Titus chapter two. The Apostle
Paul wrote this letter to Titus, who was the pastor in Crete,
and he wrote to help Titus set some things in order there in
the church in Crete, some things of doctrine and some things of
conduct. You see that in chapter one,
verse five. He said, For this cause left I thee in Crete, that
thou should have set in order the things that are wanting and
ordain elders in every city as I had appointed thee. Then in
chapter two, Paul gives a good deal of instruction about the
believer's walk, our walk, conduct, our walk through this world.
And he shows us how the believers have been given a responsibility
to each other. We have a responsibility to each
other in our homes. We have a responsibility to the
each member of this church family. We have a responsibility to the
community in which we live. Now, our doctrine. our teaching,
our gospel, is that we're safe. Sinners are saved by grace alone,
through faith alone in our Lord Jesus Christ. Our doctrine is
that our works do not contribute one thing to our salvation. Our
gospel, our doctrine is that our works do not contribute anything
to our standing before God after conversion. Our salvation is
by Christ alone. Our standing before God is in
Christ alone. And any gospel that says salvation
is by works is no gospel at all. The salvation that they declare
is no salvation at all. Any salvation that has anything
to do with man's works, that has any input from man whatsoever
is no salvation at all. And this is equally true. Any
salvation, any faith that does not produce good works is no
salvation at all either. It's just as wrong. Believers
have been given a new heart, a new nature. We've got a new
master, a new Lord, and we've got a new walk and new motives
because of that new heart, because of the new master. I don't know
how many times Brother John Flamming, those of you who remember him,
he'd hand out those little slips of paper with a quote of some
sort. I'll remember. How many times
did he hand out one that said, you cannot separate faith and
conduct. You can't. That's what the word
of God teaches. They go hand in hand. So we're
going to talk about the believer's walk and conduct this morning.
And I'll warn you, some of the things that I'll say won't exactly
be politically correct. And I make no apology for that.
And I'll tell you why these things are not politically correct.
It's not because times have changed and the word of God is out of
date. No, it's because the thought, the idea, the way of man is so
wrong. That's why they're politically
incorrect. And it's my job as your pastor to show you these
things, what is God's way, the right way from the word of God.
And in this chapter, chapter two, Paul gives Titus instruction
for every one of us here. No matter what age or background
you are, Paul has some instruction for us. And he begins, first
of all, with pastors in verse one. But speak thou the things
which become sound doctrine. Now Paul tells Titus and he tells
every preacher the gospel You preach Christ. You preach it
soundly. Sound doctrine. And do it boldly. And don't apologize. Don't apologize
for being bold. Don't apologize for the truth.
Just preach it. Preach salvation is by grace
alone. And don't ever apologize for
it. Preach that man is totally depraved. Completely ruined in
sin. And has to have God's grace in
order to be saved. And don't ever apologize for
that. You preach this man's works can't contribute anything to
our salvation. We're totally dependent on Christ
to save us. And you preach that boldly and
don't ever apologize for it. And also, you be sure to preach
this sound doctrine. That the believers conduct is
to be sound, just like our doctrine is to be sound. And don't apologize
for that either. You know, God didn't save you,
so you go out and live a gross life of sin. God forbid that
we do that. Preach that boldly and don't
ever apologize for it. And what Paul is telling Titus
here is that pastors are to lead the way in this matter of our
conduct. We must preach the gospel boldly and then we got to live
our lives like we believe what we preach. Look at verse seven
here of chapter two. In all things showing thyself
a pattern of good works in doctrine showing uncorruptness. gravity,
sincerity, sound speech that cannot be condemned. That he
that is of the contrary part may be ashamed, having no evil
thing to say of you." Now pastors are to be a pattern of good works. The pastor is to be an example
of good works, of works of love and faith. Look back at 2 Timothy
chapter 3. Paul set the example in this
for these younger pastors, Timothy and Titus he's writing to. And
now he's telling them, you do the same for the generation that's
coming up behind you. 2 Timothy 3 verse 10. But thou has fully known my doctrine,
my manner of life, my purpose, my faith, my long suffering,
charity and patience. Timothy, you've seen now I've
set the example. Now he tells Timothy and Titus
now, You set the example for the congregation, you set the
example for the generation of preachers that's coming up behind
you. He says here, let your doctrine show uncorruptness. Uncorruptness
is be free from open sin. A pastor simply cannot be a corrupt
man because nobody listens to him. He loses all credibility
if he's an uncorrupt man. Pastors have to have gravity
and the word is honesty. A pastor's got to be an honest
man. You're only going to listen to
somebody preach that you trust. He's got to be an honest man.
And Paul says a pastor must be sincere. The word is genuine. I genuinely believe this gospel
that I preach. I really do. I genuinely believe
I am the chief of sinners. And I genuinely believe that
God saves sinners like me and like you. through the preaching
of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ our Savior is
not just a religious show to me. Sundays and Wednesdays are
not days to put on a suit and put on a religious show. Really,
it's not. The Lord Jesus Christ is my Savior. He saved me by his grace. He's
my master. He's my Lord. And that's who
I preach to you. That's my heart's desire that
he might reveal himself to you. And Paul says a pastor must have
sound speech, sound in the pulpit and sound out of the pulpit.
He's got to be sound in his doctrine. God's only going to save him
by the preaching of the truth. His preaching has got to be sound.
And he's got to be sound in his conduct. So he doesn't give a
foothold to the enemies of the gospel. You're the enemies of
Christ. They're going to say all kinds
of evil things about it. They don't have to be true. They're
going to say them, but let's not give them any ammunition.
Let's not give them something true that they can say. And here's
the key. So that the gospel won't be condemned.
It's not about us now. It's about the gospel. It's about
our savior. Do these things so that the gospel
can't be condemned. Don't ever give somebody a reason
not to listen to the gospel. That's what Paul's saying to
pastors, and that's good advice for all of us, isn't it? Now,
second, Paul speaks to older men. Verse two, that the aged
men be sober, be grave, temperate, sound in faith and charity and
impatience. Now, you older men, you've been
around for a while, act like it. Act like you've been around
for a while and during that time, act like you've learned something.
Don't just act like you really have learned something. Paul
says you older men be sober. The word is vigilant. Be watchful. First of all, be watchful over
yourself and then be watchful over this congregation. Be watchful
over your family. And you be aware of this now.
You older men, you're an example. You just, you can't help but
be the young people of this congregation watching. They watch you. You're
going to be an example, either a good one or a bad one. Strive
to be a good one because they're watching. Next he says, be grave. And that doesn't mean, you know
what's going on. It means be honorable. The word's honorable.
Be an example to people, both our young men and our young women.
How a man carries himself, how he conducts himself is Be faithful,
be kind, be hardworking. Set the example there. Then next Paul says, be temperate.
And the word is self-control. Be an example of not giving in
to the weakness and desires of this flesh. As you age, you know,
a young man Oftentimes he doesn't really worry about his flesh,
about his body. You know, he's healthy, he's
strong. You know, if something bad happens, it'll heal itself.
Things will get fixed up. He'll be all right. But as you
age, your flesh starts to weaken. Don't let your flesh start to
control you. Don't let the worries of your
flesh start to control you. I remember reading one time Charles
Spurgeon said he felt like that most times when a believer made
a very grave error, It's because they got older and they started
worrying about the weakness of the flesh. Well, you older men
be an example of not letting your flesh control you. Then
he says, be sound in faith. Be an example of strong faith
in Christ that no matter what happens, I believe God. I just
believe God. Be an example of growing in grace
and show these young people how that the more you've grown in
grace, You haven't grown stronger in your own self. The more you've
grown in grace, the more you've grown to depend upon the Lord
Jesus Christ. And then he says, be sound in
charity, be sound in love, in love for Christ, in love for
your family, love for your church family. And show, go out of your
way to show genuine care and genuine love for others. I've
got a good example of this. It's something I always remember.
When I was a boy, every so often Cecil Roach would stop me and
he'd talk to me. He'd talk to me. He'd ask me
questions and he seemed interested in what I was saying and what
my answer was back to him. I was just glad Cecil Roach knew
my name. I mean, he even knew I was alive
was, you know, pretty much a thrill to me. Much less that he acted
like he cared about me. You know, that made a huge impact
on me. Now it's your turn to do that.
You older men, you do that. And then be sound in patience.
Be an example of bearing trials patiently. As this flesh starts
to weaken and decay, be an example of bearing those things patiently.
And be an example of bearing our younger brothers and sisters,
bearing with them patiently. They got a lot to learn. We want
to help them learn it. An older man can have a very
real calming effect. He really can. If he's sound
in faith and patience, he can have a calming effect on his
family, on his church family, on the community. And hopefully
by the time we've got a little bit of age on us, we've learned
something about patience through experience. Now you show those
things to the younger here. Then third, Paul has some instruction
for older women, verse three. that the aged women likewise,
that they be in behaviors become with holiness, not false accusers,
not given to much wine, teachers of good things. Now, you ladies,
just like Paul said, likewise, just like the older men, you
remember this. Now, you've been around for a
while. Now, act like you've learned something. And remember, you're
an example. You're an example, not just to
the younger women, but especially to them, but to all of us, you're
an example. And we talk about these older ladies. Now we're
talking about women who are highly esteemed in the church, esteemed
for their wisdom, esteemed for the grace that they show. I remember
every once in a while when I would substitute, teach for my dad's
class. We didn't call them the older
ladies. He had another term for that,
but it was the aged women. Oh, what respect and admiration
I had for those women. They're held in high esteem. Now you remember that. You're
held in esteem. Keep that in mind in everything
that you do. And largely what Paul is saying to the older women
here is act your age. You're not a teenage girl anymore.
You're not a girl in her 20s anymore. Now act like it. Act like you've acquired some
wisdom and grace over the years. He says, make your behavior as
become of holiness. And the word is reverend. Show
reverence. Don't be just silly acting, but
show reverence toward God. That's so important, reverence
toward Him. He says, don't be a false accuser. I tell you where
that usually comes from is gossip. You know, we gossip, we're telling
the worst about people, whether it's true or not. Well, don't
do that. Don't gossip. And even if you
do know something on somebody, just keep it to yourself. Show
yourself a pattern of some discretion here. not given to wine. It's just, it's not being addicted
to wine. Nothing wrong with having a glass of wine, but don't be
addicted to something that can make you act the fool and set
a bad example. It's just acting that way is
not befitting of someone of your stature. And he says, be teachers
of good things. Don't get bitter in your old
age and start teaching things that are contrary to the word,
that aren't loving, that aren't kind, that aren't forgiving.
Don't teach things that these silly women teach who follow
after false teachers. And don't get some time on your
hands. Now you got your children raised and you got a little more
time on your hands, don't go looking for something to satisfy
some itch that you have other than Christ. Because you're going
to teach somebody else to do the same thing and nothing could
be more bad than that. Be a teacher of good things.
And just remember this, you older women have a very important role.
is to be an example to all of us, and particularly to teach
the young women, not teach them right. Which brings us to the
third group Paul talks to, or fourth group, he talks to the
younger women. And largely he talks to the younger women by
telling the older women what to teach them. Verse four, that
they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands,
to love the children, to be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good,
obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blaspheme.
You older women, Paul says, you teach the younger women. And
you keep this in mind. You older ladies, you can teach
these young women things I can't teach them. I can teach them
words on paper. I can teach them something out
of a book that things I know to be true. But you can teach
them from experience. You can teach them wisdom from
the voice of experience. So when you teach him, Paul says,
teach a young woman, teach her to be sober. The word is wise. Teach her to be wise. Teach her
the wisdom to follow Christ. Teach her the wisdom to be a
good wife. Teach her the wisdom to raise
children. What do you need more than wisdom
when you're trying to raise your children? Teach her wisdom, how
to order her home. We'll talk here in a minute.
She's going to be the keeper at home. Teach her the wisdom
to be able to do that. That's a difficult job. Teach
her to be wise. I'm telling you, a wise woman
is, oh, what a great blessing. She's a great blessing to her
husband. What a blessing to children to have a wise mother that can
teach them and guide them. What a blessing it is to the
church to have a church full of wise women. And here's some
wisdom for all of us. Paul is talking here to the young
women, but this is good advice for all of us. Let's be wise
enough to be teachable. We can't learn anything, we're
know-it-all, can we? You young women, they're starting
out and you're raising your family and you're just, you know, you're
feeling your way through this thing. Be wise enough to be teachable,
to learn these things that these older women have to teach you.
Then Paul says, teach young women to love her husband. Now, why
on earth would Paul say that? Here's a young woman. She's just
getting married. Oh, she's got stars in her eyes
still. Oh, she's head over heels in love with this guy. Why would
Paul have to say, teach them to love their husband? Well,
he's given some good advice here to women of all ages. I think
first of all, he says this for this reason. He tells the older
women, you teach a young woman to love her husband. He says
that because a mother can cause great problems in a marriage,
for her daughter's marriage. You know, maybe she makes fun
of her son-in-law. More than likely, he's going
to give her ammunition. I have said this so many times,
men do dumb things. That's just the way we come,
I suppose. She can make fun of her son-in-law. Can you believe
he does that? And when she does that, you know
what she's doing? She's not teaching her daughter to love her husband.
She's teaching her daughter to have a bad attitude about her
husband. Yes, she'd say things like, let him go get Teddy himself. He's got two legs. He ought to
be doing more housework around here. He ought to be giving you
more money to run this. Doesn't he know what things cost? And
when she does that, whether she's meant to or not, she's started
causing problems in that marriage. And ladies, if your son-in-law's
not doing something right, like I say, he's going to do something
dumb. That's just the way we are. But when that happens, teach
your daughter how to love him. how to deal with the situation
without dragging him down. And I'll give you a perfect example
of this. I'm illustration number one. Jan and I were first married,
and before too long, you know, Holly come along. And I was working
for a company that was just, the whole time I worked for them,
they're on the verge of bankruptcy, you know. And boy, especially
after Holly come along, I was working crazy hours. I had two or three positions,
you know, in this company because they couldn't afford to hire
anybody else. And I was doing everything I could do to make
that company run smoothly because I needed a job. I had a wife
and daughter support. Apparently, when I come home,
I was tense and grouchy. And Janet told her grandmother,
Frank's just a pill, you know, he's so tense and grouchy all
the time. Now, her grandmother could have said, That's a man
for you. You just want you to get that
baby. You come out here and you just let him cook for himself
and clean for himself and stew and be grouchy his own self.
But she didn't say that. You know what she said? She said,
you love him out of it. She said, what? She said, you
love him out of it. And she said, you go home right
now. You go home. And I wouldn't even home yet,
but she wanted her granddaughter there when her husband got home.
She said, you love him out of it. Good advice, good advice. That's teaching your daughter
to love her husband. Then he says, teach young women
to love their children. Now again, why in the world would
Paul say love your children? That baby's born, they put that
baby in your hands, you've never been so in love in your life.
Why does Paul say teach them to love their children? Well,
I'll tell you what he's saying. He's saying teach the young women
how to love the children. Teach them not to love their
children with this silly, ungoverned love. Won't you listen to me
for a minute? This is something I know what
I'm talking about. Loving your children does not mean giving
them everything their little hearts desire. No, loving your
children means teaching them they're old enough now, their
wants won't hurt them. They just don't need everything that they
set their heart upon. Loving your children means teaching
them right from wrong. It means to teach them how to
get along with people, how to share. Loving your children means
teaching them how to work. You can't have your children
work, you know. They work when they're little around the house
and they have chores and jobs and stuff. That's loving your
children. And loving your children means
disciplining your children so that they learn not to do what's
wrong. I'm telling you this. If you don't discipline your
children, it's because you love your own self, not them. That's
so. If you don't discipline your
children, you know what it shows? It shows that you don't care
what happens to them when they do wrong because you care more
about yourself. You don't want to be the bad
guy to discipline them. You don't want to put forth the
energy to do it or whatever. You're just not going to do what
it takes to teach them to act right. And that's not just Frank's
opinion. That is my opinion, but it's
not the reason you ought to listen to it. That's what God's Word
says. Solomon said in Proverbs 13,
24, he that spares his rod, he that won't discipline his son
hates him. And he that loves his son chases
him. So teach them, teach them that
when you tell them to do something, you mean do it the first time.
If there's one thing that utterly grates on my last nerve, I go
out in public and I hear parent tell this kid, you know, do something.
They don't do it. And then they come again. They
don't do it. And they come again. They say, you better do it by
the time I count to three. Well, guess what happens when
they get to three? The kid don't do it. He's already
learned. He doesn't have to do it. Teach
your children to do what you tell them to do the first time.
It could save their life. They could be getting ready to
cross the street. Truck's coming down the road. You tell them,
come here. Well, you better hope they do what you told them to
do the first time. If he keeps going, he's going to get killed. You
could keep them from going to jail. You might have the patients
tell them to do something eight times. A police officer won't.
You could keep them out of jail. There's something else you could
do. Teach them to answer to authority the first time. It could be they'll
be like Samuel. And they'll answer when God calls
them the first time. It could be. Then Paul says you
teach the young women to be discreet. Teach them to be self-controlled
is the word. Boy, that's a great need for
a wife and a mother. Self-control. I think a lot of
what he's saying here is be ladylike. You ladies, be ladylike. Don't
try to be a man. I'm telling you, the world's
got enough of them. Don't try to be a man. Be ladylike. That's what the home needs. That's
what the world needs. We need more women to be ladies.
Paul says, teach them to be chaste. And the word is moderate and
modest and pure. And not just sexually, although
certainly, but just in your general behavior, be modest, be pure. It's such a, make the world a
better place. Then Paul says, teach them to
be keepers at home. Teach them how to keep the home
is what he's saying there. And that's, that's a good lesson
to be taught because it's a hard job. Now, I know in our day,
two-income families, it seems like anymore it's what it takes
to pay the bills. I'm not saying anything about that. But in this
day, two-income families, you just keep this in mind, being
the keeper of the home still falls to the wife and the mother.
Young and true. Now, I know that keeping the
home is a whole lot more than housework. And again, in this
day of two-income families, you know, the husband's going to
have to do more housework and that kind of thing than a traditional
marriage might be. But being the keeper of the home
means more than dusting and mopping and stuff. It means managing
the affairs of the home. That's what it means. Now, you
young ladies, you want to be a keeper at home? You learn how
to be a manager, because that's what you're going to have to
be. You manage the affairs of the home. You be the COO, Chief
Operating Officer, of your home. You have decisions to make and
things you've got to do. Now you manage it and do it.
And your husband, stay out of her way and let her do her job.
You've got a job to do, do it. And let her do her job. She's
the keeper of the home. Then Paul says, teach them to
be good. Teach them to be good to their husbands and their children,
people in their home. The world is just a nicer place
because of the attitudes and kindness of women. The impulses
teach them to be obedient to their own husbands. Again, I
know this is not politically correct in our day, but wives
are to be obedient to their own husbands. Now, this does not
mean women are second class citizens. You've heard me say that many
times. Recently, we had a whole message on marriage. If you want
to learn more about that, you can go back and listen to it.
But you young women, you be obedient to your husbands. That's God's
order. That's God's order for a happy,
well-run home. And again, here's the key to
every age group. You conduct yourselves this way
that the word of God be not blasphemed. How horrible would it be for
us to go out and act like a jackass and make somebody think, I don't
want anything to do with their gospel if it produces somebody
like that, you know, but strive to be an example of faith and
kindness and love. So somebody might wonder what's
different about her. Maybe they'd ask you, maybe they'd
come to service with you here in the Savior. Could be. Then
next, Paul speaks to young men, verse six. Young men likewise
exhort to be sober minded, Now everything that's been said to
the older men and to the women applies to the younger men too.
You take every one of those instructions and you apply them to yourself.
But Paul specifically talks here about young men being sober-minded. Sober-minded means sane, that's
what it means. Now you young men, you strive
to grow up and be a man. I'm a man, just like the men
are around here, men of faith, men of love and honesty, a man
who's committed to his family, committed to his gospel. Just
be sane. Don't act insane. Just be moderate
in everything you do and be careful that you don't go off on the
deep end now. And young men, I love to have young men around
now. Young men have strength and energy. They've got them
and vigor. They can get stuff done. And
that's good you've got all that energy, but be careful. that
you don't go off half-cocked now because your energy and your
vim and vigor can take you a long way in the wrong way very quickly. So be moderate. Use your energy
and your enthusiasm in the right way. It's great to have that.
Use it while you got it because it won't last forever. But channel
it in the right way. Henry told me one time, he said,
a young man will go out and whip a grizzly bear at the switch
and an old man won't do that. So while you're willing to go
out and whip a grizzly bear with a switch, put your back into
this thing. Put your back into your life,
raising your family, supporting your family, supporting the church,
doing a good job. Put your back into that thing.
Which brings us to the last group that Paul speaks to, employees.
Verse nine. Exhort servants to be obedient
under their own masters and to please them well in all things,
not answering again, not purloining, but showing all good fidelity,
that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things. Now you've heard this many, many
times. When you go out to the job, you be the best worker out
there. Be the best employee. Whatever it is your boss tells
you to do, do it. Be obedient to your boss. Do
whatever it is you're supposed to do as well as you possibly
can. When your boss tells you something,
don't talk back to him. Now, I hope your parents already
taught you that at home. Don't talk back. When you get out on
the job, don't talk back to your boss. And don't look at your
boss as your enemy. Don't look at him that way. Help
your boss all you can by doing a good job. And this ought to
go without saying, but here it is, don't steal from the company.
Don't steal from them. Don't steal the stuff that they
bought with their money. and don't steal the time they
bought from you with their money. Don't steal from them. Whatever
you do, do not be lazy at work. Don't do it. I'm telling you,
everybody on the job knows who's lazy at work. Everybody does. And if that's a believer, you
know what they're going to say? They're going to say, this guy's
so lazy, never does a lick of work. I don't want anything to
do with his religion. I've heard that said. I have. Don't be that guy. Show good
fidelity, Paul says. Show you can be trusted. Show
that you don't, your boss doesn't have to be always looking over
your shoulder for you to do what you're supposed to do. He can
tell you what to do and walk away and know you'll do what you're
supposed to be doing. And again, the key to all this
is so that the doctrine of God our Savior be adorned. Don't
put black marks on the reputation of our Savior so that people
buy your action, so that people don't think or they think, well,
Christ just doesn't make any difference. But adorn the gospel
of our Savior so that people will be interested and they want
to find out more about your Savior, more about your Lord and Master.
Because while our doctrine, our preaching is grace, do you know
that's what grace teaches? Look here at verse 11. For the
grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching
us that denying ungodliness and worldly lust, we should live
soberly, righteously and godly in this present world. Grace
teaches us Christ has saved us from our sin. And you know what
that means? Then we don't want anything to
do with sin. Why would a believer want anything to do with sin
that caused our Savior to suffer so much? No, we don't want anything
to do with sin. Christ didn't save us so that
we could just go out and enjoy every sin and never worry about
sin because why should I worry about it? Christ already paid
the debt. I can just sin as much as I want to. No, Christ put
our sin away and he gave us a new nature, a nature that hates sin,
that resists sin and loves holiness and desires to please our Lord. Christ has saved his people from
their sin and made them part of his body. Were you gonna take
the body of Christ and sin with it? God forbid. So if you know
Christ, here's I guess the sum of the whole thing. If you know
Christ, live in this world like you know him. Live in this world
like you're following him. Paul told the church at Corinth,
whatever it is you do, do all for the glory of God. That's
our doctrine. That's our doctrine, and that's
how we adorn the doctrine of God our Savior. All right, Lord
bless you.