Sermon Manuscript on Titus 2:11-14

One of our assignments in Preaching Class (with Pastor John Piper) this past year was to write a sermon. Interestingly, we each preached a message from both the Old Testament and New Testament, but this was to be a different sermon. I chose Titus 2:11-14, in part because I had preached through the book of Titus in the summer of 2004 at Grace Community Church, and I wanted to improve upon a previous message. Here is an executive summary of my message:

In this season between justification and our future glorification with Christ, God’s grace instructs us to progressively “put off” all that we once were when God reached down and saved us, and progressively “put on” the Lord Jesus Christ, so that our lives increasingly look like His. Titus 2:11-14 explains that transformation in God’s people has been made possible (and inevitable) by the inbreaking of God’s kingdom in the person and work of His Son, whose incarnation, death, and resurrection bring salvation from both the penalty and the power of sin. The confident expectation of Christ’s return characterizes Christians and fills them with hope because the glory of His grace-communicating first appearance will pale in comparison to that of His second. Though we are His people now, we long for our redemption and purification to be fully consummated. Titus 2:11-14 thus grounds the practical instructions given in Titus 2:1-10.

If interested, here's the entire sermon.

Related: Review of Preaching the Whole Bible as Christian Scripture by Graeme Goldsworthy