Let's turn to the book of Titus
together. This epistle was addressed to
Paul's son in the faith, Titus, the pastor of the church at Crete.
Remember, it was Titus that Paul sent to Corinth to settle the
strife, the divisions, the contentions in that church. which threatened
to destroy that assembly. And by God's grace, through the
gospel he preached, Titus was able to do what Paul sent him
there to do. And now he is pastor of the church
at Crete. If you read this book, especially
by comparison with the fact that it's such a short epistle, the
salutation is rather lengthy. As a matter of fact, there are
only two of Paul's epistles, Romans and Galatians, I think,
that are more lengthy than the salutation given here. And the
salutation itself is very, very instructive, so let's look at
it, verses 1 through 5. First, Paul tells us in the first
verse that he is God's servant, that he is an apostle of Jesus
Christ, according to the faith of God's elect, and the acknowledging
of the truth, which is after godliness. Here he tells us that
the faith of God's elect is one, that is to say, all who believe
God believe the same gospel." I'm not looking for something
to say, I want you to hear it. All who believe God believe the
same gospel. God's elect have the same faith. In verse 4 he calls it the common
faith. As we read the New Testament
We cannot help noticing, Paul speaks of this as the faith of
God's elect. Have you ever noticed how frequently,
how commonly God's people are referred to as his elect? As a matter of fact, that was
the most common term used, either that or saints, whenever speaking
of God's people in the New Testament. It was assumed, rightfully assumed,
that all who knew God knew about God's election. They knew they
were God's elect. Our Lord speaks of his elect
and says Antichrist can't deceive them. He speaks of gathering
his elect from the four corners of the earth. He tells us God
will avenge his own elect. John wrote one of his epistles
to the elect lady and told her, your elect sister, So the election
was something commonly spoken of, so commonly spoken of among
God's people in those days when men revered God, in those places
where God was believed, that men and women spoke to one another
and of one another as the elect. What a blessed, blessed title
God gives us. He tells us here that the faith
of God's elect is one faith. That is to say, it is a faith
that has one common source. It's the gift of God's grace.
and the operation of God the Holy Spirit. The faith that God
gives his elect embodies, embraces, and acknowledges one common truth. It is not called the truth, plural,
but the truth, singular, because it is the truth of God revealed
in the person and about the person of his darling son, the Lord
Jesus Christ. It is the truth which God gives
us and teaches us with regard to the accomplished redemption
of Jesus Christ the Lord. And any gospel that is not the
truth, any gospel that men invent that does not declare the and
does not declare what Christ accomplished at Calvary, declaring
his person in his glorious accomplishments, is not the gospel, and the faith
that men have as a result of it is not the faith of God's
elect. In other words, Paul speaks here
to God's elect about the faith they all believe, that is, Jesus
Christ and him crucified, and redemption accomplished by his
blood. And it is the faith which comes to us through the truth
of the gospel. He tells us that this faith,
this gospel we believe, is after godliness. Frequently, frequently, people
say to me, preachers and others who have difficulty recognizing
that salvation comes through the hearing of the gospel. Not
the hearing of religious lies, but the hearing of the gospel.
They will point to people who despise the gospel. I mean despise
the gospel. Talk to them about free grace
and they see red. Talk to them about election and they get mad.
They just despise the gospel of God's grace, and they say,
Oh, but he must be saved, he has such a godly life. Now, wait
a minute. Wait a minute. What you look
at and call godliness ain't godliness. And I said it that way because
I wanted you to hear it. It just is not godliness. No,
sir. It's morality, it's moral decency,
it's devotion, but not godliness. Not righteousness. No, sir. You
look at lives of people who lived a better life than someone like
Mother Teresa over in Calcutta. I mean, the woman sacrificed
great, great things in order to minister to those poor, poor
folks in Calcutta. I have read of various people
in various religious organizations who went and served as lepers
in a leper colony to get them converted to what they called
Christianity, but they had no clue what Christianity was. Devoted
folks, is that godliness? No, no, that is not godliness. But the faith of the gospel,
the truth that is acknowledged in the gospel, is after godliness. Religion will produce morality,
any religion, be it Hinduism, Buddhism, Roman Catholicism or
Baptist, it don't matter. Any religion will produce morality
of a sort. Only faith in Christ, only the
gospel of God's free grace produces godliness. And godliness is the
worship of God in the totality of your life. Now that's what godliness is.
It's not that you dress a certain way, or that you live in a certain
manner. No, no, no. Don't misunderstand
me. We'll see it just a little bit.
Godliness is reflected in many things, but those things that
reflect godliness are not godliness in themselves. Godliness is reflected
in many things, but those things that reflect godliness are not
godliness in themselves. Godliness is the worship of God
Almighty in the totality of your life. Believing the gospel, Paul
tells us in verse 2 that we have hope of eternal life, life which
God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began. What's
that talking about? To whom did he make the promise?
I wasn't there, were you? He made the promise to his son. our surety in the covenant of
grace before the world began. I know that because in Psalm
2, verse 8, the psalmist speaks of him having accomplished redemption,
being exalted to the right hand of God as the King of glory,
and says, Now ask of me, and I'll give you the heathen for
your inheritance. And that was the promise of God.
So that now we, believing on Christ, having embraced the gospel
of God's grace, walking before God by faith in Christ Jesus,
we have hope of eternal life, eternal life which God, who cannot
lie, promised us in Christ our servitude before the world began.
This word of promise is now made manifest by the preaching of
the gospel. Read on. But hath in due times, that is,
at the time appointed, manifested his word, his word of promise,
through preaching, through preaching. That's how you get to know what
God says, through preaching. Oh, the blessed privilege of
hearing a man declare the word of God, declaring to you the
mind of God in the Spirit of God. through preaching which
is committed unto me according to the commandment of God our
Savior." Notice that term, God our Savior. Paul in each of the
three chapters, 1, 2, and 3, you'll see it in verses 3 and
4 here, you'll see it in verses 10 and 13 in chapter 2, and you'll
see it in verses 4 and 6 in chapter 3. He uses these two terms, these
three words, two separate terms or phrases, and he uses them
in this order each of the times. God our Savior and Christ our
Savior. Three times he says, God our
Savior. Then he says, Christ our Savior. You see that? Look at chapter 3. Now chapter
1, verses 3 and 4. God our Savior. Verse 4, Christ our Savior. Why does he do that? What's his
purpose? His obvious intent is to emphasize
for our benefit the deity, the eternal Godhead of Jesus Christ,
our Savior. You see, God is one, and our
Savior, Jesus Christ the Lord, is himself the eternal God, God
the eternal Son, in all things one with the Father and the Holy
Spirit. Now, Paul tells us that his purpose
in sending Titus to Crete and then The epistle that he has
given to us here in these three chapters is to set in order the
things that needed taking care of in God's church. In verses
5 through 9, Paul tells us that he left Titus in Crete to set
in order things that were wanting, things that are lacking. By doing
so, he tells him to ordain elders in every city wherever God raised
up an assembly His purpose in writing this epistle is to tell
Titus to tell us how to set these things in order. The first matter
of order is the preacher. That's the first matter of order.
You see, the Church is only as strong as the man who stands
before them and leads them in the things of God. Only that
strong, no stronger. Never, never, never does a group
of people rise above those whom they follow. The Church is only
as strong as that man who is appointed and set over them as
pastor. That makes the calling of a pastor
just about the most important thing you can ever consider.
When you call a man to preach the gospel, he must be, look
at verse 9, or verse 5 of it, Paul says, I left thee in Crete,
that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting,
and ordain elders, pastors, in every city, as I appointed thee,
if any be blameless." Blameless in Christ, yes, but more than
that. A man who lives in such a way that those on the outside
have no legitimate grounds for laying blame against him. Blameless. That doesn't mean folks out there
lucky. That doesn't mean they respect
him. That doesn't mean when he dies
they'll name a street after him. That's not what it's talking
about. It's talking about living in such a way that no matter
what they say, they've got no grounds for speaking against
him. Blameless. Blameless. The husband of one
wife, not a polygamist. And I say that without much more
explanation. Paul was writing to Gentiles among whom polygamy
was common. Our friends in Africa, Brother
Lance and Brother Cliff down in New Guinea, almost every man
among them has more than one wife. It's horrible, horrible
custom. When one is converted, now I
realize religion says, choose which one you want to keep and
kick the rest of them out and have no children. But that's kind
of cruel. That's congraded with the gospel of God's grace. What
he's saying here is, those folks who have more than one wife,
you've got several wives. God accepts you, Christ has forgiven
you, you're redeemed. But for the gospel's sake, a
man with several wives can't pastor the church. He must be
the husband of one wife. Having faithful children. That
doesn't mean the children have to be believers. A man doesn't
have any control over that. Doesn't have any control over
that. It means he has to rule his house. He must be a man who
makes his children obey. Faithful children. As the steward
of God, he must be the husband of one wife, having faithful
children, not accused of riot or unruly. You don't see him
in the streets with a plaque in his hand demanding rights
and privileges. You don't see him leading marches
against the government. Oh, but Brother Don, if preachers
hadn't done that, where would our country be? What God uses
to accomplish his purpose doesn't justify you engaging in it. Did
God use the hands of wicked men to crucify his son? He most certainly
did. Does that mean you ought to be
there amongst them, crying, crucify him, crucify him? Stupidity,
just utter stupidity. Yes, God uses many things, but
God's servants are not to be men who lead protests and get
involved in this movement and that. They can't possibly serve
God and serve the whims of men. I don't get much of it anymore.
I used to get letters and folks called me, want me to join this
group or another trying to fight abortion or trying to fight alcohol
sales and all that stuff. I can honestly stand here and
tell you I'm as opposed to the horrible things the religious
world fights more so than the folks who stand out there and
protest against it. But I am not going to join hands with
God's enemies to accomplish anything. And those folks who would murder
the abortionist would murder this preacher if they had a chance
to. They oppose the gospel of God's grace. I'm not going to
join with them. Our business is preaching the gospel, and
we are effective in the lives of men and women through the
gospel we preach. All right, read on. He says,
verse 7, For a bishop must be blameless as the steward of God,
the servant of God, not self-willed, that is, he doesn't live for
his own pleasure and by his own will, not soon angry, not a hothead,
not given to wine. That doesn't mean you can't have
a glass of wine with your steak on Friday evening. You can if
you want to. Don Fortner said so because this book says so.
What it means is not to be a drunk, not given to wine, no striker. not given to filthy lucre. He's
not a brawler, not a fighter, and he's not motivated by gain,
per se. But a lover of hospitality, loves
to treat folks graciously with whatever God has put in his hands.
A lover of good men, sober. He doesn't think like a boy,
he thinks like a man. Doesn't act like a boy, acts
like a man. Sober. I have to camp there for a while,
but I'll move on. Sober. We live in a generation
of men who are expected to grow up and get to be men when they
start going to Social Security, maybe. Sober. Sober. Man, when I was growing
up, most of you fellows the same way, I never was told this, but
I understood. I just understood, son, the day
you are out of school, whether by your choice or somebody else's,
That's the last free bologna sandwich you get. You're on your
own. You're on your own. And that's a pretty good way
to raise boys. Teach them to be men. Sober.
Sober. Just. Holy. Temperance. Verse 9. Among all
these other things, this stands as paramount. It doesn't matter
if all the other qualifications are there. Here's the paramount
thing. holding fast by firm conviction and dogged commitment the faithful
word, as he hath been taught that he may be able by sound
doctrine both to exhort and convince the gainsayers. The pastor must
be a man who understands, who believes, who is committed to
the gospel of God's free grace in Jesus Christ. so that he may
be able to exhort folks, and that he may be able to rebuke
folks, and he may be able to teach folks, because he can't
possibly do so otherwise. And so that he may be able to
convince gainsayers. And there's always plenty of
gainsayers. Beginning in verse 10, going
through chapter 16, he tells us about these gainsayers. Gainsayers,
that's not a word we use a whole lot, is it? It means those who
speak against, those who oppose. And Paul describes those who
oppose. They are called gainsayers because
those who preach any other gospel oppose and speak against the
gospel of Christ. He specifically identifies those
at Crete of whom he spoke. They were men who taught that
faith in Christ is not enough. The blood of Christ is not enough.
The righteousness of Christ is not enough. The believer must
add his righteousness, his goodness, his obedience to the law, his
keeping of ceremonies. He must add something to what
Christ has done to make himself truly holy before God and acceptable. All who teach such doctrine,
these good men, oh, good men, men as clean as a hamster, they're
good men, good men. They're barbaric disturbers and
deceivers of God's people, subverting whole houses. These are the words
Paul uses to describe them. Let's go beyond Paul. These are
the words God the Holy Spirit uses to describe them. Unruly. Vain talkers. Oh, he says some
good things, just vain clatter, that's all. vain talkers. When I listen to him, like my
children to him, because he teaches some good moral principles, vain
clatter. That's all. That's all. Vain
talkers, deceivers, liars, evil beasts. They're motivated by
gain. Their mouths must be stopped,
Paul says. And he specifically means Those
who are of the circumcision, that is, those who seek to impose
the yoke of the law upon God's Saints, have in turn from the
truth they teach Jewish fables. All law teachers teach Jewish
fables and the commandments of men. That which God gave to Moses
at Mount Sinai, when it is presented to you as something you must
keep and you must obey, and made to be a yoke of bondage to you,
is nothing but a Jewish fable and the commandments of men.
Got that? That's all it is when it becomes
a system of works to any degree. Then of all these false teachers,
Paul tells us they profess, verse They profess that they know God,
but in works they deny him. In works. Paul says this, talking
about people who profess to be believers, profess they know
God, but they're drunks, they're adulterers, they're thieves.
No, no, you can fight with them for sure, but that's not what
he's talking about. That's not what he's talking about. Look
at it. He's talking about preachers. They profess that they know God,
but in their works, in their works, In all the works they
do that they call righteousness, and all the works they have you
to do to increase your righteousness, they deny him. A total denial
of the whole revelation of God. Being abominable, disobedient,
and unto every good work, every good work, every work of faith,
reprobate. Now, look in chapter 2. In this
second chapter, Paul shows us that the gospel of the grace
of God, not the law of Moses, the gospel of the grace of God
teaches all to whom it is revealed that salvation is by grace alone.
And this gospel of God's grace teaches all who know it, all
who learn it, all who are taught of God. It effectively teaches
us how to live in this world for the glory of God. I don't
simply mean it gives out the lesson, the gospel sees to it,
you get it. That's what the word teaches
me. The gospel sees to it, you get it. Brother Bob used to be
a teacher, my wife used to be a teacher, Celeste is a teacher.
You give out the lessons, and you give them out, and you give
them out, and you give them out, and you give them out, and you hope maybe
to get a little. But that's not the kind of teacher
God's grace is. Oh, no. God says, I'll write
it on your heart. He doesn't just give out the
lesson, he teaches. He teaches. He teaches us to
live soberly and righteously and godly in this present world. Now, in this chapter, Paul is
urging us, you can see it in verse 10, to adorn the doctrine
of God our Savior in all things. This is both our responsibility
and our privilege. I hope it's our desire that we
may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things. We are to set forth in our lives,
as well as in our doctrine, the beauty, the glory, and the attractiveness
of the gospel of Christ. Adorn the doctrine. Any of you
men who have ever gone to a jewelry store to buy a piece of jewelry,
will you watch? It doesn't matter whether it's the richest place
around or the jewelry store just got just a little handful of
jewels hanging around. When that fellow starts to show
you that diamond ring, it doesn't matter if it's a tenth of a carat
or ten carats. This is what he'll do. He'll
take a piece of black or deep purple velvet or a deep crimson
velvet and he'll lay that ring right there. If he's smart, he
will. Now, if he's not well-trained,
and I know something about this, I used to be a salesman, if he's
not well-trained, he'll let you look at it. This looks just as good, I'll
take that. Ah, but he'll take that thing over there, right
there on that paraphernalia. And you stand back and look at the
sparkle. I think she'll say, I'd do it if I had any of that.
That's what it's talking about. Take the gospel of God's free
grace. and lay this diamond against
this background, so that it is displayed in its radiance." What
background? Look at what he says. First,
he speaks to the pastor. As a pastor, a preacher of the
gospel, I'm responsible to adorn the doctrine of God by preaching
it faithfully. Verse 1. Speak thou the things
which become sound doctrine. Every gospel preacher has a mandate
from God. And the mandate is that he preach
the gospel. It's always the same in every
society, in every generation, all the time. Preach thou the
things that become sound doctrine. Preach it constantly. Declare
it constantly. The doctrine we preach is the
gospel of God's grace. It's the doctrine of Christ.
And those things that become sound doctrine are those things
that are consistent with free grace. Ruin by the fall, redemption
by the blood, regeneration by the Holy Spirit, the divine sovereignty
of God Almighty in all things, the accomplished redemption of
Jesus Christ as our substitute, the satisfaction of justice by
Christ's death, the fulfilling of all righteousness by his obedience,
his resurrection glory, his absolute dominion. Gospel preachers are
responsible to pointedly apply the gospel in the daily affairs
and responsibilities of men and women as we live in this world.
Now, we often hear folks say, and you've heard me say it, and
it's wrong, it's wrong, we want to live so that folks will see
Christ in us. That's a wrong motive for which
to live. Besides that, it ain't going to happen. It ain't going
to happen. They didn't see Christ in Christ.
They sure aren't going to see Him in you. But what Paul is
teaching us is that we are to live in such a way that we do
consistently that which is right for God's glory. Just for God's
glory. For no other reason. For no other
reason. Because God is our God. Christ
is our Savior. And the gospel of God's free
grace is to be honored by us in everything. Just for God's
glory. Now that's a motive. That's a
motive. Not because it's best for us.
It may or may not appear to be so. Not because this is best
for our families. It may or may not appear to be
so. Not because by doing this folks will look at us and approve
of us. That's horribly evil. That's horribly evil. Our Lord
says so in Matthew 6. But just for God's glory. It
is the pastor's responsibility then to teach people to live
in this world for the glory of Christ. Now I realize that many
prefer not to think about this. They prefer to ignore it. But
it is a fact, nonetheless. And I am responsible under God
to remind David and Betty Burge of it all the time, just as I
am to remind me of it. When God Almighty saves a sinner,
he interferes with the way you live. He interferes with the
way you live. You see, he demands surrender. He demands it all the time, and
he keeps pressing the demand. Jesus Christ will either be Lord
over you and in you, ruling and governing you by your own willful,
voluntary submission to his dominion, or you're going to perish in
your sins. This is what Paul tells us in verses 2-10. And
he has a word here for just about every group of people you can
think of. He talks about old men in verse 2. He tells them
to be temperate, grave, sober, temperate sound in faith and
love and patience. Then he tells old women, verses
3 and 4, that they are to be the same way, as becometh holiness
in their behavior. As becometh holiness, not as
makes you holy, but as becometh holiness, not false accusers,
not given to much wine, that is, not drunk. So he says, Now
you dear ladies, and I realize that men are Just about as guilty
sometimes, but it does happen to be a propensity of ladies,
particularly ladies who don't have other responsibilities,
to be false accusers, to gossip, to yak about what they don't
know anything at all about. You suspect something. You know what Brother Don did.
You know what he did. And you don't have any idea what
Brother Don did, or why Brother Don did it. Keep your mouth shut. And it's not just talking about
Brother Don, it's talking about Brother Bob, and Brother Matt, and Brother
Bob. Everybody else. Not false accusers, not drunks.
Well, how could he put that in the same category? Because it's
the same thing as rebellion against God. It's serving your own lust.
Teachers of good things. Ladies, teach good things, that
they may teach their young women to be sober, to love their husbands. You don't have to teach anybody
to love their husbands. Oh, yes you do. Teach them how to love
their children. While every mother loves her
children, teach them how to love them. Teach them how to love
them. And then he speaks to young women. He says, be discreet. Be discreet. Don't be boisterous
and loud. That's unbecoming of a woman.
It's not ladylike. Chaste. Chaste. Keep yourself
chaste. I had a letter several years
ago from a friend in another country talking about Faith and
Doug getting married. It's been how many years ago
now? Nine years? Can't be. Nine years ago. And he wrote and said it's such
a good thing to read about somebody, a young couple getting married.
He said over here even Christian couples just live together for
a while, see if it works. Not Christian couples. Chaste. Chaste. It doesn't matter what
the world does. It doesn't matter how popular
it becomes. Chaste. Keepers at home. Well, women
ought not work. Frankly, I prefer my wife to
be in our home all the time, but this is not a prohibition
to women working. There's some jobs, if I'm going
to be engaging in it, I want a woman doing it. I don't want
a male nurse, thank you. Just don't want one. I don't
care if it's you, I don't want one. Just don't want one. I don't
want a male teacher, especially for a child. They don't know
what they're doing. They just don't know what to,
not men. Men don't know how to handle it. This is not talking
about women working. As a matter of fact, you have
this very same admonition with regard to men back in the book
of Habakkuk. Keepers at home. And this is
what it says. Ladies, teach your daughters,
and you young ladies, learn this. Make your home, your husband,
your children, the primary principle spear of your concern and your
activity. Let the word of God be not blasphemous.
Then he speaks to young men, exhorts them likewise, be sober-minded. And again he speaks to pastors
in verse 7. He says to the pastors, 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 a contrary part may be ashamed,
having no evil thing to say of you. Then he tells employees,
call them servants here, we don't have many slaves these days.
Even if you work for slave wages, you don't have many slaves these
days. He said, you fellows, you work every day. If you're working
for Wal-Mart or Rockefeller or the President of the United States,
work for him like you're working for God. Work for him like you're
working for God. You are. You are. The Holy Spirit here calls for
us, all of us who believe the gospel, to adorn it, to show
the beauty and the grace of the gospel in all things for the
glory of God. Whatsoever you do, in word or
in deed, do all for the glory of God. If we are indeed born
of God, if we truly are believers, if we really have experienced
his grace, we know that that's how grace teaches us to live.
Now look at verse 11. For the grace of God that bringeth
salvation have appeared to all men. Obviously it hadn't appeared
to everybody. There are a lot of folks in Denver,
Kentucky who've never heard the gospel of God's grace. Much less
all over the world, it's appeared to all sorts of men. And the
grace of God he's talking about here is the gospel of God's grace.
It's actually applied to our hearts by the Holy Spirit. The
doctrine of the gospel is a message of grace, all grace, pure, free,
sovereign grace. It is this gospel, the message
of grace, that brings salvation. This is how God saves sinners. I know salvation is the work
of God's sovereign grace, men have nothing to do with it, but
God Almighty has ordained by the foolishness of preaching
to save them that believe, and that's the only way he does it.
The gospel of the grace of God, and Larry read it back in the
office in 1 John 1, is called the word of life. It's called
that because this is the way God conveys life to sinners.
The gospel has appeared unto all men, teaching us. That is,
wherever the gospel of God's grace has come, this is what
it teaches. teaching us that denying ungodliness
and worldly lust, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly
in this present world. The gospel teaches us to whom
we must look for life, Christ Jesus. The gospel teaches us
what we must believe. We don't come to it by our own
wisdom or by our own calculation or by our own philosophy, but
by what God says in his And the gospel teaches us how to live
in this world, gives us practical direction, tells us how to live
with respect to ourselves, soberly. A sober-minded man is a man who
looks at things as they really are, especially with regard to
himself. Especially with regard to himself. With regard to God, godly. Live before God as those who
worship him. And with regard to others, righteously. Righteously. That is, just do
what's right. Just do what's right. And then
in verse 13, he tells us about the expectation of grace, looking
for that blessed hope. and the glorious appearing of
the great God and our Savior, Jesus Christ. What a grand way
for Paul to motivate and inspire us with regard to the things
of God and our lives in this world. He tells us The gospel
that God sends our way, by which we have life and faith in Christ,
has taught us to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this
present world, with our hearts fixed on another world. Faith,
faith, each earthly joy, Jesus is mine. Our blessedness will
be attained when Christ, who is our hope, appears. He is Jesus Christ, the great
God. He is our Savior, and he shall
appear. And when he appears, we shall
appear with him also in glory. Now notice Paul's way of motivating
us. How does he inspire this? I call on you. I call on you
who hear me right now. And I call on myself. I call
on my wife. I call on those under my influence
all the time. Devote yourselves wholeheartedly
to Christ and his gospel, to his worship, to his will. Devote
yourselves wholeheartedly to it. But preacher, how do you
inspire folks to do that? Well, for most, when people start
to behave wrong, they get out the whip, get the law. Beat them a little bit. Beat
them a little bit. Beat up their consciences. Make
them feel guilty. Make them feel guilty. And after
a while, they'll start to behave right. I had a fellow tell me
one time, he said, How on earth do you get folks to tithe? If you don't preach tithing?
I said, I don't want them to tithe. I want them to give. I want them
to give. How do you get folks to live
right if you don't threaten them with punishment? Or promise them
some reward? Or whip them with the law? You
preach free grace. You preach free grace. You preach
up Christ, preach up the grace of God, and everybody who knows
anything about the blessed experience of redemption and grace in Christ
Jesus the Lord, every sinner who knows what it is to be forgiven
of sin, seeks from God grace to honor his grace as we walk
in this world. And the fact is, and you can
be assured of If the threat of the law, if the threat that God
might punish you, or God might take away some crown out of your
crown in the skies, give you some lesser degree of glory,
or the promise that he might give you a bigger crown or a
bigger place or a bigger mansion in heaven, give you a higher
degree in heaven, that is a higher degree of salvation because of
something you do. If those things will motivate
and inspire you, where the grace of God Almighty won't, it's because
you yet live by law and you don't know grace. That's just all there
is to it. Paul tells us that the grace
of God revealed in Christ Jesus, who
gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity
and purify unto himself a people zealous of good works. That's
our motive. Christ died to make us his own,
to free us from all sin, from all possibility of condemnation,
to make us perfectly free. We were talking about this in
the office Sunday night, where the Moral Heart made such a tremendous
observation. He said, The greatest wonder of heaven
to me, I believe, will be to know still my horrid and to have no guilt, and only
remember God's goodness in forgiving sin, in overruling sin, in saving
my wretched soul. Now that won't motivate you to
devote your life to Christ. I'm not going to try to use anything
else to get you motivated. You can go find someplace else
where folks love you the right way. I'm not going to do it. I'm not going to dishonor God
by compromising his gospel to get you to act like I want you
to act. Not going to happen. This grace of God teaches us,
we're told in chapter 3, verse 8, to maintain good work. So
in verse 14, he tells us, Let us learn to maintain good works,
not for salvation, not for justification, not to make ourselves more holy
and acceptable to God, but for necessary uses, that we may honor
our great God and Savior in all things. This is Paul's admonition
to Titus, and this is God's word to me, your pastor, and every
gospel preacher. These things speak and exhort
with all authority, don't back up, don't backpedal, don't be
intimidated, let no man despise you, don't give any man a reason
to despise you by the way you live, and don't pay any attention
to it when folks despise you because of what you preach. Let
no man despise you. Paul shows us by his own example
what this means. Turn to 1 Corinthians 4, I'll
show you. let a man so count of us as ministers
of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover, it
is required in stewards just one thing, that a man be found
faithful. But with me, it is a very small
thing that I should be judged of you or of man's judgment. I don't even judge myself. And
then beginning in chapter 3, Paul reinforces this whole thing.
And again in verses 4, 5, 6, and 7, he inspires us to the
same thing, obedience, honoring God in all things, because of
God's grace by which we are saved through Jesus Christ our Redeemer.
Oh, God teach me day by day. to stand in awe of your amazing
free grace, the sacrifice of your darling Son, and let your
grace constrain me to walk in this world, to live in this world,
constantly devoted to your honor.