I hope you will look with me
this morning at the book of Titus, a small letter from the Apostle
Paul to a young preacher named Titus, a letter from an older,
experienced preacher to this young man in the ministry and
is full of the gospel and full of instructions to God's church. But this is not just the letter
of a man. This is not just the letter of
the Apostle Paul, but this is, as with all of God's Word, this
is the Word of God to his preacher and his people. In verse 1, it
reads, Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ. Now, there are many who call
themselves servants of God, as Paul did here. Paul says, I'm
a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ. There are some
today that even call themselves apostles. Well, how do you know? How do you know a true servant
of God and a true apostle of Jesus Christ? Well, a servant
of God, like Paul, a true servant of God, number one, serves God's
glory. He is in it for God's glory and
God's glory only. He does not glorify himself. He does not draw attention to
himself. He is not in it to make a name
for himself or build a large work in his own name or his own
glory. He serves God. He serves God's glory. He serves God's people at the
expense of himself. One time Paul told the Corinthians,
he said, I don't want what you can give me, but it's you that
I desire. It's not yours, but you. He served God's people. He was
truly in the ministry for the good of God's people, the edification,
the salvation of God's people. So a true servant of God, then
and now, serves God's glory. He's in it for the glory of God,
even at the expense of himself being abased. And he serves God's
people, their good, their spiritual good, their salvation. He gives
qualifications for a bishop or a pastor in the rest of this
chapter. And he talks about a man being
a lover of hospitality, a lover of people. And he's in the ministry
for God's glory and the good of God's people. And an apostle,
he says, I'm an apostle of Jesus Christ. Now, while there are
still there are servants of God now, those who preach the gospel,
those who or servants of the living God. Yet there are no
more apostles. There were only twelve and there
are no more. Three qualifications of a true
apostle of Jesus Christ. An apostle, number one, had to
see the Lord Jesus Christ in person. All of the apostles,
all twelve of them, excluding Judas, who was not truly an apostle,
but was called the son of perdition from the beginning, chosen by
Christ himself to do what he did in God's purpose and will. Paul was an apostle as one born
out of due time, but he was the twelfth true apostle. So, these
twelve apostles saw the Lord Jesus Christ in person. That's
a qualification of an apostle. That automatically excludes all
others after them, does it not? All so-called apostles today
are liars. Our Lord said there would arise
false apostles. Number two, qualification for
an apostle. They had to receive their commission
from the Lord Jesus Christ himself. Each of the apostles, all 12
of them, heard the Lord Jesus Christ give them their orders,
so to speak. Their commission came from Christ
personally. Paul, like the others, received
that commission. from Christ himself. Number three,
they had to have the qualifications, the gifts of the apostles, such
as healing and diverse languages. And some of them even raised
the dead. Why, the apostle Peter, so gifted
of God that he killed a man and his wife, Ananias and Sapphira. And all of these false apostles
today claim these things, but they don't have these gifts.
No, no, no. They died with the apostles.
Don't need them. We have God's Word now. So these
were the qualifications of a true apostle. And Paul says, I'm an
apostle. I'm a servant of God and an apostle
of Jesus Christ. Apostle means a chosen messenger
of Christ, a chosen ambassador of Jesus Christ. Here's another
way you know a true apostle. He was chosen by Christ to preach
Christ. That was Paul's message. He said, I'm an apostle of Jesus
Christ and it's Christ I preach. And he went on to say to young
Titus in verse 1, I'm an apostle of Jesus Christ according to
the faith of God's elect. I'm a servant of God and an apostle
of Jesus Christ according to, that is, a preacher, a messenger,
in accordance with the faith of God's elect. In absolute agreement
with and in accordance with the faith of God's elect. Paul says, what I believe and
what I preach is the faith. of God's elect, the faith. There's only one. There's only
one. I hear and you hear people all
the time talk about, well, this person is of this faith and this
other person is of that faith. And people say, well, there are
many people of different faiths. Well, God's people are of one
faith. Ephesians 4, verse 5 says there's
one Lord, one faith. One faith. That's the reason
Paul says the faith of God's elect. The faith which all of
God's elect have obtained. Like Peter wrote. Having obtained
this like precious faith. God's elect all have this faith. The faith. What is it? If you
want to turn with me and reveal, I'm sorry, Romans chapter 3,
read the book of Romans which is all about justification by faith. The faith. One way. Our Lord said that. John 14,
6. One way. I am the way. The truth. The light. No man. cometh unto the Father, but by
me." And that's pretty much a summary of the faith is Christ alone. Let me read in Romans chapter
3 for you, or with you, Romans 3. Paul says in verse 20, Paul,
there shall no flesh be justified in his sight. That is, by someone
keeping the law, whatever it may be, ceremonial law, the Levitical
law, Ten Commandments, the moral law, whatever it may be, by the
deeds, by us keeping or trying to keep the law, no flesh shall
be justified. That is declared acceptable to
God, innocent, holy, righteous before God by the law, righteousness
by the law. No sir, nobody. And he goes on
to say in verse 24, "...by the law is the knowledge of sin."
By the law is the knowledge of sin. The law tells us we're guilty. That's what verse 19 says, "...we
know that whatsoever things the law saith, it saith to them that
are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all
the world guilty before God." That's what the law says, guilty. It doesn't say, well, if you'll
do the best you can, God will be pleased with you. The law
doesn't say that. It says you're guilty on every
point. Our Lord, in the Sermon on the
Mount, He magnified the law. He made it very clear that the
law is spiritual. That's what Paul wrote in Romans
7. The law is spiritual. Verse 14 of Romans 7. We're carnal. God is holy, perfect. And Leviticus
22, 21 says, It must be so with God. He will by no means clear
the guilty. Now, the law says we are all
guilty. All have sinned and come short. Past, present, and future. Before you were saved and after. You come short of the law of
God because God's law looks on the motive as well as the deed. Our Lord, in the Sermon on the
Mount, said, You've heard it said of them of old time, Thou
shalt not kill. He said, I say unto you, if you're
angry, you've killed that person. Just to be angry. To look on
a woman or a man with any impure thought, guilty of adultery.
Guilty, guilty, guilty. That's what the law says. Guilty.
So, he says, in conclusion, by the deeds of the law there shall
no flesh be justified in his sight. But now, verse 21 of Romans
3 says, the righteousness of God, that is, being accepted
by God, the holiness of God without the law, is manifest. That is, without us keeping it.
It is witnessed by the law and the prophets. Read on, "...the
righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto
all, and upon all them that believe. For there is no difference."
The righteousness of God, that is being accepted by God, being
declared by God to be righteous in His eyes, is by faith of Jesus
Christ. It doesn't say in Christ. It
says by faith of. It says the same thing and it's
not a misprint. It says the same thing in Galatians
2.16, Galatians 2.20, Galatians 3.22, Ephesians 3.12, Philippians
3.9. The faith of Jesus Christ. That is, that means the faithfulness
of Jesus Christ to make His people righteous. The whole
fourth chapter of Romans is about this imputed, or that is, righteousness
charged to the account of God's people, God's elect by Jesus
Christ. His righteousness charged to
them. We don't try to make a righteousness
that God will accept. Isaiah said in chapter 64, verse
6, ours are filthy rags. I tell our people all the time
that our man's righteousness is kind of like one of those
hospital gowns. Have you ever worn one of those?
You may look good up front to most people, but you will eventually
reveal yourself. So it is with our righteousness. Filthy rags may look good to
man, not to God. He sees right through it. We
must have the perfect, pristine holiness and righteousness which
only Jesus Christ worked out and provided for his people and
put on them. Like that prodigal son, the father
says, put the robe on him. Don't offer it to him. Put it
on him. And that's what Christ does to
his people. And it says, this is unto all
and upon all them that believe. Faith is the result of that righteousness
imputed. Faith is a result of God's people
being chosen by him. the faith of God's elect, they
have it because God chose them to believe. That's what he said
to Peter and the apostles. Peter one time said, We believe
and are sure that thou art the Christ, the Son of the living
God. And he said, Have not I chosen you twelve? In other words, they
wouldn't have been interested in Christ unless Christ came
by and chose them and called them. So it is. That's the faith
of God's elect. Faith of God's elect. They believe
Christ and Christ only is their salvation, their righteousness
with God, their sin payment, their acceptance with God, their
whole hope of eternal life. is in the person and the work
of the Lord Jesus Christ, not in themselves. That's the faith
of God's elect. And Paul says, that's what I
preach and that's what I believe. And I concur completely. Until
next Sunday, may God grant you this faith of God's elect. Amen.