Titus 3:3-6 (NKJV)
3 For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. 4 But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, 5 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, 6 whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior,
Your thoughts. . . . .
And even though God foreknew us, knowing us from before the gospel called us to Christ, having known us from conception, before we began to be formed in the womb -
Jer 1:5
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you;
Before you were born I sanctified you;
I ordained you a prophet to the nations.”
- knowing us when we had become dead in our trespasses and sins -
Eph 2:1
And you
He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and short-comings,
Eph 2:2
in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience,
Eph 2:3
among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.
Eph 2:4
But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,
Eph 2:5
even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
Eph 2:6
and raised
us up together, and made
us sit together in the heavenly
places in Christ Jesus,
- knowing that we do not deserve an offer of reconciliation -
2Co 5:18
Now all things
are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation,
2Co 5:19
that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.
2Co 5:20
Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore
you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God.
Col 1:21
And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled
Col 1:22
in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight—
Col 1:23
if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister.
- yet God does come to us and call us and justify us and sanctify us and glorify us, through the cross and resurrection -
Rom 8:29
For whom He foreknows, He also predestines
to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Rom 8:30
Moreover whom He predestines, these He also calls; whom He calls, these He also justifies; and whom He justifies, these He also glorifies.
- and through the work of the Holy Spirit poured out upon all flesh.
Act 2:16
“But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:
Act 2:17
‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God,
That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh;
Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
Your young men shall see visions,
Your old men shall dream dreams.
Act 2:18
And on My menservants and on My maidservants
I will pour out My Spirit in those days;
And they shall prophesy.
