So Titus chapter 1 and I just
want to read the first few verses. 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 Saviour. to Titus, mine own son, after
the common faith, grace, mercy and peace from God the Father
and the Lord Jesus Christ, our Saviour. I'm just going to move into the
third verse tonight, if the Lord will allow us the opportunity
to dwell on that for a little while. Paul, as we have seen
in this little letter, is writing to his young friend, fellow pastor
and fellow preacher, Titus. And within just a couple of verses
at the beginning and the introduction of this letter, the apostle has
introduced himself. He's confirmed his calling as
a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, his calling to preach
the gospel or what he calls the truth, which accords with the
faith of God's elect. And the apostle tells Titus that
this gospel, this truth that he is called to preach, leads
to godliness and it brings with it good hope in God's promise
of eternal life. for all sinners that have been
redeemed by the blood and the death of the Lord Jesus Christ
and all of those who are purposed in the covenant of grace and
peace to be saved. And God's covenant promises are
the things that the apostle is referring to when he speaks in
verse two of those things promised before the world began. So, again, we touched on this
last week, but it is such an important phrase, such a pregnant
phrase, that here were things that were promised before the
world began. Now we've already said and we
often do say that these are the things that are spoken of in
God's covenant of grace or as it's called elsewhere, the covenant
of peace, the everlasting covenant. And I want you just to be reminded,
if I may, about what we have also said in the past regarding
these promises. That they are all of grace and
nothing of works. By definition, the promises of
God must be all of grace and nothing of works. There's nothing
conditional within a divine promise. nothing of our effort to obtain
or to secure the thing that is promised. If there were, then
the promise couldn't be a promise because it would be contingent
and dependent on the fulfilment of the human, of the man, of
the woman, of the person. So for it to be a promise, a
divine promise, there must be nothing conditional in it. And Paul had previously told
the Corinthians to effect the same thing when he had said that
for all the promises of God in him, that is in Christ, are ye
and in him. Amen. So all the promises that
God has made to his people in Christ are certain and sure. They're yes. and all the promises
that he has made in Christ are Amen, so let it be. So this is again reinforcing
and emphasising the fact of grace within this covenant purpose. God's promises are promises of
grace. And of course that's the meaning
of grace and it's what we mean when we talk about sovereign
grace? Whatever God promises his people in Jesus Christ is
certain, sure and definite. When God gives grace, it is free
grace, it is irrevocable grace and it is efficacious grace. It comes without our works or
involvement, it comes and it'll never be taken back, and it comes
to accomplish the purpose for which it is sent. Now, God, as
we know, chose a people in eternity, and he called these people his
elect. And in the covenant of grace,
he gave these people to his son as his bride. And while these
people fell into sin and judgment in Adam, yet they are redeemed
from that state, they are redeemed from death, and they are freed
from the curse of the law by and because of the shed blood
of Jesus Christ. And this message of grace and
this message of covenant purpose and covenant promise is what
the Apostle Paul has been called to preach. So this is what he
is saying in verse three, that he has been called to preach
this gospel, these promises that were made before the world began. He's been called to preach them
and he writes, he has been called to preach what once was hidden
or at least what once was shrouded in the types and the symbols
and the ceremonies of the Old Testament. So he's been called
to preach salvation by grace, he's been called to preach justification
by faith, he's been called to preach forgiveness by the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ openly, no longer in shadow or in type
or in the ceremonies of the Old Testament. but to have it fully
declared for the comfort of the elect and for the gathering in
of all those to whom the promises were given in God's covenant
purpose. So that Paul says in verse 3,
Now God is manifesting his word through preaching. Not any longer
through the type and the symbol and the shadow, but the preaching
which is committed unto me according to the commandment of God our
Saviour. So, in a few weeks, God willing,
as we go through our Sunday services in Mark's gospel, as we come
towards the end of Mark chapter 16, we're going to be hearing
from the lips of the Lord Jesus to his disciples what is called
the Great Commission. And that's got to do with preaching
as well. Go ye into all the world and
preach the gospel to every creature. Now this was the message which
the Lord committed to his disciples. It was a continuation of Christ's
own ministry which he had begun some three years before. We're told that the Lord came
preaching the kingdom of God. And that ministry, that same
preaching is what the Lord committed into the care of the disciples,
soon to become the apostles, the messengers of this gospel. And the Lord, of course, we remember
he said the same thing. He quoted, I will utter things
which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world.
This was the Lord's own ministry when he came. I think that's
drawing on Asaph, the psalmist's words. So the Lord Jesus Christ
in his own ministry was bringing to light things that
had been hidden, and this is what Paul is saying that he also
has been commissioned to do as an apostle by the commandment
of God our Saviour. This is what Paul elsewhere calls
the revelation of the mystery which was kept secret since the
world began. That's what he writes to the
Romans. But now it's made known to all creatures. And I think
there's something important for us to realize here. The gospel
is to be preached in all the world. We have a duty, we have
an obligation, we have a privilege to do so. The gospel is to be
preached by the church in all the world. It is to be declared
in all nations and we have to seek and look for opportunities
to do that to every creature. But, but, it is the same gospel,
it's the same message, it's the same promises of eternal life
for the elect of God that was promised before the world began. The important point being that
the enlargement of the audience has not altered the extent of
the promise. Let me say that again. The enlargement
of the audience, now it is to be preached to all nations, has
not altered the extent of the promise. It was always for the
elect and only for the elect. Now let us remember that the
elect in the Old Testament Never were only Jews, there was always
a larger vision, there was always a grander work of mercy and grace
towards sinners, a bigger scheme. But the fullness of the gospel
revelation is now to be actively preached to all nations for the
obedience of faith, which is the trusting in the work of the
Lord Jesus Christ. That is, it's to be believed
on by the elect among all nations. So that, as it says, David, I
think in Psalm 25, says, the secret of the Lord is with them
that fear him, and he will show them his covenant. So that's
what the preaching of the gospel to all nations now does. The
secret of the Lord is with them that fear him, that is these
covenant promises, and he will show them his covenant. So preaching is what the Apostle
Paul did. He preached the gospel of Jesus
Christ. He preached it as the power of
God unto salvation. Not that the power is in the
gospel merely as it is spoken. but it is in the one of whom
the message speaks. The gospel isn't a chant or a
spell or an incantation of some kind. You don't just say it and
people get converted. Nor is it faith in the gospel
that brings a sinner to salvation, but faith in the one of whom
the gospel speaks. the one of whom the message,
or the one whom the message declares. When we believe the gospel, what
that is in effect saying is that we believe what God has promised. We believe what Christ has accomplished. And the elect of God are brought
to faith in the promises of God. They are brought to trust in
Christ's salvation. And they are quickened by God
the Holy Spirit, both to hear and believe the gospel, and to
trust the one that is revealed by it. So that's why we preach
the gospel today. It's why Paul preached it then,
and it's why faithful men have preached and declared the gospel
down through the history of the church, carrying it as missionaries
to the ends of the earth. It's the command of God our Saviour
to do so. And that reference there to God
the Saviour, God our Saviour in verse 3, either that is the
Father by whom the salvation of all the elect by way of special
grace was eternally promised, or by His Son. Jesus Christ to
commission the disciples and also on the Damascus Road commissioned
Paul to preach this same message. But it is the gospel of covenant
grace and of divine mercy on Paul's part, particularly to
the Gentiles that the apostle has in view here. and we preach
the selfsame gospel. That's the message that we preach,
the covenant promises of God to his people through his son
Jesus Christ. It's not a general salvation
that is offered to all men and women based on some innate power
within them to choose Christ by their own free will. It's
not an open-ended provision of redemption and forgiveness for
all and everyone to claim right to. It's not an expression of
divine universal love or even a universal desire in God that
all might be saved, but it is a particular, distinguishing,
efficacious gospel. It is, as Paul says, the gospel
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. And when
we preach the free sovereign covenantal grace of God to the
people of his choice By the efficacious work of Jesus Christ on the cross,
we preach the message by which sinners are called to repentance
and faith. And that gospel is both powerful
to first of all draw sinners to salvation and thereafter it
is suitable to bestow the blessed experience of God's justifying
righteousness on those believers, the bride of Christ. So that
whether we've never heard the gospel at all, there is something
in it for us. Or whether we've heard it a thousand
times, there is something in it for us. As we come week by
week under the sound of this message, we have the truth of
the revealed word laid afresh upon our hearts, reinforced to
our consciousness and applied for the spiritual nourishment
of our souls. And there's something lovely,
I think, in this last little phrase where the apostle says
that God has in due times manifested his word through preaching. And
I'm pleased that it says their times. I'm pleased that it's
in the plural because it means that we can come and come and
come again to the gospel for the manifestation of Christ when
it is preached. There shall never be an end of
the manifesting of Christ to our souls while the gospel continues
to be preached. And we ought to always have an
expectancy and an appetite in coming to the scriptures and
in coming for the hearing of the gospel. we should always
be alert and attentive to all such occasions and opportunities
for the manifestation of Christ. Paul says in Romans 13 verse
11, And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake
out of sleep, For now is our salvation nearer than when we
believed. There's always something new
in the gospel for us, and now is our salvation nearer than
when we first believed. May the Lord bless these thoughts
to us this evening.