All right. It's not moving and
I didn't touch it other than push the button. Sorry. Okay. Please turn to Titus chapter
1. And I want to read the first
four verses. Which is Paul's first sentence.
Four verses. The guy wrote some long sentences.
Shock full of goodness, but long sentences. Titus chapter 1, verse 1. Paul,
a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to
the faith of God's elect, and the acknowledging of the truth,
which is after godliness. hope of eternal life which God
that cannot lie promised before the world began but hath in due
times manifested his word through preaching which is committed
unto me according to the commandment of God our Savior to Titus mine
own son after the common faith Grace, mercy, and peace from
God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Savior. This is the introduction, the
greeting part of Paul's letter to Titus. Now this is not a general
epistle written to the saints at Ephesus or 2nd Corinthians,
1st Corinthians, that sort of thing. This is actually a letter
he wrote to Titus. a young preacher and it is full
of instructions of warnings and advice for preachers and for everyone
else just because it's addressed to a preacher doesn't mean that
it doesn't apply to you guys it is in direct context to a
preacher Paul calls him my own son after
the common faith. After just having written, he
is an apostle of Jesus Christ according to the faith of God's
elect. You want to know what the common faith is? It's the
faith of God's elect. He's not talking about one thing
in one verse and one thing in another. It's all the same. The elect of God all have a common
faith. It has a single author, Jesus Christ. That's without argument. He is
the author and the finisher, and it says of our faith, but
that R is in italics. You can leave it out, it says
of faith. The amazing thing here to some
people is that Paul calls him my own son and this is a Greek
boy. A Greek man. An uncircumcised
Greek. He didn't have Titus circumcised. Timothy he did, but Timothy was
half Jewish. But Titus was an uncircumcised
Greek. And here Paul, a former Pharisee,
a Hebrew of the Hebrews, calls him, my own son. Why? After the common faith. The common faith is that. It's
not that it's common, Every day it's that we all have it in accord It's not simple it's the most
profound thing you'll ever give get from God besides life But it is common to all of us
including the Apostle Paul His faith was no different than your
faith and His faith was no different than my faith. His faith was
no different than Titus, an uncircumcised Greek. I just
find that amazing and wondrous. But he starts it off in verse
one, Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according
to the faith of God's elect and the acknowledging of the truth,
which is after godliness. The first statement is a servant
of God. Now you can look at that if you
want to. The word is slave. That's what
the word is. The word is slave. Now, very
closely, if I can make this clear. I don't know but I want to try.
The meaning of this word is not emphasizing slavery. The meaning
of this word, because it is actually translated bondsman once, servant
120 times. The meaning of this word is implying
ownership. God owns his people. You are not your own. You were bought with a price. And that price was the precious
blood of God shed once. Just once. You are not your own. And Paul starts it off saying,
I am a slave of God. Now, it does signify ownership,
but it also signifies submission. Paul This old Pharisee, Hebrew
of Hebrews, bowed to the Lord Jesus Christ. And he bowed to
him as Lord. Who are you, Lord, was the question
he asked. And if you truly ask that question,
he'll answer you. He will answer you. Pharaoh said
that. Who is the Lord that I should
fear him? God didn't answer that question because it was in the
wrong spirit. A humble and contrite spirit he will not despise. Why? Because he made it. But
that's part of it. Ownership, submission, but also
service. God didn't save us to sit on
our cans. I don't know any other way to
put it. To sit in a pew. We are doing something for Him. We are to do something for Him. We are to do something, not for
Him, that's a bad word, because of Him. I like better. It is God that worketh in you
both, both to will and to do of His good pleasure. And Paul
is a servant of God. And he gives that one first.
Then he says, and an apostle of Jesus Christ. Why did he put the servant first
and then the apostle? That's the way it's supposed
to be. That's the way it is. That's the way God does it. Understand? You're not going to have an office
unless you're already a servant. unless you're already serving
him. The calling to service never
comes before the declaration of ownership. You're gonna know
you're his slave before he gives you something to do. Now you
may be doing all kinds of things before he declares his ownership
over you and before you submit to him, but that's of no value. There are all kinds of people
out there right now that have never bowed to Jesus Christ,
but they're proclaiming his name supposedly. They think they're
preaching his gospel, Walter, but they're not. They're not. Why? Because they never come
to be a servant first. They never come to be a bond
slave first. The preacher, the bishop, the
elder, the pastor, teacher, the deacon, and even the apostle
is a believer first. And then a shepherd. The shepherd
must never forget that he is part of the flock. It's a common faith. My own son,
after the common faith. And the requirements clearly
state, it says, not a novice. Now granted, Paul got into the
ministry rather quick, but those were special circumstances. He's
an apostle. We're not. But it talks about
the qualification for a bishop and all that stuff. Not a novice. That's what it says. You are to be a servant first
before the office. And always remember, guess what?
I'm still a servant. Not only is Paul an apostle,
he's still a servant. Now the apostle is a delegate,
an ambassador of Christ. Of Christ. an ambassador of the gospel,
if you will. Paul was the designated apostle
to the Gentiles. He was writing this letter to
a Gentile. But before that he was a servant.
According, I think it's in Ephesians and 2nd Corinthians, it says
that Paul is an apostle by the will of God. Here it says, according to the
faith of God's elect. God not only in election chooses
his people, but he chose Paul before he was in his mother's
womb to be an apostle. He chose you to be here today. and me and Walter all of us this
is the place we are to gather together what according to the
faith of God's elect and the acknowledging of the
truth you can't leave that out you can't leave that out no servant
of God will ever not acknowledge the
truth. It comes with the territory.
Paul asked, who are you Lord? Guess what? Christ said, I am
Jesus whom thou persecutest. He didn't leave Paul in his ignorance
blinded on the road to Damascus. He revealed himself to him. And
Paul acknowledged that truth. That Jesus, that he had been
persecuting, is Lord. Is Lord. This word acknowledging means
recognition and discernment. of the truth. Recognition and discernment of
Christ Jesus and His gospel. His gospel. We're going to get
to that in a minute. But the truth is a requirement
for service. Now Let me be clear. The truth is not a requirement
for ownership or purchase. God purchased you 2,000 years
ago with his own blood. You understand? He owns you. He chose you before the foundation
of the world. In his son, the father did. Ownership's already there before
you will ever know the truth. You were purchased on Calvary. Purpose before that, but purchased
then and there, that one time his blood was shed, you are bought
with a price. But now service, service, being
a servant, demands truth be known. Demands truth be acknowledged. It has to be heard, and it has
to be believed. And it will be heard, and it
will be believed, God, in hope of eternal life, which God, that
cannot lie, promised before the world began. That truth will be delivered
to His people. And in the hope of eternal life,
I've got to say this, I wrote it down. How eternal is it if
you can lose it? How eternal is it if you can
lose it? One of the definitions, I looked
it up just for fun. Because it says everlasting.
It says eternal. But one of the words it actually
says as a definition, the Greek word for eternal is Let me write. Perpetual. Perpetual. I like that. Because perpetual
means it keeps going. And it keeps going. And it keeps
going. And you don't keep it running. God promised it. God that cannot
lie promised it. God asserted God announced eternal
life for his children and he announced through the
gospel that that life is any son Jesus Christ but hath in due times manifested
his word through preaching That's actually the title of
this Paul manifested through preaching He has manifested his
word through preaching Now Before I do that hath in due
times. I'll make this very clear He
is God has manifested His Word in due
times. Now, in this era, in this time,
since Christ forward, it is through preaching. But through the Old
Testament, God always manifested His Word. He has always manifested
His Word. He did it in person. Christ did
it in person, I believe, to Adam and Eve. The seed of the woman is going
to bruise the head of the seed of the serpent. You understand? He took clothes of skin and clothed
them. He spoke to the Old Testament
saints through Moses, through Noah building that ark, Walter. Through Moses' words, Aaron's
words, the tabernacle in the Old Testament, all those sacrifices
in the Old Testament were manifesting his word. The prophet spoke the
word of God to the people. He has always manifested his
word. But now, in due time, it says
he has manifested his word, doing it now, and it says it plainly,
through preaching. That's what it says. I didn't
put it in there, that's what it is. In due times, in this
time, in this error, this is the way God has chosen to do
it. I said it before, I said, He could have chose to do it
anyway, any way He wanted to. He could have made it so that
the rocks cried out. If the people hadn't cried out,
the rocks were gonna cry out. What? To the glory of God the
Father, that this man, this Jesus, is the Christ. He's the one. He's the message. He's been the
message in the Old Testament. He's the message in the New Testament.
He's the message eternally. No beginning and no end to this
message. First of all, who has manifested
his word through preaching? It's not Paul. That's not what
Paul's talking about. Paul did the preaching, but he's
not the one that manifested his word. That actually refers back
to verse 2, where he says, in hope of eternal life, which God
that cannot lie promised before the world again, but hath. Who
hath? God hath. in due times manifested
his word through preaching. It's God that actually manifest
his word or it's not manifested at all. The reason I got into this was
the next verse of John chapter 17 that I didn't preach about.
John chapter 17 verse 6 this is the exact word used here in
Titus. This is Christ speaking. He says,
I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me
out of the world. Thine they were, and thou gavest
them me, and they have kept thy word. Why did they keep thy word? His word? God's word? because
Christ manifested God's name to these men. And I'm not even
going to go into it, but that thou gavest me out of the world,
the whole world to choose from, and it wasn't a great coincidence
that Christ showed just right there where the men were that
God gave to him. This is all part of the purpose
and plan of God. But this is the word, I have
manifested thy name, and that I believe is what Paul is referring
to here. God has manifested his word through
preaching. Secondly, the word manifested
means to make visible that which has been unknown. Or literally,
I like this, to render apparent. This manifested is a making known
of what is already there. The Word of God is all around
us. The Word of God is in this book. The Word of God is this
book. It's here. But if our gospel be hid, it
is hid to them which are lost. whom the God of this world has
blinded the minds of. He, God, Christ, the Holy Spirit,
has to render apparent His Word. It's not the preacher's job.
The preacher's job is to preach, and to preach the truth, and
to sow only good seed, but to sow seed, and that's it. That's the third point. The Word
of God through preaching has to be manifested by the Spirit
of God. The natural man cannot understand
the things of the Spirit of God. Now you can shake that any way
you want to. Well, he will. Well, he won't. He can't. This is talking about he can't.
The natural man cannot understand the things of the Spirit of God.
It's in 1 Corinthians 2. You can read it and weep if you
want, but this is the truth of God. And if you're one of His,
you're going to read it and rejoice, because you used to be there. You used to be there. I used
to be there. But by His grace, by His mercy,
by His power, Am no longer there and I do not want to go back
to that There's a lot of people to act like they want to go back
but that is one I don't want to go back to that I Do not want
to go back to being ignorant of the things of the Spirit of
God to be ignorant of Christ. I Want to bow to him. I want
to be his bond slave. I I want to know Him. I want to acknowledge His truth. The Word of God through preaching
has to be manifested. It has to be manifested by God.
The preaching is public. That's what we're doing here.
The preaching is public. It's a proclamation. You can preach anywhere. But
unless God manifests that word unto that person, it's of no
value. It'd been just like preaching
to me when I was 17. You could have done it all day
long, it wouldn't have done you any good. It didn't do me any good. Of
course, Catholic service ain't exactly, never mind, we ain't
going into that. But it's preached publicly, but
it isn't received until God, our Savior, renders it apparent
to those He has given life. But, and, we are to preach. This is the way He's chosen to
do it. I didn't know Donald was going to preach on this yesterday,
or whoever it was. This is the way it's done. This is the way
God says to do it. It's proclaimed openly and it's
hid to the lost. Now that's not a paradox. That's
just a fact. That's a fact. That's the way
the preaching of the gospel is. it is rendered apparent it is
made known to those he is given life and it is hid to those whom
the God of this world has blinded the minds of that's the facts Paul said which is committed
unto me not the manifestation but the
preaching The preaching is committed and I look this word up Walter
the base word of this word commitment or committed is faith It's based on the word faith,
there's you know more extra Greek letters in there for the prefix
and the suffix or whatever What it means is entrusted The preaching
of the gospel had been entrusted to to Paul the Apostle and to
Titus And I'll go a little further.
It's been entrusted to me. And that's a scary thing. It is. I get nervous thinking about
coming up here. Now usually once I get here,
I'm nervous about other things. But I get nervous about coming
up here and preaching this gospel. A, I want to have a message.
Because here's the thing about a preacher. If you ain't got
a message, you ain't got a message. Now another nice thing about
a preacher, if you have a message, you have a message. And here
is our message. According to the faith of God's
elect and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness,
there is eternal life in the Son of God. and we are his servants, his
slaves, his brethren even. He is our elder brother, we submit
to him, we bow to him. Willingly, lovingly, and gladly. Earl used to talk about that
thing where they put the hole in the slave's ear if it came
time for his freedom. And he said, no, I don't want
to go. I want to stay in your house,
Lord. And they put it to the post and
put a hole right through his ear. And that meant he was a
slave forever. He would always belong to that
Lord. That's what I want of my Lord
Jesus Christ. That's eternal life. You belong
to Him forever. These people think that you can
just take it and lose it. They don't know what it is. What is truth? If you have to
ask, you don't know. If you think you can lose eternal life, you
ain't never had it. Because you don't know what it
is. Now granted, if there was a way to mess it up, I could
figure out a way to do it. I have every confidence in my
ability to break things. But it ain't up to me. It's perpetual. It keeps going even if I don't,
Walter. It'll keep going even when I'm not. It's perpetual. I like that word. I like that
thought. Why? Because He keeps it going. It's his life that he's given
us and it's his life that we're preaching And it's his word that ye have
received if it's been manifested unto you According to the commandment
of God our Savior This gospel has been entrusted to me For
though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of. Why? For necessity is laid upon
me, yea, woe is me if I preach not the gospel. A preacher is to preach. God gave this command. To the
apostle of the Gentiles, and I'm telling you, in these words,
he's passing this on to Titus, and he's passing it on to all
of us. Now, I said the direct context here is preaching, and
it is, but, and, I'm gonna throw this out to everyone. Because
a preacher is to preach, a teacher is to teach. A pastor is to pastor. An evangelist is to evangelize. Now, I know that really sounds
incredibly simple, but some people don't get it. Okay? Not you guys, but I mean, there
are people out there, and hopefully somebody will hear this. I don't
know. And hopefully we'll have sound, Paul. But here's the last
one. A witness is to witness. And that includes all of us.
That includes all of us. If you're a witness of Christ's
glory, which you are if He has manifested His word unto you,
you are to witness. I'm going to give one example.
Acts chapter 18 and verse 24. Actually 26, but I'm going to
read 24. Excuse me Because I know Paul
was well aware of this fella And a certain Jew named Apollos
born in Alexandria an eloquent man and mighty in the scriptures
came to Ephesus This man was instructed in the way of the
Lord and being fervent in the spirit He spake and taught diligently
the things of the Lord knowing only the baptism of John Isn't that amazing? You know
that billboard's still up there about how have you received the
Holy Ghost since you believed? This is another case here. And
he began to speak boldly in the synagogue whom when Aquila and
Priscilla had heard, they said, isn't that nice? And went home. No. They took him unto them,
and expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly. What does that mean? They preached
Christ to him. They witnessed Christ unto him.
Now, I don't have anything in here about Aquila being a preacher. Now, Paul knew them both. And
Priscilla was a woman. I fully agree with the scriptures,
and I'm not going to be apologetic about it, but I'll try to be
nice about it. This is a job given to men, not to women. Some days I'd about give it to
anybody, but it ain't up to me. That's just what it says, but
that doesn't leave you women off the hook. The first woman,
the first person who told me the gospel was a woman. And we
were just talking. And she mentioned something and
I had a question and she answered the question out of the scriptures.
So I'm not going to denigrate a woman's work at all. We're
a man's who's not a preacher. If you know the Word of God,
you're to be His witness. What Paul read, what Paul read
this morning, be ready to give an answer to every man. Now I
will tell you, that answer means that there was a question. Because
I had people throwing answers at me when I wasn't asking no
questions, and I didn't care. That's what happened when I was
17, 18, 19. But when I hit 22, 23, whatever
it was, I have to figure it out. I think it's 23. God manifested
his word to me and I wanted to hear it. And I had questions. And this woman gave me some answers. And told me where to look for
some other ones. Right in this book. What happened after that? It
says, "...and when he was disposed to pass through Achaia, the brethren
wrote, exhorting the disciples to receive him, who, when he
was come, helped them much which had believed through grace." A servant is a servant before
everything else. A servant is owned and submitted,
in this context, to Christ. And it is a servant of God that
is the apostle to the Gentiles. It is a servant who is a preacher. It is a servant who is a witness. But it is Christ and Christ alone
that manifests His word through the preaching of the gospel.
And nevertheless the gospel is preached and therein I rejoice. The preacher preaches, I said
it, the witness gives his or her testimony, but only Christ
manifests, renders apparent His Word in His servants. Because
all believers are sowers. All believers are sowers. Therefore
they are to sow seed in the field where the Lord has put you. You don't own the field. I don't
own the field. It's His field. And He'll put
you where He wants you to do what He wants you to do. This
is the command. This is our duty. And some days
this is our joy. Every day it's our joy. Some
days I'm just not very happy. But I'm always happy in Him. Our joy is to speak of our Lord
and of God, our Savior, who gave us this commandment. And we are to grow thereby. You don't outgrow preaching.
You don't outgrow hearing preaching. I might stop someday. It might
be taken from me. I might get old. I'm gonna die.
I remember Earl stand up here saying that and I always say,
please not now. I'm gonna die one day. But it was good to go drive those
two, three hours down to Dingus to hear that message preached.
He's a preacher. I went last year. It was good
when I went, Mason. Others win. You drive here, I
don't know how many miles, most of you I know. Why? To hear the preaching of
our Lord Jesus Christ. And to fellowship with people
who love the Lord Jesus Christ. I'll quit with this. I had, I
saw a sign yesterday. Then on the way back, I saw the
other side of the sign. That made it even worse. One side
says, keep the Bible in your heart and not on yourself. Ain't
that cute? Well, you hear the other side.
You may be the only Bible that some people ever read. That's exactly it. God help them.
If I'm the only Bible anybody's ever read, somebody's in big
trouble. It takes God to manifest His
Word. These people think they can manifest
His Word. They preach like they can manifest
His Word. They want to lay hands, some
of them, on people because they think they have a power given
by God and they don't. God is manifesting His Word right
now. through the preaching of His
gospel to His people. And that's the way it's done.
And that's His choice, not mine. Our Heavenly Father, we are thankful
again for this time and this place. But most of all, for Your
Word, Lord, thank You. Thank you for your word preached
to us, your word given to us, and being rendered apparent unto
us that we might believe thy son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you for the life you've
given, the faith you've given, and the message you've given. In Christ's name we pray, amen.