Which, turn back to Titus 1. This is one of two times, also
in the book of 1 Timothy, that Paul gives us the qualifications
of a bishop or an elder or a pastor. The fact that it's there two
times gives us some idea of its importance. And really, I don't
know what I ought to say. If it's in the Bible, it's important.
If it's in there once, it's important. If it's in some place, it's all
important. But this is very important for
us to understand what a pastor is. I've entitled this message,
A Bishop Must Be. A bishop, the bishop or elder or
pastor is a God-ordained office. We just read about that. This
is not something somebody just decided to create and have part
of the church. This is a God ordained office. Bishop means overseer. An elder has to do with maturity
and Paul's instruction in first Timothy three, with regard to
the bishop, he said, not a novice, not a new believer. lest being
lifted up with pride, he fall into the condemnation of the
devil. And the title pastor has something
to do with being a shepherd and feeding the flock. A bishop,
an elder, and a pastor. And notice he says in verse seven,
for a bishop must be. This is necessary or he cannot
be a bishop. These things that he's going
to mention are not optional, they're not preferable, they're
not desirable, but are necessary. a bishop must be or he is disqualified,
has no reason to enter into this office. Now look in verse 2,
Paul's been speaking in hope of eternal life which God that
cannot lie promised before the world began but hath in due times
manifested His Word through what? Preaching. Preaching. You please God by the foolishness
of preaching. What I'm doing right now. Preaching
to save them that believe. So what about the preacher? He's like you, a sinful man saved
by the grace of God. But what are the qualifications
of this man to be a preacher? Now notice in verse five, Paul
says to Titus, for this cause left I in Crete, that thou should
set in order the things that are wanting and look for volunteers
in every city to see who wants to be a preacher. It's not that
way at all, is it? Not that way at all. ordain elders in every city,
appoint elders in every city. In this thing of preaching, a
man doesn't put himself into the ministry. If he does, it'll
be no good. And there are a lot of people
like that who put themselves into the ministry, but only God
can put somebody into the ministry. and God's people recognize it. A man doesn't just say, oh, I'm
going to start pastoring a church. I remember even as a young man,
I was thinking about preaching. It was on my mind as a young
man, but I didn't come up and say, I'm going to be a preacher.
Brother Mahan asked me to come to his preacher's class. I didn't
ask him. He asked me. I wouldn't have dared to ask
him. He asked me. And the church can recognize
it if somebody is called to preach the gospel. They can recognize
it. I want to read a passage from
first Samuel chapter three verse 19. And Samuel grew and the Lord
was with him and did not let none of his words fall to the
ground and all Israel from Dan even to Beersheba knew that Samuel
was established to be a prophet of the Lord. They could see that. And if someone is called to preach,
called by God, God's people recognize that. So a man doesn't just decide,
well, I'm gonna be the preacher. I'm gonna be the pastor. I'm
gonna go to school and become a pastor. No, this is something
that, He told Titus, you go and appoint, ordain elders and everything. I don't know what all was involved
in that. I don't know how he went about doing it, but he did.
And that is important. You don't put yourself into the
ministry. Now look what he says about this. He begins with the qualifications
that are necessary to be a pastor. And the first thing he mentions
is blameless. Verse seven, for a bishop must
be blameless. Now if that means sinless all
of humanity is disqualified. Obviously. Any God called pastor
is a sinner saved by grace, and he has an acute awareness of
his own sinfulness present tense. Not the way I used to be, but
what I am right now. And I can only preach, and no
man can preach the gospel unless he preaches as a sinner to other
sinners. One of my favorite definitions
of preaching His preaching is one beggar telling another beggar
where he got bread. And that is what preaching is. So you don't come as, well, look
at, I've got a blameless life. No, you're aware of your sinfulness.
So what does he mean? He means this. If people in Lexington,
Kentucky, in my neighborhood, in Fayette County, would look
upon me and see me as a dishonest, and an immoral man by my conduct. That would disqualify me from
being a preacher. That's what he means by blameless.
If I would be seen to be I might be accused of that, but I mean
if I'm seen to be an immoral, a dishonest man, that disqualifies
me from being a pastor. A bishop must be blameless. Now I've said this before, but
for me to listen to a man, there's three things I need. I'm talking
about me, and I know you feel the same way. I know you feel
the precise same way. For me to listen to a man, who
claims to preach the gospel, these three things are necessities. First, he's got to have God's
message. That comes first. If he doesn't have the message
of the gospel, I have no interest in listening to him. Secondly,
that man's got to really believe what he says he does. He's got
to live what he believes, whatever that means. Christ is my life. The gospel is my life. This is
my all. And if he doesn't live what he
believes, if he's just kind of on the sideline, I'm not really
interested. I want to hear someone who lives,
who really believes what they say they do. And thirdly, that
man I'm listening to has got to have my best interest at heart.
If he doesn't have my best interest at heart, I don't hear him. If
I'm gonna be just some number in his ministry and all that
kind of stuff, I'm not interested in that kind of stuff. I wanna
hear somebody who actually has my best interest at heart. And that's one of the things
I always loved about Henry Mayhem being my pastor. I knew he wanted
me to know the Lord. He wasn't thinking about me being
part of his program. He wanted me to know the Lord. And that's what I mean by having
I want you to know the Lord, if I'm a true pastor, I've got
your best interest at heart, not my own, but your best interest
at heart. Now, he says, a bishop must be
blameless as the steward of God, the husband of one God. Let's see, the bishop must be
blameless as the steward of God, not self-willed, not soon angry,
not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre, but
a lover of hospitality, a lover of good men, holy, just, sober,
and temperate. Now, first of all, he's a steward
of God. Now, what does that mean? What's
a steward? A steward is someone who takes the responsibility
for that which doesn't belong to him. You know, when I'm preaching
gospel, this is God's gospel. It's not my gospel. It's not
the gospel that I've created. It's the gospel of God. And I'm responsible to preach
what God says in his word. Now, if you had your life savings
and you were going to have somebody to be the steward over it, what's
the first thing you'd want out of that person? Brilliance? Talent? A great speaker? A charismatic personality? No. Faithfulness. It's required in a steward that
a man be found faithful, faithful to God, faithful to his word. Now that's what we need in a
steward. Someone who is faithful by the grace of God, faithful
to faithful to the Lord first and faithful to his word, not
trying to change it, not trying to use it to promote his doctrine.
Every preacher, false preacher I know will go to the Bible to
try to prove their false doctrine and they don't really go to the
word to bow before it and preach what it really says. Oh, I don't
want to do that. I want to be faithful to the word as his stewards
for Bishop must be blameless as the steward of God, not self-willed. What's that mean? Self-promoting. Arrogant. My way or the highway. I'm the man. Listen to what I
have to say. That is forbidden for a pastor
to have that kind of attitude. Not self-willed. I found out where I got mixed
up. I'm supposed to be in verse six right now. So I kind of got
ahead of myself. So sorry. Verse six, if any be
blameless. The next thing he says is the
husband of one wife. All that means is he's not to
be a polygamist. There was a lot of polygamy. A lot of men had
two, three, four wives. And he said, a pastor can't be
that way. Now, I've heard people say that
means he could never be divorced. Well, I'd rather none of us ever
be divorced, and divorce is a horrible thing. But I think it's interesting
how, particularly in the Baptist denomination, a man might have
been a murderer or a drug addict, and he's got a powerful testimony.
Put him in a pulpit. But if a man's been divorced
in the past, oh no, that's ridiculous. He's talking about polygamy. A man must not be a polygamist. Verse six, if it'd be blameless,
the husband of one wife, having faithful children, Not accused
of riot or unruly. Now this makes things rough on
preacher's kids. I realize that. I mean, I wouldn't
want to be a preacher's kid. I always felt sorry for preacher's
kids. But what is he saying there? Why does he make this distinction
about their kids not being accused of riot, a riotous, rebellious
person? Well, turn back to 1 Timothy
chapter three. And Timothy's Paul saying the
same thing to Timothy. This is a true saying. If a man
desire the office of a Bishop, he desires a good work. A bishop then must be blameless,
the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behavior, given
to hospitality, apt to teach, not given to wine, no striker,
not greedy, a filthy lucre, but patient, not a brawler, not covetous,
one that ruleth well his own house, having his children in
subjection with all gravity, for if a man know not how to
rule his own house, How shall he take care of the church of
God? If a man, now a preacher's kids
are just as sinful as anybody else's kids. They have just as
much natural rebellion. Aubrey would tell you that's
the truth. I mean, it's just where, but the thing that is,
if someone is living in outward rebellion and Preacher needs
to be restraining his children. Everybody ought to be restraining
their children. Restrain your children. That's your job as
a parent. You're to be their moral authority
in that sense. But if man doesn't know how to
rule his own house, he has no business being a pastor. That's
what he's talking about. And so that's very important.
If he can't rule his own house, how shall he rule the church
of God? And you know that that rule is guide. It's not talking
about laying down the law and all that kind of macho stuff. It's talking about guide his
own house in a, in a way that glorifies God. So that is obviously
important to turn back to Titus. For a bishop must be blameless
as the steward of God." There he mentions that blamelessness
again. It's so important. Not self-willed,
not my way or the highway, arrogant, self-promoting, not soon angry,
bad-tempered, hot-headed. A man like that cannot be in
the ministry. Not given to wine. Not a heavy
drinker. And vine says that the secondary
meaning is what Paul's talking about. And it may be, or it may
not be, but not somebody who's verbally abusive, like a drunken
man will be. And if somebody is verbally,
if they're a heavy drinker or if they're verbally abusive,
they have no business in the ministry. No striker, contentious,
looking for a fight. Not given to filthy lucre. Not a covetous man. Not a man
who's in this for money. You know, this is not a job. This is a calling. And Paul said,
I've coveted no man's silver or gold. A covetous man certainly
has no business in the ministry. Verse eight. but a lover of hospitality. And that means a lover of strangers,
a lover of people in general. And I love what Scott Richardson
once said with regard to the ministry. He said, we're in the
people business. And we want people to believe
the gospel. We want everybody we come across
to believe the gospel. And we want to be enabled by
God to witness to everybody with regard to who God is, how he
saves sinners. We're in the people business.
And that's what he's talking about when he's talking about
a lover of hospitality. Sure, you have people in your home
and you want to do that. But the main thing is we want men
to hear the gospel. A lover of good men, a lover
of believers. Sober. sound-minded, a man whom
God has given some wisdom, just, honest and fair in his dealings
with men, not a respecter of persons, just, holy. You know, what that means is
he needs to be born again. He's not going to be holy if
he's not born again. In order to be holy, you got
to be holy. And that's what happens when
God saves somebody. And this means more than temperance
and eating and drinking, it's certainly included, but I want
you to turn for a moment to Romans chapter 12. I beseech you therefore, brethren,
by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living
sacrifice. Holy, acceptable unto God, which
is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this
world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind,
that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect
will of God. Now look at the first thing he
says about proving that good and acceptable and perfect will
of God. For I say through the grace of
God 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, to not be intoxicated and drunken with arrogance and
self-importance and a high view of yourself. Think soberly, not
with this high view of yourself. Now back to our text in Titus. but a lover of hospitality, verse
eight, a lover of good men, sober, just, holy, and temperate. Now, should men be held to these
standards? Yes. You know that. You know, in verse Seven, he
says what he can't be in verse eight. He says what he must be.
Should a preacher be held to these standards? Yes, they should. And if a man is not this, he
has no business in the ministry. Now that's, write that down. Verse nine. And here is what
he is doing, and this is why we must have him do this, holding
fast the faithful word as he has been taught, that he may
be able by sound doctrine to do these things, these two things,
both to exhort and to convince the gamesayers, the contradictors.
For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, especially
they of the circumcision, whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert
whole houses, teaching things which they ought not for filthy
lucre's sake, for money's sake. So here's why he's saying this.
Here's what this man is to do. He's by sound doctrine, both
to exhort or beseech. And that's what preaching is.
It's a beseeching. It's not just delivering a lecture.
Here's the truth, like an academic lecture. I'm persuading men,
I'm beseeching men. I want you to believe the gospel.
And that's part of preaching, and also to convince, to convict
those who contradict your gospel. This is talking about the defense
of the gospel. Now, I love the way he says,
holding fast the faithful word. Don't you love that? The faithful
word. The gospel has words and they
mean exactly what they mean. The faithful word. I love when Paul said, this is
a faithful saying. It's the same word in the original,
it's logos. This is a faithful word that
I'm holding fast to. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners of whom I am the chief. Hold fast to the faithful
word. Here's an example of what that
means. Turn to first Corinthians two. Verse 1, And I, brethren, when
I came to you, I came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom,
declaring unto you the testimony of God. For I determined, this
is what holding fast the faithful word means, I determined, I made
this my resolve by the grace of God. This is what I'm not
going to be knocked away from by the grace of God. I determined
this. not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and Him
crucified." That's what I'm determined to do, and that's what he's telling
Titus that these bishops, pastors, and elders must do. Hold fast
the faithful word. Preach Jesus Christ and Him crucified
at all times. Well, you got this problem. Preach
Christ Crucified. You got that problem. Preach
Christ Crucified. Well, what about this? Preach
Christ Crucified. That covers everything. I don't
want to be driven from that in any way or tempted to go away
from that. That's what he's talking about,
holding fast the faithful word. You know, I need to hear the
gospel. I need to preach the gospel. I need to hear the gospel.
You don't need to hear the gospel. That covers everything. If Christ
crucified is preached, everything that needs to be preached is
preached. As far as that goes, if you preach
Christ crucified, you're preaching the whole counsel of God. You're
preaching the whole Bible. Hold fast the faithful word as
he has been taught. Turn to 2 Timothy. Aaron dealt with this Sunday
morning, did such a blessing. But look what Paul says in verse
13. Hold fast the form of sound words,
which thou has heard of me. in faith and love, which is in
Christ Jesus. Now hold this fast, this is all
that's to be preached. This form of sound words. And
he gives us this form that's so beautifully in this passage
of scripture. Look in verse eight. Be not thou
therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner,
but be thou a partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according
to the power of God. Now Paul realized, You preach
the gospel, you're not gonna win a popularity contest. You're
gonna have problems. But be thou a partaker of the
afflictions of the gospel. And then, here we have the form
of sound words and everything we believe is found in these
four words. Who hath saved us? Who? The Lord Jesus Christ hath
He didn't make it a stab at it. He didn't try to make it possible.
He didn't make it available. He hath saved us. Everybody he saved, everybody
he died for, everybody God elected, the great us that he saved. That's
everything we believe. He hath saved us. I love that. And He called us. Now this is
very important. The saving came before the calling.
Because if the saving didn't come before the calling, that
means there's something you'd have to do to make that calling
work. And that's not the case at all. He saved us and He called
us. You see, whom he did foreknow,
them he also did predestinate to be conformed them of his son,
that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover,
whom he did predestinate, them he also called. Called, the call of God. If He saved you, He will call
you. He'll call you by His gospel.
And you know what else? If He calls you, you'll come.
Everybody He calls, come. This is the call of irresistible,
invincible grace. What is irresistible grace? You have to have Christ. You
have to be found in Him. You really believe that He's
all you have. You have to be saved by Him.
You find that irresistible, invincible grace. He creates this. He saved us and He called us
with a holy calling. You know, this is the holy gospel
from a holy God with a holy calling. Now, it wouldn't be a holy calling
if it was according to our works because we're unholy in and of
ourselves. It's a holy calling because it's not according to
our works. But according to His own purpose
and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus. Now, He saved us. Every one of
us. I'd ask the Lord if we haven't
memorized this verse, memorize it. He saved us. He called us. He saved us. He saved us. Are you saved? If he saved me, I am. That's
the best way I know how to answer that question. Because I know
when people ask, are you saved? Well, you start looking within.
Well, if he saved me, I'm saved. You know, he came to save his
people from their sins. And when he said it is finished, they
were all saved from their sins. He saved us. He called us. Well, as he called me, do you
believe the gospel? He's called you. Do you rely on Christ only? He's called you. Do you look
to him as everything in your salvation and you, by his grace,
don't look anywhere else? He's called you. He saved us,
He called us with His holy calling, not according to our works. Aren't
you thankful for that? What if there's something you
had to first do before He could do something for you? What if
there was some kind of work you had to perform, you had to make
yourself better somehow, make yourself worthy, if you had to
do something before He could do something to you, we'd all
be toast. Thank God it's not according to our works, but according
to His own purpose. Salvation by the purpose of God. Doesn't God give everybody a
chance? Salvation's not by chance. Salvation's by the purpose of
God. He saved us and called us with
a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to
His own purpose and grace, purposed grace. If you have grace, if
God has given you grace, it's because he purposed to give you
grace. When? Before the foundation of the
world. Now that is the form of sound
words. And let me say this, if somebody
doesn't preach this, they don't preach the gospel. It's that
simple. And I'm talking about clearly.
I'm not talking about you can imply, well, maybe they believe
that. No, this is the message that is preached. This is the
form of sound words. And where these sound words are
not preached, the gospel is not preached. Now, that's why I want
to have a faithful man called of God to hold fast the form
of sound words. That's so important. Now let's
go on reading what he says. This purpose and grace which
was given us in Christ Jesus, everything you have was given
you in Christ Jesus before time began. Are you justified? You're justified before the foundation
of the world. Are you sanctified? You're sanctified before the
foundation of the world. You see, everything we have was
given us in Christ Jesus, the lamb slain from the foundation
of the world. But, verse 10, is now made manifest what took
place before time began is now made manifest by the appearing
of our Savior Jesus Christ. The Lamb slain from the foundation
of the world appeared to be slain in time. but is now made manifest by the
appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death."
He put death to death. You know why I'm never going
to die? And I'm going to die physically, but I'm never going
to die spiritually. No. I'm going to live forever
because he put death to death on the cross, the death of death
in the death of Christ. He abolished death and had brought
life and immortality to light through the gospel. It's only
through the gospel that we have life, that we have light, that
we have immortality. Paul says, whereunto, verse 11,
whereunto I'm appointed a preacher. This is the message I'm appointed
to preach. I'm appointed a preacher and an apostle and a teacher
of the Gentiles. This is my only reason for existence,
to preach this message. For the which cause I also suffer
these things. You remember where Paul went,
and I love to think about this. Paul would go into a city, and
realize he was either going to be thrown in jail after he preached,
or tied to a pole and beat with a cat of nine tails, or beat
with rods or stoned. All the things he experienced,
he knew going in ahead of time. He said, bonds and afflictions
abide me. He knew that. And here he goes
into town, he knows what's gonna happen. He preaches the gospel,
they start throwing rocks at him, they tie him up. He knows
it's gonna happen. I, for the witch cause, I suffer
these things, but I love what he says next. Nevertheless, I'm
not ashamed. I'm not ashamed. Why? Well, he realized that if he
removed the offense of the gospel, he's not preaching the gospel.
And he realized he must preach the offense of the gospel and
go through these things. But Paul said, I'm not ashamed
of the gospel. You know, there's a lot I'm ashamed
of. I'm ashamed of myself on so many
levels. You are too, ashamed of myself. But I'm not ashamed
of the gospel. I'm proud of the gospel. It's
a gospel worthy of God. It's a gospel worthy of the glory
of God. It's a gospel that can't be improved. And I've got to say this, I'm
proud of the gospel. It glorifies God. It saves for
sure. It's glorious. It speaks of the
altogether loveliness and glory of Jesus Christ. I'm proud of
the gospel. I'm not proud of myself, but
I'm proud of the gospel. And I'm proud of the gospel I
preach. It's the gospel of God. I'm not talking about pride on
me on any level, but I am proud of the gospel. I'm not ashamed
of it. I love the gospel of Jesus Christ. I love what's said in this form
of sound words. He says, for the which cause
I also suffer these things, nevertheless I'm not ashamed, for I know whom. And that's so important. He'd
say, I know what I believe. I've ran across some people,
I know what I believe. I know whom I have believed. Now, who you believe determines
what you believe. If you believe him, you believe
everything else with regard to him. See, we preach a person,
we believe a person, we trust a person. I know whom. I have believed. And I'm persuaded. I'm convinced because I've been
convinced. The reason he was persuaded is
God persuaded him. But knowing who he is, I know
whom I believed and I'm persuaded he's able to keep that which
I've committed to him against that day. Now here's what I've
committed to him. And I have committed this to him. everything
regarding my salvation. If he doesn't do it all, I won't
be saved. That's the commitment. A lot
of times people talk about, well, you need to be really committed.
Well, sure you do, but that's not what Paul's talking about.
He's not talking about how committed you are. He's talking about you
look to him only. Your hands are off. You look
to him only as able to save you with no contribution from you. He's able. to keep that which
I've committed to Him against that day." He's talking about
the Day of Judgment. John went so far as to say that we may
have boldness on the Day of Judgment. How in the world is somebody
going to have boldness on the Day of Judgment? Because as He
is, so are we in this world. There's my boldness. Jesus Christ
is my salvation. His life is my life. His death
is my sin payment. His resurrection is my justification. I know whom I have believed and
I am persuaded that he's able to keep that which I've committed
to him against that day. Now, he says, hold fast this
form of sound words. Now, one last thing, turn back
to our text in Titus. Verse nine, holding fast the
faithful word as it's been taught by the man or the men or the
teachers that God used to teach him, but God was the one who
teaches it, is the one who teaches him. Holding fast the faithful
word as it's been taught that he may be able by sound doctrine,
the doctrine of Christ, the doctrine of God, the gospel. Two things. by this sound doctrine. Number one, he exhorts. And that's what preaching is.
It's an exhortation. Hold your finger there and turn
to 2 Corinthians 5. 2 Corinthians 5. Verse 18. And all things are of God, who
hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given
to us the ministry of reconciliation. To wit, here's what it is, that
God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing
their trespasses unto them, and hath committed unto us the word
of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors
for Christ as though God did beseech you by us, we pray you
in Christ's stead. And that word beseech is exhort,
same word, this exhortation. We pray you in Christ's stead,
you be reconciled to God. He's reconciled to you, you be
reconciled to God. For he hath made him to be sin
for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. Now you exhort, and you're also
to convince the gamesayers, because look what they do. Whose mouths,
verse 11, must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching
things which they ought not, for filthy lucre's sake. Now, pray for me that I'm this. Pray for me. Pray for me and pray for yourselves
that you're this too. All these qualifications of a
pastor, every believer ought to have. No question in my mind
about that, but a Bishop must be these things. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you that you've
told us what a bishop must be. And Lord, cause every pastor to be this
and send out laborers into your vineyard. And Lord, give us the
grace to exemplify all of this, enable us to be blameless not
self-willed, not covetous, not given to filthy lucre, all these
beautiful qualifications you've given. Let us all embody these
things for Christ's sake and how we thank you for the faithful
word and Lord enable us to preach Jesus Christ and him crucified
only and always for the glory of your name. In Christ's name
we pray, amen.