent. Let me just give you quickly these verses. First Corinthians 10, chapter 2, verse 12 speaks of the spirit of the world. There's a worldly spirit. First Corinthians 3, verse 19 speaks of the wisdom of this world.

The devil is very cunning. He is brilliantly stupid, hideously beautiful. The wisdom of this world. First Corinthians chapter 7 and verse 31 speaks of the fashion of this world, which is passing away. Second Peter chapter 2, verse 20 speaks of the pollution of the world. There is a philosophy. It's out there. It's in the movies, it's in television, it's in the news, it's in the world of religion. It goes from the schoolhouse to the statehouse, from Wall Street to Madison Avenue. It may seem innocent, it may seem beautiful, it may seem harmless, but it is a system, a philosophy. The Bible speaks of the spirit of this world, the wisdom of this world, the pollution of this world. Do you have it?

Now, not only is there a prince and not only is there a philosophy, but the world has a purpose. A purpose. Now, when we're saved by grace, we're to deny worldly lust. What is the purpose of this world? There is a calculated plan, an unwavering purpose of this world system. The world is hostile to the things of God.

Put these verses down under the heading, purpose. Number one, John 7, verse 7. Jesus said, "The world cannot hate you, but me it hateth because I testify of it that the works thereof are evil." Does the world hate Jesus? You'd better believe it. All the people of the world don't hate Jesus. Nature doesn't hate Jesus, but there is a system that hates Jesus.

Now, they don't hate the baby Jesus. All the world system can dance the giddily around the manger. They don't hate the Jesus that heals. They don't hate the Jesus that has ritual. They don't hate that Jesus. They don't hate the religious Jesus. Do you know what they hate? They hate the righteous Jesus. They hate the Jesus who says, "Right is right and wrong is wrong."

Listen to what Jesus said, "Why does the world hate it?" Listen. John 7, verse 7, "The world cannot hate you, but me it hateth because I testify of it that the works thereof are evil." Jesus just rips the veil of darkness away and shows the system for what it is.

Put this scripture down. John 14, verse 17. Jesus speaks of the spirit of truth, "whom the world cannot receive because it seeth him not neither knoweth him." When you argue with people of this world about what you believe, they can't understand you. They're not lying when they say, "I don't see it." They don't see it. The Bible speaks of the spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it seeth him not neither knoweth him, "but ye know him, for he dwelleth with you and shall be in you." That's the Holy Spirit that is antithetical to the spirit of this world.

And then Jesus gives you a warning, brother and sister in Christ. Listen, those of you who have been trying to play footsie with the world, here's a warning. John 15 and verse 18, "If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you." Are you better than Jesus? Do you want the world to love you that hated Jesus?

Then James said, put this scripture down. In James 4, verse 4, listen to it. Oh, James said, "Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? And whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God." If you are a friend to this world system with its prince, and its philosophy, and its purpose, you are shaking your fist in the face of God, you have declared war on God himself.

Now, what's the fourth P? First of all, there's a prince. Secondly, there is a philosophy. Thirdly, there is a purpose. The fourth P, the world has a people. Now, there are people who are in this world system. For example, Luke chapter 16 and verse 8. "And the Lord commended the unjust steward because he had done wisely, and then," listen to this, "for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light."

Now, we are not to hate people as such, but we are to hate the system that has enslaved these people, and these people are in this system. The world has a people, the children of this world. Now, don't be surprised when you have difficulty as a child of God, because this world is not our home. We're passing through. You are a twice-born person in a world of once-born people, and what you have and where you're headed, what you believe, is completely opposite.

Remember this. We are members of the human world. We live in the physical world. But we are not to be a part of the satanic system, the world system. We are to be separated. If you take the book of Romans and began with the first 11 chapters of the book of Romans, it is a great, great treatise on salvation by grace. But when you get into chapter 12, listen to what he says, verses 1 and 2, "I beseech you therefore, brethren, and the therefore refers to all that has already been said about the grace of God. I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service." Now, listen to this, "and be not conformed to this world." That's exactly what he's saying in Titus 2, verses 11 and 12. "Be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God."

The very word for the word church in the Bible is ekklesia, which means a group of people called out. The church is called out. We are to be different. We are to be separate. A Christian ought to stand out in this world system like a diamond in a coal mine, like a gardenia in a garbage can. We are different.

Again, put this verse down. John 15, verse 19. Jesus said, "If you were of the world, the world would love his own, but because you're not of the world and I have chosen you out of the world, therefore, the world hateth you." Quit trying to win popularity contests with the world. A dear sweet lady said to me the other day, "Oh, Brother Rogers, you're so wonderful. Everybody loves you." I thought, ha ha ha. She ought to read my mailbag. Everybody loves you. No, they don't. I don't want to unnecessarily make enemies. But friend, I don't want to betray Jesus. I don't want to betray the word of God.

Jesus said, "Don't be surprised if the world hates you. I've chosen you out of the world, therefore, the world hateth you." We hear a lot today about the separation of church and state. The message the church needs to hear is the message on the separation of church and world. I mean, we need to be separate, we need to be different.

This is why the Apostle John warned us, First John 2, verse 15. Put this down, "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world." Now, here's what the world is. Are you ready? "For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life." That's all that's in the world. I mean, that's it, that's the sum total. "The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away and the lust thereof, but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever."

Now, one illustration is worth thousands of words. I don't know a better illustration than the life of a man named Lot, who was a saved man, who was saved by the grace of God, and yet, while he was saved by grace, failed to learn the lesson that Titus taught in Titus chapter 2, verses 11 and 12.

Now, this time I want you to turn to the scripture and I want you to turn to Second Peter chapter 1. Second Peter chapter 1, verse 1. "Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Savior Jesus Christ. Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord." Peace follows grace and it all comes through faith. That's what Peter is saying.

But then Peter, like Paul, sees that there are some who would be a disgrace to grace, and he gives some examples. Now, turn to chapter 2 of Peter. Second Peter chapter 2, verse 6. And I'm going to break into the middle of a sentence because it is an extended passage. Verse 6, "And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemning them with an overthrow, making them an example." And that's the key. Sodom and Gomorrah and the destruction thereof is an example. God left Sodom with its smoking ruins as an example to the people of this generation. If you can't understand that, then you don't understand black print on white paper.

Now, listen. He "condemned them with an overthrow, making them an example unto those that after should live ungodly. And delivered just Lot." That is, Lot, a man who had been justified by faith and by the grace of God, "who was vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked. For that righteous man," underscore that. Lot, the man that we're talking about was a righteous man. In order for him to be just and righteous, he had to be saved by the grace of God that Peter had already told us about. "For that righteous man, dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds. The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations and reserved the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished."

Now, what have we said here? Peter is talking about grace. And then he talks about a man who lived in a worldly system. His name was Lot. And he was saved.