NorMel House Devotions

Titus 3:7 “So that being justified by His grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” Justification. What does it mean? Theologically speaking, the dictionary says it is the action of declaring and making righteous in the sight of God. We’ve already learned of our need for a Savior, that among men, “there is no one righteous, not even one.” (Romans 3:10b) How, then, can we be put right before God, the Lawgiver and Judge? 2 Corinthians 5:21 gives us a nice summary when it says, “For our sake, He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” Jesus died for us, He rose, and by His blood we are declared not guilty and acquitted of all our sins. We are given free and full forgiveness from the law's curse. All of this is only possible because of the grace of God. God offered Himself to save us from our sin. In giving the Son, He gave Himself. God took His own love to appease His own righteous anger by bearing it in ...

Titus 3:5-6 “He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of His mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit , whom He poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior.” In today’s text, Paul speaks of the Holy Spirit's washing of rebirth and renewal. He isn’t referring to baptism, but rather to what baptism signifies. Spiritual rebirth of the soul is the God ordained transformation portrayed in baptism. We are washed in Christ’s blood, cleansed from sin and renewed by the Holy Spirit. This isn’t because of anything we’ve done, but, as 1 Peter 1:3 says, “Praise be to the God and Father of our LORD Jesus Christ! In His great mercy, He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” We are sanctified by the work of the Holy Spirit. God poured out the Holy Spirit on us through Jesus Christ. Spiritual Baptism is the pouring out of the Holy Spirit, and by Him, we a...

Titus 3:5-6 “He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done , but because of His mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.” We often like to think that we are good people, that we generally do good, and that we deserve to go to heaven. Paul, however, points out the flaws with this ideology and the Bible is full of texts that contradict this idea. In our text, Paul is making the point that even the things we consider our “best works” cannot contribute to salvation. The reality is that there is not an iota within us that can contribute to our salvation. Salvation is only through God alone. Because of His mercy, God does not give us what we deserve, but rather, as we learned in verse 4, He sent His kindness and love in Jesus to give us what we don’t deserve. 2 Timothy 1:9 says, “He has saved us and called us to a holy life – not because of anything we have done but because of His own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jes...

Titus 3:4-5a “But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, He saved us” If you know Paul's history, then you know that Paul was not always a servant and preacher of the gospel. Paul, formerly Saul, persecuted the Christians of his time, even putting many in prison. So, how did the persecutor become the preacher? Titus 3:4 gives us the answer; quite literally, "the kindness and love of God the Savior appeared." Saul went from persecutor to preacher, not because of anything he had done, but because Jesus came to him, and as our text says, "He saved us!" In Acts 9, we can read about Jesus' appearance to Paul, and in verse 20, it says, "At once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God." The opposer became the opposed, again, not because of anything Paul did, but because God chose to reveal Himself to Paul through Christ Jesus. Jesus personifies God's kindness and love, and we can see a strong contrast between ...