Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost; which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour. Titus 3:5-6
1. THE WAY OF PARDON. When a soul is under conviction of sin, he feels that God is angry with him every day. The soul sinks down into a gloomy condition, "the sorrows of death compass him, and the pains of hell get hold upon him". When God visits this soul in mercy, He does it by revealing something in the heart of the Lord Jesus Christ; He makes "the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appear" (verse 4). The Spirit pours a beam of light upon the face of Jesus. He shows how He pitied the lost, came for the lost, obeyed and died in the room of the lost, and that the guiltiest of men may freely receive Him as his Saviour. The sinner beholds the Lamb of God, and his bosom is filled with peace in believing. Now this is what is meant in these words, "According to his mercy he saved us".
1. Some souls are seeking salvation "by works of righteousness". You take great pains in religious duties, you read the Word and pray, you feed the hungry, and clothe the naked, in order to make up for past sins, and to lay God under obligation to save you. From these words it is plain that you have mistaken the way to heaven; this way is blocked up; it is "not by works of righteousness which we have done". "If righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain" (Galatians 2:2 1).
2. How are we to be saved? It is by "the appearing of the love and kindness of God our Saviour". You think that you must do something to change God's mind toward you, whereas Christ our great High Priest has, by the one offering up of Himself, done all that needs to be done, or that ever can be done, to open the way of reconciliation to God. God is "ready to forgive" (Psalm 86:5). Learn not to look in but to look out for peace. You are poring over your dark history, and your still darker bosom; you are straining your eyes to discover some gleam of light there. This is vain. Who ever sought the light of the rising sun by gazing into a dungeon? Look out upon the kindness and love of God our Saviour. It is a discovery of the person, offices, beauty, finished work, and freeness of God our Saviour, that fills the heart with peace, and the mouth with praise.
"My terrors all vanished before His sweet name,
My guilty fears banished, with boldness I came
To drink at the fountain life-giving and free,
Jehovah Tsidkenu is all things to me."
2. The way of holiness. "He saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost." (i) It is a "washing". The work of the Spirit on the pardoned heart is called washing, because it is a making clean. The natural heart is polluted and vile; no streams of nature can wash it clean, no good resolutions, or vows, or endeavours can change the carnal heart, Jeremiah 13:23. The Holy Spirit alone can do this. (ii) It is "the washing of regeneration", or of a new birth. It is no outward washing of the body, but an inward change upon the soul; no baptism with water, but baptism with the Holy Ghost. Ah! how often have I washed the body clean; have I ever experienced the washing of regeneration? I was once washed in the water of baptism, have I been baptized with the Holy Ghost also? (iii) It is a constant washing. The water that Christ gives shall be within the soul, "a well of water springing up into everlasting life" (John 4:14). Most places, when well washed, keep clean for a time. Not so the heart of man; it is a vile sink of iniquity. The "river of water of life" must be turned into it, and made to flow perpetually through it. We must be watered every moment. Oh! happy soul that has got the Fountain of living waters within. We do not know our deceitful heart if we do not feel our need of an unceasing well of the Spirit to purify us from all filthiness. (iv) It is "a renewing of the Holy Ghost". When a house has become crazy and insecure, no repairs will do it any good. It must be taken down and built up again. Such a house is the heart of a sinner. It is past all repair. The leprosy of sin is ingrained in the walls of it. It must be taken down and built up again. This is the "renewing of the Holy Ghost". When there has been a long and severe winter the trees stand bare and leaf less; they are in a manner dead, and cannot bear fruit. If the winter were to continue they would really die. But when summer breathes upon them again, the juicy sap ascends into the branches in full and mighty stream, "the fig-tree puts forth its green figs, and the vines with the tender grape give a good smell". The face of the earth is renewed) Psalm 104:30. Such a dead plant is the heart of a sinner. A Christless state is the winter of the soul. But when Christ is revealed, when the soul comes into the love of god, when the Spirit is sent forth into the heart, the soul becomes a new creature, and sings, "I am like a green olive tree in the house of god". Lastly, "The Spirit is shed on us abundantly". Christians often complain that there are few drops of the Spirit falling in our day. Alas, there is too great cause for this complaint. Yet in one view it is not true. Wherever there is a single believer, there the Spirit is shed abundantly. When I look at the whole world lying in wickedness, and the thousand snares laid for my soul in every path when I listen to the roaring of the lion who walketh about seeking whom he may devour; and above all, when I look in upon the law in my members warring against the law of my mind, I am tempted to cry, "I shall one day perish by the hand of Saul". If I had legions of angels on my side they could not hold me up. No created arm can keep me from falling. But Jesus says, "My grace is sufficient for thee". He sheds the Holy Ghost abundantly. What a constant dropping of the rain, what a constant springing of the well, what a full inflowing of the river of God is needed to hold up my helpless soul. Glory to God for an indwelling Sanctifier. "Now unto him who is able to keep me from falling, and to present me faultless before the present of his glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Saviour be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen."