Adrian Rogers - Trophies of Grace (02/06/2026)
In Titus 1, Paul writes to his spiritual son Titus, emphasizing grace as the key theme—God's sovereign, seeking, saving, securing, and satisfying grace that makes believers trophies of grace. Pastor Adrian urges Christians to win souls, become spiritual parents, and live in liberty from legalism or license, celebrating amazing grace that rescues sinners like worms from the fire.
Introduction to the Epistle to Titus
Find the book of Titus right after Second Timothy, you’ll come to Titus. Turn to chapter 1. We’re going to find out that Titus is a letter that is written by Paul to his spiritual son. And, as Paul writes the letter, he identifies himself at the beginning of the letter; that’s the way they did in Bible times. They would tell you who is writing the letter and then write the letter.
Now, most of our letters today, we get long letters and we have to wait until the end to find out who’s doing the writing. But, Paul begins it this way, Titus chapter 1 verses 1 through 4, “Paul, a servant of God, and an Apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God’s elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness; In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began; But hath in due times manifested his Word through preaching, which is committed unto me according to the commandment of God our Savior.”
So, Paul now has introduced himself and now he tells to whom he is writing. “To Titus, mine own son after the common faith: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Savior.”
And, so in these verses, we find, first of all, the one who has written this letter, his name is Paul. We find out to whom he has been writing. He’s been writing to his spiritual son, that means someone that he had won to faith in Christ.
The Recurring Theme of Grace in Titus
And as I looked at this book and read it through, there’s one word that jumped out at me several times and I want you to notice it. In the middle of Titus 1 verse 4, the word grace. In verse 11, “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation.” In chapter 2 verse 11 that is. And then in chapter 3 and verse 7, “That being justified by His grace.” And then chapter 3 and verse 15, “Grace be with you all. Amen.”
It’s kind of interesting to see that when Paul was writing to his spiritual son, Titus, somebody that he had led to the Lord, he just keeps ringing this note of grace. “Amazing Grace how sweet the sound.” And as you read this book you can find out that Paul is very grateful for Titus, because Titus was a trophy of grace.
Now I say that having thought about it. As a matter of fact, the title of the message is this, “Trophies of Grace”. You see Paul had won Titus to Christ. Titus was a young Greek. He wasn’t a Jew; he was a Greek. And Paul who was a Jew had witnessed to him, had won him to Christ and called him his own son in the faith. You are my trophy of grace.
Now, in Jerusalem, there was a big debate as to whether the Gentiles could be saved without keeping the law. And Paul took Titus and took him to Jerusalem and used him as Exhibit A, that the Gentiles were saved and they were saved by grace. You can read about that in Galatians 2, how Titus was a trophy of grace.
Are You a Trophy of Grace?
Now that makes me want to ask a question. Are you a trophy of grace? I mean if you were arrested for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you. You see, 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, “That’s what the grace of God can do. Look what God’s grace has done. This is my son in the faith.”
That brings me to ask another question. Do you have any children in the faith? Are you a spiritual father? Are you a spiritual mother? Do you have children? Is there anybody that you can look and say, “You know, I won him to Jesus? That’s my son. That’s my daughter.”
You can’t do anything more wonderful than to share your faith and to bring somebody else to Jesus Christ. You say, “Well God didn’t call me to do that, Pastor. God just called me to preach. Or, God called me to teach, or God called me to give.” There’s nothing wrong with you that a good dose of salvation or an old fashioned revival wouldn’t cure.
Listen, a Christian who doesn’t win souls is like a bus driver who won’t drive a bus. He’s like a barber who won’t cut hair. It’s not optional, God has commanded us, Jesus said in Acts 1:8, “Ye shall be witnesses unto me.”
The question comes, do you have any children? Not only was Paul a father, but he was a grandfather, because now Titus was winning others to Christ. As a matter of fact, he was a great-great-grandfather and a lot of us are great-great-grandfathers. We’ve won people to Jesus who are winning people to Jesus who are winning people to Jesus who are winning people to Jesus.
The Chain of Grace: From Kimball to Billy Graham
On April the first, 1885, there was a man named Kimball, he was a Christian brother. And he went into a shoe store where there was a shoe clerk that he had a burden for. The shoe clerk’s name was Dwight. And Mr. Kimball went in and he stuttered and stammered but he told Dwight about Christ. And there in the shoe racks, this young nineteen-year-old shoe clerk, bowed his head and gave his heart to Jesus, and became Mr. Kimball’s spiritual son, on April the first 1885.
That young man had a heart for souls and he lived in Chicago and he began to gather boys and girls for Sunday School to tell boys and girls about Christ. His name was Dwight L. Moody. He was the Billy Graham of his day, eventually. He became so proficient at winning boys and girls to Christ in Sunday Schools in Chicago, he, this unlettered, uneducated shoe clerk, began to preach and hold great crusades and God’s anointing and God’s hand was upon Dwight L. Moody and thousands were coming to Christ through the ministry of Dwight L. Moody.
He became so well known that they asked him to come to England and preach and Dwight L. Moody went to England and he preached in the church of one of the most eloquent, erudite and cultured Britishers, English clergymen that there was on the continent. And that man’s name was F. B. Myer; Frederick Brotherton Myer. An imposing name and an imposing Pastor.
And he thought it would be nice to have Dwight L. Moody, the shoe clerk, to come and speak to his congregation. But, Moody wasn’t up there long before Myer felt he had made a terrible mistake, because Moody was very exuberant. Besides that, he murdered the King’s English. Now he didn’t disappoint the King, but he did murder the King’s English. As a matter of fact they said that Moody was the only person that could pronounce Jerusalem in two syllables.
And Moody preached. He preached Christ. Myer, this cultured, erudite, British clergyman was thinking, “Oh, oh, oh, when will he be finished? Oh, oh!” And sitting there just squirming, waiting for Moody to finish. Finally it was over, the ordeal was over for Myer.
Later, Myer met one of his ladies and said, “How is it with you today, madam?” She was one of the workers in the church, one of the ladies of that church. She said, “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.” Because Moody had talked about having a burden for souls.
Myers said something, he said, “I learned something that day.” He said, “I learned from Dwight L. Moody the language of the soul and my life was radically changed by Moody.”
Myer came to the United States to preach and Myer was preaching in a college and in that college were some ministerial students and Myer was talking about total surrender. And, F. B. Myer said to those students, “You need to give everything to Jesus Christ, everything!” And, he said, “If you cannot do that. If you’re not willing to do that,” he said, “would you tell God, at least, ‘Oh God, I‘m not willing, but I am willing to be made willing.’”
That’s a pretty good approach. “Lord, I don’t know whether I’m willing or not, but I’m willing to be made willing. Please, oh God, help me, start with me wherever I am.” And there was a student out there who was about to quit. His name was Wilber Chapman.
And Wilber Chapman said, “Oh God, that’s me, I haven’t been willing to give You everything, but, oh God, today, I’m willing to be made willing. Start with me where I am and take me where I need to go.” And, God started with Wilber Chapman. God did something in the heart of Wilber Chapman that day and God worked His grace in Wilber Chapman’s heart. “For it is God that worketh in you both to will and do of His good pleasure.” Philippians 2:13.
And, God did that for Wilber Chapman and Wilber Chapman became a world famous evangelist. Wilber Chapman needed a helper and do you know who he found for a helper, an ex-professional baseball player, a man whose forte was running the bases, kind of like Ty Cobb was. His name was William Sunday, Billy Sunday.
And Sunday came to help Chapman in his evangelistic work. Sunday would do the counseling sometimes. He would help put up and take down the tent. Sometimes when Chapman could not be there, Billy Sunday would preach. Finally Chapman said, “I’m old and worn out now, I’m going to turn this ministry over to you, Billy Sunday.”
And, Billy Sunday took the ministry of Wilber Chapman, who among us who’s studied the Christian church does not know the ministry of Billy Sunday. Billy Sunday held some great crusades right here in Memphis, Tennessee in his day. He was, again, the Billy Graham of his day, a world famous name, Billy Sunday.
He did all kinds of antics and things, but God’s hand was on Billy Sunday. Billy Sunday came to Charlotte, North Carolina in 1924 to hold a revival crusade. There was great power and God came down upon Charlotte and there was a mighty revival in Charlotte in 1924.
Out of that Billy Sunday campaign there were a group of men who banded themselves together to continue to pray for Charlotte and they called it The Charlotte Prayer Meeting. And this group of men who would meet regularly had this prayer, they said, “Oh God, oh God, send another revival to Charlotte that not only will touch Charlotte but will impact the world.”
In 1934, another evangelist came as a result of that prayer meeting, his name was Mordecai Ham. Mordecai Ham, by the way, has held revival crusades here in the city of Memphis, also. Mightily anointed of God, and Mordecai Ham was preaching in 1934 in Charlotte.
There was a fifteen year old lanky farm lad sitting out there with some of his buddies. He didn’t 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 there in the choir and it wouldn’t bother him so bad. So, this fifteen year old farm lad found himself up in the choir, but the grace of God found that boy, his name, Billy Graham.
Billy Graham was saved in that crusade that was led by Mordecai Ham. And God alone knows the kings and the presidents and the moguls and the ordinary people and people in far lands and people in this land and thousands and thousands and thousands who’ve come to Christ through the ministry of Billy Graham. Billy Graham has touched my own life personally. And I thank God for the influence he’s had on me.
That’s an amazing story, but if you’ll trace it all the way back, all the way back, you’ll find a man named Kimball. Most of us have never heard the name Kimball. Laying a trembling hand on the shoulder of a lad, just a boy named Moody and bringing Moody to faith in Christ.
Think of the great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandchildren that Kimball has. Think of it. Think of it. What will you never know what you do when you bring a soul to Christ. You never know the ripples that will touch the shore of eternity when you drop that stone of grace into somebody’s heart.
Oh, friend, do you have any trophies of grace? Are you a trophy of grace? Paul says, “Titus, you are my son in the faith.” Why don’t you say, “God, this year, by Your grace, I’ll bring a soul to Jesus Christ. I will have a son in the faith. I want to have a daughter in the faith.”
Understanding the Nature of God's Grace
Now what is grace? Grace is God’s unmerited favor. It is the kindness of God shown to one who doesn’t deserve it and who can never earn it. We’ve put it in an acrostic around here. Grace, G-R-A-C-E, God’s riches at Christ expense.
Now, let me tell you about that grace. Let me say three basic things about it. First of all, there is the delight of grace. And the delight of grace is liberty. Grace, amazing grace, gives liberty. Jesus said in Luke 4 verse 18, “I’ve come to set the captives free.” To give liberty. And John 8 verse 36 says, “If the Son shall make you free, you will be free indeed.”
Now, why does it give liberty? Well, let’s just see what grace is. First of all, this grace is sovereign grace. Look in Titus 1 verse 1, “Paul, a servant of God, and an Apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God’s elect.” We call that sovereign grace. God elected us. He is the sovereign God and God has chosen us. If you are saved it is because God’s elected you. God loved you, God sought you, and God brought you. It is sovereign grace.
You say, “Well, Pastor, if its sovereign grace then maybe I can’t get in on it?” Do you want to get in on it? Well, then you can. Don’t worry about it. If you want to be saved, you can. I love John chapter 6, it’s so wonderful. John chapter 6, listen to this verse in verse 37, Jesus said, “All that the Father hath given Me will come to Me.” Now, that’s sovereign grace.
But then Jesus said this, “and him that cometh unto Me, I will in nowise cast out.” Isn’t that wonderful? You want to know whether you’re one of the elect or not. How would you like to find out whether you’re one of the elect or not. Just come to Jesus and you’ll be one. That’s right, just come to Jesus.
You want to be saved? I am glad that I can stand in this pulpit and say, “Whosoever will may come.” Anybody. Hallelujah! It is sovereign grace, and yet it is free to all who will receive and all who will say yes to the Lord Jesus Christ.
And, because it is sovereign grace, it is seeking grace. Do you know that you come to Him because He took the initiative? He’s the one who called you? Your salvation did not start with you, it began with God. The Bible tells us in Romans chapter 3 verse 11, “There’s none that seek after God, no not one.”
Oh, you say, “But I know plenty of people who are seeking God, but the only reason they seek after God is because He first sought them. I may have told you before that when I was in the sixth grade, I looked over there at a girl sitting about four desks and two rows over from me and four desks up and two rows over. Her name was Joyce Louis Gentry. She’s now Joyce Louis Rogers, but I saw her there in the sixth grade, and I wrote a love note and I walked by and dropped it by her desk. She still has that love note, you know it was a good one. I dropped it by her desk. I mean we still have that in a scrapbook.
And do you know what? She began to turn and look at me, “Say, who is this fellow, Adrian?” But you know why she loves me? Cause I first loved her. You see, I took the initiative. And friend the Bible is God’s love note. It is God saying to you, “I love you, I desire to be your Lord. I desire to be your Savior.”
You say, “Well I thirst after God.” Well who made you to get thirsty? Do you think that in the middle of the night, you wake up and say, “Well, you know, I might be dehydrated, I’ll go get a drink of water.” No, God put that thirst in you. And the reason we thirst after God is because God is seeking us.
It is sovereign grace, it is seeking grace, it is saving grace. Look in chapter 2 and verse 11 of this chapter. Look at it, chapter 2 and verse 11, “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation.” It is saving grace. The Gospel is Good News. It’s not good news to me if God were to tell me to straighten up and do better and maybe I can be saved, because I don’t have what it takes to straighten up and do better.
And even if I could do better, I’ve already done so bad that doing better won’t undo what I have done. Salvation, salvation is not spelled D-O, and it’s not spelled D-O-N-‘-T, don’t; it is spelled D-O-N-E, done. It is saving grace.
Ephesians 2 verses 8 and 9, “For by grace are ye saved, through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works lest any man should boast.” There won’t be any peacocks in Heaven. Nobody strutting down the streets of gold saying, “Look what I did.”
Well, you say, “Pastor, we’re saved by grace and works.” Friend, you are 100% wrong and your spiritual ignorance is showing. Listen to this verse in Romans 11 and verse 6, “And if by grace, it is no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. If by grace, it is no more works: otherwise, grace is no more grace.”
If you were to add any works to it, you destroy the principle of the grace of God. “For by grace are ye saved.” It is sovereign grace. It is seeking grace. It is saving grace. Oh, hallelujah for that.
And it is a securing grace. Go back to Titus chapter 1 and look if you will in verse 2, “In hope of eternal life.” Now, the word hope in the Bible does not mean, “maybe it will happen”. It is bedrock assurance based on the Word of God. For example, the Second Coming of Jesus is called “the blessed hope”, and your eternal life is a blessed hope.
“In the blessed hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began.” Listen, God chose you, God elected you, God planned your salvation before this planet was swung into space.
Let me tell you about your salvation. Your salvation is not an ambulance brought to a wreck. It was in the heart and mind of God before anything ever, ever happened. Before the world began. You talk about the old-time religion. Friend, that’s pretty old time, before the world began.
It is securing grace. And I want to say this grace is also satisfying grace. Look if you will in Titus chapter 1 again and verse 4. He says here, “To Titus, mine own son after the common faith; grace, mercy, and peace, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ the Savior.”
He links grace with mercy and peace. Isn’t that a beautiful trinity? Grace, mercy, peace! What is grace? Well, we already told you. Grace is God giving us what we don’t deserve. We don’t deserve this goodness. Romans 5:8, “But God commendeth His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” That’s grace.
While we were sinners, no good, rotten, away from God, alienated, God-hating and God-fearing, God sent His grace to us. See, Grace is God giving us what we don’t deserve, but mercy is God not giving to us what we do deserve. Do you see it? You see, what do we deserve? We deserve judgment. We deserve Hell.
So, grace and mercy are linked together and they’re followed by peace. Grace, mercy, and peace. That’s God’s order. The Bible never said, peace and grace; always grace and peace, because you can’t find peace until you know grace. You have the peace of God and peace with God because of the grace of God.
What is peace? Peace is the result of grace and mercy. When you know grace, when you receive mercy, then you will experience peace. Now, on this threshold of a New Year, there’re people trying to find peace. Some of them trying to find peace in a pill. Others in the bottom of a bottle. They’re trying to drown their troubles, but their troubles can swim.
Where are they going to find this peace? Peace is found in the grace and mercy of God. Grace, mercy, and peace. That’s what Paul says to Titus, it’s satisfying grace.
“Friends all around me are trying to find what the heart yearns for by sin undermined. I have the secret, I know where tis found, only true pleasures in Jesus abound.” And so, what I’m trying to say is this, that this grace, the delight of grace is it brings liberty.
And let me give you verse of Scripture taken from another book. Galatians chapter 5 and verse 1, listen to it, “Stand fast therefore, in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.” The delight of grace is liberty.
The Dangers Opposing Grace: Legalism and License
Now, let me tell you something else: the denial of grace is legalism. Every time the devil sees a trophy of grace, he will move in to tarnish that trophy. And that’s the reason Paul is writing here to Titus. Look now if you will in Titus 1 and look in verse 10 and 11, “For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, specially they of the circumcision: whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert all, whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucre’s sake.” That means dirty money.
Now, what’s he talking about here? Well, I tell you again, when the devil sees anybody celebrating liberty, when the devil sees anybody enjoying grace, he moves in to break up the party, and whenever the devil sees a trophy of grace, he moves in to steal or to tarnish that trophy.
Now, he speaks here of those of the circumcision in verse 10. What does that mean? Well, under the Jewish law, you had to be circumcised to show, if you were a Jewish male, that you were in a covenant relationship, the household of faith. And, there were Judaizers, who were saying to these Gentile believers and others. “In order for you to be right with God, in order for you to be accepted by God, you have to put yourself back under the Jewish law.” And, they were legalists.
The entire book of Galatians is written to deal with this problem. They were endeavoring to put people back under the Mosaic Law. And Paul says, “Your liberty in Christ is worth fighting for.”
Look in verse 11, he says, “Their mouths must be stopped.” He called them unruly because they didn’t want to put themselves under the authority of the Word of God. He called them vain talkers because what they said was hot air. He called them deceivers because they were in error. And, he called them subversive, look if you will, he says, “They subvert whole houses.”
Do you know something about legalism? Babes in Christ are very susceptible to legalists. A man like myself can preach Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Can preach, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved”, that you are saved by grace through faith plus nothing, and these people will be saved.
And, then along will come some legalist, some person who wants to lay down for those people a lot of rules and rituals and laws. And these people are so insecure in the liberty that they have in the Lord Jesus Christ that they will go back into the playpen of legalism because they feel secure there; and they are subverted.
They will find some fellowship with somebody to lay down laws, who’ll be legalistic and dictatorial. Friend, don’t you let anybody make a legalist out of you. You are not saved by keeping laws. You’re not saved by ritual. You’re not saved by anything other than the grace of God.
And a person who tries to be saved or sanctified by rules is like a person trying to get out of quicksand. The more he struggles, the more he sinks. Now, if you don’t hear anything else I say, dear friend, I’m talking about the amazing grace of God and you come up close and listen to me.
Ten thousand rules will not make you one bit more like Jesus. Ten thousand rules will not make you one wit more like Jesus. We’re so much like the Pharisees, the only difference is, we just change the rules.
Now, the delight of grace is liberty. The denial of grace is legalism. Final thing I want to say is, the distortion of grace is license. Every road has two ditches, and the devil doesn’t care which side of the road he wrecks you on. He doesn’t want you to stay on the road of grace, so if he can get you off the road of grace and put you in the right hand ditch of legalism, he’ll do it. And, there you are like the person struggling in quicksand, trying to get out. You have fallen away from grace.
Now, if you won’t buy that, the devil will get you to distort the message that I’ve preached today and the distortion of this is license. What is license? License is the philosophy who says, “Well, boy, I was really glad to hear what the preacher preached today. You know, the preacher said, we’re saved by grace. We’re not saved by works. We’re just saved by the goodness of God. Therefore I have a license to sin. I can just live any way I like, do anything I want and go to Heaven. Boy I’ve got my sin and Heaven too.”
You know, people when they hear me talk about the grace of God, they say, “Well, man, if I believed that way, I’d get saved, then I’d sin all I want to.” Well, look up here and let me tell you something. I sin all I want to. I sin more than I want to. I don’t want to. And, if you still want to, you need to get saved. You’ve never been saved. You need to get your wanter fixed. No, you need a new wanter. You need to be born again.
Now, there’s the grace of God. That saves us. And the devil would like to get you away from the delight of grace which is liberty into the denial of grace which is legalism. Or, into the distortion of grace which is license.
Put in your margin Romans chapter 6 verses 1 and 2. Paul there in Romans has been talking about the grace of God. And then Paul says, “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, continue any longer therein?”
When I got saved, something died within me and I can tell you one of the ways that I know that I’m saved, do I stumble? Yes. Do I fail? Yes. Am I weak? Yes. But in my heart, I died to sin. I became alive in the Lord Jesus Christ by the grace of God. Do you understand that?
You see, the delight of grace; that’s liberty. The denial of grace; that’s legalism. The distortion of grace; that’s license. But grace, oh, amazing grace, how sweet the sound.
In legalism, the law is my master. In license, the law is my enemy. In grace, the law is my friend. But I keep the law of God because Jesus Christ is in my heart. I don’t do it in order to be saved, but because I have been saved.
An old Indian, who had lived a wicked and a cruel life, was led to Christ by a missionary. And the old Indian had not had a lot of education, formal, theological, or any other kind. And somebody asked him to describe the grace of God. And, do you know what he did? He got a pile of leaves, put them together. Then, he caught a worm and he put the worm in the middle of the leaves. And, then he took a match and he lit the edges of that pile of leaves. And, those leaves began to burn toward that worm.
And, as the fire got close, the old Indian reached in his hand and took that worm up gently in his hand and held it up. Out of the fire and out of the flame, and he said, “Me worm.” Do you get it? Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a worm like me. “Me worm.”
Oh, friend, God reached down His hand of amazing grace and rescued us. Isn’t grace a wonderful thing. And friend, it is seeking grace; God is seeking you today. And, God wants to save you today. And, God sent me here as His ambassador to tell you of amazing grace that can save you, secure you, and satisfy you. It’s the only thing that can.
Would you bow your heads in prayer? Heads are bowed and eyes are closed. If you’re not certain that you’re saved, would you like to be saved, would you? Would you like to know that you really do have life? Jesus said, “I’ve come that you might have life.”
Could I lead you in a prayer? We’ll call this prayer the sinner’s prayer. And you can pray and accept Christ as your personal Lord and Savior. You can do it right now.
Would you pray this prayer? “Dear God, I know that You love me. Thank You for loving me. And I know that You want to save me. Jesus, You died to save me and You promised to save me if I would trust You. Jesus, I do trust You. I believe You’re the Son of God. I believe you paid for my sin with Your blood on the cross. I believe that God raised You from the dead. And now I receive You as my Lord and Savior. Forgive my sin. Cleanse me. Come into my life. Take control of my life and begin today to make me the person You want me to be. And Jesus, give me the courage to make it public. Help me never to be ashamed of You. In Your name I pray, Amen.”