We looked into this chapter already
once, and we saw how that everything really revolves around the teaching
of the Gospel, the declaration of the Gospel. In chapter 1,
it speaks of the way the Gospel is to be preached, and who it
is that should preach it. It talks about the qualifications
that the Lord gives. to those he sends to preach.
But the central theme is the preaching itself. The reason
he's talking about the preacher is because of the importance
of the preaching. Did you notice when Brother Gene
read a while ago, there's a reason your behavior, what you do, the
decisions you make are to be made so that the word of God
be not blasphemed. You see that? That's why God
sends who he sends. That's why God sends a man like
Brother Gene. And I don't want to embarrass
Brother Gene. As the Apostle Paul said, there's not a man
alive, especially God's preachers, that's worth shooting. We're
nothing. All of us are nothing. And the
preachers he chose are the least among us. He chose deliberately
the base and the foolish. He chose fisherman and tax collector
and just the offscouring of the earth. But we have a treasure
in this vessel. And it's the Word of God. And
the reason I point out Brother Gene is you probably noticed
that even when he's not quoting Scripture, he's quoting Scripture.
His very language is the Word of God. That's in our text. Hold
fast the faithful word. That word hold fast means to
cleave to. It means to lay hold of. It means to love it. Like you
would lay hold of a dear friend. Like you would treasure a relationship. That's how precious this word
is. And clearly the Lord has blessed Brother Gene in that
way. And again, I don't want to embarrass him. That's just
the ones that the Lord sends. That's just who he sends. But
you see that the theme of it is the word itself. And then
in verse 2, he talks about not so much the preachers, but all
of us. Chapter 2, I mean. How we're to act. How we're to behave. And there
again, it's that God's Word be not blasphemed. Behave in a manner
consistent with the Gospel that you claim to lay hold of. In a way that's honoring to the
Lord Jesus Christ, who is Himself the incarnate Word. And so, as
we've seen this, we've seen that theme, haven't we? In the very
beginning of chapter 2, speak thou the things which become,
or which are appropriate to sound doctrine. And then, of course,
we saw that holding fast the faithful word is applicable to
every bit of it in verse 9 of chapter 1, holding fast the faithful
word. And that applies to everything
written before. Be sober, holding fast the faithful
word. Be the husband of one wife, holding
fast the faithful word. Be diligent and true and honest
and all of these things in your holding fast of the faithful
word. And then in chapter two, as he read, do everything you
do so that God's word would be glorified. All right. So we see
again in verses 11 and 12, look at verse 11 and 12. We saw this
last time. Also the grace of God that bring
us salvation has appeared to all men teaching. Two things
are told us here about God's grace. And this is the God of
grace. God's grace is not some entity
floating around in the air. He's talking about the God of
grace. The God of grace. What does he do? He appears.
He got to make himself manifest to you first before he can teach
you. Because you're unteachable by
nature. You're not going to get anything by nature. Remember
what Paul said? The things of God to the unbeliever,
to those who are not chosen, not called, are foolishness and
they can't know them. They can't know them because
these things are spiritually discerned. Unless you're born
of the Spirit of God, you have no spiritual discernment. But
we, he said in that context, have the mind of Christ. That's
how we're able to understand. We're born again of that blessed
Spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ. His grace appears and it teaches
us. We're taught some things. And
one of the things emphasized here in this chapter that I want
to focus primarily on this morning that we're taught is concerning
doctrine. As he read, you saw it three
times. And this is interesting because the word doctrine, you
know what it means? It means teaching. It means teaching. It's just
that's what the word is. And so, what this chapter is
telling us, one of the things it's telling us, is that grace
has taught us to teach. Isn't that right? It's taught us to be sound in
our doctrine. To hold fast the faithful word
of God, which is our doctrine now. And that's one of the things
I want Talk about when paul wrote this there was no doubt in anybody's
mind then who read this letter That paul wrote to titus anybody
who read it then Knew that when he said doctrine he meant the
things that christ had taught them He meant the the very words
of christ when he gave us the commission didn't he say teaching
all men's men the things i've commanded you And so everybody
knew that then the doctrine it's called in second john 1 9 the
doctrine of christ Okay, listen to Timothy 6 3 first Timothy
6 3 if any man teach otherwise and consent not to wholesome
words Even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ and to the doctrine
which is according to godliness the very words of Christ That's
our doctrine So when Paul said doctrine, there was no question
exactly what he was talking about that then. But after our Lord
left this earth and the apostles began to die out and those taught
by the apostles began to die out, the so-called Catholic Church. The so-called church began to
organize and corrupt the simple gospel of Christ. The words of
Christ, the teachings of our Savior. And began to feel a need
to determine and write down what God meant by what He said. Now
I've told you before, I don't need somebody to tell me what
God meant by what He said. Just tell me what God said. Because
I'm pretty sure He meant what He said. But rather than just
declare what he said, they would convene these synods and councils
so that they could determine what God meant by what he said.
The first council of Nicaea was held in 325 A.D. And according
to what I could research a little bit, there had apparently been
20 synods convened before that by the Roman Catholic so-called
church. So this started just a couple
hundred years after our Lord left this earth. As I said, the
apostles began to die out and those taught by them began to
die out. Men began to start defining the words of Christ instead of
just declaring what Christ said. Statements of doctrine were written
as these geniuses deemed worthy, which were supposed to be as
binding and authoritative as the word of God itself. We're talking about doctrine
now. And the reason I point this out, what I'm saying right now
is because usually when people use the word doctrine nowadays,
they don't even mean God's word anymore. They mean what their
denomination has deemed to be the word of God. The question in what passed for
the church eventually was not so much what did Christ teach
as what did the fathers say? You know it and I know it if
you've done any studying of church history at all. It's what did
the fathers say? That's these idiots that convened
together and decided to declare what God meant by what he said.
That's who they're talking about. Can I ask you a question? Do
you really care what the father said when we have the word of
God himself? Does it make any difference what
the father said? Is that what we're going to go
by? And there have been many doctrinal systems recorded since
then, and people adhere to and defend one or another of them,
insomuch that when they use the word doctrine, now they're not
even talking about God's Word anymore. They're referring to
their system, their doctrinal statement, their systematic theology.
You name me your favorite one. Tell me what your favorite one
is, and I'll show you the error in it. I know enough about them
to know that. So if you ever hear me say something
derogatory about doctrine, that's what I'm talking about, not the
Word of God. You can't make too much of the doctrine of Christ.
You can't overemphasize the Scriptures, the Word of God. That's what
Paul was talking about when he says doctrine three times in
this passage. And he said that we are to hold
forth sound doctrine. We are to be uncorrupt in our
doctrine. In other words, don't let anything
creep in. and water it down. Don't add anything to it. Uncorrupt. And we are to adorn the doctrine. And so when we see that word
in this verse, we're not talking about our denominational statement
of faith. We're talking about the word
of Christ, the doctrine of Christ. The scriptures are true doctrine.
You can't make too much of it. You can't study them too much.
As Paul said in this book, God's people love and hold fast the
trusty word of God. That's what that word, faithful,
it's trusty. I don't much trust anything that
a man wrote unless I can go right to the word of God and say, this
is according to God. He said what God said. Men's written arguments about
the word of God, not so trusty. Be careful. In fact, you're to
examine them to make sure. Because if what they say is not
according to the word of this prophecy, it's because God hadn't
given them any light. There's no light in them. Now think about this with regard
to this. Now, do we need the doctrines
of men? Perhaps it's important, you know,
to explain what God meant by what he said. Let me ask you
a question. Let's talk about some of the most important things
that the Lord Jesus Christ said. And I would ask you this morning,
do they need any explanation? Do they need clarification? For example, the Lord Jesus Christ,
one of the things that he said that was so unpopular, it caused
most of his disciples to leave him. The ones that left him and walked
no more with him were the many, and the few were the ones that
stayed. You remember what he said? No man can come unto me
except my father which sent me draw him to me. Do you really need me to tell you
what he meant by that? Or just declare it? And compare
it to other scripture that shows that to be true. He said you
must be born again You can't see you can't enter until you're
born from above. Isn't that saying the same thing
with a little more light? Scripture sheds light on scripture
the opinions of men don't shed light on anything Let's just emphasize That word
draw there Because it's key to the verse But I'll tell you what's
most key is the word me. Salvation is me. And the only way, not me, but
Christ, the one who said me. Let me clarify that. And the way you're saved is for
God to take you from where you are. This is what the word draw
means, to take you from where you are in your sin, in your
rebellion, in your darkness, in your not only is the truth
of God foolishness to you, but you can't possibly understand
it because it can only be discerned spiritually. God the Father going
to have to take you from there and bring you to Christ if you
come into it. Is that clear? I'm not telling you what God
meant by what I'm just expounding and emphasizing what he said.
There's a difference now. And when we see what God said,
instead of trying to figure out, what do you mean by that? Well,
I think it's kind of obvious, don't you? And so, this clear
truth should impress upon us the reality and the vital truth
that salvation is of the Lord. You see how scripture sheds light
on scripture. When our Lord said this, I laid down my life for my sheep. In John chapter 10 he said it.
And I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish. He said they know me They hear
my voice and they follow me. And then he turns to the religious
Jews that were present that day and he said, you're not my sheep. And the reason you don't believe
on me is because you're not my sheep. My sheep, they hear me. They follow me. I died for them. I shed my precious blood for
them and I give them eternal life. It's my gift to them. I
gave it to them just because I wanted to. That's what a gift
is. That's not telling you what he meant by that. That's just
defining what he said. A gift is something you give
just because you want to. If it's in response to something,
then it's a payment or an obligation. Do you need me to tell you what
he meant by that? I don't see the need, do you? I think it's
pretty clear like it is. So we are to rightly divide the
word of truth. But scripture, our Lord said,
is of no private interpretation. We are not to interpret the scriptures. It's not written in a foreign
language. God saw to it that it was written in your language.
And even when it wasn't written in the language of the people
that were hearing it, He saw to it that they heard it in their
language. He has presented his truth to
you plainly, clearly, by a man who wouldn't declare it any other
way. He qualifies the man to do that. That's why Paul said,
seeing we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech.
That's the man God sends. Because the word is so precious.
It's such a hope. It's such a vital hope. It's
such a precious hope. It's such a wonderful hope that
we dare not corrupt it. That's what holding fast the
faithful word is all about. So why would I need to explain
to you what he meant by what he said? That's like me saying
the sky today is a beautiful blue. Isn't it beautiful? Beautiful blue. That'd be like
you saying, what do you mean by that? What do you mean it's a beautiful
blue? That'd be kind of a stupid question, wouldn't it? No, the
proper response to that statement, the sky is a beautiful place.
You know what the proper response to that statement is? To look
at it. And say, you know what? It sure
is. That's the proper response to
the gospel. The gospel, it doesn't need to
be interpreted. when it's declared the proper
response is to look at Christ and say, you know what? He really
is all. He really is wonderful. He really
is all together lovely. You're right. You're right. I
see it. I see. I see Him. Now there are mysteries in the
Word of God. There are things that are not so clear to us that
God has not yet fully revealed. to me at least, but the ones,
the things in God's word that men love most to butcher and
to torture are the truths that are the most plain and the most
clear. That all sinners are completely
and helplessly corrupt. Every illustration in the Master
Gay He didn't come to people, you
know, that had a cold and said, you know, if you eat right and
rest, you know, you can get over that. No, He came to lame people
and blind people and dead people and healed them with a word. We are dead in trespasses and
sins. We are hopelessly and helplessly
corrupt and vile and wretched before God. And that's just as plain and
clear as it can be. That God's got to plumb save
us now. That we are sinking into waves
that we do not have the power to walk on. And He's got to snatch us from
the depths. And still people say, You just
need to make a decision for Jesus. God's given us another chance.
God's given us a chance. Is that what it is? The simple clear truth that God
loves from eternity and chooses who he pleases and that Christ
died to redeem those whom God loves and no one else. The simple,
there couldn't possibly be anything more plainly revealed in the
word of God. Jacob have I loved, and Esau
have I hated. Have you ever heard a statement
more plain, and yet they still say, smile, God loves you. God
loves everybody. This is not a difference of opinion
on who the horsemen of the apocalypse are. This is a satanic denial
of clear, plain Bible doctrine we're talking about. And that's
what Paul's referring to here now. The gospel is plain and
clear. It's irrefutable. And we're to
hold it fast and we're to adorn it. And we'll talk about that
if we have time in a minute. Here's another simple truth that
when God, if God loves you, didn't Paul say the purpose of God according
to election stands on this? I love you. Jacob have I loved
and Esau have I hated. And when God loves you, if he
loves you and the son of God died for you, You are saved. You are justified by that precious
blood. You are sanctified. He perfected
forever those whom he sanctified as high priest who offered his
own precious blood. He obtained eternal redemption
for somebody. You are secure under the blood,
eternally saved, unable to fall, unpluckable from the mighty hand
of Christ and his Father. That means Salvation is of the Lord. We
saw that in that no man can. And when he saves, when he redeems,
you're redeemed. His salvation is sure. That means God's means of saving
sinners. In their experience, this is
another simple, this is just plain now. God's means of saving
sinners, our experience of salvation, amounts to this. God reveals
His Son to them in His Gospel and in them by His Holy Spirit,
by the preaching of the Gospel, and draws them by the power He
said the gospel, Paul said, I'm not ashamed of God's gospel.
It's the power of God unto salvation. That's the power by which he
draws you. It's not you coming from your
house to the church. It's not you coming from the
Catholic church to the Baptist church. It's from you coming
to your sin, from your sin to the Lord Jesus Christ. And that
happens by the preaching of the gospel. It pleased God by the
foolishness of preaching to save them that believe on his gospel
preached. Now you may or may not find those
simple and profound truths, among others, in any given confession
of faith, or articles of faith, or systematic theology devised
and composed of men. But I tell you this, you'll find
them in God's Word. All through it. In the teachings of Christ. And this is why Paul considered
it important. And wrote what he did in Galatians
1. Let me read it to you. You're welcome, of course, to
turn there. Galatians chapter 1. Let's look at it together. Galatians 1.6 Galatians 1.6,
I marvel that you are so soon removed from Him that called
you into the grace of Christ and to another gospel. Which
is not another, there is no substitute, then there's no other gospel.
But there be some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel
of Christ. But though we or an angel from
heaven preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have
preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we began, as we
said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel
unto you than that you have received, Let him be accursed. For do I
now persuade men of God, or do I seek to please men? For if
I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ. But
I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached
of me is not after man. For I neither received it of
man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus
Christ. It's not after man. It's not
from man. It's not about man. So much. I'm glad we're in on
it, aren't you? Listen carefully to what our
Lord said in Matthew 15, eight. Listen to this. He said of the
religious Jews, this people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth,
And they honor me with their lips, but their heart is far
from me. You've heard that verse a bunch
of times, but this one less amount of times. But in vain do they
worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. Teaching the statutes of men,
the articles of men, the determinations of men. You see, this didn't
really start in the second century. It was already going on while
our Lord still walked this earth. And long before that, the perversion
of God's Word. Men have been doing this from
the beginning, and it's always based on God's Word. It's always
some form of God's Word. They have a form of God in this,
but they deny the authority thereof. Isn't that what happens when
you add to the Word of God, or take away from it? You're denying
the authority of Him and His Word, and taking upon yourself authority
that you do not have. Doctrine is very important. We see that in our text, don't
we? Very important. Just be sure your doctrine is
Christ's doctrine and not man's doctrine. Are books useless then? No, of course not. As long as
they expound the Word of God and compare Scripture with Scripture
and exalt Christ in the truth of Scripture, It's just preaching in print.
There's nothing wrong with that. But when men start to define
what God meant by what he said, be careful. Be warned. The truth of God, the gospel,
a little child can understand it in their head. And nobody can understand it
in their heart unless God reveals it. No man hath seen God at any
time, no man hath seen, nor hath the Father saved the Son, and
he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him. But I'll tell you
this, it's not because the Gospel's complicated and hard to understand. It's because we're blind. And
we need our eyes opened by His grace. And then we, let's look
at some of the things that that he goes on to say here, that
the aged men be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in
charity, in patience. You know, the systematic theologies
and articles of faith written by men in this world don't ever
say much about this, do they? But the Word of God says quite
a bit about it. About adorning the doctrine.
about how the doctrine not just to be agreed with, it's to be
lived. You won't find a whole lot of
that in the Philadelphia Confession of Faith or any of the other
ones. The age of men be sober, grave,
temperate, be serious, be earnest about things. And notice it says
aged men. That's not necessarily old people
just, but somebody who's been around a while. Not young men,
but the aged men here. There's a control, there's a
growth in grace to the point where there's some steadfastness. By the grace of God, by the providence
of God, by his blessing. And look at these three words
here in the last part of that verse, sounding faith, love,
that's what charity is, faith, love, and steadfastness. That's
what patience is, steadfastness. Faith, love, and steadfastness.
Constancy in those things, be reliable. In other words, whatever
you are, be that. Don't be a hypocrite. That was
one of the things that the Lord hurled into the faces of the
Pharisees. You hypocrites. You pretend to be one thing,
and you're something else. He's saying, be cold or hot,
but be it, whatever that is. Be sincere. Don't be a phony.
And don't be lukewarm. Be whatever you are, cold or
hot. Be a rock of some kind. Be steadfast, whatever you are. Don't be, if you're an aged man,
act like an aged man. Don't be a child. Children, you
see, are the opposite of these things. They're kind of this
way and then that way and indecisive and fickle. Don't be that. You know what
one of the most childish things is? One of the things that characterizes
somebody that's childish, whether they're young or old, always
be arguing or complaining about something. That's children, isn't
it? There's always a fight. We notice it more, you know,
when we're driving because they're right there behind us, you know.
Wherever they are, they're fighting somewhere. They're fighting.
We have to say, you know, don't make me come back there. Always
arguing or complaining, complaining, complaining about something.
It's one degree too cold or too hot in here, you know. Let's
complain about that. I'm a little hot right now, maybe
I'll just gripe about it. How about that? Do y'all have
any idea how many times over the years I've heard that, just
before I'm about to preach, how that the temperature's not right?
I've had some people get pretty upset about it. One man said
one time, my wife, and said it this way, my wife is freezing
to death. I'm pretty sure nobody's ever
frozen in 68 degrees. Pretty sure. Have to Google it,
back me up on it. You know, there's something very
important happening here this morning, and that ain't it. That
ain't it. And that's what our, this is
what chapter two now is emphasizing, the doctrine, the doctrine. Be
sound in doctrine. Be uncorrupt in your doctrine
and adorn the doctrine. Adorn it, don't be childish.
And the aged men teach those that are childish. You see that
in the text? And you aged women too. Teach
the young women. Because they're not these things
by nature now. It's going to take some godly
teaching to bring it about and the blessing of God. And you
know he talks about love here. Love. Be steadfast in your love. You know what the scriptures
mean when it says sound in love? That's what he's saying. You
apply that word sound to everything he said in that word. Sound in
love. Well, Paul said in Romans 12,
9, let love be without dissimulation, without hypocrisy. Be sincere
in your love. Don't don't bless someone's heart
when you're really cursing them on the inside. You might expect a child to say
I love you and then five minutes later say I hate you. But nah,
not an aged person, not a mature person. No. Not somebody who has a few years
under their belt. Not someone who the grace of
God has appeared to. You see why we're exhorted And what is sound love? Well,
it's not hypocritical. It's not phony. And also, 1 John
3.18, My little children, let us not love in word, neither
in tongue, but in deed and in truth. Love in deed. Love in what you do. You know, our Lord said, By this
shall all men know that you are my disciples, that you love one
another. How is anybody going to know
how I feel about you? By what I do. That's how. Love is the fulfillment of the
whole law. It's going to take us a while to get
through this chapter at this rate, and we're on about the
second word. Do you know why our Lord Said that in Matthew 22 that
love the whole law that the whole law and the prophets hang Love
for God and love for your neighbor all that the law and the prophets
Say hang up on that The reason he said it is because
it doesn't matter what you're talking about It doesn't matter what you talk
about is the Lord showing who it is that he has forgiven of
their sins and You know how they're identified?
How are you going to know? How can I know if Christ has
forgiven you of your sins? How can I know that? You know
how? You know how he said they'd be identified? The ones that
I forgave much will love much. Faith in Christ. Are we talking
about faith? Faith works by love. Love is the fulfillment now.
Galatians 5, 6. Are we talking about giving?
Are we talking about giving for a little while? You know what
we'll have to say? As Paul wrote to the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians
8, 7, Therefore, as you abound in everything, in faith and in
utterance and knowledge and all diligence, and in your love to
us, see that you abound in this grace also, That is giving generosity. I speak not by commandment, but
by occasion of the forwardness of others and to prove the sensitivity
of your love. Peter, do you love me? Feed my sheep. Why do you preach, Brother Gene? Do you love me? Feed my sheep. That's why. By his grace. by His grace. Are we talking
about how we treat one another? How are we supposed to treat
one another? Are we talking about that? For brethren, you have been called
unto liberty, only use not liberty for an occasion till the flesh,
but by love serve one another. Ephesians 4, 2, With all lowliness
and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love. You see what Paul is saying here?
Doctrine is more than just words on a page. True doctrine is a person. And that person lives in those to whom that doctrine is revealed. So the doctrine is known by His
grace. It's understood by His power. And it's lived
by His presence, by His Spirit. And He acknowledges, He admonishes
here the aged ones first because they are to teach the younger
ones. In verses 4, 6, and 7, He talks about the younger ones
and how they're to be taught the same thing. Same words are
used, aren't they? And these are the things that become sound
doctrine. The things that become sound
doctrine. That's what the scripture said.
To become means to stand out, to be conspicuous. You can't
hide your doctrine. How do you see sound doctrine?
What is it that stands out about somebody who is sound in their
doctrine? Is it the fact that they can recite their denominational
talking points? No, they wear their doctrine
in these ways that are revealed in this chapter of God's Word. Not by arguing. He specifically
tells us to avoid that in the same context. In chapter 3, avoid
arguments and debates and fights over the law and over points
of doctrine. No, the way that their doctrine
stands out, the way it's seen, the way it's adorned is that
they're mature and steady in their faith in Christ. Their heart is established with
grace. They're steadfast in their love for him and for his people.
They're dependable, they're reliable, they're faithful, they're honest,
they're generous, they're kind and forgiving. They obey those that God has
given the authority over them. And I'm going through these real
fast. We may go back and look at them more particularly later,
but you saw these as our brother read this chapter. And the godly women are exhorted
in verses 3 through 5. I'll be brief. I know we're going
a little bit long this morning. I got started a little late.
But godly women are keepers at home, among other things. Well, that's a strange one, isn't
it, these days? They don't see is there life out there. They
don't believe that they have to choose between having a life
and having a family because their family kind of is their life.
There's a godly woman for you right there. They're not dissatisfied or bored
with or complain about the blessed privilege of just raising their
family, being a blessing and a treasure in their own home. Keepers at home that is they
they take care of things in the home. They run the affairs of
the home And did you see that word home? What a wonderful word
If you have a home What a privilege to be a keeper
at home If you have a true home Keepers taking care of the affairs
of the home cooking and cleaning and fixing things. They're able
to fix I Tell you this there's a saying
that says there's no place like home And I can say that without
there's no place like my home and I'll tell you what Probably
the most important reason is because there's a godly woman
in my home And remember In closing, from
verses 11 and 12, that unless and until God's grace appears
unto you, you will never be taught. And so you won't be able to teach.
Everything you teach will be wrong. Verse 7, in all things
showing thyself a pattern of good works, in doctrine showing
uncorruptness. You see that? Gravity, sincerity,
sound speech that cannot be condemned. That he that is of the contrary
part may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of you. You
know why it can't be condemned? Because it's not your opinion.
It's right there in the Word of God. Now here's the Apostle Paul who
said, walk worthy. Ephesians chapter 1, walk worthy
of the calling wherewith you are called. And he is also the
Apostle Paul who said, I'm not worthy to be called an apostle. This is the Apostle Paul who
said, be an example of good works, but he also said, I'm sold under
sin. We're not deceived about ourselves.
We must never begin to think of ourselves as worthy or good,
but yet we want to be good examples to our children, don't we? And
we strive for that. Can we be both wretched and worthy?
Paul said, O wretched man that I am, and exhorted us at the
same time to show all good fidelity and adorn the doctrine of God
our Savior in all things in verse 10 of our text. Paul could say, be careful now
to maintain good works and also confess with all honesty, I'm
the chief of sinners. You understand that? Was he a
hypocrite then? No, we understand that, don't
we? Our hope is not in ourselves. We strive to honor our Lord and
be like Him, and all the while, as our text says, we're looking
for that blessed hope. What are we looking for? The
appearing of our Savior. Because He is our hope. Who is
He? The One who gave Himself for
our sins. What a wonderful chapter this
is. I pray that the Lord, in spite
of me, Make it clear to us and exhort our hearts to strive to honor Him and also
look to Him and see Him as all of our righteousness
before God. Our only hope, the only hope
for any sinner, the Redeemer of sinners Himself, our Lord
Jesus Christ. Let's pray together.