All kinds of people were attracted to Jesus Christ.

Sinners - like the woman at the well.

            Intellectuals - like Nicodemus.

            Doubters - like Thomas.

                      All kinds of people were comfortable in the presence of Christ.

           He said, “If I be lifted up, I will draw all men to me.”

His closest friends loved being around Him.

           When He died, not one of His disciples said,

“Well that’s a relief, Jesus was so insensitive and demanding that I’m glad He’s gone. I felt ill-at-ease in His presence.”

On the contrary, they mourned His passing.

           They missed His fellowship.

           They were overjoyed when He arose from the dead and they could be with Him again.

In His final words to them, Jesus said,

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you,” and “As I have loved you, so must you love one another” (John 14:27;13:34).

                      Jesus had a congenial spirit about Him that attracted people.

           The more we grow to be like Christ, the more His spirit should be reflected in us.

           Christians should not be mean-spirited, quick-tempered, hyper-critical people.

                      We ought to be developing inside us a pleasantness that makes us easy to live with.

One of the most valuable qualities in a marriage partner is a sweet spirit.

           Solomon had been married a number of times--700, to be exact.

           Solomon said,

           “Better to live in a desert than with a quarrelsome and ill-tempered wife” (Proverbs 21:19).

           It’s a joy to live with someone who is pleasant.

                      But it’s miserable to live with somebody who has a sour disposition.

That's true in the church, too.

           If the church is going to represent Jesus Christ, there ought to be a sweet spirit in the church.

Eleanor Daniel, a Christian author and professor, said after visiting a church a number of years ago.

“If I could describe this Church in a word, it would be the word ‘joy.’ People seemed to be glad to be there. A spirit of joy seemed to permeate the church.”

I’ve been to churches that could be described in a negative word, haven’t you?

           Contentious, legalistic, tense, weak, disbelieving, sour, worldly, dead.

           But the Lord wants His church to have a sweet disposition.

The Bible says of the early church, that there was gladness and singleness of heart.

           David said,

                      “I rejoiced with those who said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord.’” (Ps. 122:1)

           I like the chorus,

                      “There’s a sweet, sweet spirit in this place, and I know it’s the Spirit of the Lord.”

Titus 3:3-8 instructs us to get rid of malice, envy, and hatred, and to devote ourselves to kindness and doing what is good.

           Most importantly, it talks about the reason we ought to be sweet-spirited.

                      If we’re not pleasant in spirit, it’s because we've forgotten what God has done for us.

                                 Or we haven’t really allowed Him to transform us.

Once we understand who we are in Jesus Christ,

                                 we can’t help but to have a new disposition, a sweet spirit.

I.       What We Once Were!

Paul begins by reminding us what we once were without Christ.

           Verse 3 tells us we were foolish.

                      The Bible says that a fool, is somebody who says in his heart, that there is no God.

           A man doesn’t have to be an atheist to be a fool, he’s just someone who doesn’t honor God.                       

                       Someone who doesn’t acknowledge God’s authority over his life.

                      A man can be brilliant, wealthy, and have several college degrees,

                                 but if he does not honor God, and God’s Word, he is a fool.

The Bible says, “What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul?” (Matthew 16:26)

           That’s being foolish.

                      We were disobedient to God.

                                 In our pride, we are determined to prove that we are self-sufficient.

                                 We defy God’s instructions about putting others ahead of ourselves,

                                            being generous with our money, and abiding by His moral values.

                                 In the words of Frank Sinatra’s song, “We did it our way.”

“There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death” (Proverbs 14:12).

           The enemy of our soul, is feeding us all kinds of deceiving philosophy

                       that will destroy us in the end.

                      “You want to be excited and happy, then have an affair,” he whispers.

                      “Go ahead and get yourself into debt for things you don’t need.

                                 That will make you prosperous.”

                      “Go ahead and take drugs and alcohol.

                                 That will calm you down.”

                      “Go ahead and step on everybody to get to the top.

                                 That will make you successful.”

           But in the end, we are miserable and unhappy.

Paul says that in relationship to God, “we were foolish, disobedient, deceived.”

But in relationship to ourselves, we were “enslaved by all types of passions and pleasures” (v. 3).

Sin is fun for a little while.

           But, eventually, the fun wears off, and we become enslaved to it.

                      A law of increased appetite and diminishing return takes over.

           We talk about a person being entangled in an affair,

                      consumed by greed,

                      or addicted to drugs, alcohol, or pornography.

“Don’t you know that when you offer yourself to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey--whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?” (Romans 6:16).

Stuart Briscoe wrote,

“If pleasure is the watchword of our lives, we can only be happy when we're having a pleasurable experience. Then we must never be bored and never engage in anything mundane or routine.”

He adds, “We spend all our time, money, and energy trying to avoid the real world, and we become enslaved by the desire to escape reality.”

           In our disobedience to God, we become slaves to sin!

Paul goes on to say, that in our relationship to other people,

           “We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another” (v. 3b).

           When you hate somebody, they usually retaliate.

                      It’s a vicious cycle.

                                 You hate them, they hate you.

Heavyweight boxing champion, Mike Tyson, was a subject of a derogatory book by a former friend, Jose Torrez.

           In the book, Tyson was disclosed as “throwing his best punches at the women he loves.”

           Tyson was later interviewed on television.

                      He was bitter, and he vowed to get even.

That’s the way it is in the world.

           If you’re hateful, you’re hated in return.

           The person without God isn’t much fun to live with.

                      There are occasional moments of pleasure, but in rebelling against God,

                                 we become bitter against one another.

Paul says, “At one time, we too were . . . disobedient” (v. 3).

           He’s not talking about other people.

                      He himself was like that.

                                 He was a fool. He rejected Jesus Christ.

                      He was breathing out threats and slaughter against the church.

                                 Saul of Tarsus was selfishly ambitious, and not much fun to be around.

                      Until the Lord Jesus Christ got hold of his life.

II.     What God Did!

He goes on to say, let’s remember what God did for us.

“When the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy” (v. 4, 5).

           God showed kindness to us, when we had been unkind, even hateful to Him.

           If God had responded in a human way, He would have retaliated.

He would have said,

“I am the creator of your souls. I’m the one who made you. Rebel against Me and I’m going to wipe you off the map.”

But instead, He broke the cycle of hatred and responded in mercy and kindness.

           Just at the right time, when we were still powerless.

                      Christ died for the ungodly.

Donald Barnhouse told of a fire that swept over his dad's farm, a prairie fire.

Afterward, when his dad was walking across the farm, he kicked a lump of charcoal that he thought was a stump.

                      When he did, little baby chicks ran out from beneath it.

           Closer examination revealed that it wasn’t just a burned stump.

The lump was the remains of a mother hen who had seen that her little chicks would not be able to escape the sweeping flames.

She gathered them under her wings and sat there and endured the fire herself that her chicks might live.

That was Christ’s response to us.

           Knowing that we would be engulfed and destroyed by the sin, that so easily besets us.

He voluntarily remained on the cross, to absorb all the fiery blows of the evil one, that we might live.

Paul says that through Jesus’ death on the cross, there are three benefits.

           He lists them here.

First, we are saved.

           You hear a lot of talk in Christian circles about being saved.

                      What does it mean?

                      When we’re saved from something, it’s usually some danger--

                                 from an embarrassing moment, from financial disaster, from drowning.

           The Bible says Christians are saved.

                      We’re saved from the wrath of God.

                      We’re saved from the eternal consequences of our sin.

Second, God fills us with his Holy Spirit.

           “poured out His Holy Spirit on us generously, through Jesus Christ, our Savior.”

           When we become Christians,

                      God cleanses our hearts of sin.

                                 And fills our hearts with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

                      The Holy Spirit then gives us increasing power in the Christian life.

                                 Power to overcome temptation.

                                 Power to testify about our faith.

                                 Power to understand Scripture.

                                 Power to witness to other people.

                                 Power to love the unlovely.

           I hear people say,

“I haven’t become a Christian yet, because I’m not sure I can live the life, and I don’t want to be a hypocrite.”

                                 If you wait to get your life straightened out, you'll never respond to Christ.

                      Because being a Christian is saying,

                                 “Lord, I am sinful. I need You to cleanse me.

                                 I am weak, I need you to empower me through Your Holy Spirit.”

In the first gospel sermon ever preached, Peter said to the people in Jerusalem.

           “You have crucified the Son of God .”

           The people believed it.

                      “What shall we do?” they asked.

           Peter responded,

“Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38).

           It’s God who gives us the ability to live the Christian life.

The third benefit that Christ gives us is the promise of eternal life.

“So that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life” (v. 7).

           He promises that when we accept Him, we will live with Him forever in Heaven after we die.

That’s not just wishful thinking.

           It’s not just something we say at a funeral.

                      That’s a fact based on Jesus Christ who died and rose from the grave.

Jesus said in John 11:25 “...I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies”

           Think for a minute how incredibly kind God has been to us.

                      We were foolish and rebellious.

           But instead of punishing us,

                      He came to us and He saved us through the death of Jesus Christ on the cross.

                      He gives us the Holy Spirit to empower us.

                      He promises that He’s going to take us to be with Him in Heaven when we die.

“Grace is absurd to the human mind,” Max Lucado said. “In fact, the only thing more absurd than the gift is our stubborn unwillingness to receive it.”

           How can we not have a sweet, gracious spirit, when we realize what God has done for us?

There once was a little boy who wanted to meet God.

           He knew it was a long trip to where God lived.

So he packed his suitcase with Twinkies and a six-pack of root beer, and he started his journey.

           When he had gone about three blocks, he met an old woman.

                      She was sitting in the park, just staring at some pigeons.

                                 The boy sat down next to her and opened his suitcase.

He was about to take a drink from his root beer, when he noticed that the old lady looked hungry so he offered her a Twinkie.

She gratefully accepted it and smiled at him.

                      Her smile was so pretty that the boy wanted to see it again, so he offered her a root beer.

                                 Once again, she smiled at him.

                                            The boy was delighted!

           They sat there all afternoon eating and smiling, but they never said a word.

                      As it grew dark, the boy realized how tired he was.

                                 And he got up to leave.

But before he had gone more than a few steps; he turned around, ran back to the old woman, and gave her a hug.

                                 She gave him her biggest smile ever.

When the boy opened the door to his own house a short time later his mother was surprised by the look of joy on his face.

                      She asked him, “What did you do today that made you so happy?”

He replied, “I had lunch with God.”

                      But before his mother could respond, he added,

                                 “You know what? She’s got the most beautiful smile I’ve ever seen!”

           Meanwhile, the old woman, also radiant with joy, returned to her home.

Her son was stunned by the look of peace on her face and he asked, “Mother, what did you do today that made you so happy?”

                      She replied, “I ate Twinkies in the park with God.”

But before her son responded, she added, “You know, he's much younger than I expected.”

The more we grow in Christ, the sweeter our spirit should be.

           The more people should see God in our life!