Let's ask our Lord's blessing
tonight. Our Father, as we call upon you
tonight, we do so in the name of the Lord Jesus, the only name
in which we can approach you. We pray that you'd bless the
services tonight. We pray for those, Lord, that
not only in our midst, but in the midst of our sister assemblies
that are sick. Lord, have mercy. Lord, we know
you work all things after the counsel of your own will. Teach
us to wait on you, to trust you, and Lord, forgive us where we
failed you for Christ's sake. Amen. Let's take our Bibles and turn
Back to the book of Titus, Titus chapter 2. We looked at the first five verses
of this blessed book last time. As I was reading this chapter,
Titus chapter 2. I realized that the Lord was
pleased through the Apostle Paul to reveal some things that God's
people are blessed to know and love. The Apostle Paul was moved upon
by God's Spirit to write a major portion of the New Testament. And Almighty God moved upon Paul
to expound not only those things that we love, the doctrine of
grace, one doctrine, the doctrine of grace. Doctrine of God's love,
God's sovereignty, God's mercy to sinners. But through Paul,
look how much we've learned concerning God's electing, adopting, predestinating
grace. What he taught us through the
book of Ephesians and these blessed books. And this preserving grace. Mercy of God concerning His second
coming in the book of Thessalonians. The sure return of our Lord and
our meeting Him in the air. The saints that died in the faith
before, we won't prevent them, precede them. They'll meet Him
first. How would we know that? Except
the Lord be pleased to teach us Through these scriptures he
moved upon this man to write these things down. This man was
one that the scripture says was caught up to the third heaven. He was caught up into paradise. That was the very place that
the Lord told the thief, he said, today you'll be with me in paradise. Now you think about that. A dying thief, and I'm sure,
I'm sure. The Lord died. The Lord gave
up the ghost. That dying thief had his legs
broken. They just took a big club and
broke his legs. He couldn't hold himself up and
he suffocated. But he had God's word. He said,
today, today, today, you're going to be with me. Well, not only
was the Spirit of God pleased to reveal these blessed eternal
truths through this man and many other like him that penned these
scriptures. But also the Apostle Paul was
taught by the Spirit of God some things concerning the daily walk
of God's people, the evidences of that regeneration, life from
above. So with Paul, the most glorious
and eternal truths of God's indescribable revelation of His sovereignty,
His purpose to have mercy and compassion on whomsoever He will,
all of those blessed truths never eliminated the importance of
the humblest of all duties in this life. Paul wrote with thankfulness,
enthusiasm, and forthrightness with the same love for the scriptures
when he was telling us about election as he was telling us
about our walk in this life. There's no difference. In fact,
this last verse in Titus chapter 2. Listen to these things. I'll
say some things on this in a minute, but these things that we're getting
ready to look at, these things speak and exhort and rebuke with
all authority and let no man despise thee. He said, what I've
been taught by the Lord, the Lord has given me some instruction
to tell Titus. You preach these things. You
tell my people these things right here. Last time we looked at
this, I'm going to just touch on those first five very, very
quickly, and then we'll go right into verse 6. Last time in verse
1, Paul had told the apostles, told Titus, he said, you speak
thou the things which become sound doctrine. You speak the
sound doctrine of the gospel, those things which are befitting
and identify God's people in their walk. You preach the soundness
of the doctrine, but you also set forth that mark or that character
that will be exhibited in those that hear from the heart. Then
he said in verse 2, that the aged men be sober, that is that
they be watchful, that they be vigilant. Grave, that is reverent
and spiritually serious. You tell these aged men be temperate,
that is, sound and self-controlled and moderate in their passions,
sound in faith, in charity, in patience, that is, healthy, spiritually
healthy according to the Scriptures, in what they believe, faithful,
in love for Christ and His people, and examples of consistency in
the truth. Paul said, you set forth the
truth of the gospel, and you tell them what the marks of a
believer are. You tell them. You set forth
that truth. Then in verse 3, he said, the
aged women likewise, that they be in behavior as becometh holiness. Not false accusers, not given
to much wine, teachers of good things. You tell those aged women,
let them be reverent and proper in their demeanor as believing,
holy women. Made so by the grace of God. You tell them to not be slanderers,
not be false accusers, don't be enslaved to whine, but teachers
of good things. God honoring things by example
and word. Then he said in verse 4, that
they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands,
to love their children. Now this sober here is to be
wise and prudent in purity. He said, I want you to tell the
aged women, those that have sat under the gospel, you teach these
young women. You teach them. You teach them
to be pure. Teach them to be sound and discreet
and self-controlled in their opinion and in their passion.
You teach them to love their husbands. Now, you know, I read
these things and I think, as I told you last Wednesday, you
know, Brother Henry, somebody asked him, said, are these things
that God's people should know or do they need to be taught
these things? And Henry said, yes. Yes. We need to hear them. We need to be told these things.
Somebody said, well, I don't think I need to be told how to
walk. Well, the Spirit of God says
differently. Yeah, we do need to be told.
God's people are set forth to be examples. These aged women,
you teach the young women. You teach these young women.
Teach these young women to be sober. You teach them to be discreet. You teach them to love their
husbands. You tell them to love their husbands, and you tell
them the importance, the significance, and the picture of that marriage.
You remind them. Whenever they come and there's
problems in their marriage, they got a squabble going on. Well,
don't feed that thing. Don't tell them, say, wait a
minute. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold it. Listen. This marriage right
here is a picture of Christ and His bride. You teach them to
love their husbands. You teach them the significance
that Christ is the head and that the church is the bride. You
teach them to love their children. Well, all parents love their
children. All mothers love their children.
You teach them to love their children by teaching them the
scriptures. They're not going to want to
hear. They're not going to want to. They're not going to want
to. You teach them. Say, listen now, I'm going to
read to you. I'm going to read this to you
and I'm going to tell you something. You get them and keep them under
the sound of the gospel. Love your children. This is the
best thing you could do. There's nothing that's more important
than this. Most important thing that you
could do, teach them the Word. That's what Timothy's mama and
his grandma did. He taught him those scriptures
that makes him wise unto salvation. God blessed it. He said, you
teach these older women to teach these younger women. You teach
them to love their children. When it comes to loving their
children, you teach them by faithfully disciplining them with corporal
punishment. It's the right thing to do. I've told you before, they want
to know where the lines are. They do. They want to know. Then he said in verse 5, teach
these younger women to be discreet, sound in mind, moderate in passion,
that they might be on guard. Now listen, teach these younger
women. The older women, Older men, but
he's talking about older women right now. But listen now, some
of you older women that are instructed, and we're getting ready to talk
about the men and just say, I'm getting ready to get in verse
6, but right now I'm still in verse 5. He said, you older women
that have been there, you've been here, you've gone through
some things, you've learned some things, you've seen some things,
and you've picked up a few things. You teach these younger women
to be discreet, to keep their eyes open for things that might
lead to problems because of a lack of discretion. You tell them. You keep your eyes open. Not everybody that walks through
your life has got your best at heart. You teach them that. You teach them to be chaste,
clean, innocent, modest, and pure. You tell them. You tell
them. Mothers, you tell your girls.
Dads, you tell your boys the same thing. You teach them. You older women, you teach these
younger women to be keepers at home, that is, keepers of their
houses. I told you the example. Yesterday we were up at Jeff
and Jessica's. I'm going to tell you this, and
I'm not trying to be funny. I'm not trying to be funny. I'm
going to tell you right now. But I was watching the ladies while
we were up there. They were preparing the meal.
And I just kind of watched them, and everybody, they were just
kind of doing like this, and they were doing this, and this
would go here, and this one washing over here, and this one was taking
stuff out. And I thought to myself, If men were doing that right
there, if that was me and Chuck and Jeff, it would be a mess. It would be a mess. Because women
have that ability, but they've been taught. You ladies that came up under
some of the aged women that have now the Lord's taken home, look
what you learned by watching them around here. They take you
over there in that fellowship hall and they taught you how
to cook, they taught you how to do stuff, and you watch them,
teach them that. Teach them to be keepers at home. Teach them to be good. That is
kind and a benefit to the home. Good natured, kind hearted. Now I'm going to just tell you
the way it is. When Mama is not at home, things
just don't run as smoothly. Now that's just the truth. That's
just the way it is. If Mama is not there, that was
her place. I'm not saying that she can't
do something out of the house. I'm not saying that. What I'm
saying is, her responsibility is the one that keeps that home
in sync, and you know what I'm saying. Mark, we couldn't do
it. Mama, but you teach them. Teach them to be obedient to
their own husband. What does that mean? Adapting
and submissive to their own husband, the one who loves her, is providing
for her, doing all that he can for her best, putting her up
on a pedestal. Guarding her character. Watching
out for her. Be obedient to adapt yourself
to Him. And why? The Scripture says that
the Word of God be not blasphemed. That the Word of God be not exposed
to reproach. The Lord has made men and women
the way they are. And I'm not saying that men can't
do anything in the house, but I'll tell you this, they just
don't do it as well as far as I can tell. That's just the way it is. Now
tonight we want to pick up, now that's where I was last week.
Tonight let's just pick up right here in verse 6. And then young
men, likewise, exhort to be sober-minded. Now just as the aged women or
to give good, sound, scriptural instruction to the younger women.
Titus, here as the pastor, and those aged men, those elders
in the church, within the congregation, those that have been taught by
God through the Word and have exhibited a walk of consistency,
you instruct the younger man to be sober-minded. The margin
in my Bible says to be discreet. That is, behave wisely that is
in agreement with that which is consistently preached. We
learn from each other. This is the way the Lord set
forth the order of the body. He's raised up some men and raised
up some women. He's taught them under the gospel.
And as the younger ones come up, we have a responsibility. Younger women, you are to be
taught and to be submissively listening and learning. Younger
men, same way. Learn by watching their example. You teach them to be sober minded. That is wisely taking life seriously. This life is a vapor. Be serious about it. Look at
verse 8, verse 7 and 8. In all things showing thyself
a pattern. He's talking to Titus now. Now
Titus, it's what I'm telling you. You're the pastor. And Paul's
writing him a letter. You and those aged men with you,
in all things, showing thyself a pattern of good work. Now you
know what a pattern is. A pattern. You know? Like I said,
I remember my mama making dresses. And she'd take a pattern, you
know? She'd lay some cloth on it, she'd
put some pins in it, and I'd just watch it. I'd watch what
she'd do. She'd cut it out. There was a dress. And it worked. She had to go right by that pattern,
though. But Paul is saying, in all things,
showing thyself a pattern of good works in doctrine, showing
uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity, sound speech that cannot be condemned,
And he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed, having no
evil thing to say of you. Paul here is given instruction
and he's warning Titus about Titus' own conduct. That's what he's saying in verse
7. He's talking about Titus being a pattern. In all things show
in thyself a pattern of good works. of God's grace, if that fruit
of God's grace is not obvious in the life of the instructor,
of the one that's doing the teaching, the doctrine that he teaches
is going to have little influence, little authority over the one
that's being taught. I had an uncle down in New Orleans,
an Uncle Brad, He'd sit me, I'd go and we'd sit down and talk.
We'd talk for hours. And he'd tell me stuff. One of
the things I remember him saying was he said, you know, what people
do outwardly, speak so loud, he said, you don't even hear
what they're saying. What they do. You want to know what a man,
what a woman believes? Watch what they do. That's what
they believe. Not what they say. what they
do. He said, Titus, in all things
you show yourself a pattern. You show yourself to be an example
of good work. You present yourself a model
of faithfulness. It's the most disappointing thing
when you see somebody that you love and you respect And they
do something that just disappoints you. And they might not even
recognize or realize they did it. But you see it. And you think, oh, it disappointed
me. Well, they're just a sinner just
like I am. But the thing about it is, Paul
is telling Titus, Titus, you're the pastor. You older men, you're
the older men. You older women, you're the older
women. And those younger ones, they're watching. They're listening,
but they're watching. And like I said, they hear what
you say. But what you do carries so much
more weight than what you say, you know. He said, you let your
teaching, Titus, you let it be sound speech, healthy, pure,
incorruptible. You teach that which cannot be
condemned. Unblameable. How do you do that?
You stick with Scriptures. You stay with God's Word. You
speak those things that men can't find fault with according to
the Word of God. You remember when we were going
through the book of Revelation and I told you this, I said,
now look, we're going to go through these Scriptures and if I can't
back up what I'm saying with Scripture, well then I'm not
going to say it. Because too many people's got
an opinion. Everybody's got an opinion. It doesn't matter. It
don't matter. What does the Scriptures say? So he said, Titus, you set
forth, verse 8, sound speech which cannot be condemned that
is of the contrary part. It doesn't agree with you. It
might be ashamed having no evil thing to say about you. They
might not like what you say. But if you can back it up with
the Word of God, you stick to it. You stick with it. Stick to your guns. And then
the Holy Spirit gives instruction through Paul to Titus for the
glory of God for those that work for somebody else. As I was reading
this chapter, I thought, you know what? Oh, how needful it
is. I love preaching on God's sovereignty,
electing grace, redeeming grace. regenerating, keeping grace,
teaching grace. But I'm telling you, I think,
as I began to read these scriptures here the other day, I thought,
these things are so needful to be said. They're so needful.
The Spirit of God wrote them. Why wouldn't they be needful?
He says in verse 9, He said, You exhort servants to be obedient
unto their own masters. and to please them well in all
things, not answering again." Now, you know this. I'm going to say it anyway, but
you know this. This is for those who are working
for somebody else. You got a job. You were hired
to do a job. And those who are the employers
are the ones who hired the workers to do a job. And the ones who
writes the checks are the employers. And the ones that are to be in
submission to are the employees. So here's the believers' work
ethic. If you have been hired by somebody
else to do a job, you be submissive and obedient to those who have
given you a job, because the one that ultimately gave you
the job was the Lord. And He's the one that puts you
exactly where you are. If you're working for somebody,
You have that job by the direct decree of God Almighty, He who
worketh all things, all things, after the counsel of His own
will. You're there for a reason. You're in the position you are by God's decree. God purposed
you to be there. I don't know why, but I can tell
you this, the Lord puts you there. You didn't just happen to get
that job, the Lord worketh all things after the council. So you be submissive and you
be obedient to those that are over you. You seek to please
them according to your job description, without any back talk, without
any contradiction or sarcasm or grumbling. There's no place,
there's no place in the workforce for a believer that's working
for somebody else to be grumbling about his job. God gave you a job. And whatever you're paid to do,
this is what Paul is saying, exhort servants to be obedient. If your boss tells you to take
a broom and go out there and sweep the street in front of
him, grab the broom, that's not in my job description. Does he
write you a check? then you do whatever He told
you to do. And going over here to Sam or
Frank or Harry and grumbling about it, exhort servants to
be obedient unto their own masters and to please them well in all
things. Not answering again. Don't argue with them. Don't
argue with them. The boss may not always be right,
but you know the next part. He's always the boss. If there's
something that you disagree with, do your job. If there's something
immoral or contrary to God's Word and it's revealed and you
feel, I just can't do this, I can't do this and be obedient to the
Word of God, you're asking me to do something that's immoral.
No, I don't want to go with you this Friday night out on the
town and do what you're wanting to do. If you don't want to do
that, don't do it. If He tells you, unless you do
it, unless you show up for this, then I'm going to tell you something,
you're going to be fired. Well, then be fired. If it's contrary to the Word
of God, but if it's not, then do it, and do it as unto the
Lord. But if you're hired to do something,
you get paid to do it, do it with all your heart, and do it,
To please the one that's paying your check, but ultimately you're
doing it for the glory of Almighty God. And then next in verse 10,
he continues, not purloining. What does that mean? Don't steal
from him. That's what it means. Don't take
or apply anything that belongs to them, to the boss, to the
company, for your own personal use, it's not yours. It's not yours. You didn't buy
it. You didn't buy it. That belongs
to your boss. Don't steal from the one that
has hired you. Show good fidelity. Prove yourself
to be a loyal, reliable, faithful employee. You indicate in word and in deed
that which the Lord has imparted within you. A persuasion of godly
conviction, a reliance upon Christ, let that be the evidence of your
behavior. Why? Why are we admonished to
do these things? Why? Why? Merely because it's
just, you know, Well, I just don't want to get in trouble,
or I'm doing it for the praise of men, or I'm making some brownie
points with the boss. No. Many, many do things like
that. But we do that which we do for
the sake of Him who loved us and gave Himself for us. That's
what we're doing. We're doing it as unto the Lord. Look at verse 11. For the grace
of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men." God's
grace. That same grace that I was telling
you about that puts you where you are. That's where the Lord
puts you. That same grace by which God's
people are called out of the darkness of sin and unbelief.
Grace by which men and women have been enlightened by the
Spirit of God. Life of God has been imparted
to them, and now that grace has been shown, not to everybody
without distinction, not without any impartiality or anything,
but all men, that is, Jew, Gentile, bond-free, male, female, bosses,
servants. God that gave you the job also
put that boss over you too. He may be the hardest person
for you to deal with. God put him there. God put him
there. I remember an old preacher telling
me one time, he said, I'll tell you one thing. He said, if somebody's
got a problem with love, he said, he'll put somebody in your life
that's so unlovely. God will teach you. Lord will
teach you. I tell you what, we may have
a problem with submission. God will give us a boss, Mark,
that we just can't hardly submit to. We will. We will. He said, but you do this for
the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all
men. I want you to hold your place
and turn to Ephesians 6. Ephesians chapter 6, verses 5
to 9. Ephesians 6, 5 to 9. Paul's got
something to say to the church at Ephesus about this. Ephesians
6, 5 to 9. Be obedient to them that are
your masters according to the flesh with fear and trembling
in singleness of your heart as unto Christ. Now here's what
he said. When you are in submission to your boss, it is as you are
being in submission to Christ. Now that's how serious it is. Not with eye service. As men
pleasers. As long as the boss is there,
you know, I'm going to go ahead and look busy. If I know he's
going to be gone for the afternoon, I could probably get this done
in an hour and a half, but I'll stretch her out as far as I can
go. Or I'll just sit around, we'll
just talk or something. Not with our service as men pleasers,
but as the servants of Christ. Doing the will of God from the
heart. See, this takes on a completely different twist. When you realize,
when you clock in, I'm telling you, you're doing this for the
glory of God. That's what Paul is saying to
the church there at Ephesus. That's what he was saying to
Titus. If a man is paying you for 8 hours of work, then you
give him 8 hours of work. Don't see just how little can
you get done. And we've all seen it. And sad
to say, there's none of us that's guiltless. With good will, doing service,
ask to the Lord and not to men. When somebody says, well, I tell
you what, he ain't worthy for me to have to bust it for him.
Paul said, you do this as to the Lord, and not to men, knowing
that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he
receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free. And you masters, now see he's
been on talking to the workers. Now he's going to talk to the
men, women that's in over. And you masters, you do the same
things unto them for bearing threatenings, knowing that your
Master also is in heaven, neither is there respective persons with
Him. You got somebody working for
you? I mean, don't see how hard you can make it on Him, browbeating
Him. You remember this, we all have a Master in heaven. How has He treated us? How has
He been merciful to us? Gracious to us, and then back
in Titus, verses 12 to 14, teaching us that denying ungodliness and
worldly lust, we should live soberly, righteously, godly in
this present world, looking for that blessed hope and the glorious
appearing of the great God and our Savior, Jesus Christ, who
gave himself for us. that He might redeem us from
all iniquity and purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous
of good works. Paul says, Titus, that grace
that teaches us from a heart that longs to reject wickedness
and corrupt devices, that grace that moves God's people to live,
in this world reverently, with restraint on our passions in
this world, to do what we do as unto the Lord, recognizing
that we're not islands in this world. God has put us here for
His glory and our good. He's sustaining us. We look unto
Him and do what we do as unto Him. And we do this all the while,
looking in anticipation for His second coming. Very shortly. Very, very shortly. The trump of God is going to
sound. The dead in Christ will rise. We'll beat them in the
air. And we'll forever be with the Lord. Changed. Changed. In
a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. Now let me ask you this. This vapor, this vapor of a life
is down here. Can we not be taught by God's
Word as His Spirit teaches us? Let us be seeking after, to walk
in this world as patterns of what God Almighty has done for
us. to treat one another, treat our
bosses, and bosses treat your employees with some respect in
anticipation of the second coming of Christ. Him who is the foundation
of our hope, the hope of glory, and when we see Him, we'll be
like Him. We look unto Him who gave Himself
for us, His people. I have that thought. I'm doing
this as unto the One who gave Himself for me. Man, I tell you,
that whole day will look different. If God gives me that understanding,
gave Himself to redeem me from the iniquity of guilt and bondage
of sin, And soon to take me, not only has He relieved me from
the bondage of it, soon I'll be relieved from the presence
of it. Let me do what I do is unto Him. The people, zealous of good works,
a peculiar people, a special people, that's what peculiar
means, a special people of God's choosing. Peculiar people who
are the recipients of that redeeming, regenerating love. Mercy of God. And then Paul says,
and this is where I started in verse 15. Now he says to Timothy,
he says, now Timothy, these things that I've told you, what do we
do with them? He said, you speak them. You
speak them. And you exhort. And you rebuke. Doesn't the Word of God rebuke
us? I mean, it's the Word of God
that rebukes us. It's the Word of God that exhorts
us. Rebuke with all authority. What authority has God? Here
it is right here. What authority do I have to say
the things I've said tonight? Who do you think He is? Getting
up there. Here's the authority right here.
I'm the messenger. I didn't write this, but I tell
you what I've been instructed to do. I've been instructed to
speak it and exhort and rebuke with all authority and let no
man despise you. What does he mean by that? Well,
he said, if somebody says, well, I just don't think we need that
kind of instruction, Paul said, don't let anybody say that you
don't have that instruction to do that. that no man despise
what you're saying. We need to be taught, don't we?
We do need to be taught. I want to hear. Tell me again
of God's sovereign grace. Remind me what I am in Christ. Tell me what God's done for me
from before the foundation of the world. But when I come to
these scriptures where Paul exhorts, teaches, instructs us in this
life right there, Paul said, you speak that. and you rebuke
with all authority and don't let anybody say anything to you
about it. I pray God bless this to our heart for Christ's sake.
Amen.