I've had a special week this
week. Brother Don Fortner invited Doris
and I down to spend the weekend in his home and gave me the privilege
of preaching to his congregation Friday night. Saturday night
and this morning. We had such a wonderful time,
just a very pleasant, wonderful meeting and the Lord was with
us. I saw several of you down there
and I appreciate you coming. This is kind of another special
week for Darcy and I. Sixty years ago this week, I
was working in the steel mill going to school. And Doris was
church secretary at our First Baptist Church in Fairfield,
Alabama. And the pastor of the Pollard
Baptist Church in Ashland, Kentucky, invited me to catch a train and
come to Ashland to be his youth director. Your mother was about ten years
old then. sixty years ago today, this week. And I quit my job, and Doris
quit her job, and we caught a train. We didn't have a car. We didn't
have any house, any furniture, anything. We'd been married three
months. So we went to Ashland, rented an apartment, and I worked
with the pastor there for a good while. And when I
was Twenty-five years old, they called me to be the pastor. And
we've had a very special life. I'm grateful. And I'm a little
specially tired tonight. But I'm going to preach a Bible
study from the book of Titus. Would you open your Bibles to
the book of Titus for me? I'm going to read the first eight
verses of Titus 3. The Scripture says, put them
in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates,
to be ready to every good work, to speak evil of no man, to be
no brawlers, but showing all meekness unto all men. For we
ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived,
serving divers lust and pleasure, living in malice and envy, hateful
and hating one another. That's what we were. But after that, when? the kindness and love of God
our Savior towards man appeared, not by works of righteousness
which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us by the
washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost, which He shed
on us abundantly. I call this message Abundant
Life. which he shed on us abundantly
through Jesus Christ our Savior, that being justified by his grace,
we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. And this is a faithful saying. And these things I will that
thou affirm constantly, that they might that they which have
believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These
things are good and profitable unto men. Now let's just start
with verse one and see if I can have something profitable to
say to you tonight. Paul says here in verse one,
put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers,
to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work. It's evident
to me from the scripture that Paul thought it was very important
for believers to be law-abiding citizens. Paul felt it was very important
that God's people be peaceful, peaceful people, good neighbors,
submissive to those in authority. I tell you this, it takes grace,
much grace to be an obedient child. But Paul, the apostle,
teaches us be obedient to our parents, obedient children. It
takes much grace The grace of God to be a submissive wife and
a loving husband. It takes much grace to be a peaceful
neighbor, a good worker, and a loyal worker. He says for us to be ready. Look
at that last line. To be ready to every good work
by the grace of God. And the hymn writer says this.
He giveth more grace when the burdens grow greater. He giveth
more strength when our labor increases. To added affliction,
he addeth his mercy. To multiplied trials, his multiplied
peace. His love hath no limit. His grace hath no measure. has no boundary known unto me. For out of his infinite riches
in Jesus, he gives us, he gives us more and more grace. He giveth, he giveth, he giveth
grace. And I tell you this, the grace
of God is not just limited to rehearsing certain doctrines,
even good doctrine, even great doctrine. The grace of God is
not limited only to correct doctrine or religious affiliation, but
the grace of God controls the whole of our lives, every day,
every hour, every moment. And Paul said this in Colossians. Let's turn to Colossians chapter
one. Colossians chapter one, verse,
let's start with verse nine. Colossians one, verse nine, and
listen to this. Colossians 1 verse 9, For this
cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to
pray for you, and to desire that you might be filled with the
knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding,
that you walk worthy of the Lord, that you walk and talk worthy
of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good
work, and increasing in the knowledge of God, strengthened with all
might according to His glorious power unto all patience and longsuffering
with joyfulness." All right, look at verse 2, Titus chapter
3. To speak evil of no man. To speak evil of no man. You
know, the good minister of God, the good minister of God will
remind his hearers of three things. These three things right here.
Listen to them. To speak evil of no man, number
two. To be no brawlers, arguers. contenders. Three, but to be
gentle, showing all meekness unto all men." Let's take the
first one, to escape evil of no man. The number one method
of maintaining peace in your home and in your community and
on your job, the number one method Maintaining peace and friendship
with others is not to speak evil of anybody. That's exactly right. To put a watch on my mouth. When I feel impressed to speak
evil of another person, somebody said, let it go through three
gates. You've heard this, haven't you?
If you're getting ready to speak evil of anybody, Let it go through
three gates. Number one, is it true? You know it's true. What you're
about to say, could you swear on a witness stand with those
Bibles and you're right in. This is true. That's the first
thing. Let it go through that gate.
Is it really true? Number two, is it time? Is it time? Number three, Is
it necessary for me to tell it? Do I feel absolutely obligated
I've got to tell this? I don't have to, do I? And the
book of James talks a whole lot about putting a watch on our
mouths and curving our tongues and being careful how we talk. Let's turn to James. The book
of James chapter 3. James has a lot to say about
this. to speak evil. Don't have to. I don't have to. I'm an old man. Here in James
chapter three, verse two, listen to this. For in many things we
offend all, certainly we do. If any man offend not in word,
the same is a perfect man, and able to bridle the whole body.
If he can bridle his tongue, he can bridle the whole body.
Behold, we put bits in the horse's mouth, that they may obey us,
and we turn about the whole body. Behold also the ships, which
though they be very great, and are driven by fierce winds, yet
are they turned about with a very small helm, whithersoever the
governor listed, even so the tongue is a little member. It boasteth great things, but,
O of the whole, how great a matter the little fire kindleth. It
can divide homes, divide friends, divide churches, the tongue. And the tongue, verse is a fire,
a world of iniquity. So is the tongue among our members,
that it defiled the whole body and set, set it on fire, the
course of nature, and it is set on fire of hell. For every kind
of beast and birds and serpents and things in the sea is tame,
and hath been tamed by mankind, but the tongue can no man tame."
It's an unruly evil full of deadly poison. To speak evil of no man. Let's go back to my text. Titus. Titus chapter 3. To speak evil
of no man. Look at the second thing. These
three things. One, speak evil of no man. To
be no brawlers. What is a brawler? That's a quarrelsome
person. Disagreeable person. argumentative
person and fighting. And I'll tell you this, and many
times words, words can hurt a whole lot more than fists. I had a
dear lady whose husband left her some time years ago and she
talked to Doris not that long ago and she said, you know, I
took his abuse. But I believe the words were
worse than the fists. The things he had to say to me.
Brawlers. Somebody said, will every family
fight? I beg your pardon. I beg you. I take issue with that. They
don't have to. And they ought not. They say,
will all children fight? I don't think they have to. I
think God warns us not to be brawlers, not to be quarrelsome
and disagreeable. Be kind one to another, tender-hearted,
forgiving one another as God, for Christ's sake, forgave you. If we don't forgive them, He's
not going to forgive us. And then thirdly, just be gentle.
Isn't that a word they have up there, just to speak evil of
no man, to be not, don't be a brawler. Don't be argumentative. Be gentle,
showing all meekness. Meekness. If I can find the passage
over here. Anyway, here, I'm not sure I
can turn to it, but I talked about it this morning. The Scripture
says Moses was the meekest man of all men on the face of the
earth. That's what it says, isn't it? Moses whined. He saw the
Lord. That's what took place. He saw
the Lord. The Lord said, take off your
shoes. You're on holy ground. And Moses, from that moment on,
was the meekest man of all men in the world. He saw the Lord.
And that's the solution. Be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted,
forgiving one another as God, for Christ's sake, has forgiven
you. You know, people I saw this the
other day. People exercise to get stronger. Doris fusses me about, I need
to exercise more. I know that. And people exercise
to get stronger. They take vitamins to get healthy.
They invest to get rich. They go to school to get smart.
And they buy clothes and makeup to look beautiful. I think the
children of God, the children of the kingdom of God, ought
to labor and endeavor to be more gracious and more gentle and
more loving and more merciful and kind to one another. Let's
turn to Ephesians. Ephesians chapter 6. Ephesians chapter 6. Listen to
this. Ephesians 6 verse 1. Ephesians
6 verse 1. Listen. Obey your parents and the Lord.
This is right. This is right. This is where
it ought to be. Obey your parents and the Lord.
Yes, sir. Yes, ma'am. Number two, honor your father
and mother, which is the first commandment with promise. That
it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long upon the
earth. Provoke not your children to
wrath. Don't stay on their back all the time expecting them to
be any different than what you were. Bring them up in the nurture
and admonition of the Lord. And servants, be obedient to
them that are your masters according to the flesh. People you work
for, be obedient to them with fear and trembling and singleness
of heart as unto Christ, not with men's I service, not apple
publishers, I'm not saying that at all, but as servants of Christ. You know, when I work for a man,
do a good job, I'm working for God. I'm a servant of Christ,
doing the will of God from the heart. With good will, verse
seven, with good will, doing service as to the Lord, not just
to knowing that whatsoever good thing that any man doeth, the
same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free. And you masters, we've got a
responsibility, people who work for us, who labor for us, who
are hired. I said this one time, if everybody
was a Christian, you wouldn't need a labor union. People would
pay a decent wage, and a good wage, and a wage that a person
ought to have if he's going to raise a family just like your
family. Anybody's never going to strike
if they mind God. And you masters do the same thing
unto them. Forbearing threatening. Don't
ever threaten the fireman just because you're not happy with
something that he did. Listen. Remember this. Knowing
your master's in heaven. I got a master. Wish I could get all the folks
that work for people here and remind them that we got a master
in heaven. We are obligated to be a good,
a good master and a kind master and a generous master. That's
what we're supposed to be. You masters do the same thing
unto them forebearing and threatening, knowing that your master is in
heaven. And boy, remember this, neither
is the respect of persons with him. All right, let's look back
at my text. This is a great chapter. Over
here in Titus chapter three and verse Oh, before I read verse
3, don't read verse 3. Hold it right there. Before I
read verse 3, I want to make a statement. Let me tell you
what a fellow said to me one day. He said, Preacher, I have
no patience with foolish people. He was a hard man. I have no
patience with disobedient children. I won't put up with them. If
they disobey me, it's hit-the-road jack. I have no patience with
religious hypocrites. I have no time for lovers of
pleasure and sin. I just don't have any patience
with them. Well, read verse three. For we ourselves were all or
sometimes foolish, disobedient. deceived, serving
thyver's lust and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful
and hating one another. That's what we were. And we don't have any patience
with others who are in that shape and that case and don't know
God. I say nothing will subdue a person's pride. Nothing will
moderate a person's impatience with others. Nothing will tone
down his criticism of others. Nothing will cause him to be
more forgiving, kind, like remembering what he was and what he'd be
if it wasn't for God's grace. That's all you need to do, just
remember what you were and what you'd be if it wasn't for God's
grace. You've been reading the paper
the last four or five weeks about this man in Lexington, John Todd,
Jr. He's my neighbor. His daddy was
my barber for years and years and years. His daddy cut all
my children's hair. This boy's daddy, he's 62, I
said, boy, His daddy cut my children's house. His shop was just, Todd, just
a block from my house. About that community center,
that was John Todd's barbershop. And John Jr. went to Ashton High
School with my son, Robbie. Robbie's a little younger than
John. And played basketball. And Jim, Todd, went to Boyd County. But this past week, two weeks,
John went off his rocker and he took a pistol and shot his
wife to death, left her on the floor here in a Lexington home.
That's it. One night, the next morning,
he left her there and he went down to his brother's. Jim is
the editor of the Richmond Register. Went down to his brother's. I
know these boys. And went back down to his brother
with a .38 pistol and put it against his brother's chest and
held it there for an hour and a half, telling him he was going
to kill him. Going to kill him. And then finally
he decided he wouldn't kill his brother. They had some kind of
argument over the father's will, John Senior. He said, I'm not
going to kill you. Just tell my children that I
came down here to kill you, but I've decided not to. Well, he's
gone now. I say these things. If it weren't
for God's grace, if it wasn't for God's mercy and God's kindness
to us, what would we be? What would we do? I want to tell
you something. Turn with me to 2 Samuel. And
that was a great, great hurt for Doris and I. We knew the
family and knew these young men. It's such a sad, broken-hearted
thing. I'll tell you this. 2 Samuel 14. I want you to listen
to this. Talking about what a man was
and how he winds up, how God deals with him, how God deals
with him. In 2 Samuel 14, verse 25, But in all Israel, there was none to be so much
praised as Absalom, David's son. For his beauty, from the sole
of his foot even to the crown of his head, there was no blemish
in him. And when he pulled his hair,
shaved his hair, For he pulled it each year at the year's end,
that he pulled it. Because the hair was so heavy
on him, therefore he pulled it and he weighed the hair of his
head at 200 shekels after the king's wife. That was a beautiful
specimen. Beautiful man. How did he wind
up? Let's see. Over in 2 Samuel 18. You see, God will take the very
things in which a person glories. He'll take the very thing in
which a person takes pride. He'll take the very thing that
a person, it's his desire and all. He'll take that and destroy
it. Let me show you that. In 2 Samuel
18, verse 9. And Absalom, now he had made
war on his dad. Absalom led the troops against
his father out here in the field of battle. Verse 9, chapter 18,
And Absalom met the servants of David, and Absalom rode upon
his mule. And the mule went under the thick
boughs of a great oak, and his head But all that hair got caught
in the oak, and he was taken up from between heaven and earth,
and the mule under him went away, and there he hung." This is what
somebody said. Absalom was destroyed by the
very things in which he gloated. In the field of Babylon, against
his father, stood a great oak tree. And that great oak served
as his gallows. He rode his favorite mule in
the battle, and that mule served as his hangman. And then the
hair of his head in which he glowed finished off the job. And then Joab came along and
drove a dart into her, and he's gone. And David cried, O Absalom, Absalom, my son, would God I
had died for you. He's so proud, so arrogant. And that's what I'm talking about
right here. We ourselves were so foolish,
disobedient, deceiving, serving divers lust and pleasure, living
in malice, envy and hateful, hating one another. If it weren't
for the grace of God, that's where we'd still be. All right, verse 4. But God,
I love that in Ephesians, don't you? But God, who is rich in
mercy, for His great love, where He loved us even when we were
dead in sin, quickened us together in Christ. But after that, the
kindness and love of God our Savior towards man appeared. When did it appear? Well, it
appeared way back yonder. in the garden when Adam and Eve
fell. And God said to the serpent,
I'll put enmity between thee and the woman, between thy seed
and her seed. Thou shalt bruise his heel, but
he'll crush your head. That's Christ he's talking. That's
what he appeared. Christ was the light in that
dark day. Christ was the life in that day
of death. Christ was the Savior in that
day. when man fell before God. That's when He appeared. And
then when did our Lord appear? He appeared on earth. One day
John the Baptist with two of his disciples saw the Lord Jesus
coming and he said this, Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away
the sin of the world. There He is. That's the Lamb
of God. He came and took away our sins. When did He appear? When did
the kindness and love of God our Savior for man appear? When
did it appear? That counted eternity. That counted
when God made the world. Here, when God became flesh and
dwelt among us. And then one day, Doris and I
went to Ashton, Kentucky. I was a lost preacher. I didn't
know the gospel. I had a lot of so-called natural
gifts, but I didn't know anything about God. I was in the Southern
Baptist rat race, doing all you could get. We had 1,214 members
in that church, 600 in Sunday school. It's just pushing the
walls out. We had two tents we took out
for meetings. I was the youth director, 21
years old. Didn't know a thing. Didn't know
the gospel. And so I decided, well, I better
go to school if I want to be a preacher. So I resigned and
Doris and I went to Chattanooga and went to Tennessee Temple
College. And they even gave me a church.
God have mercy on a 21-year-old pastor. That is a tough situation. But I became pastor of a country
church, one of the oldest churches there. Founded in 1848, cobblestone
building. Oakwood Baptist Church. I became
their pastor. and stayed there two and a half
years, still didn't know the gospel. So this man in Ashland,
Don, well, he didn't know it either, but he invited me to
come back. He said, resign your church and
come back up here and be my assistant pastor. So I resigned my church
and Doris and I headed for Ashland again. But when I got there,
I got there April 9, 1950. When I got there, there was another
fellow who came in town. This pastor, for some reason
or other, had to have a revival meeting, and he didn't have a
preacher. So he called Dr. Charlie Stevens
over in Winston-Salem, Salem Baptist Church. He called Dr. Charlie and said, Dr. Charlie
said, I've got to have a meeting and I don't have a preacher.
Dr. Charlie Stevens said, I've got
a preacher for you. He's a theology professor at
Piedmont Bible College, Ralph Barnett. Said, I'll send him
to preach for you. So Ralph Barnett hit town on
Sunday, April the 9th, I believe it was. And Henry Mahan hit town
on Sunday, April the 9th. And Ralph Barnett got up to preach.
He got up to preach. Total depravity. Unconditional
election. Limitless atonement. Irresistible
grace and the perseverance of the saint. I've never heard that
in all my life. And I sat there. I didn't need
to sing or anything. I just sat there. And that Tuesday
morning, we had services every morning, every Sunday and then
every morning. Monday through Friday and all
the way through the next week. And on Tuesday morning, I was
sitting on the front row, and Brother Barnard looked down at
me. For some reason, he took a shine to me. I don't know why.
I guess we both was a whole lot alike, you know. He knew the
Gospel. I didn't. But anyway, he looked
at me, and he said, a young man, he said, stand up and quote Romans
8, 28. Oh, after the kindness and love
of the Father appeared that day, I got up and I said, and we know that all things work
together for good to them who love God. And I sat down. And he could look a hole through
you. He just stood there and looked at me. He said, what's
the rest of it? He said, you know the rest of
it? I said, I think I do. I'm going to find out, though.
I got up again. I said, Ann, we know that all
things work together for good to them who love God, to them
who are called according to His purpose. And I said, Ann, and
he screamed, Purpose! Purpose! If you ever learn the
meaning of that word, you'll learn the Gospel. Everything
God does, He does on purpose. It made sense to me, Todd. Had
to be. And Doris wasn't moved up yet.
I just got there from Chattanooga. She was down getting things ready
to move to Iceland. And she wasn't there during the
meeting. I stayed with the pastor, and
I went over to the pastor's house. And I tell you, when Doris and
I, after we married, we started reading the scripture through
together, and I came to the book of Romans, and I told her one
day, I said, I don't know anything about this book. Let's skip it. I was reading it, and I didn't
know purpose. I just skipped it. So I went over to that pastor's
house and I got down the Bible. I got down Bettner's Reformed
Doctrine of Predestination out of his library. And then during
that week, I got on Boston's 4-4 State, Jerome Zankia's Absolute
Predestination, and this preacher started studying, finding out
who God is, who Christ is, what salvation is, the kindness of
love of God, so that it appears And all the rest of it's just,
you've lived it with me. Some of you have. But that's
the gospel. And let me give you this, and
I'll quit. Romans, I mean, Titus 3, verse
4. Let's read that verse 4. But
after the kindness and love of God our Savior towards man appeared,
not by work, the righteousness with God. That's settled. That's
settled. None of y'all believe that it's
saved by words, do you? That's settled. But according
to His mercy, He saved us with the washing of regeneration and
the renewing of the Holy Ghost, which He shed on us abundantly
through Jesus Christ our Savior, that being justified by His grace,
We should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. And this is a faithful saying.
And these things I will that thou constantly affirm constantly
that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain
good works because these are good and profitable. I brought an illustration this
morning about this good works to the congregation in Danville. I want you to turn to two verses
of scripture and I'll close. Turn to Luke chapter 18. This kindness of God and grace
of God which God provides for us brings results. That's what
I preached on this morning. provision, sure provision, and
assure results. If God speaks, change, change. When God deals with a man, his
life changes. When God deals with his heart,
his heart is changed. It's a new life, new heart. We
read about that, didn't we, Wiley? New heart, new nature, new spirit. All right, what's this? Chapter
18 of Luke, verse 22. This is important. What's this?
Let's start with Luke 18, verse 22. Let's start with verse 19. Well, let's go back here, verse
18. Yeah, we've got to go back to
verse 18. Luke 18, verse 18. And a certain
ruler asked him, saying, Good master, what should I do to inherit
eternal life? And Jesus said, why callest thou
me good? There's no good save one, that's
God. Thou knowest the commandments,
do not commit adultery, do not kill, do not steal, do not bear
false witness, honor your father and mother. And he said, all
these I've kept from my youth. Now, when Jesus heard these things,
he said to him, yet likest thou one thing, sell all that you
have. Distribute it to the poor, and
you'll have treasure in heaven, and come follow me." And when
he heard this, he was very sorry for it, for he was very rich. Now hear how the Lord told that
man. You've got one thing, one big problem. Your riches are
your problem. Now go sell them all and take
up your cross and follow me. No way. Watch this Luke 19. Here's another rich man. Here's
another rich man. Chapter 19, verse 1. And Jesus
entered and passed through Jericho. And behold, there was a man named
Zacchaeus, which was chief among the publicans. He was very rich.
And he sought to see Jesus, who he was. He could not for the
press, because he was little of stature. He ran before and
climbed up in a sycamore tree to see Jesus, for he was to pass
that way. And when the Lord Jesus came
to the place, he looked up and saw Zacchaeus. And he said, Zacchaeus,
make haste and come down, for today I must abide at thy house. And he made haste and came down
and received him joyfully. And when they saw it, when the
Pharisees saw it, they murmured, They said, this man, he's going
to be the guest of a man that's a sinner. And Zacchaeus stood
and said to the Lord, Behold, the half of my goods I give to
the poor. If I've taken anything from any
man by false accusation, I restore him for a fault. The Lord didn't
say anything to Zacchaeus about his possession. Not a thing. He did to this rich young ruler.
The rich young ruler didn't have a heart to God, for God, but
for God, and he left. But Zacchaeus, the minute his
feet hit the ground, he wanted to help everybody. But he didn't,
the Lord didn't say anything about that. But I tell you this,
when grace enters, it changes the heart. When the person comes
to know Christ, it changes the heart. When a person comes to
know the Savior, it makes him generous, kind, lovable, and
gracious, and he cares about other people. That's a sure provision
and a certain result. Now look at the next line. And
Jesus said, this day is salvation come to this house. For as much
as he also is a son of Abraham, Now brethren, there were a lot
of sons of Abraham out there. I bet you most of the folks there
were sons of Abraham by nature, by birth. But this man's a son
of God by grace. And when God spoke to him, when
the Lord spoke to him and brought him down, He always brings us
down, brought him down. As soon as his feet hit the ground,
he wanted to shag what he had with somebody else. And the Lord
said, that's salvation. All right. Thank you. Hope it's
a blessing.