But let me just bring us up to
date. After the salutation, after the greeting, Paul begins to
speak to Titus, whom he had left on the island of Crete, and he
had left him there that he might set things in order and that
he might ordain elders in every place. And so he lists the qualifications
of the elder, and then he gives their duty and the content of
their ministry. And we pick up that reading in
verse 9, and let's read through chapter 2 and verse 1, that being
our principal text of the morning. So Titus 1.9 through chapter
2 and verse 1. holding fast the faithful word,
as he hath been taught, that he might be able, by sound doctrine,
both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers. For truly there
are many unruly vain talkers and deceivers, specially they
of the circumcision, whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert
whole houses, teaching things which they ought not to for filthy
lucre's sake. One of them, even a prophet of
their own, said, The Cretans are always liars, evil beasts,
and slow bellies. This witness is true, wherefore
rebuke them sharply that they may be sound in the faith. Not giving heed to Jewish fables
and the commandments of men that turn from the truth, Under the
pure, all things are pure, but under them that are defiled and
unbelieving is nothing pure, but even their mind and their
conscience is defiled. They profess that they know God,
but in works they deny him, being abominable and disobedient, and
every good work reprobate. Chapter 2 verse 1, but speak
thou the things which become sound doctrine. Now, that's our
subject and that is our text. I would like to begin with this
manner of introduction to bring us into our study of the morning. That is, I should like to bring
before you today the quotes of a couple of men from the distant
past, both of them found in sovereign race circles and great and able
ministers of the gospel, and their writings are still yet
with us and available among us, and these men really need no
introduction. One is John Gill, and the other
is Charles H. Spurgeon. John Gill wrote a commentary
on the whole Bible, every single verse of it. Then, a thousand-page
body of divinity, plus many other tracts and treatises that are
in print today, and then wrote The Cause of God and Truth, a
great display against Arminianism. Now he once wrote, and I'm quoting,
systematic divinity, I am sensible, is now become very unpopular. Formulas and articles of faith,
creeds, confession, and summaries of divine truths are greatly
decried in our age." Unquote. Greatly decried was doctrine. Charles H. Spurgeon, who preached
to very large crowds and had thousands and thousands, I guess,
of sermons in print once put out this quote as a warning and
sort of a prophecy of things that were to come from his day
forward. He said that a time would come
when the churches would have clowns in the pulpit rather than
ministers of God, and he predicted that entertainment would replace
serious Bible study in the churches coming after his time. Now, what
an amazing thing there is about these sayings is they were not
yesterday or 20 years ago. These things were said of conditions
in the 1800s. Now, fast forward to our day
and look at the trend. And the trend, I think, is this. If you want to be popular and
have a very large church, then preach happiness and avoid taking
a stand on doctrine. Preach happiness. and avoid taking
a stand on doctrine. However, if you want to be unpopular
and have fewer members, then preach the doctrines of God,
and especially the sovereignty of God, the depravity of man
in all of its essence, and then this will divide the pretenders
from the believers. Now we have actually reached
the time when doctrine is a turn off in the church and in the
mind of people today. It is, theology is a nasty eight
letter word in the minds of many. That theology, which is simply
a study of the word of God and of God and his relationship unto
all things in the earth and in the heaven, and especially regarding
the salvation of sinners in Jesus Christ. We also recognize that
a system of Bible doctrine would be called theology, a study of
the purpose, person, and sovereignty and the Word of God. And most
would imagine today that these things, all this theology and
this deep Bible study, this belongs only in a seminary. And what
happens in the seminary ought to stay in the seminary. But
I'm sad to tell you on that case that much of what is even in
the seminaries today has little to do with the Word of God. Now, let me give you an example.
There are people that I've met and meet from time to time. Most
of them are talking about coming to the church. I'm not happy
where I am. What time are your services?
I think that I will come over there and visit you. And I always
tell them, look, we do nothing but preach and study the Bible.
Our worship services are nothing but some exposition of the scripture. We only study the Bible. We don't
play, we don't entertain, we don't have a band, and we don't
jump around. And without exception, they usually
tell me, that's exactly what I'm looking for. That's what
I believe. That's what I was raised on.
You'll see me there. But when some of them come, one
time is all they need. and then we don't see them anymore. Now, without exception, they
say, that's what I want. And without exception, it is
not pleasing. It does not strike their fancy
or give them any delight. Now, who would dispute that we
are beset today on every side by perversions of the gospel,
by shallowness that you can hardly believe, and by enemies of the
cross of Christ, and many of them are in the pulpit. And I think today that if Gil
or Spurgeon, these men of the past, many others, found a famine
of the Word of God approaching in their day, how much more in
our day would they be surprised and disgusted. It becomes evident
that the wicked one was quick to sow his tares among the truth
of God early in the age, to corrupt the gospel and undermine what
Paul had taught in all of the churches where God had raised
up one and to bring in subtle teaching in order that it might
draw away disciples and catch the heart of the people and draw
them away from the truth as it is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Now, our focus, first of all,
mainly, will be upon the three pastoral epistles, as we call
them. 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, and Titus. Now, both men, Timothy and Titus,
were trusted associates and ambassadors of the Apostle Paul, and he committed
unto them the gospel and the work of the gospel, and left
them in places that they might set the assemblies in order. Timothy, he left in Ephesus,
you'll see that 1st Timothy chapter 1 and verse 3. Titus he left
on the isle of Crete and you'll see that here in our book in
chapter 1 and verse 5. And they were to hold forth the
word of of the gospel preached by Paul, taught to them. They were catechized in the gospel
of Christ by the great apostle Paul. And they were to stand
their ground against any error and to expose both the error
and the teachers of those errors in the places where they serve. Now there are many good, many
helpful things in these three epistles from which we might
study. There are two things, however,
which come or float to the surface, as it were, and which Paul strongly
emphasizes to these two ambassadors that labor under his authority
and in his name. There are two things as you read
these three epistles that you will find are emphasized again
and again. The first one, of course, is
for them and all ministers to hold fast and firmly to the teaching
of the gospel that Paul had given them, not only to them, but also
unto the people. And then the second thing that
you will discover over again, multiple times, is warnings that
there would be defectors that would come among them. And there
would be many that would defect away from the word of the truth
and the gospel. And these two things He mingles
again and again among his instruction to these two ministers, Timothy
and Titus. Now, I want to see a few of them,
if we might, so I'm flipping back to 1 Timothy and running
through these epistles this morning. In 1 Timothy chapter 1 and verse
3 and 4, I besought thee to abide still at Ephesus when I went
into Macedonia that thy might charge some that they teach no
other doctrine, neither give heed to fables and endless genealogy,
which minister question, rather than godly edifying, which is
in the faith so do." Then come the second Timothy. You'll find
like exhortations again. Chapter 1 and verse 13 says,
Hold fast the form of sound words which thou hast heard of me in
faith and love which is in Jesus Christ. 2 Timothy chapter 2 and
verse 2. And the things that thou hast
heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful
men who shall be able to teach others also. 2 Timothy. and chapter 4, and in this passage,
let's read verses 1 and 2. I charge thee, therefore, before
God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and
the dead at his appearing, preach the word, be instant in season,
out of season, reprove and rebuke and exhort with all longsuffering
and doctrine. Moving into the epistle unto
Titus, chapter 1, verse 9, as we read, Our text says this, speak thou the things that become
sound doctrine. So that's the exhortation. This
is the ministry and the focus of a minister of the Word of
God, that he preach the Word of God, that he preach sound
doctrine, and that it be biblical. Now the second thing that we
find in traversing through these same epistles is warning and
prediction against false teacher and the defection of some from
the solid teaching of the doctrine of Christ. For example, in 1
Timothy chapter 4, there is that very famous passage. hath created to be received with
thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. For every
creature of God is good, nothing to be refused if it is received
with thanksgiving." Then in 2nd Timothy, Chapter 3, we read a
like passage if you flip there. 2 Timothy 3 and verse 1 through
5. This know also that in the last
days perilous times shall come where men shall be lovers of
their own self, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemous, disobedient
to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce
breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce despisers of those that
are good, traitors, petty, high-minded, lovers of pleasure more than
lovers of God, having a form of godliness, but denying the
power thereof. One more, 2 Timothy chapter 4
and verse 3 and 4. what Paul warned, his warning
to the Ephesian elders ere he left them for the last time. You'll find that in Acts chapter
20 and verse 28 through verse 30. He leaves them with these
words, take heed unto yourself and also to the flock For after
my departure shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing
the flock, and out of your own self shall men arise, drawing
away disciples after themselves, speaking perverse things to do
so. So, let us conclude from these
things that right and sound doctrine is of the utmost importance in
our church, in our ministry, and in our Christian life, and
that Christ and the Apostle and the Scriptures all put a very
high premium upon truth, upon sound doctrine, and the Word
of God, right teaching, based only on the Holy Scripture. For that is not good theology,
which is not in accord with the Scripture. It is thus saith the
Word of God that is the last word in every matter. Now with
that behind us, sadly, We live in a time and in a generation
and a society under the influence more of modern theology than
of old-time biblical theology. They put more stock today in
how people feel rather than in what they believe and what they
know about God and Christ and the gospel. It puts their experience
What happened to me? They put their experience over
the scripture. And I was reading Gordon Clark
the other day. He noted in a book given to me
by Brother Kevin, and Brother Kevin, I thank you for that,
that the view of some men influences people for generations and generations
to come. They don't even know the name
of those men. but they're walking under the influence of those
evil seeds that they sowed in centuries that are gone by. For example, how many churches
there are in our country today who have turned virtually away
from the virgin birth They have turned virtually away from the
blood atonement and the impeccability of our Lord Jesus Christ, and
they don't believe in everlasting punishment, and they preach what
they call a God of love, but they are silent about the wrath
of God. Oh, they cry out the free will
of man, but we hear nothing about the sovereignty of the will of
God. But true theology rests only
upon the Scripture and the Word of God. Here is a quote I took
from Gordon Clark, that book that I mentioned, quote, neither
natural theology derived from science, nor mystical theology,
derived from so-called religious experience, plays any part. Theology comes entirely from
the Bible alone." Unquote. The words of Gordon Clark. Conclusion. One cannot be a Christian
without sound Christian theology. If one does not hold a Christian
theology, how is it that they can be regarded as a Christian? Now, to the words of our text
there in Titus chapter 2 and verse 1. But speak thou the things
that become sound doctrine. Two little words here that we
want to emphasize, the word but and the word thou. but speak
thou the things that become sound doctrine. It is clear, is it
not, from the word but that we have here a contrast that is
intended, which shows that the chapter division is not necessary,
that this exhortation has some connection with what is said
before in chapter 1, and particularly in verse 10 through verse 16.
so that the word but in chapter 2 and verse 1 contrasts Titus'
teaching with those in chapter 1 and verse 10. Many unruly and
vain talkers and deceivers. And he adds especially they of
the circumcision, that is the Jew. And in verse 14, he mentions
Jewish fables and the commandments of men. And this indicates that
part of the troublers of the early churches were, of course,
the Judaizer. They formed a major part of the
opponents of the gospel. Fabrain, that is, Patrick Fabrain,
in his book on the epistles call them, quote, the most insidious
and pestilent section of them, unquote. That is, of the unruly
and the vain talker and the deceiver. One version has it this way. Rebellious men empty talkers
and deceiver. Compare 1st Timothy 6 and verse
5. Destitute of the truth is the
way Paul describes some. Says Paul, chapter 1, Verse 11,
whose mouths must be stopped. These false teachers who had
invaded the churches with their perversions of the gospel of
person and work of Christ and such like, their mouths must
be stopped. 1 Peter chapter 2 and 15, put
to silence the ignorance of foolish men. Now I might add, not by
chopping off their heads as that peaceful religion does in our
day, but as in Titus chapter 2 and verse 8, Sound speech that
cannot be condemned. How to put them to silence? Sound
speech that can't be condemned, that can't be answered, that
can't be overthrown. It involves no violence or force
against the heretic. Rather, Paul intends that Titus
and the other elders, as he speaks here metaphorically, stop the
mouth of the adversary by destroying their teaching with scripture,
logic, and reason. Gil said this, by arguments fetched
out of the word of God, unquote. As Christ silenced the Pharisees
by the use of the Old Testament scripture, Paul reasoned out
of the scripture that Christ was the Messiah. And not only
shut their mouths, but also in the process to discredit them
among those who give them any sort of a hearing, those that
they are seeking to deceive. For such charlatans are not harmless
when they come among the assembly, for they go about, says Titus,
to subvert whole houses. And they do so by teaching things
that they ought not teaching things that are contrary to the
truth, contrary to the doctrine, contradiction of what Paul had
preached unto them. And so they corrupt and they
deny the doctrine of Christ. And they put lies in the place
of truth and doubt instead of belief in the faith of those
that they sorcerer away. And notice something else. What
motivates them? filthy lucre, teaching things
which they ought not for filthy lucre's sake in order that they
might fleece the people and enrich themselves with unholy gain from
the matter. Now the wages and the unrighteousness
of Balaam we read about in the scripture 2nd Peter chapter 2
and 15, who loved the wages of unrighteousness. Titus chapter
1, 12 and 13, where Paul makes reference to the Cretans. Remember,
Titus is on the Isle of Crete and among them. And Paul quotes
here, one of them said, one of them their own, famous in time
past, had a place in their history. one of them, whom they considered
to be a prophet, by the way, as we read here in this play.
The man is believed by exegetes and theologians to have been
Epimenides, who was a native son of Crete, but he lived long
before Christ ever came in the flesh into the world. He had
laid a strong charge against his countrymen. Even in that
early age, he had laid this strong charge against the Cretan. That
is that they were pathological liars. They were addicted unto
falsehood. Liars, wild beasts, idle bellies,
lazy gluttons is how some translate that. Paul's aim is to show that
believing false things is a surefire way, as Calvin did put it, in
contaminating our mind and corrupting us morally." Look at the present
society, all about us in our time, what we have become because
of lying, and corrupt politicians in our day. What we have become
under the pressure and the suppression of political correctness, smothering
the truth and giving away unto lies, all of the lies and the
false doctrine that are preached by preachers in our day, till
the way of truth is little known and is actually evil spoken of,
as the scriptures tell us. Oh, by the way, there are at
least two other places in the scripture where Paul quotes from
heathen poets in confirmation of some truth in his epistle. In Acts 17 and verse 28, he quotes
from Aretas, certain of your own poets have said we are the
offspring of God. And Paul uses that. If we're
the offspring of God, As one of your own poets said, why should
we think that the Godhead is like the silver and like unto
gold? In 1 Corinthians chapter 15 verse
33, he takes a phrase, another phrase, from the heathen poet
Menander, that bad influences corrupt good manners are moral. Evil communication corrupt good
manners. That's a part from a poet that
Paul has quoted. Now I trust that you won't think
any less of the Apostle Paul for using quotes from these particular
men. For in no way does he put them
or their writings on an equal footing with the Holy Scripture. But in verse 15 and 16, it contains
a strong contrast and a conclusion with a description of the spiritual
state of those that he is writing about. The contrast is this,
Titus chapter 1, 15, 16, to the pure all things are pure. To the defiled
and unbelieving, nothing is pure. Now the pure, or the clean, or
the sanctified, the regenerate believer, to such of them all
things are pure. On the other hand, the defiled
and the unbelieving, unto them is nothing clean. Owing to the
corruption of their mind, and the perversion of their conscience. Paul deals with this at length. We won't do so this morning.
But he deals with this at length in Romans chapter 14 and in 1
Corinthians chapters 8, 9, and 10. Only there he contrasts the
strong and the weak. While here in Titus, the contrast
is between the pure and the impure. And in context, it likely refers
to the Jewish ceremonialism and trying to impose certain prohibition
upon the Christians, like those in 1 Timothy chapter 4 and verse
3. Now the conclusion of chapter
1, Titus, in verse 16, such profess to know God, they acknowledge
God, they are not pagans, They are not atheists, they are practitioners
of religion. But their lives and their works
did not match their profession, not at all. They professed in
words to be a God-fearer and a believer, but their works,
their lives, their teaching, their deeds, gave the lie to
their profession. They were such as had only a
form of godliness, but they denied the power thereof. 2nd Timothy
chapter 3 and verse 5. And notice in the end of verse
16, Titus 1 Paul calls them abominable, disobedient, that is, detestable,
and rebellious. And what's more, while they might
extol, while they are extolling their works, Paul says of them
that they are unto every good work reprobate. In view of their
character, in relation to their works, they are reprobate. For
their works are rejected. God will not be pleased with
their works, nor will he accept them. They are worthless in the
sight of God. They have no value. Their works
are exactly like themselves. They are abominable in the sight
of God. Now, this brings us around to
Paul's exhortation in Titus 2 and verse 1. Notwithstanding the
action of those heretics, notwithstanding what they teach and what they
are about, what they are doing, you, Titus, you on your part,
you speak, you say, You proclaim, you preach the things and only
the things that are sound doctrine from the scripture and what Paul
had taught under them. Now please note if you would,
that when it comes to heretics, There is no need for us to do
as moderns are doing, and that is to reach out to them. How
much today there is of this, reaching out to those who are
the enemies of the gospel of Christ, to try to understand
where they're coming from, and why they believe, to try to open
a dialogue with them of some kind or another. Or maybe we
can find some common ground that both of us can agree on. Or the things that we agree on,
we have more of them in common. than we do with those things
about which we disagree. So let's find those things that
we agree on, where we have common ground, and let's walk and work
together. That's the fantasy of so many
of these hypocrites and apostates from the Word of God in our day,
reaching out to the Roman church, reaching out to Islam and all
kind of false works who are the enemies of the gospel of Christ. Any who would act in this way
are grave danger. Grave danger they are in for
letting down the gospel and the word and the doctrine of the
scripture. Preach the things that become
sound doctrine. Preach the word, as Paul said. Be instant in season, out of
season. Rebuke, reprove, exhort with
all long-suffering and doctrine. 2 Timothy 4 and verse 2. In other words, proclaim the
word of God and do it faithfully. I was reading this week, read
of a man that I'm familiar with but never read much after, a
man called I.M. Haldeman. And this man was, I
think, a Baptist and he was pastor of a church in New York City.
in 1900, before and after 1900, and he is reported to have said,
and it caught my eye, he said, there are three things that all
ministers of the gospel ought to preach. Three things they
ought to focus on and to preach. The first thing that he ought
to preach is doctrine. The second thing that he ought
to preach is doctrine. And the third thing that he ought
to preach is doctrine. And he once said, quote, the
church is starving to death for the wont of it. For the word
of doctrine and the word of God. Sound doctrine. Now look at the,
let's have a little word study. Look at the word sound here.
It is expressive and it is very interesting. And Paul uses it
six or seven times in these three pastorial epistles. And it's
about a dozen times in the New Testament overall. And the word
sound is a word that means Healthy it is a word that means to be
well as opposed to being sick It means to be wholesome preach
sound healthy Wholesome doctrine have health in the doctrine be
well in body we read the same word in Luke chapter 5 and verse
31, and in Luke 7 and verse 10, Luke uses that very same word,
sound. The prodigal father, the prodigal's
father, received him how? Safe and sound. And again, there's
that word, and I guess we're not surprised that he uses that
word for health or wholesome, Luke being a physician, as we
remember. Now, figuratively, when it is
applied to doctrine or to teaching, the word means to be free of
corruption, it means to be true, and it means to be wholesome,
sound doctrine that has health in it for the children of God. In an exposition of Titus, the
author Thomas Taylor wrote, the scope of every minister must
be to feed the people of God with wholesome doctrine, those
which will bring the souls of men to health and soundness. Unquote that's our message. That's
our preaching. That's what we have feed the
Word of God Only that doctrine is sound which holds for that
true way of salvation as it is in Christ and in the gospel teaching
without Christ at the center of it is little more than swine's
food when we get down to it. There is no soundness in it.
It cannot bring the hearers to soundness if Christ is left out. Without wholesome doctrine, the
soul is not wholesome. As wholesome food to the body,
the doctrine of the Word of God is milk to them that need milk
and meat to them that are ready for meat. It is sound doctrine
when it sets forth the things that are most assuredly believed
among us, as Luke once wrote in an epistle, that are most
assuredly believed among us. And it brings the hearers, and
it brings the doers of the Word of God to a sound profession
in their life and in their sanctification. And sound doctrine is the very
best antidote against heresy and against trifle and against
vain speculation, Jewish fables, mysticism, and the traditions
of men. Sound doctrine is the best antidote
for any of these that we might imagine. Let us not be forgetful
of those things that make up sound doctrine. and therefore
are to be preached, such as the sovereignty of God. The Bible
is full of it. The divinity and the eternality
of Christ maketh sound doctrine. Election in Christ is sound doctrine
and is related to salvation. Election, therefore, the divinity
of Christ, the incarnation of Christ, the death of Christ,
the satisfaction of Christ, and the resurrection of our Lord.
Following on, sound doctrine is the doctrine of regeneration,
of the new birth of those once dead in trespassing and in sin,
that the only way to come out of the deadness of sin into the
newness of life is by that sovereign work of the Spirit, regeneration,
or the new birth, and the work of the grace of God constantly
in the life of the children of God, to teach the call how they
ought to live and to walk in the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. But alas! Alas, my brother and
sister, as Israel soon tired of the daily manna, daily manna,
manna every day, every morning, manna laying on the ground in
the camp, until finally they said it out loud. Numbers 21
and verse 5. Our soul loatheth this light
bread. We want some onions and some
garlic and some leeks. and the things that we had back
yonder in the land of Egypt. Our soul loatheth manna day in,
day out, seven days a week, nothing but manna from heaven. So do many loath what we call
doctrine. in our day. So many churches
have become, have abandoned doctrine and have become entertainment
centers and music concerts and pep rallies and that's what church
is about to many in our day and time. But I close by reminding
us, God calls ministers not just to marry, not just to bury, not
just to counsel, but to be guides and instructors and sounders
out and holders forth of the truth of the word of life, to
feed the flock of God as a shepherd, of which the Holy Spirit has
made you overseer. Feed the church of God. They're God's sheep. They're
God's lamb. Feed them. Feed them what? Feed them the
spiritual food, the Word of God, the truth. Preach Christ unto
them and the Word of God. This teaching is sound, and it
is what is to be preached. Teach thou the things that become
sound doctrine.