Titus chapter two. I'm going to pick up my message
there in verse six. Young men likewise exhort to
be sober-minded. You know, he started out saying
in verse one, speak down to things which become sound doctrine.
Then he talked about the men that had some age to them, some
maturity to them. And then the aged women, the
older women, had some things to say about them. And the younger
women, the things that they should be taught. And then he said,
likewise, exhort the younger men, young men, likewise, to
be sober-minded. Because the older women were
exhorted to teach the younger women how they should behave
toward their husbands, their homes, their children. Now the
apostle tells Titus that the pastor and the elders should
instruct the young men, young men, young believers, young men,
to behave according to the gospel that they profess. to take life,
to take faith, take it seriously, take it very seriously. Because
life and faith is a serious subject. We only have one life to live,
one death to die, one judgment to face, one eternity to spend.
So life should be taken seriously, and faith should be taken seriously.
I was talking to a fellow just last week, and his cousin teaches
Sunday school in one of the bigger churches in this county. Big,
big outfit. Big outfit. And he's a drug addict. And he asked him, his cousin
asked him, they was raised together, said, how can you get up in front
of that class and teach them from God's Word that you're a
drug addict? He said, how do you do that? He said, well, I'm
honest with them. They know what I am. They know what I am. A fellow
like that don't take life very seriously. He certainly don't
need to be in the church teaching anybody anything. And this man's married and got
children. But he justifies it. He's not taking life seriously.
He certainly ain't taking faith seriously. I remember the same
fellow years ago. Mary and I ran into him in a
grocery store, and he had his little girl with him, and he
had taught her how to say, I love Jesus. He was just rejoicing
in there, thought that's the greatest thing. Tell them how
much you love Jesus, baby. Oh, it's awful. But that's why
we teach younger men. Teach younger men. Take life,
faith seriously according to the gospel they profess. And
then he turns, talking about himself, the things he said,
now this is what you do. This is what you do. He said,
in all things, Show yourself a pattern of good works, in doctrine
showing uncorruptedness, gravity, sincerity, sound speech that
cannot be condemned, that he that is of the contrary part
may be ashamed, having no evil things to say, and all things
showing thyself a pattern of good works. You see, what we
say and what we witness will carry little authority or little
influence If the fruits of grace is not manifest in our lives,
and aren't visible in our lives, if we're trying to witness to
somebody, talk to somebody. You know, we just will save our
breath, as Floyd I've heard him say so many times, save your
breath to cool your coffee. If you try to witness to somebody,
say something about Christ to them, and if you have some influence
over them, if the fruits of grace is not visible, not manifest,
that you know grace, and you're manifesting grace, Then you just
will save your bread. And then he says a pattern of
good works. Now, we know what a pattern is. A pattern is something
that you follow. And so, you know, so you be a
pattern so that other folks can see you as a pattern. This is how you're to carry yourself.
This is how you conduct yourself. This is how you're to to manifest
the grace of God in the message that you believe. Be a pattern
in your words. Be a pattern in your words. Use
your words wisely. Use your words graciously. Let
your words be seasoned with grace. And then be a pattern of works.
Works of love and mercy and grace and kindness and tenderness.
And then attitude. Your attitude should be a pattern.
Our words, our works, our attitude should be a pattern of what we
preach. You know, we're actually shut
up. This is one thing that I am grateful for. We actually shut
up to what we believe and preach. We are. This is, we're not, you
know, we're not, we're not just going through the motions. I
hope we're not. We, we, you know, he goes on to say here, in doctrine,
this is what I'm talking about, in doctrine, showing uncorruptness
in gravity and sincerity. Now, we're talking about what
we preach in doctrine, holding the highest regard for truth,
holding the strictest Purity as you possibly can, having the
purest motive that you can, seriousness that you can, and then the doctrine.
We're talking about the gospel, the doctrine that we believe.
When we talk about doctrine, we talk about the doctrine of
grace. People call it the doctrines of grace. It's just the doctrine
of grace. Grace in everything that goes
with it is one thing. God's truth stands or falls together. I mean, it all falls. It's like
Donna knows, if one of them falls, they all fall together. You know,
the grace of God is what chose us in Christ before the foundation.
We have grace because grace went before us. We believe grace because
God taught it to us. We believe that salvation's in
the Lord because God's what He taught us. And grace, we understand
that the grace of God is something that's not natural to us. There's
something that we don't deserve, there's nothing we can do to
earn it, nothing we can do to work it, and this grace that
God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world,
and He gave it to us in Christ, and He gives it to us every day,
and grace sufficient for every day, the doctrine of grace. It's
a doctrine, it's a truth. It's not just some say, I believe
grace. Well, everybody's saying, oh, I believe salvation is by
grace. But what about the doctrine of grace? Where did grace come
from? Who did grace come to? Why did
grace come? And will grace ever fail you?
Where do you get grace at? And that's what I'm talking about.
When you start talking about the doctrine of grace, you have
to start going to the doctrine of God. God who is high, God
who is holy, God who is sovereign, God who is immutable, God is
God, and He has all power in heaven and earth, and does what
He will, with whom He will, when He will. He's the potter, and
we're just the crane. And all of them we talk about,
much of what I'm saying, we shut up. We shut up to it. So when we talk about grace,
we start to say, well, everybody will say, I'll be salvation by
grace. I was talking this morning about folks that I knew for years
and never will forget years and years ago. Started preaching
the grace of God and started preaching God's sovereign mercy
and sovereign grace. And fellows, you know, that I
run with would quit having anything to do with him. I remember very
well that fellows said, Oh, I love this grace. I love this grace.
I think this grace is the greatest thing ever since ever was. Love it. But all grace meant
to them was that once they're saved, they're always saved.
Because they'd all been Armenians before. And I said, well, what
about faith? What makes a difference in faith?
He said, well, when I got saved, my faith was better than somebody
else's. I said, that's not grace. Oh, yes, it is. He said, how
come? He said, how do you know your repentance? He said, because
my repentance was stronger and deeper than other people's. So
he made the difference. And I told him right then and
there, I said, no, no, that's not grace. That's not grace. Grace brings you faith. Grace
brings you repentance. Grace brings you what you need
when you need it. Grace finds you. Grace saves
you. Grace keeps you. Grace teaches
you. And like that one, he says, Therefore
the grace of God that breaks salvation hath appeared to all
men teaching. That's the first thing it does,
it teaches you. So go, be. That's what we're
talking about, you know. Be a pattern of these things.
When you're going to talk about grace, talk about grace. Don't
mix nothing in it. When you talk about God, don't
talk about what He can do. Talk about what He has done and
is doing and will do. What does He do? Whatever He
wills. Who's He used for? Whatever He wants to do. When
does He does it? Whenever He wants to. How high is He? The heavens of
heavens can't contain Him. How holy is He? The angels cover
their eyes because He's so holy they can't see. And they cover
their bellies because they've got no strength in themselves
in His presence. And they cover their feet because
their feet is not even holy in His presence. And the angels
are not pure in His sight. And the heavens are not even
pure. And they cover their eyes and their legs and their feet
and cry, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord our God. That's how
holy He is, that the seraphims can't even look on Him. He dwells
in a life that no man can protect. So when we talk about God, and
oh, be a pattern of these words and works and attitudes, oh my,
just don't beat around the bush. And then how about the doctrine
of sin? Just quit using the word that people are good. Doctrine
of sin. Mary said the other day, that's
that little baby right there. She has so much depravity in
her, it'll scare you. She has so much rebellion in
her. And if God don't do something
for her, what's she gonna be when she gets grown? Oh no, she's an angel. She's
sugar and spice and everything nice. No, no she's not. And I
love her. Oh, God knows I love her. Start
praying for her before she was ever born. And I'll pray for
her until God either saves her or does what He does with her.
But no. No. They learn that word quick. What
is that? What makes a person, what makes
a baby, what makes a child, rebel against you, say no to you? You feed them. You clothe them.
You bathe them. You love them. You take care
of them. Meet every need that they have
to the best of your ability. What makes them to stand up against
you? What makes them rebel against
you? What makes them get mad at you? What makes them fight
against you? What makes them not appreciate
things? What makes them want to be so
selfish and walk their way regardless of what else anybody thinks,
says, or does? What is that? S-I-N-G. David said, I shaped an iniquity
and sinned, and my mother conceived me. And the wicked go forth and the
mothers won't speak. That's just the way we're talking
about doctrine. We're shut up to these doctrines. What else? You know, when we talk about
God's sovereignty, we're shut up to God's sovereignty. Are
we going to change how God's going to do us in this life?
Are we going to change how He treats anybody in this life?
Are we going to change how He acts towards us and treats us
and orders our life? No matter what we think, say
or feel or do, that His will is paramount and His will is
going to be carried out. Is there anything we can do to
change that? You can get mad about it. You can rebel about it. You can
argue with it. But it will not change one thing.
Really? Huh? And I don't like it like
that. I don't get that. And oh, listen,
go on here now, what he says. So that's what we're talking
about. In doctrine, showing uncorrupt. Don't be corrupt in doctrine.
Years and years ago, and I've told you this so many times,
Henry Mahan told me, second time I ever met him, First time was
just for a few minutes, and he gave me a little book to read.
Second time, I went to visit him to really talk with him.
And I talked with him a little while, and he told me, he says,
you can't speak out of both sides of your mouth, and that's what
you're doing right now. Sound speech without corruption.
This was back in the, oh, way back years. But he said, you
can't talk out of both sides of your mouth. If you're going
to talk about grace, talk about grace. Mix works into it, just
go ahead and follow works, but you can't mix them up. And you can't. That's what he
says, uncorruptedness, with gravity and sincerity. And then look
what he goes on to say here, sound speech. Sound speech. You know what? Words manifest
what's in us. You know, words are vehicles
of thought. Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh.
As a man is in his heart, so is he. And sound speech, words
manifest what's in us. Whether I'm in the pulpit, or
whether we're in private conversation, wherever we're at, our words
manifest what's in us. Whether we're in public worship
or whether we're in personal contact, whether we're privately,
personally, publicly, whatever, words manifest what's in us.
And then he says, sound speech that cannot be condemned. Oh, my. Here's the thing about
it. Unbelievers, wicked men, wicked
women, will use anything against us that they can find. All you've
got to do is just give them a harsh breath, and they'll use it against
you. Huh? They'll use it against you, and
they'll use it maliciously against Christ. They'll use it maliciously
against His gospel. Oh, unbelievers and wicked men
will use anything against us. And last night when we was over
at that thing over at Tansy, this woman that An older woman
who works out over there at Tansy, where I do, and I'll go over
a couple of days a week. She introduced me to her husband
last night. She said, come over here and meet my husband. She
introduced me and said, he's the preacher man. He's the preacher man. And they know me as the preacher
over there. And they watch what they say.
They watch their P's and Q's. They don't just pop off and things.
They had some respect for me because I didn't show myself,
I didn't push myself on them. I didn't walk in there and say,
now I'm a preacher. I'm going to tell you about Jesus. No, it just, people started,
they just find out. Found out more than any other
way was when people start talking about things. If they was wrong, I would try
to correct them in a gracious way if I could. And then it got to where they
start asking me questions. And I couldn't tell you how many
questions I've answered over there. And I'm grateful for that. Gave books away. But oh my, that
cannot be condemned. Unbelievers, wicked men will
use anything, anything against us. Oh my, use it maliciously,
they're using it against Christ, they're using it against His
gospel. So let's watch our words. I'm talking about myself and
men here. Let's watch our words. For we
don't want men to use them against Christ, against us, and we certainly
don't want to use them to insult our Lord Jesus Christ. And look
what he goes on to say, that he that is of the contrary part
might be ashamed. that those who do not believe
the gospel, they're contrary to God, contrary to the truth,
contrary to the gospel, contrary to everything that's high and
holy, contrary to grace, contrary to sin, contrary to God, contrary
to Christ, contrary to the scriptures. He says, so that those that are
the contrary part may be ashamed. Might be ashamed when they start
to say something having no evil thing to say about you. When
it comes right down to it, they cannot say, well, I've seen him
do this, I've seen him do that, I've seen him do this other thing,
I've seen him say this, I've heard him say that. So that whenever
they think of something to say, they can't say anything evil.
Can't say anything evil. And oh, and listen to what else
he goes on to say here, verse 9 and 10. Now, he gives five
works of hesitation. Five words for those who work
for other people. And this is to him, you know,
like I told you, good doctrine, sound doctrine, that's what he's
talking about here. And then he says in verse nine, he says,
so you go ahead and exhort servants to be obedient unto their own
masters. He said, if you work for another fellow, if you work
for a man, if you work for somebody, be submissive, be obedient unto
your own masters, be submissive to them, be obedient to your
employer, whether he's a believer or an unbeliever. You see, this
is the thing about folks. And preachers and things don't
teach this. These things ought to be taught
in the home when kids are small. All these things ought to be
taught. You know, if you get a job and you go to work for
somebody, you'd be submissive to that boss. You'd be obedient
to that employer, whether they're a believer or an unbeliever.
See, you're hired to do a job. You're hired on for so much money.
You're hired to do a job for so many hours a day or so many
days a week. Do it with all your heart as
unto the Lord, because that's who gave you the job. That's
who provided the mean for you. That's the one who opened the
doors for you. And then he goes on to say, then, please them
well in all things. Seek to please. Please them well. Seek to please your employer.
Get satisfaction in every way you possibly can. Have pride
in your work. I'll tell you, laziness and indifference,
and old Steve knows this, back years ago when he worked for
Joe Angel, you know, whenever the boss would leave a job, he
was out on a job, they'd get their white buckets, turn them
upside down, sit down until the boss come back. Sit down on them five-gallon
buckets. Seek to please your employer. Get satisfaction. Don't
wait till he's around to go to working real good. Have pride
in your work. Have pride in your work. Laziness, indifference, that's
disgraceful, disgraceful to the gospel. You know, these are things
that I honestly, that parents ought to teach their children.
They ought to teach their children these things. And I'll tell you
another thing that's hurt this concept of employer-employee
relationship that we're talking about. And I don't want to make
anybody mad, but unions has done one of the worst things in this
world to make adversaries of people that they work for. If
you hire on to a job and they're going to give you $20 an hour,
and going to give you benefits, and give you good working conditions,
go in there and do your work, and instead of making that employer
the enemy, you ought to say, I thank God that God gave me
such a good job, making such good money, with such good wages.
And what's happened is, is that they set odds with one another. And I'll tell you, I know one
fella, Bruce Cratchery, one time, he worked for Caterpillar. Good
job, good job. They went out on strike one time.
Bruce said, you better do what you want to do, I'm going to
work. You know what it's like to cross a picking line? But
Bruce was so well respected, so highly regarded, And he crossed
that picket line. Nobody said a word. He said,
I hired on to do a job here and I'm going to go in there and
do it. And he went right on in there and done it. And you know
what else? They shut that plant down and
everybody lost their jobs. And he went to work mowing yards
and doing whatever he could to make a few dollars. Except people at all. And that's
why this ought to be taught at home. If you get, God gives you
a job. You and your parents, this is something, all these
things ought to be taught at home. But he says, you go on
and teach these things here. And then he says in verse, again
there in verse 9, he said, Be servants, be obedient to your
masters, please them well in all things, not answering again.
And then he says, not answering again. What in the world is he
talking about there? Don't talk back to your boss.
Don't contradict them. Don't talk back to them, don't
contradict them, don't reply to your boss in a sarcastic,
smart-alecky or grumbling manner. And I'll tell you again, this
sparks a home. If you let your kids answer you
and argue with you and debate with you, they're going to carry
that right on out into the workplace. They're going to carry that right
on out into the world. And they think if I can fuss
with mommy and daddy, I can fuss with my boss. You know, that's why this stuff
ought to start when you're young. I never really thought about
this until we start dealing with these things. These things are
to be taught in the home. And if you teach your children,
you know, you don't debate with three-year-olds. You don't argue
with three-year-olds. You don't get down on their level.
You're the parent. And you teach them how to be
under subjection and submission and obedience. Teach them how
to do work at home and not talk back to you, don't contradict
you, don't be sarcastic to you, don't grumble about you, don't
be smart-alecky towards you. And that's why I said, don't
answer again, don't talk back to your boss, don't contradict
your boss. Don't be sarcastic with him. Don't grumble about
him when you go around. The boss may not always be right,
but he is the boss. He is the boss. You know, when
I was in the Marines, when they said, jump, you said, ah, I mean,
it might be an idiot telling you to jump, but he was an idiot.
He had a higher rank than you. He had bars on his shoulders. You jumped. He made me dumb as
a box of rocks. But you dubbed. And you didn't
tell me it was a box of raw cheese. There's yes sir and no sir. That's what I'm talking about.
You just, you just done what you was told. And then look what
he says, you're not proloning. That word proloning means to
steal. Don't steal. When you work for somebody, don't
steal time. Don't steal money. And don't
steal things. Going back to these jobs. I know fellows that worked in
automobile plants and things like that. They'd go on the job.
And they could get their job done in four hours to five hours. Get everything done for the day.
Get all their parts running and all that. And then they had three
hours. They could do anything. They
could sit and read, do whatever they wanted. And that's not right. You just
sold three or four hours. But that's the way they set things
up. But don't steal from your employer.
Don't steal his time. Don't steal his money. Don't
steal his things. Don't use what belongs to your
employer without asking their permission. Ask their permission. And then look what he says here.
Showing all good fidelity. Showing all faithfulness. All
good faithfulness. All good fidelity. And oh my, that means to prove
yourselves to be loyal. Loyal, reliable, faithful. Oh,
be there, be reliable, be loyal, be faithful. Don't criticize
your employer behind his back. Don't make fun of him. Don't
do those things. Be faithful, be honest, be loyal,
be reliable. And you see, when you just mistreat
him and talk about him, that's not loyalty, and that certainly
isn't faithfulness. And then look what he says when
it happens if you do these things. That they may adorn the doctrine
of God our Savior in all things. Going back to that word pattern.
In doing this, you adorn the doctrine. of God our Savior in
all things. And what he means is, by the
way we are, by our employers and our speech and our doctrine
and all these things, he says we make the gospel attractive
to others by how we are on our jobs and how we are with our
employers, how we are with our doctrine. We can adorn the doctrine,
make the gospel attractive. I'll tell you another one, and
I'll close with this. There's a dear lady that goes
to tops. And with the economy went bad,
her husband always, always made a good living. Things got pretty
tight, and she had to go to work. She'd worked all of her life
until they got married. And she went and got a job. And a few weeks, her employer,
Watched her working for a woman. And watched her, and she'd talk
to her, and she treated her right and all that. And Rebecca'd say, you know what,
I'm not going to work Sundays. I'm just not going to work Sundays.
And we go hear the gospel, we go worship, and on Wednesday
nights we go worship. She said, you do that three times
a week, and we can see you. And she watched it for a few
weeks, and she asked her one Wednesday, she said, do you mind
if I went with you tonight? I want to see what's going on
over there. She said, if anybody wants to
go three times a week, and there's good employees, you all want
to go over there and see what's going on. Her pops said, can I go with
you? Because that woman was such a good employee. and was so gracious
and so faithful in her witness that her own boss says, Can I
go with you? Can I go with you? Boy, wouldn't that be something? That's addressing up the doctrine
of God. I'm a million miles short of that. But you all have to
go out on public works. May God bless you when you have
to go out and deal with the world. Our Father, our Father, In the
blessed name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, bless you for this day. What
a day you've given us. A good day. A day of the gospel,
a day of fellowship, a day of unity, a day of love and grace.
A day of fine unity and fellowship and love with the children of
God. Thank you for these young men tonight and how you used
them to bless our hearts. And Lord, these dear saints,
they have to go out and work, make a living. And Father, I
pray that you'd help us all to be more gracious, to be more
kind, to be more tender, more forgiving, more loving, more
patient, more long-suffering, and be much more gentle in our
witness, especially me. Father, bless these dear saints
as they go their way. Please bless Darrell, restore
his health so he can come worship with again. Pray for James and
Rhonda. Lord, you know what we have in
our hearts toward them. Pray for Christina. Pray that
you would continue to strengthen her and meet her needs and her
family's needs. We ask these things in our Lord
Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Did you hear what
Jesus said to me thereof?