But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. 1 Titus 3:4-7
Yes, you are correct, ol' Buck is losing his marbles. We do not usually give a book of the Bible a 'I' unless there is a 'II'. This works splendidly until we come to John, which does sometimes cause problems with verse look-ups in the study of the Word. However, it is for another reason that I looked up this passage from Paul to Titus today.
A brother in Christ reminded me this morning of his suffering. Of course he was not claiming that he had done enough to be saved; we know better than that. I would, on the other hand, dearly like to tell him that according to II Whatsis, verses 7-19, he has done enough to be saved and sanctified and that the remainder of his life will be one of ease and luxury. Nope, can't do it; there is no scriptural basis for it. Whatsis never wrote a 'I' it seems, much less a 'II'.
Praise God! The scripture speaks of salvation through regeneration and renewal by God's precious Holy Spirit. We need such regeneration and renewal as we endure the persecution of this life. Looking for a life of abundance? There it is too - an abundant pouring out of God's Spirit through Jesus the Christ. Note that justification by grace given to us as heirs of our Lord. We will never endure enough, but we do have this great hope of life eternal in Christ our Lord.
And we have this too: Immanuel.
Bucky
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