Titus chapter 2. The subject
of this chapter, actually the whole book seems to be, the theme
seems to be, verse 1, chapter 2, verse 1, speak thou the things
which become sound doctrine. Speak or teach, preach the things
that become And we use the word becoming. That's very becoming.
It's fitting. It's appropriate. It's suitable.
It's proper. We get the word comely from that. Comeliness. It's proper. It's fitting. Things that become
sound. The word sound means to be well,
as opposed to unsound. Sound means to be uncorrupt,
not rotten. Sound means wholesome. Wholesome. Wholesome. Wholesome doctrine. And my, my,
in this day and age, that kind of talk is just unheard of and
rejected. Wholesome words. Look at chapter
1 verse 9. Hold fast the faithful word as
he hath been taught that he may be able by sound doctrine to
convince, exhort and convince. Chapter 2 verse 1, sound doctrine. Verse 2. Aged men be sober, grave,
temperate, sound in faith. Verse 8. Sound speech. And on and on it goes. Go back
quickly to 1 Timothy 1. And the apostle instructs young
Timothy as he did Titus in these things and us. 9 and 10, 1 Timothy 1, 9 and 10. Know this, that the law is not
made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient,
the ungodly, for sinners, unholy, profane, murderers of fathers
and murderers of mothers, murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers,
for manslayers, for whoremongers, for them that defile themselves
with mankind, homosexual, for men stealers, Liars, perjured
persons, if there be anything, any other thing that is contrary
to sound doctrine. And one more, 1 Timothy 6, verse
3. 1 Timothy 6, verse 3. If any man teach otherwise and
consent not to wholesome words. That's the exact same word, sound. Wholesome. even the words of
our Lord Jesus Christ and to the doctrine which is according
to Godliness. So that's what this is dealing
with. Sound teaching or doctrine. Sound, wholesome, uncorrupt words. Not sick. Isaiah 1, most of you
know that passage that says, let me just quote it to you for
the sake of time. He said in Isaiah 1 concerning
all men by nature, he says, this is a sinful people, laden with
iniquity, corruptors, forsaken the Lord. He says, the whole
head is sick, the whole heart is faint, from the sole of the
foot even to the head there's no soundness in it. That is all people by nature. That's our corrupt nature. And it especially describes our
nation and our society and the world in which we live in now.
It's sick. It's corrupt. It's rotten. Because
it's rotten on the inside, and it's going to fall. If something
is unsound or rotten, it's going to fall. It's going to perish. Because, and the reason being,
there's so little sound doctrine. Paul told young Timothy, preach
the Word. Be in season, out of season. The time will come when they
will not endure sound doctrine. wholesome doctrine, the doctrine
of God's Word, the truth. And they will turn away their
ears from the truth. Don't want to hear that. Don't
want to hear that. That old nonsense. But God, who is rich in mercy, in love, He sends His Word to
some, these wholesome words, holy words, And it works in them,
it purifies, it sanctifies. Our Lord said to a man one time
who had an infirmity for 38 years in the pool of Bethesda, John
5. He said, wilt thou be made whole? Do you want to be whole,
holy, wholesome, incorrupt, undefiled? Do you want to be whole? He said,
Lord, I don't have any man to put me in the water. He said,
I'm the man and I'm the water. And he made him whole. And then
he said, after he made him whole, he said, Behold, thou art whole.
You're clean, the Lord said to his people through the word I've
spoken unto you. I've made you holy. Then he said, go and sin
no more, lest a worse thing come upon you. So, here's sound doctrine. Alright? Verse 1 of our text. Speak the things which become
sound, or wholesome doctrine. That the aged men. Now, he speaks
first to aged men. What age is aged? Well, I think. Brother Henry Sword is aging.
Well, for that matter, John is aging. But just imagine that
the girls downstairs think, I'm aging. I'm aging. So there's no age, is there?
The point being, older, mature, supposed to be mature. these words first to the older
men. And John wrote that, didn't he?
These things have I written unto you, children and young men and
mature older men. That the aged men, verse number
one, be sober. The aged men be sober. Now, the word sober means exactly
what you think it means. Don't be intoxicated, inebriated,
overcome by anything. It's not just talking about alcohol,
although that's the most dangerous thing. It's not forbidden, but
it's dangerous. And he says that you be sober,
not taken up with, intoxicated by. So as your mind is, you're
not thinking clearly, you're not thinking straight, you're
not thinking on things above. You can be intoxicated with the
things of this world, the people of this world, with your job,
with material possessions, with anything, with your family. You
can be intoxicated with. your mind, you're not thinking
clearly, you're not thinking that these things are perishing.
Peter said, seeing that all these things be dissolved, what manner
of people we ought to be in all holy conversation, thinking on
things about. Be sober. Be sober. Verse 2, be grave. That means
serious. The older we get, the more Serious
we ought to be about things, not fools. Foolishness is unbecoming
to an old man. That's what young kids are, foolish,
but an older man ought to be more serious, a better example
of that. Well, let's go on. Tiparet. Tiparet means able to control
your your appetites eating drinking whatever it may be and Not addicted
to anything anything Not taken up with anything Anything in
this world whether it be food or drink or material things or
causes of social causes politic That's not what we're about Sound
in faith. Verse 2, sound in the faith. Have an uncorrupt understanding,
knowing whom you have believed and knowing what you believe.
Sound in the faith. In charity, that the aged men
be sound in faith and in love. Love for Christ, love for His
gospel, love for His Word, love for His people, not in love with
the things of this world. And the older we get, the more
we ought to be in love with and taken up with the things of another
world, rather than the things of this world. John wrote this,
love not the world. These are the things that are
in the world. If any man loved the world, in love with this
world, the love of the Father is not in him. The only things
in the world, he said, are lust of the eye, lust of the flesh,
pride of life. It's not of the Father, it's of the world. And
it's all passing away, and the lust thereof, and the fashion
of it. He that doeth the will of God abideth forever. Little
children, it's the last time. So, it's sound in love, who you
love. Love Christ and His Word, His
people. Read on, verse 2. Impatience. Let the older men
be patient. Oh my! Is there a man over 50
in here that doesn't need these things? Doesn't need to be told
these things? Who's learned these things perfectly?
Patience. My, my. Patience, that's the
hardest thing for us to do, isn't it, is to wait on the Lord. And be patient. And be patient
with others. It's just impossible with us. But with God, all things are
possible. Lord, increase my patience. He said there's only one way.
Trial. Trial of your faith worketh patience. Patience, experience, experience,
hope. Verse 3, now, to the older women, aged women, aged women. Though I need to say over 70,
you know. Enthusiastically women. But we're going to be there tomorrow,
aged women, okay. Likewise, all of the above, everything
that was said applies to men and women, the older, to them
first, because we're supposed to be the example to the young. So this applies to us first.
The aged women likewise be in behavior. See, this is all about
behavior. The walk, our conversation is
another word for behavior, conduct. Now, let me say this once, and
I'm not going to say it again. And you know this, that this
is not talking about salvation. That is, if you do these things,
God will be pleased with you. And God will accept you, and
you'll be good men and women, good people, live good lives,
holy lives, and you'll go to heaven. You know better than
that. You know better than that. He's talking to those who have
been saved by the grace of God, by the blood of Christ, and the
righteousness of Christ. You all know that. They know
that. Now this is talking about conduct
that's becoming. those who have been saved. He's
going to go on in this chapter to say, the grace of God that
brings salvation teaches us these things. This is what the grace
of God actually does. It doesn't teach us we can live. You're saved by grace, you can
live any way you want to. No, no, sir. It doesn't teach
us that though. Look at verse 12. Verse 12. The
grace of God teaches us to deny ungodliness. forsake it in worldly
lusts and live soberly and righteously and godly in this present world,
looking for Christ. Our affections set on things
above.