Paul says to Titus in verse one,
but speak thou the things which become sound doctrine. Sound doctrine. There is no salvation apart from
sound doctrine. Look what Paul says to the young
men in verses seven and eight, in all things, showing myself
a pattern of good works in doctrine, showing uncorruptedness, gravity,
sincerity, sound speech that cannot be condemned. which says
in verse 10, with regard to the servants, not purloining, but
showing all good fidelity that they may adorn the doctrine of
God our Savior in all things. This is the same form of sound
words that Paul exhorted Timothy to hold fast to. In second Timothy
one 13, when he said, hold fast the form of sound words. Now, the fact that there are
things that become sound doctrine tells us there are things that
do not become sound doctrine and that do not adorn, make beautiful
the doctrine of God, our savior. A judgmental, arrogant spirit
does not adorn the doctrine of God, our Savior. Self-righteousness
does not adorn the doctrine of God, our Savior. An unforgiving
spirit holding a grudge does not adorn the doctrine of God,
our Savior. Immorality in any form does not
adorn the doctrine of God, our Savior. Negativity, a morose
and surly attitude does not adorn the doctrine of God, our Savior. Worrying does not adorn. The doctrine of God, our savior,
I've named just a few things that fail to adorn the doctrine
of God, our savior. Sound doctrine. What is sound
doctrine? Sound doctrine is the gospel. The doctrine of Christ. Now never
speak of or think of doctrine in a disrespectful light. It was dry doctrine, dead doctrine,
just doctrine. Everything in the Bible is the
doctrine of God and there's nothing in the Bible that's dry or dead.
Now we might have a dry spirit and a dead heart. And that's
why it comes to us that way. Well, that's dry, that's dead,
but there's no such thing as dry dead doctrine. If it's the
doctrine of Christ, the doctrine of truth, it's the doctrine that's
according to godliness. Now, what is sound doctrine?
Like I said, I've heard this so many times over the years,
that's dry doctrine. The problem is not the doctrine.
The problem is the person hearing it. What is sound doctrine? Now, obviously everything God
says is sound doctrine. Sound doctrine is Genesis 1.1
through Revelation 22, 21. I love the way God used every
word in the Bible to give us sound doctrine. But here's a
very succinct verse of scripture with regard to sound doctrine.
Would you turn with me to first Timothy chapter one. Verse five. Now the end, the goal of the
commandment. First Timothy chapter one, verse
five. Now the end of the goal of the commandment is charity
out of a pure heart and of a good conscience and
a faith unveiled from which Some having swerved have turned aside
into vain jangling, desiring to be teachers of the law, understanding
neither what they say nor whereof they affirm. But we know that
the law is good if a man use it lawfully. Knowing this, that
the law is not made for a righteous man. Let me stop for just a second. A righteous man does not need
law. Here's who the law is made for,
the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners,
for unholy and profane. for murderers of fathers and
murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for whoremongers, for them that
defile themselves with mankind, for men-stealers, for liars,
for perjured persons. And if there be any other thing
that is contrary to sound doctrine, there's the same word. And look
at this next verse, according to, now here's what sound doctrine
is. It's according to the glorious
gospel of the blessed God. Now that is sound doctrine. That which is according to the
glorious gospel of the blessed God. Now, the word glorious here
is not an adjective, you know, like that's a glorious, whatever
you want to put to describe it. It's really not an adjective,
it's a noun. And the definite articles before it in the original.
It speaks and reads literally like this, the gospel of the
glory of the blessed God. Sound doctrine is the gospel
of the glory of the blessed God. That is sound doctrine. Now God
said, my glory, I will not share with another. The reason God
created the universe, the reason the fall of our first parents
took place, the reason for Christ willingly going to the cross,
the reason for salvation, God's motive is His own glory. Now, if you read Ephesians 1,
verses 3 through 14, we read of the work of the three persons
of the Godhead in salvation. And at the end of the description
of the work of each person of the Godhead, it's to the praise
of His glory. That's God's agenda. That's God's
purpose. His own glory. The reason for the works of all
three persons in the Trinity is His own glory. Now, before
we go on, this is just the truth. This is why God acts. He does
what He does for His own glory. And there is another reason that
we love this truth, other than the fact that He deserves the
glory. He does, doesn't He? All glory goes to God. He deserves
credit. But let me give you another reason
we love this truth. If he doesn't get all the glory,
you know what that means? That means some part of salvation
is dependent upon me first doing something before he can act.
Now, if that be the case, I have no hope. If any of my salvation
is dependent upon me first doing something, I have no hope. Let me tell you something else.
If any of my salvation is dependent on me doing something, I share
in the glory with him if I do it. He doesn't get all the glory,
but at least the thing that I did, I get the glory for that. I want you to turn to John chapter
seven for just a moment. is the gospel of the glory of
the blessed God. John chapter seven. Verse 14, now about the midst
of the feast, Jesus went up into the temple and taught. And the
Jews marveled, saying, how knoweth this man letters, having never
learned? He never went to seminary. He was never educated in our,
whatever it is those guys were educated in. Jesus answered them
and said, my doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me. If any man will do his will,
he shall know of the doctrine. Whether it be of God or whether
I speak of myself. Now to not know the doctrine
has this as its origin, an unwillingness to do His will. Don't you want to do His will?
Is that your desire? That's what Paul said when he
said, to will is present with me. I would do his will. There's a willingness to do his
will. Now he went on to say how to
perform that, which is good. I find naughty. He said that,
but there's in every believer, there is a, I will, this is if
any man will, this is his desire to do his will. He'll know the doctrine. If I
don't know the doctrine, it's not because I'm not smart enough.
It doesn't have anything to do with it. It's because of an unwillingness
to bow the knee to Christ and to do His will. Verse 18, if it were 17, if any man will
do His will, he'll know the doctrine. Whether it be of God or whether
I speak of myself, he that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory,
but he that seeketh his glory that sent him, the same is true. And no unrighteousness is in
him. Now that person that seeks the
glory of him that sent him, that's the one who's true. Now this
is the way I can tell if what I'm hearing is true or not. Who
gets the glory? It really is that simple. Who
gets the glory? Now you think of every aspect
of salvation. For instance, being in Christ. Did you do anything to get in
Christ? No. Of Him are you in Christ Jesus?
And if you've always been in Christ Jesus, which you have,
you couldn't have done anything to get in Him. What about election? Did you have anything to do with
God choosing you to be saved? Did you make any contribution?
Did he look and say, well, they can benefit me. I can see the
good. No, you had nothing to do with
God electing you. What about Christ dying for you? Was there something in you that
he thought, I want to die for that person because I see how
good they'll be? Of course not. He died for you
because you're evil. And the only way you could be
saved is by his death. What about justification? Is there anything you could do? to be in a state of sinlessness
before God, absolutely justified freely by his grace through the
redemption that's in Christ Jesus. Every believer knows what I'm
saying is true. He gets all the glory and salvation. What about
your regeneration? What part did you play in that?
When he birthed you into the kingdom of God and gave you a
new nature that was not there before, did you ask him to do
it first? No, He did it without your help
just like He by Himself purged our sins. You didn't participate
in that. The only thing you contributed was the sin. The only thing I
contributed was the sin. What about the fact that you've
persevered? Why? You're kept by the power
of God. through faith unto salvation. You didn't do anything to cause
this to happen. What about the faith you have? It's the gift of God, isn't it?
It's not something you worked up. Not of works, lest any man
should boast. What about the repentance you
have? Your mind has always changed. Where'd that come from? Scripture
says it's the gift of God. What about this scripture? It's of God that worketh in you both
to will and to do his good pleasure. The willingness and the doing,
it's of God. Every aspect of salvation is
what he does. Now that's sound doctrine. And
there's no salvation apart from sound doctrine. the gospel of
the glory of the blessed God. I love Psalm 29 verse 10. In
His temple doth everyone speak of His glory. And in His temple,
in His body, every member of the church, everyone speaks of
His glory. For these two reasons, number
one, because they love him and they want him to get all the
glory because he deserves it. And number two, because if he
doesn't get all the glory, that means salvation is partially
by works at least, and that's not good news to me. In his temple,
does everyone speak of his glory. The gospel, the good news of
the glory of the blessed God. That's sound doctrine. Speak those things that become,
are congruent with, that make beautiful and attractive sound
doctrine. Oh, we love sound doctrine, don't
we? And I want to make beautiful sound doctrine. I want to become
sound doctrine. I want to adorn the doctrine
of God, our savior in all things. Now he speaks to aged men. He
speaks to aged women. He speaks to young women. He
speaks to young men and he speaks to servants. And here's where
we'll see what is becoming to sound doctrine. Now turn back
to our text, Titus chapter two. Speak thou the things which become,
which make sound doctrine beautiful. There are things that do not
become sound doctrine. There are actions, there are conduct,
there are attitudes that do not become sound doctrine. Here's
what becomes sound doctrine, that the aged men, the old men,
men that are more mature in grace, that the aged men be Sober. Now that word means a calm and
controlled spirit. That's what the word means. The
aged men that they be of a calm and a controlled spirit which
is the fruit of faith. This calmness arises from sound
doctrine believed. Now let me give you an example.
Here's sound doctrine. All things. work together for
good to them that love God, to them who are the called according
to His purpose. That means everything that happened
yesterday is for my good and His glory. That means everything
that happened today right up to this present moment, all the
stuff that took place today, it's working together by God
for my good and his glory. And I'm giving this assurance,
everything that takes place tomorrow for the rest of my life is working
for my good and his glory. Now, what is there to worry about? A calm, collected spirit from
believing sound doctrine. Let the aged men be sober, grave,
reverent. That which comes from the fear
of God, that's honorable and serious. Let them be next, he
says, temperate. Now the word temperate here is
not the word that is used to describe temperance as the fruit
of the spirit. This is a different word. It
means, every believer has temperance, the fruit of the spirit, but
what the word here means is sound minded. It's where we get the
word whole or healthy from, sound in the faith. This temperate
is soundness, soundness in the faith. Now, what is soundness
in the faith? Faith alone. That's soundness in the faith.
You add anything to it, it's no longer sound. It's poisonous.
Faith alone is sound. Looking to Christ only. You never
graduate past that. I want to die. I want my last
breath to be looking to Christ only. That's sound in the faith. Sound in charity. Love. Love to God. Loving Him as He is. Loving Him
as He reveals Himself in His Word. Loving every one of His
attributes. He can't be improved, can He?
He's altogether lovely. He's altogether glorious. Love
to God. Love to my brethren. My brethren are people He saved. They love Him. You know anybody
that loves Christ, don't you love? Love to my brethren. They're
great with me. Love to my brethren. It's a love
that overcomes everything, that continues to love. Love to men
that causes me to preach the gospel to them. Sound in charity. Sound in patience. cheerful, hopeful, endurance,
constancy, patient endurance, patient continuous. Now that's
the becoming of sound doctrine in old men. Don't you want to
be there? I do. Now he speaks to the aged women. The aged women likewise, that they be in behavior as becometh
holiness, a demeanor that is reverent." Once again, the product
of the fear of God. Not false accusers. Do you know
this word is where we get the word devil from? The devil is
the accuser of the brethren, false accusers, don't try to
tear down and destroy people, build them up. Not false accusers. Not given too much wine, not
heavy drinkers, teachers of good things. And he names what these
good things are toward what they teach the young women. Verse
four, that they may teach the young women to be sober, to love
their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste,
keepers at home, good, obedient unto their own husbands that
the Word of God be not blasphemed. Teach the young women by word
and example to be discreet. That's the same word as sober
that's used with regard to the older men, sensible. Teach them
that they be sober, sensible, to love their husbands. What does God call on you to
do? Wife, love your husband. That's God's command. It's also
a privilege to do so, to love your husband. to be sober or say that to love
their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste,
pure, chaste to the Lord and looking only to him and chaste
to your spouse, chaste, keepers at home. Now that needs a few
comments, keepers at home. Make your home A place where
your husband and your children love to be. That's what a keeper
at home is. Now, somebody says, does that
mean a woman shouldn't work? Well, it's good if you don't. It's
good for your children. It's good for your family if
you do. It doesn't say a woman cannot work. Some women have
to work. I realize that. And some women
just have this kind of need to work. And that's good. But I
know this. Your first priority as a woman
is to make your home a wonderful place to be for your family.
And you want to be zealous toward being that way, a keeper at home
to where your home is a place when people come, it's a place
of peace. It's a place where people feel comfortable. There's
not a feeling of wretchedness and tension and strife, but it's
a peaceful place. I want to go into somebody's
home where I feel just as home there as doing my own home. That's
what a keeper at home does. They make their home a beautiful
place. Once again, somebody will try
to say that you will use this and say, see, you shouldn't be
working. Don't do that. He doesn't he doesn't say that.
But he does say this. Make sure your priority is for
your home to be a lovely, wonderful place for your husband, for your
children and for the people that come into your home. Obedient, good, obedient to their
own husbands. Now, you know, a lot of people
would, obedient? I mean, just when he says to
do something, do it. Obedient, is this what this means?
And I can see where people would chafe against that if they didn't
understand the gospel. But think about this thing of
submission. Is the Lord Jesus Christ equal
to His Father? Does he submit to his father? Isn't it beautiful the way he
submits to his father? There's nothing more beautiful
than that. What about the submission of God the Holy Spirit where
He won't even, He won't speak of Himself. He won't say anything
but what He hears. The submission that's there in
the Godhead. And it's a willing submission.
If it's not willing submission, it's not submission. But how
beautiful submission is when we see it in the Godhead. Now
God's got an order. And he says, be obedient. That means submit to your husband.
That doesn't mean your husband's gonna come up and say, you better
do what I tell you to do and submit, be obedient. You're sinning,
you're doing wrong. If your husband's doing that, I better not say what you ought
to do, but just, no, yeah, that's, he's wrong. He's wrong, but that
being said, be obedient to your own husbands. There are roles
that God has put in place and they're best. And he says, be
obedient to your own husband for this word, that the word
of God be not blasphemed. If I act in a way that does not
adorn the gospel, and this is talking about the way other people
are going to see us behave. You say, I don't care what other
people think you're better. You ought to. And if we behave in
a way that's not adorning the gospel of God our Savior in all
things, well, the word of God, the doctrine of God is going
to be blasphemous. See where that gets you. No respect
because of our behavior. That's what he's talking about
when he says, adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things,
in all your relationships. Look what he says to the young
men, young men, likewise exhort to be, verse six, sober minded. Now, let me show you where that
word is used. Turn to Romans chapter 12. This
will tell us what sober minded is. Verse two, and be not conformed
to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind,
that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect
will of God. For I say through the grace given
unto me to every man that's among you, not to think of himself
more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly. That's the word, soberly, sober-minded. What is sober-minded? It's not
to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think. That's
what humility is. Not to think of yourself more
highly than you ought to think. Now, the first thing he says
to young men is be sober-minded. Young men, especially, will have
a tendency to think of themselves more highly than they ought to
think. Old men do it, too. We all do it. But be sober-minded. Verse seven, in all things, showing
thyself, in all things, that covers a lot of ground, in all
things, showing thyself a pattern of good works, works done out
of love to Christ, in doctrine, showing uncorruptness, no error. Now that's the attitude we're
to have to doctrine. That doesn't mean just me thinking
I'm right, but I want to have, I want to have the doctrine of
Christ. I want to know the doctrine of Christ. In doctrine showing
uncorruptedness, gravity, sincerity. What a attitude. Sound speech that cannot be condemned. that he that's of the contrary
part may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of you. Indoctrinate uncorruptness, a
little leaven leavens the whole lump. Gravity means reverence.
Sincerity, I love the, pretty much the last verse of Ephesians
chapter six, grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus
Christ. In sincerity, sound speech that cannot be condemned. Now
he says to servants, Exhort servants and slaves. Can
you imagine being a slave? I guess there's forms of slavery
here, but imagine being somebody else's property. What a hard
life that would be. And you can look at this in terms
of your employer, who you work for, everybody here. I hope when
you go to work tomorrow, this is going to give you a new zeal
to do a good job for his glory in whatever you're doing. He
says, exhort servants to be obedient unto their own masters and to
please them well in all things. Whoever you're working for, make
it to where they're glad you're their employee. They're thankful that you work
for them because of the job you do. Now that is, I want to go
in, whatever I do, I want to do it to the glory of God. And
if whatever work, I don't care if I'm washing dishes, I want
to wash dishes to the glory of God. I want to do that. He said,
servants, be obedient and your own masters and to please them
well in all things, not answering again, not talking back, not
contradicting what they say, not purloining, that's loafing. You know, if you're at work,
work. It's stealing. If you steal time,
that's the same as, as being a thief. Work, work for the glory
of God, whatever it is. Don't, don't purloin, not purloining,
but showing all good fidelity, faithfulness in all things that
they may adorn the doctrine of God, our savior in all things. My employer ought to be thankful
that I'm working for him, ought to be the best employee he has.
Every one of us should be seeking to be the very best employee
they have, not being disrespectful or contradicting. Why? That I
might adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things. And
this is how I'm perceived by others. You know, cause sometimes
I think I don't care what anybody thinks. Well, that's not a right
attitude. I want to work and conduct myself
and treat people in such a way as it adorns the doctrine of
God, our savior in all things. Now, let me close with first
Peter chapter three. Verse 15, but sanctify the Lord God in
your hearts. Oh, regard Him as holy. You can't make Him holy. You
don't sanctify Him, but you regard Him as holy. He's not like anyone. You sanctify
the Lord God. That's something that can only
be done in the heart, this feeling of reverence and awe and respect
for who He is. You sanctify the Lord God in
your heart and be ready, always. to give an answer to every man
that asks you a reason of the hope that's in you with meekness
and fear. Now, what this is saying, and
I hope we'll all pray for this. I'm praying this for myself.
I want you to pray it for yourself. I want to treat people in such
a way that they say, I wanna know the reason for the hope
that's in you. I wanna treat people in such a gracious, nonjudgmental,
kind, merciful, friendly, forgiving way. And I'm talking about whoever
it is I come in contact with outside of this church. The people
in the church, yes. The people outside of the church,
yes, too. I want to treat them in such a way that they're going
to ask me, what's your hope? What's your hope? What's the
reason behind the hope you have? Maybe it's the way I deal with
some trial in my life. And they say, what's the reason
for the hope that's in you? And then I'll, by the grace of
God, answer. with meekness and fear. That's
the way it says to do this, with meekness and fear, but not with
some kind of cocky, arrogant, cocksure attitude, but with meekness
and fear. I'm gonna give a reason for the
hope that's in me. I have one hope, that Jesus Christ
is Lord, He controls everything, He is my righteousness. He paid
for my sins. Everything is working together
for my good because of what He did for me. That is my hope. That's the reason for my hope. So I hope we will all be, ask the Lord to enable us to,
and be zealous of adorning. the doctrine of God our Savior
in all things, the things that become sound doctrine. And remember the most important
part of this passage is what is sound doctrine. And if you and I ever get a hold
of what sound doctrine is, the gospel of the glory of the blessed
God, we're going to want to do the things that become sound
doctrine. Let's pray. Lord, we are so in need of your grace
to adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things. And Lord, we confess we have
so often not adorned the doctrine of God our Savior, and we have
not did the things that become sound
doctrine, and we pray for forgiveness for that. And Lord, how we thank
you that we have forgiveness for that through the blood of
your son. And we ask that you would cause us each to do the
things that become sound doctrine, that we may adorn the doctrine
of God our Savior in all things. Thank you for Christ, in his
name we pray, amen.