Paul, a bondservant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God’s elect and the acknowledgment of the truth which accords with godliness, in hope of eternal life which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began, but has in due time manifested His word through preaching, which was committed to me according to the commandment of God our Savior; To Titus, a true son in our common faith: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Savior (Titus 1:1-4).

Theme of the Book of Titus: the Grace of God

As you read the Book of Titus, there is one word that makes frequent appearances. See if you notice it.

“Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father…” (Titus 1:4a). “For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men” (Titus 2:11). “…That having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” (Titus 3:7). And at the very close of Paul’s letter, “Grace be with you all. Amen” (Titus 3:15).

Do you see it?

Paul was writing to his spiritual son Titus; that is, somebody whom Paul had led to the Lord Christ. And as Paul writes what Titus needs to hear, he keeps ringing this note of grace, grace, grace.

As you read this book you realize that Paul is very grateful for Titus, because Titus was a trophy of grace.

Titus was a young Greek. He was not a Jew. Paul, who was a Jew, witnessed to him and won him to Christ, and now called him his own “son in our common faith.” In Jerusalem at the time, there was a big debate as to whether the Gentiles could be saved without keeping the law. Paul took Titus and with him to Jerusalem and used him as Exhibit A, that Gentiles were and are being saved by grace. (Galatians 2:2-3).

Are You a Trophy of God’s Grace?

If you were arrested for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you? Not only are we to be witnesses; we ought to be part of the evidence.

Titus was evidence. Paul took Titus to Jerusalem and said, “Look what God’s grace has done. This is my son in the faith.”

That bring us to another question.

Do You Have Children in the Faith?

Do you have children in the faith? You cannot do anything more wonderful than share your faith and bring somebody else to Jesus Christ.

A Christian who does not win souls is like a bus driver who won’t drive a bus, like a barber who won’t cut hair. It is not optional. God has commanded us. Jesus said,

“…You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth (Acts 1:8).

The Amazing Grace of God

Let’s look at what grace can produce:

On April 1, 1885 a man named Mr. Kimball went into a shoe store, where there was a clerk for whom he felt a burden. The shoe clerk’s name was Dwight Moody. Mr. Kimball went in and he stuttered and stammered, but he told Dwight about Christ—and there among the shoe racks, this nineteen-year-old clerk bowed his head and surrendered to Jesus, and became Mr. Kimball’s spiritual son.

From then on, that young man had a heart for souls. In his home city, Chicago, he began to gather boys and girls for Sunday School, to tell them about Christ. He became so proficient at winning their hearts that this unlettered, uneducated shoe clerk began to preach and hold great crusades. God’s anointing and God’s appointing were upon Dwight L. Moody, and thousands came to Christ through his ministry.

Moody became so well known that he was asked to come to preach in England. He went, and preached in the church of one of the most eloquent, knowledgeable and cultured English clergymen there was: Frederick Brotherton Myer—an imposing name for an imposing pastor.

But Moody was not in the pulpit for long before F.B. Myer felt he had made a terrible mistake. Moody was very exuberant. Besides that, he murdered the King’s English—they said Moody was the only person who could pronounce “Jerusalem” in two syllables. But Moody preached Christ. And Myer, this cultured British clergyman, sat their squirming, thinking, “Oh, when will he be finished?”

Later, Pastor F.B. Myer met one of the ladies in his congregation and asked, “How is it with you today, madam?”

She replied, “It is glorious, Brother Myer. After Moody has been here, God has so touched my heart that I have won every girl in my class to Jesus Christ.”

Pastor Myers later said, “I learned something that day: I learned from Dwight L. Moody the language of the soul, and my life was radically changed.”

Then F.B. Meyer came to the United States to preach. He was preaching in a college to some ministerial students about total surrender to Christ. Myer said to those students, “You need to give everything to Jesus Christ. Everything. If you are not willing to do that,” he said, “would you tell God, at least, ‘Oh God, I am not willing, but I am willing to be made willing’?”

There was a student there who was about to quit. His name was Wilber Chapman. And Chapman said, “Oh God, that’s me. I have not been willing to give you everything, but today, I am willing to be made willing. Start with me where I am and take me where I need to go.”

God worked His grace in Wilber Chapman’s heart—“for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13). Wilber Chapman became a world-famous evangelist. He needed a helper, and do you know who he found? He found an ex-professional baseball player, a man whose forte was running the bases. His name was William Sunday—otherwise known as Billy Sunday.

He came to help Chapman in his evangelistic work. Sometimes, Billy Sunday would do the counseling. Sometimes he would put up and take down the tent. Sometimes when Chapman could not be there, Billy Sunday would preach. Finally, when Chapman was old and worn, he turned the ministry over to Billy Sunday.

Billy Sunday came to Charlotte, North Carolina in 1924 to hold a crusade. God came down upon Charlotte, and there was a mighty revival. Out of that campaign came a group of men who banded themselves together to continue to pray for Charlotte, and they called it the Charlotte Prayer Meeting—and these men who met regularly prayed this prayer: “God, send another revival that not only will touch Charlotte, but will impact the world.”

In 1934, another evangelist came as a result of that prayer. His name was Mordecai Ham. In the audience was a lanky fifteen-year-old farm lad, sitting with some of his buddies. He did not like being out in the front because it looked like the preacher was preaching right to him, so he thought maybe he could get up in the choir loft and it wouldn’t bother him so badly. So this boy found himself up in the choir, but the grace of God found him there: the boy’s name was Billy Graham.

Billy Graham was saved in that crusade led by Mordecai Ham, and God alone knows the kings and the presidents and the moguls and the thousands of ordinary people in lands far and near who have come to Christ through the ministry of Billy Graham.

And if you trace it all the way back, you find a man named Kimball. Most of us have never heard his name. The man who laid a trembling hand on the shoulder of a lad, just a boy, and showed him Christ—and now think of the spiritual great-great-great-great-grandchildren Kimball has.

You never know what you do when you bring a soul to Christ. You never know the ripple that will touch the shore of eternity when you drop that stone of grace into somebody’s heart.

What Is God’s Grace?

There are three basic things to understand about the grace of God.

Grace Is Unmerited Favor and Liberty

The first thing to know is that God’s grace is a delight, and it is a delight because God’s grace gives liberty. Jesus said:

Luke 4:18-19

The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD.”

Why does God’s grace give liberty? Well, let’s see what grace is.

God’s Grace Is Sovereign

Remember how Paul began his letter? “Paul, a bondservant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God’s elect” (Titus 1:1a).

We call that sovereign grace. God elected us. He is the sovereign God, and He has chosen us. If you are saved, it is because God elected you, loved you, and God brought you to Himself.

Do you want to know whether you are one of the elect or not? Some are afraid, “Well if it is sovereign grace, what if I can’t get in on it?” Don’t worry about it. If you want to be saved, you can. Jesus said:

John 6:37

All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.

God’s Grace Is Seeking

Because it is sovereign grace, God’s grace seeks out those whom He chooses.

You come to Him because He took the initiative. Your salvation did not start with you; it started with God. “Oh,” you say, “but I know plenty of people who are seeking after God.” But the only reason they seek after God is because He first sought them. You would not want Christ at all unless He had called your heart first. (See Romans 3:11.)

God’s Grace Brings Salvation

“For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men” (Titus 2:11; emphasis added). The gospel is good news.

It is not good news to you if God were to tell you to straighten up and do better and maybe you can be saved, because you do not have what it takes to straighten up and do better—and even if you could do better, you have already done so badly, that doing better will not undo what you have done.

Ephesians 2:8-9

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.

There will be no peacocks in Heaven, nobody strutting down the streets of gold saying, “Look what I did.”

If you say, “But we are saved by grace and works,” then your spiritual ignorance is showing.

Romans 11:6

And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work.

Works are the result of your salvation—not part of it. Hallelujah for that!

The word “hope” in the Bible does not mean, “maybe it will happen.” Biblical hope is bedrock assurance, based on the Word of God. Your eternal life is a blessed hope, which God, who cannot lie, promised before the world began.

God chose you and planned your salvation before this planet was swung into space. Salvation is not an ambulance brought to a wreck. It was in the heart and mind of God before anything ever, ever happened.

Therefore, this unmerited grace of God is also secure and satisfying.

Grace as the Boundless Love of God

What do we deserve? We deserve judgment. We deserve Hell.

Simply put, grace is God giving us what we do not deserve. “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). Grace is a demonstration of God’s love for His people. God is full of grace, and ready to forgive.

Again, recall Paul’s greeting at the opening of his letter to Titus: “Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Savior” (Titus 1:4b).

When you know grace, then you receive mercy, and then you will experience peace. You cannot find peace until you know grace.

Remember what you have been given in the Christian life. “Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.” (Galatians 5:1).

The delight of grace is liberty.

List of Scriptures Referenced in This Article

Titus 1:1-4, 2:2-3,11, 3:7,15; Acts 1:8; Luke 4:18-19; John 6:37; Romans 3:11, 5:8, 11:6; Ephesians 2:8-9; Galatians 5:1

More Bible Verses About God’s Unmerited Favor

But let all those rejoice who put their trust in You; let them ever shout for joy, because You defend them; let those also who love Your name be joyful in You. For You, O LORD, will bless the righteous; with favor You will surround him as with a shield (Psalm 5:11-12).

For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD will give grace and glory; no good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly (Psalm 84:11).

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus…(Romans 3:23-24).

Adrian Rogers had a unique gift for making deep biblical truth simple and practical. As founder of Love Worth Finding, he was a powerful preacher, trusted Bible teacher, and respected Christian leader. Known for his passion for the Gospel and unwavering commitment to God’s Word, he shared the message of Jesus Christ with conviction, compassion, and integrity. A devoted husband to his childhood sweetheart Joyce, he was also a loving father, grandfather, and great-grandfather. Of all his accomplishments, Dr. Rogers often said his greatest joy was found in his relationship with Jesus, his family, and the church he served.

©2025 Love Worth Finding Ministries, Inc. Used by permission. Transcripts used with permission of the Rogers Family Trust. Many thanks for the use of this important message.

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