how that a preacher, pastor,
has two tasks, two real tasks. You know, of course, that God
uses him to call his sheep, gather his sheep in, teach them, gather
them together. And secondly, he has to rebuke,
for Paul says there in verse 10 and 11, for there are many
unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, especially they of the circumcision,
whose mouth must be stopped. So we not only gather the sheep
together and teach the sheep and teach them sound doctrine,
but we also have to be very diligent and do reproving, rebuking, exhorting,
and not let any wolves come in among us, and watch very carefully
for that. Watch very carefully for that.
And then you remember the last thing we said in verse 15 and
16. He said, Under the pure, all
things are pure. Those who have been purified
by the blood of Christ. Those who have been purified
by the word of God. Those that Christ has gave them
a pure heart to know God. Everything is pure. This world,
its creation, The food we eat, the clothes we wear, our marriage
bed, everything is pure to us. God gave us everything richly
to enjoy, and we richly enjoy. But to them that are defiled
and unbelieving is nothing pure. Now, these defiled here, he's
talking about religious people, these Judaizers. They came in to teach people
that you'd be saved by Christ, but you've got to have Moses,
you've got to have circumcision. And you've got to be careful
what you eat, you've got to be careful about washing and rituals
and ceremonies. And he says, to them people,
nothing is pure. You swing and a swing on the
Sabbath day, you've seen it. Bounce a basketball, you've seen
it. And so to them, nothing is pure.
Even their mind and conscience is defiled. The things that they
ought to rejoice in and find comfort in and find assurance
in and enjoy in this life, they make it to be sin. And a man
is not impure things that make men sinful. They take the pure
things and make them impure. They'll take the purest things
that God has and make them impure. And that's why he says, and they
profess that they know God. Oh, they say we know God. We
know God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Ghost, but
in works they deny. What works? With all their worships,
with all their commandments of men, with all their tradition,
with all their legalism and law keeping, Sabbath keeping, all
those in works they deny. And Paul goes on and says they're
abominable. It's an abomination. If righteousness
comes by the law, Christ is dead in vain. If there's any work
we can do to make ourselves more acceptable to God, more precious
to God, nearer to God, more holy before God, more sanctified,
if there's anything we can do, then Christ is dead in vain.
And that's why Paul says that in their works they deny being
abominable. They say Christ is not enough. And disobedient, disobedience,
and he read it tonight. He says, the Father loves the
Son and has given all things into His hand, gave the Spirit
without measure to Him. Now you think about that, that
everything in this world is in the hands of a Savior, of a Redeemer,
of a Christ who brought grace into this world, brought truth
into this world, brought God down to where we can see and
know Him. And they're disobedient to that.
They're disobedient to Christ, disobedient to His word. And
to every good work they do, they reprobate, because they trust
in it. They trust in it. And so now
he goes on to say here, in verse 1 of chapter 2, I'm going to
deal with these first five verses that have got to help me. So
he says, Speak those things which become sound doctrine. that the
aged men be sober, brave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, in
patience. The aged women, likewise, that
they be in behavior as becometh holiness, not false accusers,
not given to much wine, teachers of good things, that they may
teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love
their children, to be discreet, chaste, keepers in hope, good,
obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed." You know, when Paul would write
these letters to these men, and all the responsibility that a
preacher and a pastor has, this is part of it too. Now, he's
talking here about teaching the members of the They're simply
believers. All of us that are gathered around
and believe Christ. That we're, our behavior, our
godliness, and our responsibilities to one another are very great.
Very great. And he also is to talk about
the nature of the gospel. Look down at verse 11. Here's
the nature of the gospel. For the grace of God that bringeth
salvation. That's the gospel. That's the
nature of the gospel. It's the grace of God that brought salvation.
And it's appeared to all men. Now when he says all men, here
he's talking about the people that Paul's talking about preaching
to here and teaching. People in the church, to God's
blessed people. And then he talks about the power
and effectualness of the gospel. This is what this gospel does,
where the grace of God appears. And this is why he's dealing
with these things. Teaching us that denying ungodliness and
worldly lusts. This is the power and effect
of the gospel, that we should live soberly, righteously, godly,
right now in this present world, not in the next world, because
we will do it there. We'll do this perfectly there.
But we're living in this world. We're living in a world of flesh
and sin and corruption, and so many things to tempt us and carry
us away. So when this grace comes, it
teaches us some things. When the gospel comes, it teaches
us some things. And then the gospel not only
comes, the nature of it, and what it teaches us, and has an
effectual work upon us, but it also gives us a blessed hope.
Look what he says in verse 13. Looking for that blessed hope. Oh, it also brings this to us,
it teaches us this, looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious
appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. And beloved,
the gospel. The gospel, and I tried to say
that this morning, it makes a radical change in us. I mean, it changes
us. It changes us radically, completely. God brings into existence a person
who never existed before. And that's why He says that when
He comes, He teaches us something. It appears to us. It gives us
a hope. And so we go back, and as we
look at these things, Paul of Titus, he tells Titus, now exhort
these believers. I want you to exhort these believers.
And he says this is the first thing you do. Verse 1, speak
the things which become sound doctrine. Sound. You speak things that
are sound. Sound doctrine that will become
sound doctrine. That's necessary for sound doctrine. That will
produce sound living. And sound doctrine, and then
the first thing he says here when it comes to sound doctrine,
he talks to men who have some age in them in the congregation.
That's the first thing he says. This has become sound doctrine.
That the men who have some age on them, be sober. Be sober, be brave, be temperate,
be sound in faith and charity. You see, we as believers, we
all have a life that we have to live in this world. And we
all have an attitude that the grace of God ought to produce
in us. And we have responsibilities to one another that's becoming
the grace of God and the gospel of God's grace. And the Spirit
of God that dwells in us ought to produce this fruit of the
Spirit, which is love and joy and gentleness and goodness and
faith and meekness and temperance. So that's why it says, you speak
the things, and don't be afraid to do it. Don't be afraid to
do it. Speak with all boldness and speak
the things that become sound doctrine. Then he says, the aged
men, men of the church who are older in years, they've been
around a while, they've been in the congregation, they've
been in the gospel, they've been in the truth of Christ for quite
some time. But exhort them to be sober. This word sober here means to
be vigilant. Vigilant. Vigilant over the congregation,
but especially vigilant over themselves. Vigilant over themselves. Vigilant over how they carry
themselves, how they live, and how they're faithful to the doctrine
and faithful in the spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because
as men, when they get some age on them, whether they know it
or not, they're examples to the younger men and younger members
in the congregation. They can't help but be that way.
You just can't help it. People watch us. And they watch
these older men, how they conduct themselves. And I've done it
when I was younger especially. I really watched how men acted.
And I really considered how men conducted themselves in the pulpit
and out of the pulpit. And then he says that they should
be grave. And this word grave here means serious about spiritual
things. Not just, you know, having a
serious expression. But be grave, be serious about
spiritual matters, eternal matters, because those are the things
that's only worth being grave about in this world. Because
we have life to live, we have families to teach, we have people
to be examples before. So be grave, be very grave, serious
about spiritual matters and eternal matters. And I'll tell you something
that That's really unbecoming, us, men. It's acting a fool all
the time. Acting frivolous. Being unstable. That's very, very becoming older
believers. That's very becoming older men.
Very unbecoming. And you've seen it and I've seen
it. You've seen folks just act so foolish and that, and after
a while it gets very, very old. But for a preacher or an older
person, Somebody that's had some age on them, for them to play
a fool and act frivolous all the time, to be unstable, that's
just a grief. It's a grief for a preacher to
do that and then get in the pulpit and then try to be serious. And I've seen this happen several
times over the years, but especially, and older preachers, when they
get older, I've noticed this about some. They think that they
can, they have to entertain people some way, somehow, and make them
all feel comfortable, and tell them a few jokes, and then when
they get up and preach, you know, they think the person gets serious
there. They ought to be serious in the pulpit and out the pulpit. Ought to. And then not only that,
but tempered. Not only grave, but tempered.
Tempered. Those who have some age on them,
the age of men, they should be tempered and eating. eating,
drinking, everything that has to do with this flesh, be temperate
in it. You know, Solomon said that a
man that's given to appetite and there's a gluttonous man,
he ought to put a knife to his throat. That's what he said. He said, you know, when you know
him, that's all you're known for. And all be temperate, moderate
in eating, drinking, Things that pertain to this flesh right here.
Because as you get older, you get to where you don't care much
about it. You know, you let it go. You just don't care what
you eat, you don't care what you drink, you don't care how
much you do. And that's not the way to be. Be temperate. Be temperate
in all things. And then he goes on to say here,
sound in the faith. You know, going back to this
tempering thing. Let me just say another thing about that.
And when we get older, some age, sometimes what age causes people
to give in to their flesh. Give in to their flesh. And they
get to where they don't care about their health, they don't
care about their appearance, they don't care about their body.
And you've dealt with that one time in your marriage. Not those
men having their bellies way out over their gut, but they
want their wife, you know, to look like she's 18 or 20. You say things I could never
say and get away with. Oh, beloved. And they care more
for the body and taking care of the body than they do for
the soul. But the soul ought to be the very first thing that
you're interested in, especially as you get older. Because it
won't be long before you lay down this tab and take up that
new tab, take up that new tabernacle. And, oh, beloved, then he goes
on to say here that not only that they be tempered, but sound
in the faith. Sound in the faith. Oh, my. Of all the things to be sound
in, sound in the faith. Strong in the faith of Christ.
Strong in the faith of the gospel. Strong in their minds for the
gospel. Strong in their love for Christ.
Strong in their love for His people. And then he goes on to
say, and in patience, And all beloved, in the examples, by
the grace of God and the grace of Christ, be patient for yourself,
and not only bearing your own infirmities of old age, and we
have to be patient because as we get older, this body gets
much, much weaker. And so we not only bear with
the infirmities of our own old age, but with the infirmities
of other people in the congregation. Now, let's go to the next thing.
Now, this is sound doctrine. Paul told Titus, he said, now,
this is sound doctrine. This is sound doctrine. And then
the aged women, he's going to talk about the men that's got
some age on them, been under the gospel for a while, and got
some strength about them, got some age about them, got some
soberness about them. He says, the aged women likewise. Now, let's talk to them. And
that's what Paul says here. He said, the aged women. So exhort
the older women the same way. Those women who've got some age
on them in the faith, got some age on them in the church. Then
over in this, I forget where it's at, I think it's in 1st
or 2nd century, where it talks about a mother in Israel. A mother
in Israel. That's the way older women ought
to consider themselves as mothers in Israel. And that's what he's
talking about. Mothers of the way, aged women
likewise, that they behave themselves as becoming godliness. They ought
to behave themselves in the way they dress. They ought to behave
themselves in the way they dress according to their age. They
ought to behave themselves and have them behave themselves in
the speech, in the way they talk, the things they say. They ought
to behave themselves as women professing godliness in the way
they act in this world, the way they conduct themselves at home,
in the world, and among the saints. And not only that, but they ought
to become in character to their age, the name they bear, the
Christ they bear, the Christ they possess. And that's why
he says that the age of women's likewise being behavior has become
as holiness. Holiness. Or as women who are
holy. So how do you conduct yourself
and how do you behave as someone who has some age on them? And
that's what he's talking about here. Behave yourself and be
in behavior as women professing Christ, professing godliness,
professing the Lord Jesus Christ, to know Christ, and how you dress,
how you act, how you do, how you treat one another. And then
he goes on to say here, not false accusers. Not false accusers. You know, I don't know what to
say about this, but you know, people hear things
and say things and repeat things. And especially women who don't
know Christ, they're prone to talk and gossip and talk too
much to other people. And when they talk too much to
other people, they'll end up talking too much about other
people. about others. And then they'll raise and end
up having false reports and things being said about people that's
not true, and they'll cause division and misunderstanding. And that's
one thing, and I tell you, there's been more. And I'm thankful for
the grace of God. I'm thankful that we don't have
that problem here. I'm thankful we haven't had that
problem here. But I do know this, that there has been a miniature
split Because some woman called somebody and said, did you hear
what this one said? Did you see what that one was?
Did you hear what the preacher said? Did you hear this about
the preacher? Did you see what his wife done? The next thing
you know, they run the phone off the hook and everybody in
church knows something's wrong, but the last one to know is the
one they're talking about. There's been a lot of churches.
When Henry was up there preaching in Newcastle last time, he was
up there. That's the very thing they called
it. Women would go home and start saying, did you hear what that
preacher said? And I am grateful. There's three
things, and I'm talking to all of us now. Three things we ought
to, before it comes through our mouth, we ought to think of.
First of all, Is it true? Is it true? Secondly, even if
it's true, is it necessary to say it? Is it necessary? There's a lot of true things
we could say about people and to people, but would it be necessary? And thirdly, would it glorify
Christ? And if we let those three things,
well, it's true, but would it be necessary? Would it do any
good? And thirdly, would it really
glorify Christ? And I'll tell you a lot of things
if those three things go through our mind. It may be true, but
is it necessary? What good would it do to say
it? What good would it do for you to know that? And there's
times that me and I both, and I've talked to other preachers,
and they say, well, it's not worth repeating because it needs
to stop right here. And that's a good thing. And
don't ask no more questions. It's a good thing. Huh? That's a good thing. And
then he goes on to talk about this, not false accusers, not
giving them much wine. You know, intemperance in any
believer is not good. Intemperance in wine or anything
is not good. It's not good in any believer.
It's not right to do it. But for women, and you know this
as well as I do, but for a woman to be given over to drink, and
how they act and how they conduct themselves and how they are,
it's really, really awful. It's really awful. And so, Not
given to much wine. And then look what he says, and
I love this right here. Teachers of good things. Oh my, these Asian women behave
as women who profess Christ, who know Christ, who love Christ. Watch how you dress, watch how
you talk, watch how you act and conduct yourself, and watch your
character, watch your spirit. because you're bearing the name
of Christ. And then he says, teachers of good things. Teachers
of good things, by instruction. By instruction. People say, well,
you do more by example. That's not necessarily so. I'd
rather hear a good sermon than see a good one. Because I've
never seen very many good, I've not seen real good sermons, but
I've heard some awful good ones. But here he's talking about teachers
of good things. You know, first by instruction,
talking to people, teaching people. Teaching the younger women. By
example, too. But you do this. Now, this is
to be done privately. It's never to be done in the
church. Women's not to teach in the church. It's not their
responsibility. They're not allowed to do that.
But they're to teach and instruct privately in their homes and
privately with others. And let them teach good things.
Not old wives' fables. Not superstitions. And not traditions,
but in things to keep them with the Bible, keep them with the
Word of God. Now, here's what you do. And here's why he goes
on to say, teaching these good things. You be teachers of good
things that they may teach the young women. Mothers, teach your daughters.
Teach your daughter-in-laws, teach the younger women that
you're around, that they may teach the young women to be sober,
to love their husbands, to love their children. Oh, the older
women ought to teach the young women to be good wives, good
mothers, to be women professing godliness, to profess Christ.
And the first thing she tells them to do is to be sober. And
this word, be sober, here means to be wise. To be wise, be prudent,
be a good manager. to have some sense, and then to love their husbands.
Now, why would he say this? Do you know how many mothers
have caused divisions and trouble in people's marriages? Do you
have any idea how many mothers and older women have been the
cause of divorce, Unhappiness and division in their homes of
their daughters and friends? Do you know how many times older
women have caused trouble in their daughters' homes or in
their sons' homes? Huh? And they do it by bad examples? They're not going to love their
husbands. They're not going to be in subjection
to their husbands. They're going to be free, footloose
and fancy free, and nobody's going to tell them what to do.
And then they give them poor counsel. Give them advice. Sad,
pitiful advice. And oh boy, if somebody comes
to you, one of you older women comes to you, some young woman
comes to you, Or your daughter comes to you and says, Oh my,
I'm having this problem, having this problem. How should I deal
with that? The first thing you ought to say is, Oh God, please,
please give me something to say to you that's right. Give me
something to say to you that's right. And all they give for
advice, and they have a rebellious spirit against their own husbands. And most of them have a spirit
against all men in general. And us women, it's like that.
I never will forget a time, and this has been, oh my goodness,
I don't know how many years ago, and you all have seen this, you
all have seen this. There ain't no man gonna tell
me what I can do. I'll come when I want to come,
not go when I want to go. I was at a preacher's house one
time, his wife come in, And I had to be there, and she didn't have
much for him anyway. Eventually, when they brought
in a friend, that just made it work. She'd just come in, just
start throwing the dishes down. Throw them on the table. Here,
I'll feed you some food. Just throwing the dishes down. But years and years ago, at a
conference, Henry Mahan asked his wife Doris, before the service, I said, honey, would you get
me a cup of coffee? There was a woman there that
says, why in the world don't that preacher get his own coffee? And she got mad. And she said,
I'm not going to hear that preacher preach. And she left. But I'll tell you something,
that's not the end of the story. As old Paul Harvey said, I'll
give you the rest of the story. She came back later, the next
night. God used that, that point of
rebellion in her. God broke her through that and
she came back. And she said that to her and
heard him preach and God saved that woman that week and that
meeting. And she admitted to that, and how it bothered her,
and how it made her mad, and how it made her angry, and that
God used that to break her, and sure what a rebel she was. But
you know the world's full of people. That's why it says, you
know, the aged women teach the younger women. Teach the younger
women. And look in Ephesians 5. Alma,
we need to look at this just a minute. Just a minute together. And we've looked at this so many
times, but it's always good to look at the Scriptures. Teach
the young women to respect and obey and assist and submit to
their husbands. Teach them. Try your best to save every marriage
you can. Save everybody's marriage you
can. Save every... I mean, it's tough
enough without somebody trying to intervene in them. Especially
the first few years of marriage. But look what he said in Ephesians
5.22. I tell you why, it teaches younger women to love their husbands,
to love their husbands, to love their children. And he says,
wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands as unto the
Lord. Oh, how we want to submit to
the Lord. How we want ourselves given over to the Lord. For the
husband is head of the wife, and even as Christ is head of
the church, and He's the Savior of the body. Christ's Savior
of the body, The husband's supposed to be the savior of his wife's
body, protect her body, keep her body, save her body, and
she is for him. Therefore, as the church is subject
unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. You don't pick and choose. You
don't pick and choose how you're going to obey Christ. You don't
pick and choose how you're going to submit to Christ. And he said
here, so that's the way you are with your husbands. You don't
pick and choose. And husbands, love your wives.
Even as Christ also hath loved the church, and gave himself
for it. You know what I'll let Mary do? Anything she wants to
do, because I love her. And you know what she'll do?
She'll do... Because of our nature and the
way we are, she won't do no more than I'd really want her to do.
She's got all the money. I trust her with every dime of
it. And once in a while she'd give me a few dollars. Trust her with the home, trust
her with the children, trust her with the car, trust her to
make decisions. You know why? Because she loves
me and I love her. And love will take care of this
thing. This here don't make a person married, and having a marriage
license don't make a person married, and having a preacher sign the
papers don't make you married. That marriage is a thing. Beloved,
this submission to one another is a thing. We have a relationship
with Christ. If you have that, everything
else will be all right. You won't have no problem with
this business. And then he says that and that
he might sanctify and cleanse him of the washing of water by
the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church,
not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but he should
behold him without blemish. And if Christ is that way with
his church, that's the way we ought to treat one another. That's
the way wives ought to treat their husbands, as without spot
and without blemish, and husbands ought to treat their wives the
same way. If you have any spots or blemishes, I'll be the only
one to know it, and nobody else is going to find out about it.
And also men ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He
that loveth his wife loves himself. Nobody hates his own flesh, nobody
hates his own body. But he nourishes his body, he
cherishes his body, even as the Lord does the church. For we
are members of his body, of his flesh, of his bones, for this
cause. shall a man leave his father
and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they too shall
be one flesh." This is a great mystery, Paul said. But I speak
concerning Christ and His church. Nevertheless, let every one of
you in particular so love his wife as himself, and the wife
see that she reverends her husband." What an older woman ought to
teach the younger women. Things like that. Scriptural
stuff. And then he goes back over here in our text. Let me
hear it. Teach the younger women to be sober, to love their husbands.
Don't cause them no trouble. If you can't help them, certainly
don't hurt them. And then he says, not only to
love their husbands, but to love their children. Why in the world
would he say love your children? Everybody knows that mothers
love their children. Well, that's right. But some
people make fools out of their children. Some people don't govern
their children. They make idols out of them,
rebels out of them, because they never govern them. They never
discipline them. They never teach them the way
that they ought to go. And that's why it says love children.
If you love your children, that's why the Lord said, you know,
if a man loved his children, would he give him a snake? Would
he give him a serpent for an egg? He says, no, what that means
is that you'll give them good things. You won't let them eat
nothing but junk. You won't let them eat nothing,
but you won't give them nothing but cookies to live on. And that's
what he's talking about here. Don't love your children with
a foolish love, a love that don't govern your children, doesn't
discipline your children. And who would have ever thought
in America that you could discipline your child and they end up in
jail? You'd be out in the parking lot of Walmart and your child
act ugly a little bit, act a little wild, and you just spank them
like that, somebody see that, and you may be in jail before,
you may be, the sheriff may be waiting on you at the house because
they say you've abused your child. But that's why we got to do that.
The Scripture says, you know, that if a person loves their
son, they'll chasten him in due time, in thee times, and the
foolishness in the heart of a child but a rod of correction will
drive it far from him. And I'll tell you, you know,
people that don't discipline their children, don't correct
their children, and don't teach their children, and make idols
and rebels out of them, you know what? They really don't love
them, they love themselves because they don't want to go through
the trouble of having to deal with them, having to teach them
what's right. But I tell you, if you have a love of God, the
love of God in your heart, what you want to do is you want to
bring up your children in the nurture and the admonition of
the Lord, and you want to have firmness, not the discipline
itself. Now, I know this from experience,
and I've made a mess out of raising kids. I'm not telling you that
I know how to do it. I'd never get up here and say,
this is how you ought to raise children. I wouldn't do that
at all. But I do know this from experience. That it's not the
discipline or the correction itself, it's the certainty of
it. If you say, I'll get you if you do that again, get them.
You say that a half a dozen times, next thing you know, they're
just going about their business, and then you've raised a ramble.
It's not the discipline or the correction itself, it's the certainty
of it. When they know that you mean what you say, and you carry
it through, after a while, you got their attention. Ain't that
right? And oh, let me go on here. I
took too long on that. To be discreet. To be discreet. Oh, this word discreet here means
feminine. Be ladylike. Don't try to act
like a man. Don't try to be like a man. Don't
try to compete with a man in any way. Be feminine. Be ladylike. Be gentle. And don't try to be a leader
and control people in that. And then he goes on here to say
to be chaste. Chaste. Chaste in your body. Chaste in
your words. Chaste in your actions. You're
keeping yourself chaste just only for one person, that's for
your own husband. And then look what he goes on
to say here, obedient to their own husband. No, keepers at home. Chaste keepers
at home. Keepers at home. You know, the
men are to, according to the scriptures, men are to provide
for the home. Be the spiritual leader in the
home, the provider in the home. But when it comes right down
to it, the single most important person in a home is the mother
and is the wife. Now, you men think about this.
If you didn't have a wife, how do you reckon you'd live? And
what would your house look like? Maybe we wouldn't shave, we wouldn't
brush our teeth, we wouldn't have our clothes, we'd stink
when we're out in public, you know. It'd be awful what we'd
be like. So women are the mothers, and
women and wives are the single most important person in the
home. Our happiness in our home and
the unity in our home depends upon her life and her good management. If she can't manage, you know,
I'll tell you, I heard a fellow say one time that there's some
women, a man bringing in with a shovel, And the whip, his wife's
carrying out the back door with a spoon, and he's weighing in
with a shovel, because he ain't got good management. And that's
what a woman, you know, the house, home, oh, what a figure, the
keepers at home. And her care, and her love for
her children, for her family. And that's why it says be keepers
at home. Don't get up and hit the road every day. And run all
over town, run through every store, and drag your kids all
over town just to be out of the house and doing something. Keepers
at home. And then good. He says you're
good. Good. Good to your husband, good
to your children, good to your friends, good to people who pass
through your home. Good. Good. And then obedient to their own
husbands, as unto the Lord and in the Lord. obedient to their
own husbands. And here's the reason why. Here's
the motive. That the Word of God be not blasphemed. The Word of God be not blasphemed.
You know, we are believers, and men and women both. We profess
our faith in Christ. We come here. We acknowledge
our profession. We've been coming here for years.
People where you live, they know you're a believer, they know
where you go to church at, they know how you've been going there
and how many years you've been going there. And all we who profess
Christ, if we act and live in a manner, in a way contrary to
the grace that we profess and the gospel we profess, unbelievers
have every reason to say, Boy, them fellers, I don't want nothing
they got up there. You see how they live, see how
they act, see how mean they are, see how minded they are, how
dishonest they are. See how that woman treats her husband, see
how that woman treats her children, see how that old fella treats
his wife. Oh my, they'll end up ridiculing your religion and
to question the truth of the gospel. Is that what Christ made
you to be like? Is that what your Bible teaches?
I don't want no part of it. And oh, we don't want the Word
of God blasphemed by ourselves, nowhere in our home, as a woman,
as a man. We don't want that, do we? No,
we don't want God's Word blasphemed because of something we say.
It's blasphemed enough without us. I hope that's encouragement
to you. I hope that was a... Those are things that just, you
know, when you go through the Scriptures, you get to deal with
everything. With everything. And I pray that
was a blessing to you. I pray that it's instructive
and encouragement and hope and help us all. Our Father, O our Father, Father,
Father, Father, Father, our Father, O my blessed Savior, Lord Jesus,
be my Redeemer, the one who loved me and gave himself for me, One who bore my sins in his own
body on the tree. Lord, I know that every believer
here tonight don't want the Word of God to ever be blasphemed.
And everything that I said tonight, every one of us would feel like
we come a thousand miles short of what we ought to be and what
we ought to teach. and how we live to your glory
in this world. I know that. But Lord Jesus,
I also know that every heart here tonight lifts itself up
to you, cries out to you. Lord, make me this way. Teach
me this. Work in me. Touch my heart. Give me grace. Give me the strength. Give me the ability to do these
things, to live to Your glory. For Lord, we could not possibly
do it without You, but we want to obey Your Word. We want to
do Your will. We want to honor You in this
world. And we bless You in Christ's name. Amen. Amen.