We're in Titus chapter 2, back
to Titus chapter 2. I titled this message, Adorning
the Gospel of God, or Lives that Adorn the Gospel. Paul writes this letter. to an
individual named Titus. And everyone who stands and preaches
the gospel can put their name there. The epistle of Paul to
John. Or it could be to Paul, like
Paul Mahan or David Ebenezer. This letter is to me. And it's
to me preaching to you. And it has a whole lot to do
with our lives, we who believe the gospel, the lives we live,
that it may be in such a way that it adorns, makes attractive
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. You have met people who call
themselves Christians. I have. And for what they believe, if
it doesn't do any more for them than that, I don't want it. I
can say that. I don't want it. The gospel we believe is the
gospel of God. And it's beautiful. It's beautiful. And it produces beautiful lives.
It will produce a beautiful life. It will. Now, as I said, Paul
wrote this to Titus. Paul left Titus in Crete to carry
on the work of the ministry there that he started. Titus was to
ordain elders in every city where there was a church, that the
church would have leaders, because without leaders, who knows where
it's going to go? God gives leaders, pastors and
teachers, that we may be instructed and grow up and mature in the
faith. Now, to understand this letter,
we have to understand something of who the Christians were. We have to understand something
of who they were. And it's given to us a glimpse of their life
and their lifestyle in verse 12 and 13. Paul says there in
verse 1, In chapter 1, verse 12 and 13, Paul says, one of
themselves, even a prophet, not a prophet of God, but one of
their prophets, one of their poets. He said, he wrote of them,
the Cretans are always liars. It was a national, it was just
a national thing with them. They were all liars. They're
always liars, evil beasts. Slow bellies. And Paul says,
this witness is true. What he's saying is true. And
because of this, rebuke them sharply that they may be sound
in the faith. There was an ancient historian,
Polybus, I think, Polybus wrote this. It was almost impossible
to find personal conduct more treacherous or public policy
more unjust than in Crete. Cicero wrote this about them. Moral principles are so divergent
that the Christians consider highway robbery honorable. This
is the kind of people Titus is left with to preach to. The gospel
has come to them, and the Lord has saved some of them. And their
own poet wrote this about them. So Paul wrote this letter to
Titus that he might make them to understand that faith and
behavior is rooted in the gospel. The gospel does not set us free
and then just leave us there. I was thinking this morning in
my study, this would be like taking a man who's been incarcerated
for 30, 40 years, most of his life, and they lead him outside
the prison, and they say, you're free. You're free. He's standing there broke. He's
standing there, what do I do? Where do I go? The gospel doesn't
leave us like that. The gospel sets us free, and
Christ is the gospel. He is the gospel. When we talk
about the gospel, we talk about Jesus Christ, who is the gospel.
He sets us free, but he also guides us and directs us by his
spirit through the preaching of the gospel. It guides us,
it's a light to our path, as it says, a lamp to our path,
lighted to our feet, over in Psalms. So belief and behavior, faith
and behavior is rooted in the gospel. James said, Without works
is what? It's dead. It's dead. It's just dead. And the grace
of God, the grace that comes to us, teaches us. It makes us teachable. When God
saves us, He gives us a spirit that's teachable. We're teachable
now, you know that? Until God saves us, we are not
spiritually teachable. But when He saves us, we're teachable.
And the grace of God teaches believers how to live and walk
in this ungodly world. It doesn't leave us alone. Now in verse 10, Paul tells Titus,
he says, "...teach them to adorn the doctrine of God by the lives
they live." And this is what we'll look at a little later
on here. Now to adorn something is to make it more pleasing. I looked this word up, more attractive,
impressive, enhance, and a good example would be, if I'm using
Rebecca here, I would say kindness adorned Rebecca's character.
Kindness adorned her character. No believer wants to be a distraction
from the gospel by conduct. I don't want anyone to ever look
at me and know me and say, well, if it doesn't produce any more
than that, I don't want to go there. Every believer wants to walk
even as He walked, don't we? Now he says here in verse 1,
"...but speak the things that become sound doctrine." Now here's
where we do start. Because doctrine is the foundation
of the house. Doctrine is the foundation of
faith. We do believe God chose a people.
We do believe particular redemption. When Jesus Christ died on the
cross, He died for a multitude of sinners given to Him by the
Father. We do believe that. But doctrine without the experience
of it, it's like grace without the experience of grace, leaves
you cold and dead. It really leaves you nothing
more than a Pharisee. There's no difference. There's
no difference. But speak the things that become
sound doctrines. Preach that which the Word of
God teaches. What I preach from this pulpit,
You should be able to take the Word of God and look at it and
see whether what I'm saying is so or not. You should be able
to clearly, I mean clearly, take the Word of God and understand
that what I'm saying is truth. That's why John said, try the
spirits whether they be of God. Not everyone stands in a pulpit
and has a Bible is preaching the Word of God. Very few are,
to tell you the truth. Very few are. So we preach sound doctrine. Sound doctrine, listen, sound
doctrine makes sound believers. It makes sound believers. Where
preaching is unsound, the people will be unsound in the faith.
They'll just be with this one day, that one day. They'll be
unsound in the faith. Actually, they won't even be
in the faith. Where there's unsound preaching, there's lying going
on. Listen to what Paul says in Acts
20 and 32, And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to
the word of His grace, the gospel, which is able to build you up, make you grow up, give you a
solid foundation. We have a solid foundation. You
know, I don't wonder how God saves sinners. I don't wonder
how God can be a just God and a Savior. I know how. I know
how. And you know how. You know how. You're not going to be shaken
off of that. Not if you're sound in the faith, not if you've been
sitting under sound preaching. You know that, you understand
it. It's able to build you up and give you an inheritance among
all them which are sanctified or set apart. You know we are
what we listen to. You know the old saying is, you
are what you eat? You are what you listen to. What we listen
to the most and give our attention to the most, that's who we are. It'll mold our thinking. It'll
mold our conduct. It does. And here's the reason
for preaching this sound doctrine. Doctrine that's established in
the Word of God. So that the aged men will be
sober, vigilant, grave, that means honorable. You know, us
older men, ought to be honorable men. We ought to be thought of
as honorable, resolutely. Others, you know, we may think
of ourselves as vile wretches, as Paul said, oh, wretched man
that I am, but others who know us ought to think of us as honorable. Our life should be such that
they be temperate, that is self-control, sound, that is spiritually healthy
in faith and love. In patience, they are patient. They endure with the younger
people. That's one thing I've noticed about aging. We forget what it was like to
be young. We forget what that's like. That we had to be patient, endurance. And then that the aged women,
He touches all the age groups here. He talks about aged men,
aged women, the younger men, and the younger women. The aged
women, likewise, in the same way that they be in behavior,
this is their demeanor, as becometh holiness or reverence, not acting
foolish, not false accusers, that is, slander, speak like
the devil. The devil is called the accuser
of the brethren. Not given, he says here, to much
wine, but not enslaved to much wine. You know what this tells
me? That those Christian women, they must have liked to drink.
That's why he said that. That's why he said, you tell
them not to be given, not to be enslaved to drinking. they must have been given to
it. That they be teachers of good
things that are right. You older women, you have a ministry. You have a ministry just like
the old age men. We have a ministry. And these
young believers, here in verses four and six, look here, that
they may teach the young women to be sober. There's your ministry. You aged women, there's your
ministry. You teach the younger women. You're examples. Don't think you're not an example.
Somebody's watching you. Somebody's reading your book.
You're an open book. I'm an open book. that they may teach the young
women to be sober, that is wise, wise in their conduct, wise in
their choices. I would to God that younger women
would consult the older women, to love their husbands, teach
them to love their husbands. I think it's sad, I think a lot
of divorces have probably happened because mom couldn't stay out
of it, or mother-in-law couldn't stay out of it. But you who believe
the gospel, you who believe, he said, you teach them to love
their husbands. When they start to complain about
their husbands, teach them to love. Yeah, every husband is
a jerk at times, a lot of times. Too many times. They're a jerk. But love that
jerk. Teach them to love that jerk.
Love covers a multitude of sins, doesn't it? If it doesn't cover
it in the home, it won't cover it anywhere else. And to love their children. Isn't
that something? Teach them to love their children. Now that doesn't, now when you
talk about loving your children, we're not talking about just
giving them gifts and throwing, you know, buying them all kinds
of stuff, no. I'm telling you this, true love
comes out in proper discipline. It comes out in proper discipline.
And then it comes out in wise giving. Sometimes it comes out
in wise taking. You gotta take things away. But this is the ministry of older
women, aged women, he calls them, that they, you're a teacher, you're examples,
you are examples. And teach them to be discreet,
chaste, to be chaste, keepers at home, not busybody, but keepers
at home. Taking care of the home, you
know, my pastor said this, and I agree wholeheartedly, the most
important person in the home is the mother. And growing up, that's the one
I was around all the time. The boys, you know, I went to
work all the time. Vicki was a stay-at-home mother,
and she took care of the boys all the time. I was always out working or traveling
or something like that, but I spent a lot of time with them, but
still, yeah, the most important person in that home is the mother.
I have no doubt about that. And teach them to be obedient
to their own husbands. That is, the Lord established
this. that the Word of God be not blasphemed."
That you're not against the Word of God. You don't stand against
the Word of God, you go on Ephesians and read it. Chapter 5 and 6.
And young men, likewise, exhort them
to be sober-minded, to be discreet. You know, if there's any one
thing that defines younger men, it's impulsiveness. I mean, you're ready to jump
like that. Impossible you just teach him
to be wise teach him to step back and think You know one of
the things that I've thought of and I've said just before
but if you haven't thought about it Don't talk about it If you
haven't given some thought to it You know I've had I've had
people at a few times asked me for advice And the older I've
gotten now I try to think about it before I answer unless I know
I have the answer, but I try to think about it. I try to pray about it. Exhort young men to be, and he's
speaking here of believers, to be sober-minded. What he's giving
here is so 180 degrees opposite of what they were raised with.
They were raised in debauchery. They were raised in everything
you can think of. They were a law unto themselves.
You see, the Jews had the law. They had the law. They had the
guidelines, but the Gentiles didn't have it. The law was written
on the heart. I was Trying to explain this
to Vicki the other night, see if I made sense. I like to explain
things to her, see if it makes any sense at all. She gets it,
and I'm trying to, you know, I can maybe say it from here.
But they only had the law written on the heart. Think what society
would be like if the law was not written on the heart. No conscience. It's unbelievable,
I mean, I mean, absolutely anything goes
if the law wasn't written on their heart. But they didn't
have the law written down like the Jews have. So much of this is new to them.
It's like they've been set free, and this is the way I see it.
I see a slave set free for the first time, who's known nothing
but slavery, and for the first time they're set free. Now what? We're set free from the dominion
of sin, from the power of sin, from the reigning power. Sin
reigns in us like a king sitting on a throne, that old nature.
We're set free from it, but we're still under the power. We are
the prisoner now of Jesus Christ. Willing, willing prisoner, willing
bond slave, aren't we? We're willing bond slaves. We
have a new master. We have a new teacher, and it's
grace. He teaches us by his grace. We'll
get into that in just a minute. But anyway, here he says, you
young men likewise exhort to be sober-minded in all things,
in everything, showing thyself, Titus, John, you show yourself
in everything a pattern of good works. A pattern. What's a pattern?
It's what you make everything to. It's what you make everything
else to. Young believers read you far
more than they read the Word of God. In other words, it's like this.
Let me see if I can come up with an example here. I may not fully
understand what justification means, but I do understand what
an unkind word means. Now understand that. They read you more than they would probably
read the Word of God. They read your example. I know you've heard this. I've
said this. Well, so and so does it. That doesn't mean it's right. That doesn't mean it's right.
Here's what's right, the Word of God. Now, he said, you set
your pattern to the Word of God. That's what he's saying to him
there. In all things, show thyself a pattern of good works, in doctrine,
uncorruptness. That has everything to do with
me standing here. Uncorrupt in doctrine. When I
preach the gospel, I preach that God chose, and Christ died for
them, and the Holy Spirit regenerates them, and man's totally depraved. That's sound doctrine, because
that's sound in the Scriptures. Show indoctrinate, show an uncorruptness,
show gravity, show sincerity. This one convicts me, because
my second calling could be a comedian. I mean, I could be a stand-up
comedian. There ain't no doubt about it. Doris told me one time
that I had missed my calling. We were at Bob Coffey's house,
Terry Elliott, which you all don't know, most of you don't. We had a Terry Elliott roast.
It was his birthday. And there were several of us
gathered there for his birthday, so we got up and we had something
to say about Terry, and I went I went goofy. And after that,
Doris said, you missed your calling. I could be goofy. I could be
a comedian. And I really have to work on
keeping it in check, standing in this pulpit. I do. You don't
know how much I work on it. Because things just pop in my
mind like that. And I have to catch myself. I
say, I don't need to say that, even while I'm preaching. Show gravity, sincerity, not
morbid. Now I don't stand up here and
I'm not morbid and woe is me, but gravity and sincerity. Sound speech that can't be condemned. Preaching the gospel according
to the word of God in such a way, it can't be condemned. That he
that is of the contrary part may be ashamed. He doesn't have
anything evil to say about you. He can't find, Pilate said, I
find no fault in the man. Now I know we have our faults,
I know that. I know that. But we don't have
to let them out. We don't have to turn them out. Sound in doctrine, that's the
foundation for our conduct. Sound speech, it can't be condemned.
This applies to me. You know, I like what Solomon
said. I think of this from time to time in preaching. In Ecclesiastes
12.10, Solomon said, the preacher sought to find out acceptable
words. Gospel words, biblical words,
sound speech. The preacher sought to find out
acceptable words. That which was written was upright,
even words of truth. When I stand here, I seek to
find words of truth from the word of truth and exhort servants
to be obedient to their masters as unto the Lord. You see, believers live by a
different standard. We don't live by the standard
of the world, not at all. And then I come to verse 10,
not pure loaning, not stealing, not embezzling. And it means
pure loaning is stealing small stuff. Well, they won't miss
it. What's that got to do with it?
Now listen, the same heart that steals the small is the same
that steals the big. There's no difference in the
heart. But showing all good fidelity, integrity, showing integrity
that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior and all things.
This was so new to the Christians. It was so new. They had lived
in such debauchery. They had lived in such sinfulness
and just wretchedness. And now, God has saved some of
them. And by their lives, their neighbors
watched them. They don't go to the same place
with them no more. Because God has saved them by
His grace. He has saved them. Now what is
it to adorn the doctrine of God our Savior? What is it to do
that? What's he talking about? Well,
first of all, it's all of the above that's just mentioned.
But here, I believe it's found in the fruit of the Spirit. It's
not dressing up and looking better and just putting on a show. That's not it. That's not it. Henry said that the same person
is a hypocrite whether he's in a suit or a bathing suit. He's
the same. This is not changing anything.
But here, I think, is where the fruit
of the Spirit is found. It's found in the Love, joy, peace, long-suffering,
gentleness, goodness, peace. You notice the personal mention
of love? Because I tell you this, without love, faith is a shame. Also, I'm nothing but a sound
of grass in the kitchen. Scripture says, he that loves
not knows not love. Paul tells us in Ephesians chapter
4 verse 15 to preach the truth, to preach the truth, preach doctrine
and love. And then joy. Of all people,
of all people who should have great joy, Being redeemed is cause for great
joy. I've been saved. We ought to be peacemakers. We
ought to go out of our way to make peace. As much as is possible
to live peacefully with all men. We ought to be known as peacemakers.
We ought to be known as examples of peace in the tribe. And I think with this word peace
is this. This defines peace to me probably
more than any other word. God be with us. Paul said over in Ephesians 4.32,
Be ye kind one to another. Be known for kindness. Then goodness. Goodness, like
God. God is good. You want to be like
God? Be good to Him. But let us not miss this. This
is the experience of grace. When Paul writes to Timothy,
you go home this week, you read Timothy, you read Titus, and
you read what Paul wrote to those two men about directing the congregation
and teaching the people of God. It has a whole other view. And then faith, through the spirit,
last of all, faith, faith in God, Christ, the gospel. Scripture
says the just shall live by faith. The just shall live day by day. This will define their life. The things that we have of God
in salvation are the things we adorn the gospel with. The fruit
of the Spirit. And the basis for such living
is the grace of God. In verse 11, for the grace of
God that bringeth salvation. Salvation came to us. Salvation
came to the creed. Salvation came by grace. If anyone did not merit the favor
of God, it was them, us, Gentiles. It bringeth salvation. It hath appeared to all men,
all sorts of men. At one time, the Pharisees, the
Jews, believed it was just to that little nation. But here,
it's to all nations. It's to people all over the world.
And here, listen, grace is a teacher. The grace of God that brought
salvation to us through the gospel teaches us. What does it teach
us? It teaches us doctrine. It teaches
how God can be a just God and a Savior. It teaches us doctrine.
It also teaches us how to do it. It teaches us that denying
ungodliness and worldly lust, we should live soberly, righteously,
and godly in this present world. As we live, we hope and we look
for our Lord's glorious appearance. As we live out our lives under the power of His Resurrected
Body, we look for His glorious appearance. and the glorious appearance of
the great God and our Savior. Notice how he connects God and
our Savior as Jesus Christ. He calls the great God, our Savior,
Jesus Christ. We're looking for him. This is
how we spend our lives. We spend our lives living by
faith, looking and hoping in His salvation and looking for
His appearance. You know, I know we get so caught
up in making daily what we call living, we get so caught up that
we forget to look. We forget to look. We're looking for someone to
come and get us. We're looking for His appearance.
And the reason for such godly living We're looking for Him who has
saved us, called us by His grace, given us a new life, a new way. He gave Himself for us, that
He might redeem us from all iniquity, purifying Himself, a peculiar
people, zealous of good work, zealous of a godly life. But I want to leave, and I know
everyone here at the League of Governors, you want to leave
in a way that it is going. But when the neighbors of those
who were saved in Creek, they're like, hey, you want to go here?
You want to? And they're like, no. No, I'm not going down there. They're like, wow. Really? Really? I had a friend say to me one
time, and I said, He's saved, He's redeemed us
from all iniquity, He purified to Himself a peculiar people,
He's made us holy, He's sanctified us, He's made us holy, but now
listen. Don't miss this part. The ones
whom He say they're zealous, they're just there. They're zealous
for a godly life. I don't want to live like that
anymore. I don't want to live like I used to. I don't want. These things, He says, speak.
and exhort and rebuke with all authority that no man despises
it. If there's one thing, one of
the things that I want as I continue to preach, I pray the Lord give
me I pray, I pray that God will
enable us to enjoy the gospel.