Turn with me to Titus chapter
1. Titus chapter 1. Last Sunday morning, the title
of our Bible study was Ordain Elders. That came from verse
five. We were looking at the fact that
that's what Paul told Timothy to do for each of the congregations
that were raised up on the island of Crete. Paul said, establish
elders. or bishops, that's another name
for them, interchangeable name for them, or pastors, that's
another name for elders, bishops, pastors, establish preachers
of the gospel in each congregation of believers. And he said, these
are the qualifications that you need to look for as you establish
these men. Verse five says, for this cause
left I thee in Crete that thou shouldest set in order the things
that are wanting or left undone and ordain elders in every city
as I had appointed thee. And here are the qualifications
that he gave, all right? Verse six, he said, If any be
blameless. He said, number one, they need
to be blameless. Blameless means cannot be called
into account. To have to give an account of
a matter. Cannot be accused. Cannot be blamed. blameless,
cannot be blamed, blameless. Verse 6, if any be blameless, the husband
of one wife, obviously that means not a polygamist, married to
multiple women at the same time. Our Lord gives an account of
if a spouse dies, you know, you're free to marry again and so on. Verse six, if any be blameless,
the husband of one wife having faithful children, faithful means
trustworthy, trustworthy children. But that particular word faithful
also means full of faith. or believing, believing children,
children who are believers. Verse 6, not accused of riot,
that means unsavedness, not accused of being unsaved because of an
abandonment of morals. Verse 6 says, or unruly, that
means cannot be controlled, whether in infancy or adulthood. We think of unruly children as
being little, small kids, whether in infancy or adulthood. Verse 6, if any be blameless,
the husband of one wife, having faithful children, not accused
of riot or unruly, verse 7 says, for a bishop, there it is used
in its other word, elder, as he said in verse 6, still talking
about the same person. Elder, bishop, or pastor. For a bishop must be blameless. He started off in verse 6 by
saying, if any be blameless. Verse 7, he must be blameless. He's stressing that. Without
blame. without blame. Verse 7 says,
as the steward of God. Steward means keeper of the house. As, he must be blameless as the
keeper of the house of God. Verse 7, not self-willed. That word means arrogant. Self-pleasing. Verse 7 says, not soon angry
or quick to wrath. Verse 7 says, not given to wine,
not given away to, not sold to, not a drunk, not given to staggering. Verse 7 says, no striker, not
a smiter, not ready to use the fist. Verse 7 says, not given to filthy
lucre, not eager for gain or given to, sold to gain, not greedy
for money. Verse 8 says, but a lover of
hospitality, one who is given to, sold to generosity, fond
of guests, a lover of good. The word men
right there means things. It just means someone who loves
goodness, a promoter of virtue. The word virtue means good. Verse eight says sober. That means
sane. Of sound mind. Verse 8 says, just, that means
righteous, upright, good, a keeper of God's commandments, innocent,
faultless, guiltless. Verse 8 says holy, that means
undefiled, free from wickedness, pure. Verse eight says temperate, that
means a master of controlling one's self, self-controlled. Verse nine says holding fast,
that means keeping, adhering to the faithful word as he hath
been taught that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort
and to convince the gainsayers. Paul said, Titus, if a man is
going to be a true and faithful pastor, then that's what that
man needs to be. That is the character that he
needs to possess. That is not me. That's not me. That is not me. I am trying to approach this
text and deal with this text as honestly as I can. All right,
I'm gonna, you know, I believe in my heart, I deal with the
word as honestly as I can every time, but I'm telling you this
morning, I'm gonna deal with this as honestly as I can. That
is not me. That's not me. I'm not lying. That's not me. There are a couple of things
there that on the outside, on the outside, if you knew my heart,
you wouldn't have anything to do with me. And if I knew your
heart, I wouldn't have anything to do with you. I'm starting to learn that you're
no better than me based on your conversations. But on the outside, skin deep, what
I allow you to see, a couple of things may somewhat
apply to me. So far, I have only had one wife.
So far. If you and I have a run-in of
some kind, odds are I'm not going to punch you. If it can be avoided, I will
try to avoid it at all costs. I've just always been like that. I do enjoy having people into
my home. I really do. I enjoy hospitality. But that's about it. Of everything
we just read, that's about it. And all of that is only skin
deep. All of that only goes so far. Odds are I won't hit you
up to a point. No, you can't move in with me.
Honestly. Honestly. Some pastors And I'm only talking
about true gospel pastors right now. It's irrelevant with false
preachers. Forget about false preachers,
who cares? But some true gospel pastors, whether we're talking
about those who are alive right now, you're welcome to think
about the men who are alive right now, or the men in generations
past. Some were only married to one
woman for the entirety of their life. Some were married to more than
one. Some had well-behaved children.
Some had what we call here in the South hellions, little hellions. I might have been one of them. Some pastors had children who
were believers. Some had children who were unbelievers. Some were pretty arrogant. They
just were. And some had a smidgen of humility
about them. Some had a short fuse. Some were more patient. Some never touched alcohol. Some really enjoyed a glass of
wine. Some generously opened their
homes. Some didn't. Some could really control their
temper. Some couldn't. But I will tell you this, none
of them were blameless. None of them. None of them were
just. None of them were holy, not in
their flesh, none of them. This right here is not describing
one sinner in the flesh that was born of Adam, not one. If a man stands up and tells
you, now this is my character, he's a liar. He's a liar. This is only describing one man. Yeah. One sinless in the flesh
man that was born into this world of the Holy Ghost of the Holy
Spirit of God. This only describes Jesus Christ. Only Jesus Christ. Eighteen years
ago. Hannah and I were in Mexico with
the Groovers, they were the missionaries that we supported in the Yucatan
Peninsula of Mexico, and I picked up Brother Cody Groover's Bible,
Spanish Bible, just to see if I understood any of it. And I
found my way, it was difficult, but I found what looked like
Psalms to me, and Psalm 23, and I read verse one and it said,
Jehovah, or Jehovah, however you pronounce it, es mi pastor. Jehovah is my pastor. The Lord is my shepherd. There is only one true pastor. There's only one true shepherd. There is only one true elder
and bishop of our souls. There is only one true keeper
of the house of God. Only one true overseer of the
ministry and the gospel of God, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. David said, he is the shepherd. The Lord is my shepherd. He's
the pastor. Solomon said, he's the preacher. All of us are under the counsel
of him. All of us are fed by him. All of us are led by him and
strengthened by him and encouraged by him and comforted by him.
We're hearing him. Lord, you speak. or nothing will
be said. We're hearing him, we're following
him, we're looking to him. Every man who is called of God
to preach his word ought to follow Christ's example. Do I excuse
us? No. One wife, that's it. Hold your
tongue, hold your fist. Forgive, forget, calm down. Don't go around town lying to
everybody. Somebody ask you something, tell
them the truth. Every man called to preach ought
to strive for Christ's example, but these words are not concerning
sinful men. These are they which concern
Jesus Christ. Verse 6 says, if any be blameless. Do you know what Pilate said? I find no fault in this man. None. The one who knew no sin. He was
touched with the feeling of our infirmities. Do you ever have
feelings? You ever get feelings? Feelings
of guilt and feelings of shame and feelings of regret. He was touched with the feelings
of our sin, our infirmities, yet without sin. Blameless. Verse 6, if any be
blameless, the husband of one wife. Turn with me over to Revelation
21. Revelation 21 verse 2, And I, John, saw the holy city,
New Jerusalem, coming down from God, out of heaven, prepared
as a bride, not brides, adorned for her husband, not
their husband. A bride adorned for her husband. One. One. Look at verse 9. And there came unto me one of
the seven angels, which had the seven vials full of the seven
last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will
show thee the bride. Not brides. One. The Lamb's wife. Not wives. You know, Solomon
had many wives. How many does Jesus Christ have?
One. One. The Lamb's wife. Our Lord Jesus Christ only has
one wife. The bride. Look with me at 1
John 3. First John, just back a few pages,
First John 3. First John 3 verse 9 says, whosoever is born
of God, children, Children, whosoever is born of
God doth not commit sin, for his seed remaineth in him, and
he cannot sin because he is born of God. Every soul that is born
of God, they are children not accused of riot or unruly. Every
one of them. Perfect. And faithful, full of
faith, all believing. Every child, they're all taught
of God, all of them. Go back with me to Titus chapter
one. Verse seven says, for a bishop
must be blameless as the steward of God. Jesus Christ literally
is the keeper of the house of God. He literally is. All things have been placed in
his hands. All of God's people are kept one way, by the power
of God. By the keeping power of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Verse seven goes on to say, not
self-willed, our Lord said, Father, not my will, but thine be done. He said, I delight to do thy
will. Verse seven says, not soon angry. Listen to Psalm 103, verse eight.
It says, the Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger,
and plenteous in mercy. Slow to anger. Verse seven says,
not given to wine. On the cross of Calvary, they
offered him the wine of vinegar. but he wouldn't drink it. He
would not drink it because he was enduring the infirmities
of all of his people. The night that he was betrayed,
he said, I will not drink from this cup again. I'm not going
to drink it until I drink it new with you in the kingdom. Verse seven says, no striker. Though he was reviled, he reviled
not again. Verse 7 says, Not given to filthy
lucre, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor. He made himself to be poor, that
you through his poverty might be rich. Here, you take it. You
take it. Verse eight says a lover of hospitality. You know, that's the gospel right
there. He said in my father's house are many mansions. I'm
going to prepare a place for you. You can live with me in
my house. I'm going to prepare a place
for you that where I am, you may be also. Verse eight says a lover of good. He only loves good and hates
evil. He only goes about doing good. That's all he does. He only works
all things together for good. There's none good but him. Verse
eight says, sober, sound mind, sound mind. Call his name the
counselor. He works all things after the
counsel of his own will. Verse 8 says, just. God has declared
his righteousness that he might be just and the justifier of
his people. Verse 8 says, holy. He is the
holy one of Israel. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord
of hosts. The whole earth is full of his
glory. Verse 8 says, temperate, self-controlled,
patient. This we recall to our minds,
therefore have we hope. It's of the Lord's mercies that
we're not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are
new every morning. Great is His faithfulness. Verse nine says, holding fast
the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able
by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers. He said, I have preached, he
said this in Psalm 40, I have preached righteousness in the
great congregation. Lo, I have not refrained my lips,
O Lord, thou knowest. This is Christ. This is Christ. Every man ought to strive to
be like Christ. Every woman ought to strive to
be like Christ, to whatever degree the Lord will allow it. But the
true qualification or the true requirement of an earthly human
pastor, a sinful man, okay, If anybody, if any group needs a
pastor, if there needs to be a pastor ordained anywhere on
this earth, the true qualification, the true requirement of an earthly
human pastor is he must be blameless, not self-willed, not given to
anything, but the expounding in all of the scriptures the
things concerning Christ. He needs to be blameless of standing
up here and adding man's works to Christ's works. He needs to
be blameless of standing in this pulpit and talking about anything
but Jesus Christ and Him crucified. He needs to be not self-willed. Well, I think I want to Do a
series on how to be a good father, how to be a good mother, how
to this, how to that. What does God's word, what did the father
say? What did the Holy Spirit inspire Paul to say? Preach the
word. We preach Christ. He needs to be not given to anything
but the preaching of the Lord Jesus Christ. Nothing but the will, the person,
the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. It pains me to condemn us men. I stand up here and I'm condemning
a whole bunch of men. And it pains me to do that, but
it has to happen. It must be that Christ might
get all the glory. It just has to be. And to that,
all of God's true pastors will say amen. All of us, I do. Amen. All right, you're dismissed.