For a Scripture reading this
morning, turn with me to the book of Titus. The book of Titus. Let's read this first chapter.
I'm going to preach in a little bit, Lord willing, from verse
9. But let's read the entire chapter. 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,
in 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, my own son,
after the common faith, grace, mercy, and peace from God the
Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Savior. For this cause left
I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that
are wanting, and ordain elders in every city, as I had appointed
thee. If any be blameless, the husband
of one wife, having faithful children, not accused of riot,
unruly. For a bishop must be blameless
as the steward of God, not self-willed, not soon angry, not given to
wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre, but a lover of
hospitality and a lover of good men, sober, just, holy, temperate,
holding fast the faithful word as he had been taught, that he
may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince
the gainsayers. For there are many unruly and
vain talkers and deceivers, especially they of the circumcision, whose
mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things
which they ought not for filthy lucre's sake. One of themselves,
even a prophet of their own, said, The Cretans are always
liars, evil beasts, and slow bellies. This witness is true. Wherefore, rebuke them sharply
that they may be sound in the faith, not giving heed to Jewish
fables and commandments of men that turn from the truth. Unto
the pure all things are pure, but unto them that are defiled
and unbelieving is nothing pure. But even their mind and conscience
is defiled. They profess that they know God,
but in works they deny him, being abominable and disobedient, and
to every good work reprobate. And let's read the verse in chapter
2, the first verse. But speak thou the things which
become sound doctrine. If you will turn back with me
to the book of Titus chapter 1. Titus is what the
writers call a pastoral epistle. It has the qualification for
pastors. It tells you in there what the
pastor's duties are and so forth. And a pastor's duties, if he
performs them as God has set him apart to do, is something
that other men cannot enter into. Not until you've, and I'm going
to use the word attempted, Not until you've attempted to do
these things. He's put you in a situation where
these things have to be said and done. They're hard things. A pastor's heart is for his people.
I want folks to believe when they come here. I'm not trying
to run folks off. I'm trying to point men to Christ. I'm trying to tell you those
things necessary for the salvation of your soul. And it has good experiences.
Some men believe. The Lord works in the hearts
of some and causes them to bow, makes them meet, gives them the
ability to see through all the religious jargon and to see through
all the lies and to rejoice in Christ and others who don't. Titus is who this letter is written
to. And Titus was a Greek. He was
a Gentile. And Paul, he was converted under
Paul. Paul calls him his son in the
faith. He was converted under Paul's
ministry. And unlike Timothy, Paul did
not have Titus circumcised. And he took him to Jerusalem.
He took him to Jerusalem just like he did Timothy. But he didn't
circumcise him, nor was he under any pressure by the apostles
in Jerusalem to be circumcised. He was called of Paul his brother,
his partner, his fellow helper. And he was obviously a man of
great grace and gifts of the Holy Ghost to be sent by Paul
to Crete for this purpose. He said, I've sent you here to
set things in order that are wanting. There is an order to
the worship of God. There's an order in the house
of God. And there's an order to be held
and practiced in the church of the living God. There's means
to be exercised. He doesn't leave us to ourselves.
Now, what should we do? We want to pack this thing with
people. So here's what we're going to do. And we talk it all
over. And we're going to have this guy come in. And we're going
to hire this music director. And we're going to do this. And
we're going to do that. And these are all things that appeal to
men. And we'll get them in here. And if we get them in here, we'll
give them little jobs to do so they feel important. And we'll
keep them. We'll just pack the door. No, he don't leave that
to you for your reasoning. But he sets these things in order,
not according to your wants and reasoning, but according to his
word and his purpose. And this man, Paul set aside
to do this. He was to set things in order
that are wanting, means to be exercised, days to assemble,
ordinances to be administered, and in general, how to behave
ourselves in the house of the Lord. He tells us that all through
His Word, 1 Timothy 3.15. And contrary to religion, that
is false religion, worldly religion, anti-Christ religion, whatever
name you want to put on it, believers are not left alone to decide
when, where, and how to worship God. Well, it's a personal thing,
preacher. No, it's not. No, it's not. It's a public thing. It's a public
thing. And we're told when, where, and
how to worship God. And it's not to be set in order
by councils, denominational preferences, and so on, creeds. According to the Word of God,
Titus was sent of Paul to these churches. He was an apostle,
highest office in the church. We don't have any apostles because
we don't need them. But they were high offices. As
high as you could get in the church was an apostle. You had
to be personally taught by the Lord. And he sent this man to
ordain elders and pastors in every city as Paul had instructed
him. And so Paul gives him a series
of qualifications. He begins in verse 6, blameless. Try to wear that name. Blameless. Anybody here feel blameless? Blameless. He's not of a questionable
character or history. He pays his bills. He's not a
shyster. Actually, pastors, most of them
that I know, could do anything. They could do anything. They
could build buildings. They could cut trees. They could
do anything. But their calling was into the
pastor. But some men can't do anything
else. And they're not pastors. They're
not. These men are blameless. They're
not of a questionable character or history. They're the husband
of one wife. That is, they have one wife. They didn't practice polygamy,
which is common in that day. Listen to this. Faithful children. Huh? Faithful children. That is, born out of wedlock. Born out of a marriage union.
Children raised in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Faithful
children, not accused of riot or unruly. In most cases, riotous
and unruly children are the evidence of a lack of discipline. That's
where it comes from. And so it makes such a man unqualified
to be a pastor. Somebody gets out of line in
the church, and I mean way out of line. I ain't talking about
every little thing. But some things cannot be practiced. It hurts the ministry publicly.
And that man, that pastor, is going to have to call it out.
He's going to have to do something about it. He can't let it go. And bishops or pastors must be
blameless as stewards of God. They're not common lawbreakers
or men like that. They're not self-willed, he says
here. Not self-willed. That is, they
have some kind of a... Oh, what's the word I'm hunting
for? They have a goal in mind. They
have some kind of personal goal, some kind of personal ambition. That's how they preach. That's
how their whole ministry goes that direction. They're not self-willed. His actions are according to
the will of God and not his own. And God's will is according to
his word and not what men say it is. An obstinate, conceited, stubborn,
unflexible man, as a self-willed man, and when he's put into the
office as a pastor, he'll lead that church into what Paul calls
later, will-worship. Will-worship. And then it says he's not soon
angry. He don't fly off the handle every
time somebody says something to him. He's not a man prone to physical
outbursts. shoving, hitting, and so forth. No striker. That's what that
word means. He's not given to wine. That
doesn't mean he doesn't drink some wine. He may very well have
wine every evening. But he's not given to it. He's
not a drunk. He's not a man who leans on it,
addicted to it, or drinks in excess. And he's not given to
filthy luper. Now the word lucre simply means
gain. That's what it means. Gain. It becomes filthy lucre when
it's religious. That's what makes it filthy,
when it becomes religious gain. And when he says gain here, he's
not just always talking about money. Sometimes he's talking
about title. Sometimes he's talking about
authority. Sometimes he's talking about
a position. And then he attaches filthy to
it because it concerns the office of a pastor. He's a steward of
God. He's not an employer of a corporation. And what he has is given to him
in a trust, not in a paycheck. And his motivation is the love
of God. He loves God. God saved us. He didn't leave us to ourselves.
He saved us. He didn't look down on us as
He did Cain. He looked down on us like He
did Abel. He looked down on us, not like
He looked on Esau, but like He looked on Jacob. He looked on
us with mercy. He looked on us with love and
with everlasting compassion. Provision was made for us. He
loved us. He didn't treat us like other
men. He came to us in grace and mercy. And we realize that and
we love him for it, don't we? We love him for it. And everything
we do is out of love. I don't need threatening. I do
what I do. The love of God, Paul said, constraineth
us. That's why we're here. That's
why we suffer these things. That's why we suffer persecution.
That's why we put ourselves in this position. The love of God. We love Him. Our motivation is the love of
God and the love of men. I don't want to see anybody go
to hell. Do you? Read something about hell. I mean, read it in truth. Let
it sink in. Hell is everlasting. There's no break in it. In this
life, no matter what goes on, there's a moment of peace. There's
always a moment of peace, a moment of rest, a vacuum, if you will,
that we go through. Not in hell. Not in hell. It's continual,
everlasting torment. You look at the words he uses
to describe it. I don't want to see any man go
through that. I don't care who he is. I don't care what he says
to me. I still don't want to see him do that. Our motivation is the love of
God, not the love of money. And we work out of indebtedness
to God. One man I've known for years
changed his pastorate from one place to another because things
looked better there than they did where he was at. And here's
the comment he made. I'll never forget it. When he
took that office, he said, I'll never want for a paycheck again
as long as I live. Oh, my soul. He's not giving
the filthy looker. If he is, you need to get rid
of him. Actually, it says here that he
used to be a lover of hospitality. Hospitality. He loves it when
somebody comes in his house. Come in. Sit down. Here, let
me fix you something. Will you spend the night? Huh? Stranger showed up. At the doorstep,
what did Abraham do? He went out, killed a calf, dressed
it, provided. He didn't even know them. He
didn't even know who they were. Pastors are lovers of hospitality. We love to show, it gives us
an opportunity to show some of that mercy and grace that God
gave to us. They're lovers of hospitality
and nothing pleases him more than to welcome folks into his
home and treat them like he would
his own children. And it says here he's a lover
of good men. What's that mean? That means
he recognizes men saved of God and how precious they are and
how few they are. And he cares for them and he
treats them special. A man that recognizes the gifts
of God in men and treats them as beloved of God. Whenever Paul
talked about his fellow helpers, he always praised them and praised
those gifts that God had given them. And then this man's to
be sober. I'm not talking about he didn't
have a few beers. What I'm just talking about is
sober. He's serious. He realizes something
of the sobriety of what he's doing. Men's souls hang in the
balance. That's just how serious it is. A serious, sensible mind, and
he's just, he's righteous and fair in his dealings with men,
and he's holy. His life is not a contradiction
of the character of God. And he's temperate. He uses discretion
in food and drink and even from lawful things for the
good of the ministry and the welfare of the church. And then
here's my text. We're going to talk about a pastor.
And that pastor ought to be not only an example, but he ought
to be the epitome of what that church stands for if he's teaching
them right. If God's using them in that place,
this whole church ought to feel the same way. And this is my text. In the very
heart of a pastor's sin of God, verse 9, holding fast the faithful
word as he hath been taught that he may be able by sound doctrine
both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers For there are
many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, especially they
of the circumcision, whose mouths must be stopped. If they're not,
they'll subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought
not, for irreligious gain, filthy lucre. They're to be rebuked sharply. What's that mean? That means
a stick in the eye. That's what that means. That
means right there in your face. Right there. These men came out
and called Christ everything but a milk cow. Didn't they? They accused Him of preaching
with the spirit of Satan. This is the Son of God come into
the flesh and they're accusing Him of everything under the sun.
You think He didn't rebuke them sharply? That parable I gave
you a while ago is about the Pharisees, and the Pharisees
were standing right in front of him when he said it. It's
a stick in the eye, ain't it? Sharply. Sharply. Well, don't say, well, I didn't
say nothing this time. No. No, say it this time. Say
it when it needs to be said. Wouldn't you rather have somebody
just tell you something instead of beating around the bush about
it? Just tell me. Just tell me. Rebuke them sharply. Go straight to the point. And
they're to hold fast the faithful word. What does it mean to hold
fast the faithful word? What's he talking about? Well,
let me give you three things that were a help to me over the
years. And I hope and pray there'll be a help to you. First of all,
what is it that this faithful steward is to hold fast? He cannot
hold what's never been given to him. Brother Barnard used to say,
you can't tell what you don't know anymore and you can come
back from somewhere you haven't been. You can't hold on to something
that's never been given to you. Or what is this faithful word?
The faithful word is the word by which faith is born, nourished,
and maintained. Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the word of the Lord. If you go back in that chapter,
because that was a statement of summation, if you go back
in Romans chapter 10, you'll find out what he's talking about.
Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved,
but how are you going to call on Him in whom you have not believed? How are you going to believe
in him of whom you have not heard? And how are you going to hear
that preacher? Therefore, faith cometh by hearing,
hearing by the word of God. He's talking about that word
of the gospel. The faithful word is the gospel
of Jesus Christ. It is the message of the book. He's not talking about holding
on, though I will. hold on to and must hold on to
all scripture because it's given of inspiration of God. But what
he's talking about here is the message of this book, the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And if you know not the gospel,
this book is no value to you whatsoever. None whatsoever. It's the word by which faith
is born. The gospel of Jesus Christ is
God's testimony concerning His Son and the salvation of chosen
sinners, purposed of God before the world was. And this gospel
is the revelation of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ,
that is, in His person and work. Paul wrote to the Corinthians
and he told them that he preached the wisdom of God in a mystery. This thing has to be revealed.
Has to be revealed. Paul was a Pharisee. He knew
the Scriptures forward and backward. There were no New Testament back
then. It was just the Old Testament. But buddy, don't ask him a question
in the Old Testament. He'll answer you. He'll tell
you the book and the chapter and the verse. He'll tell you
if you got your punctuation marks right. He knew the Word of God
forward and backward. But he didn't know the message
of the Word. He didn't know Christ. He wrote
to the Corinthians and he said that he preached the wisdom of
God in a mystery. Now watch this, even the hidden
wisdom which God ordained before the world unto our glory. We become partakers of His glory
as He reveals things to us because He only reveals things to His
people. It has to be revealed. God purposed
it that way. And though it's plainly stated
in the Word and ever so plainly preached, yet it remains a mystery
in the minds and hearts of unconverted men. It don't make sense. Been there and done that. Now
watch this. I'm reading from 1 Corinthians
chapter 2. 1 Corinthians 2 verse 8, which none of the princes
of this world knew. Pontius Pilate, go on and on. None of the princes of this world
knew. For had they known it, they would not have crucified
the Lord of Glory. If they knew this was the Son
of God, they wouldn't have crucified Him. But as it is written, where's
that at? Isaiah 64, 4. Paul's quoting
the Scriptures. Here you go. Eye hath not seen,
nor ear heard. Now watch this. Neither have
entered into the heart of man, not men, man, mankind, the whole
race. It's never entered into their
minds or hearts, not any of mankind, the things which God has prepared
for them that love him. What things? Now, I'm going to tell you something.
If you read carefully through 1 Corinthians chapter 2, you'll
just keep seeing this word things, things, things, things. The natural
man receiving not the things of the Spirit of God. Talking
about things. Well, what things is he talking
about? Well, he's talking about an eternal mediator. Never entered into a natural
man's... Go down to bars. Just talk to somebody down there.
He's not religious. He's just another guy. And he's
going to talk to you. And you talk to him about a mediator.
And he said, what? It's never entered into his mind
about an eternal mediator. That God actually appointed one
to mediate his eternal purpose and will. When did he do it? Before the foundation of the
world. Everlasting mediator, one mediator between God and
men, the man in Christ Jesus. That never entered into their
thinking. An internal priest after the order of Melchizedek.
He didn't have any beginning, no end. A priest. God appointed for his people
a priest after the order of Melchizedek. This day, he said, have I begotten
thee. That never entered into our thinking.
A savior. A savior. What's that talking
about? That's talking about somebody
who can't fail. That's talking about somebody who's saved. He
don't try to save. He saves. Thou shalt call his
name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sin. That
ever entered into your thinking in religion? That God's gonna
save a people no matter what. Ain't he gonna save? No, we were
saved if, if, if, if, if, if. The ifs went on and on. A savior, a redeemer. What's
that mean? He buys back everything you lost. A substitute, somebody to die
in my room and play. A representative, somebody to
live under the law because I couldn't. Salvation in a person. Full,
free, complete provision in a person. You're complete in Him who's
the head of all principalities. These things have never been
entertained in the heart of man. Listen to this, verse 10. But
God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit. By His Spirit. How do you know what that guy
is saying? Because you're of God. That's the only way you
can know. Otherwise, he's just another man. That's your opinion.
That's what you believe. That's your theory. It goes on
and on and on. But not if that man's of God.
But when he says truth, it goes right straight through the heart.
You know what that man's saying is true. Before you ever look
it up, you know it's true. It rings true in the heart. And
that's what John said. You are God's little children. And you listen to those sin of
God. And the reason you do it, because
you're of God. God, the Holy Spirit, has revealed
these things to us. For the Spirit searcheth all
things, yea, the deep things of God. And this Spirit, as it's
exampled in men, is the heart of all knowledge and reason.
Immediately after he says this, he said, What man knoweth the
things of a man save the spirit of man that's in him? Huh? You don't know what my will is.
You don't know anything about me unless I tell you. And then
you just know what I tell you. Even so the things of God knoweth
no man but the spirit of God. Now watch this. 1 Corinthians
2. Now we have not received, we have received not the Spirit
of the world, but the Spirit which is of God, that we might
know the things that are freely given to us of God. He doesn't send the Spirit so
you can stand up and jabber in a bunch of tongues and men glorify
you because you're so self-holy. He sends you the Spirit of God
that you might know the things freely given to you of God. How's
He gonna do that? He's gonna show you Christ. And
He's gonna show you all those things given to you in Him. Which things, verse 13, also
we speak not in words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the
Holy Ghost teacheth, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
That rock back in the way, that was Christ. Huh? Well, who come up with that?
The Spirit of God. Spirit of God, my soul, that
manna, whatever it is, small as a whore frog raining down
in the wilderness, what is that manna? That's the bread Christ
sent. I'm the bread sent down from
heaven. He compares spiritual things
with spiritual, but he said the natural man, that man left to
himself receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God. What are
these things? Well, some of these things are
the means. He's not going to receive that. All of these things, he's not
going to receive any of them. Why? Because they're foolishness
to him. See, he's left to his own reasons. The Spirit of reason
and understanding of God never been given to him. That comes
with the Spirit. And the faithful word is the
seed of regeneration. He said in John 1, as many as
received Christ, how come they received Him and nobody else
did? His own received Him not. The
world at large didn't receive Him, but some did. How come?
To them gave He power to become the sons of God. Now listen,
which were born. Not of blood, not of the will
of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. They were
born of God. This is the Word, Peter said,
the incorruptible seed by which you are born of God. This is
the Word which by the gospel is preached unto you. hold fast
the faithful word, not the abstract word which the scribes and Pharisees
memorized and taught and reasoned with the men. You search the
Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life, and they
are they that testify of me. But you won't come to me. You
will not come to me that you might have life." It's not the
abstract word of God, but the message of the word. Not the
history of the world, science so-called, or endless genealogies,
but the gospel of Jesus Christ. John wrote to the elect lady,
and he said, whosoever transgresseth and abideth not in the doctrine
of Christ, now watch this, hath not God. If his interest his aim, his
goal, his foundation, and all his hope. If it's not in the
doctrine of Christ, he don't know God. I'll never forget, I was still
holding out some hope for religion, still believing in my mind that
God would somehow use my testimony in false religion. And so I continued
to play my guitar and sang, and they gave me a few minutes to
testify. And I'd watch the pastor, and
as soon as he started getting worried and ready to sit me down,
then I'd go ahead and sing and sit down. But I was in a freewill
Baptist church one night, and the old pastor come in late.
Song service was over. They just getting ready to start
the regular service. And he said, before I start, he said, I want
to recognize pastors, called him Reverend, so and so. And
he said, how are things between you and God? And that old man
went to throw up two fingers like that. God killed him dead
as a wedge. Before those fingers got all
the way up, his head hit the pew. God killed him right then.
He hath not died. If he don't have this doctrine.
The hope of salvation is in a person, and that person is revealed and
preached in the gospel. And if you have not that doctrine,
you don't have God. That's just how simple it is.
And that's what he writes to this elect lady, and he said,
if they come to you and they don't have the doctrine of Christ,
don't invite them into your home. And when he leaves, he's going
to be offended. And when he leaves all offended,
don't say, well, Lord bless you. He said, don't even bid him Godspeed
when he leaves, lest you be partaker of his evil
deeds. Hold fast the faithful word. And I tell you, it's a fatal
transgression against God to ignore the gospel of Christ.
And those who insist on doing so, we're not to invite them
in or pat them on the back or tell them the Lord bless you.
What does it mean to hold fast the faithful word? It means to
hold fast the revelation of Christ set forth in the gospel. Don't let it go. Secondly, it
means to grip it in such a fashion so that no man can take it away
from you. There was a man in the book of
Judges. who was one of the mighty men of valor, one of four that
he mentions in the book of Judges that fought with David. One of
these men held off a hundred men by himself in the power of
God's Spirit. There's a hundred men, a hundred
to one, and he fought them off. The other man had a sword. It
didn't tell how many he slayed with the sword, but he slayed
so many his arm was so sore he couldn't hardly hold it up, but
he held on to that sword. When he says hold fast, that's
what he's talking about. You hold it in such a fashion
that no man can take it away from you. It means to grip it. The Old
Testament term is clade. And it means to become one with. Become one with Christ. We're
one with Him. How are you going to separate
us from them? When you marry a woman, you become one with
her. You too become one flesh. You know what I'm saying? It's to be fashioned to, to be
joined together, to cling to, to be adhered to. You're stuck on it. Gospel is not a sideline. Not
just a point of discussion or debate. Not something we use
to prove ourselves wise or holy in the eyes of men. It's something
we embrace with our hearts. That's the word, embrace. We
embrace it with our hearts and minds. And we rest upon it, our
eternal souls. It's a lifeline. That's how we
hang on to it, as a lifeline. Only thing between you and that
great abyss is that lifeline. We hold on. Huh? Isn't that what Job said? Those
who are of God, they keep on holding on, don't they? They
just hold on. Something we can't let go of
unless we perish. In Colossians 2.8, he said, Beware
lest any man spoil you through philosophy and bring deceit after
the tradition of men and the rudiments of the world, and not
after Christ. And it's the constant work of
Satan to draw away disciples after himself, to transform men
into ministers of righteousness, self-righteousness, and to cause
them to fail of the grace of God. You say, men can't do that. You better read Hebrews 12, verse
15. He said you can. He didn't say
he'll fail of his grace. He said you'll fail. That means
you were nothing in the world but a professor of it. Peter
said, there shall be false prophets among you. Privately they shall
bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord at bottom, and
bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious
ways by reason of whom the way of truth, the gospel, shall be
evil spoken of. And here's another one over in
Hebrews chapter 2 verse 1. I spoke on this not too long
ago. Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the
things which we've heard, lest at any time we should let them
slip. Oh, I tell you, if you hear anything I'm telling you
this morning concerning the gospel of Christ, you better hang on
to it. You better get hold of it and
don't turn it loose. Don't turn it loose. We're among
those reconciled by Christ, the scripture said, if we continue
in the faith and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel,
which you've heard. Holding fast the faithful word. He said, prove all things and
hold fast that which is good. Hold it fast. He says, we're
of the household of Christ if we hold fast to confidence and
rejoicing firm unto the end. And then Paul writes saying,
we have a great high priest that's passed into the heavens. Jesus,
the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. Hold it fast. Hold fast the profession of our
faith without wavering, for he's faithful that promised. And then
listen to this. Here's our Lord's word to a church
who were letting this fateful word slip. I don't know if you've
ever read this. This is in Revelation chapter
3 and verse 2. He said, Be watchful and strengthen
the things which remain, that thou art ready to die. For I have not found thy works
perfect before God. Remember therefore how thou hast
received and heard, and hold fast and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch,
I'll come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what
hour I will come upon thee. The Bible teaches two things
on this subject that are inseparable. Perseverance. The saints persevere
in the faith. They cling to the faith to the
end. If any man draw back, my soul
shall have no pleasure in him. But here's the other part of
that, preservation. Saints persevere because they're
preserved in Christ. We are not of them that draw
back under perdition. but of them who believe to the
saving of the soul. We're kept by the power of God
through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last
day. We hold what God has revealed,
salvation in the person and work of Christ. And we hold on to
those sacred things and we don't let them slip. And then lastly,
It's to be held tight by those given the oversight to convince
the gainsayers. What's a gainsayer? It's those
who oppose the truth. They oppose, for whatever reason
and in whatever point, they oppose the truth. They cavil at it.
They make petty and unnecessary objections to it, and no matter
how you preach or what your subject is, they always find an objection
to it. In Philippians 3, Paul writes,
beware of dogs. What's he talking about? He's
talking about those legalistic Jews that followed him around
nipping at his, just nip, nip, nip. That's the way they did
Christ. No matter what he said, they had an objection. They cackled
at everything he preached, and so they did with the apostles.
And these were the game-saying Jews that followed the early
preachers, yipping and nipping at their heels. Always trying
to gain a foothold. Apollos was a Jew. He was born
in Alexandria, Egypt. Notable man in the Scriptures.
We're told he was an eloquent man and mighty in the Scriptures.
And he came to the saints in Asia Minor, there at the church
at Ephesus. And he knew only the baptism
of John. That's all he knew. And when
a godly couple heard him, they took him in. Aquila and Priscilla,
and taught him more perfectly, expounded unto him the way of
God more perfectly, and when he came to Ephesus, he helped
them there, mightily convincing the Jews, and that publicly,
showing by the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ. He convinced
the gainsayers. You see, we don't just rebuke
gainsayers, but we exhort them, hoping to convert them. Hoping
that the Lord will do something for them. We're not trying to
cut the legs out from under. We exhort them. That's what I'm
doing this morning. I'm trying to exhort you. I'm
trying to tell you the truth. I'm trying to show you in the
Word of God that what I'm saying is so. He convinced the gainsayers.
And the most important part of my job as your pastor is to preach
the gospel to this assembly and to study and to show myself approved
of God. And when opposed by gainsayers
of any sort to be able by the scriptures to tear down their
doctrine and teach them the truth. I can't make them receive it, but I can answer them with the
truth. And this we do together as well, holding fast the faithful
word. Now, what I said this morning
finds a lodging place in your heart. Pray for me. Pray for
me. These things don't come easy.
These things come in prayer and study. They don't just fall out
of the sky under your head. Study, study, study, he said,
to show thyself approved. What I do in this place by the
grace of God is an awesome responsibility, and I covet your prayers. Titus
1.9, he said, holding fast the faithful word as he had been
taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort
and to convince the gainsayers. Sound doctrine. One man said,
if the doctrine be not sound, then vain is the profession of
it, and vain is the influence of it. There are some, Paul said, that
zealously affect you, but not well. That is, their zeal and
work ethic wins you over. It just wins you over. They're
talented. They're good speakers. They win
you over. But he said, this isn't good.
That's not good. But it's good to be zealously
affected in a good thing. And may the Lord be with us and
enable us to do that very thing in a good way. I ask it for Christ's
sake.