Well, we're going to begin a
study of the book of Titus tonight. I preached through it about 25
years ago and don't remember what I said, so I hope it was
all good. But I'm very excited about trying
to preach through this book. And like I said, I've entitled
this message Four Inseparable Things. Titus is one of the three
letters that Paul wrote that are known as the pastoral letters. First and second Timothy. Is
this working? No light on it. Sorry. Titus is the smallest of the
three epistles written by Paul, known as the pastoral epistles. There's first and second Timothy,
and there is Titus. Now Titus was on the island of
Crete. the fifth largest island in the
Mediterranean. Perhaps you've heard of it. It's
still there today. And like everywhere else, there
were a lot of problems in Crete. Look in verse five. Now Paul
had been to Crete. We don't read about him being
there in the book of Acts, but he was there and he says he left
Titus there. Look in verse five. For this
cause left Ivy in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the
things that are wanting, that are lacking. Now that could be
said of every local church. The universal church of God's
elect is perfect. The local church here, we're
imperfect sinners saved by the grace of God. And in every church,
there will be things lacking, things wanting. And something
I always like to say, I've said this many times, if you find
the perfect church, don't join it, you'd ruin it. And I get
a tickle, I get tickled saying that. But at any rate, look what
he says in verse 10. 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. This is what was
going on in Crete. One of themselves, even a prophet
of their own, said the Cretans, these are the people he's writing
to. Now, look at the rough language here. This man said the Cretans
are always liars, evil beasts. slow bellies, idle gluttons is
what the word means. And then he says, this witness
is true regarding these people in Crete. Perhaps he's speaking
of the church members of Crete. He says, which witness is true,
wherefore rebuke them sharply that they may be sound in the
faith, not giving heed to Jewish fables and commandments of men
that turn from the truth." Now, Paul knew these letters would
be read publicly, and he is aware of that when he deals with these
issues. The churches in Crete would be
reading these letters publicly, and it's a letter to Titus. Now,
he had a special relationship with Titus, just like Timothy.
He called Timothy, my own son in the face. Titus was very dear
to him. You remember in Galatians chapter
2 when they tried to have Titus circumcised and Paul said, we
wouldn't get in for a minute that the truth of the gospel
might continue. This is that Titus on the island
of Crete. Now, the works of Paul, these letters
were recognized in the early church as scripture. Let me show
you that in 2 Peter. Peter says in verse 15 of 2 Peter
chapter 3, And to count that the longsuffering of our Lord
is salvation, even as our beloved brother Paul also, according
to the wisdom given unto him, hath written unto you, as also
in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which
are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned
and unstable rest, twist, as they do also the other scriptures."
So we see that they recognize the writings of Paul as being
infallible scripture. The early church recognized this.
And they do that, Peter says, to their own destruction. Now
go back to Titus chapter one, verse one. Paul, a servant, and
this is the lowest form of servant, a servant, a slave of God, a
willing slave of God, a bond slave of God, but he counted
this to be his greatest privilege, to be a slave. of God. That's what he mentions first.
Paul, a slave of God. Would you count that an infinite
blessing of grace to be a slave of the living God? Paul, a servant,
a willing servant of God and an apostle of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now, I think it's interesting
that he mentions a slave first, a servant. What a blessing that
is. And an apostle of the Lord Jesus
Christ. What's an apostle? Well, an apostle
is one who is directly commissioned by Christ. Christ personally
commissioned him. If somebody says today, I'm an
apostle, they're liars. There were only 12 apostles,
the 12 apostles of the land spoken of in Revelation. Paul took the
place of Judas. The early church thought it would
be Matthias and whatever the other guy's name was. And they
said, show us which two of these you've chosen. Neither. He'd
already chosen Paul. And Paul was an apostle that
was taught directly by God, directly by Christ. Remember in 2 Corinthians
12 where he said, I knew a man in Christ about 14 years ago,
whether in the body I cannot tell, whether out of the body
I cannot tell, such a one caught up into the third heavens. And there the Lord Jesus Christ
taught him the gospel directly. He said, I delivered unto you,
first of all, that which I also received. He was taught the gospel
directly by Jesus Christ personally. He said, the gospel which was
preached to me is not after man. For I neither received it of
man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus
Christ. Paul was taught the gospel personally
by the Lord Jesus Christ. And I've got to add this. That
same one who was brought into the third heavens said, God forbid
that I should glory save in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ.
I'm not glorying in that. I'm not finding any credit or
merit in myself because of that. I glory only in the cross of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul, and servant of God and
apostle of Jesus Christ. according to the faith of God's
elect and the acknowledging of the truth, which is after godliness. Now I'm going to bring three
or four messages out of this one verse, Lord willing, but
tonight I'm going to preach on four inseparable things. Things that always go together.
Things that cannot be separated. Here they are. Election. Faith. The acknowledging of the
truth, which is after godliness. These four things always go together. Election. Where there's election,
there will be faith. Where there is faith, there is
an acknowledgement, an embracing, a recognition of the truth. And where this recognition, this
acknowledging of the truth is, there is always godliness. Paul, a servant of God and an
apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect. Paul starts out at the gate in
the very first verse of this epistle with election. That's
where he began. Peter did something very similar
when he said he was writing to the strangers, elect, that's
who they are, elect according to the foreknowledge of God. When John, the apostle, is writing
an individual letter, he writes to the elect lady. You see how this word was used
in the New Testament? It was used reverently, but conversationally. He wrote to the elect lady, and
he said, the children of thy elect sister greet thee. when
Paul wrote to the Thessalonians in that very first epistle he
had written to him. He had been ran out of town and
he writes three weeks later and he says in this epistle, knowing
brethren beloved, your election of God. The election of grace. I want
you to turn for a moment to Romans chapter 11. It's called in the
Bible, the election of grace. And I want to make some true
comments with regard to God's electing grace. And look in verse
one of Romans chapter 11. I say then, have God cast away
his people? God forbid, for I also am an Israelite of the seed of
Abraham of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not cast away his people,
which he foreknew. What ye not, what the scripture
saith of Elias, how he maketh intercession to God against Israel,
saying, Lord, they've killed my prophets. Dig down thine altars,
and I'm left alone, and they seek my life. But what saith
the answer of God unto him? I have reserved to myself 7,000
men, which have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal. Even
so then, at this present time, there is also a remnant. a small
number comparatively speaking, according to the election of
grace. Don't you love that name? One
of the reasons, one of the many reasons I love election is because
I love the God of election. Teaches me who he is. And I love
the fact that it teaches me that salvation is all grace. The election
of grace. Verse six, and if by grace, It's no more works. Otherwise,
grace is no more grace. You put one work in it, one thing
you must first do. It's not grace. But if it be
of works, then it's no more grace. Otherwise, work is no more work.
What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for, but
the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded. Now,
that is Scripture with regard to God's elect, the faith of
God's elect. If you would have said to somebody
in the early church, I don't believe in election, they would
have said, well, you don't believe the gospel then. It is that simple. The reason someone wouldn't believe
election is they don't know who God is. Because if you know who
God is, you'll know that he must be the God of absolute sovereign
choice in everything he does. This is who God is. It's God
being God is what election is. It's God being God. God rules. God reigns. God is in absolute control. Election
tells us of the love of God. Election tells us of the purpose
of God. Election tells us of the sovereignty
of God. If you know God, you will believe
election because election is God being God, the faith of God's
elect. I love the way he begins this
epistle with this. God elected a people before time
began to be saved. Ephesians 1, 4, according as
he has chosen us in him, before the foundation of the world that
we should be holy and without blame before him." Now think
of this, God elected you before time began if you're one of his
for this reason, first for the glory of his son but that you
should be holy and without blame. That means when you stand before
God in judgment, there'll be nothing to blame you for. You
stand perfectly justified without blame, without sin. Second Thessalonians
2.13, but we're bound to give thanks always to God for you,
brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning
chosen you to salvation. through sanctification of the
spirit and belief of the truth. The Lord said to his disciples
in John chapter 15 verse 16, you've not chosen me, but I have
chosen you. Don't you know that so? I love
what David said in Psalm 65 verse four, blessed is the man whom
thou choosest. David believed in election. So
did Noah, so did Abel, so did every other believer. Blessed
is the man whom thou choosest and causes to approach unto thee. Now all of this being so patently
true, most of what goes on under the name of Christianity either
does not believe election. How many religious institutions
in Lexington, Kentucky, if you said something about election,
they'd say, well, I think it's going to be in November. They
don't have any idea what it really even means or not even heard
of it. And then there's those who do
what is worse. They say, well, it's in the Bible.
I see that, but it's really not important. It's a doctrine of
secondary importance. When somebody says something
like that, who are you to stand in judgment on God's word and
say this part's important and that part's not? God calls it
his glory. That's pretty important, isn't
it? When Moses said, show me your glory. He said, I'll make
my goodness pass before you. I'll proclaim the name of the
Lord before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious. I'll
show mercy on whom I will show mercy. Now what's behind this
not believing in election or the God of election or what's
even worse saying it's a doctrine of secondary importance. Well,
number one, it's not bound to the authority of the word. It's as simple as that. Someone
who does not believe election that God elected a people, the
God of election, the sovereign God has not bowed to the authority
of scripture because it is clearly taught in scripture. Secondly,
a rejection of election or putting it in a lower category of a doctrine
of secondary importance. comes from a low debased view
of God. It's just a weak pick me God,
not the God of the Bible. Someone who doesn't love election
is someone who has a high opinion of themselves and their own works
and they think it's not fair for God to pass somebody by.
What they mean by that is it's not fair for God to pass me by.
I deserve to be saved. They won't brazenly say it like
that, but that's the logic of it. That's why there's a dislike
for election. It's a sense of entitlement.
It's an inflated view of self. Now, if Christ is the lamb slain
from the foundation of the world, he is isn't he? Revelation 13,
eight. I love that verse of scripture.
Love it. The lamb slain, the lamb having
been slain from the foundation of the world. where there were
some people who the lamb was slain for. Who? The elect. That is who he represented before
time began. And not only is the lamb slain
for the foundation of the world, he's a lamb raised from the foundation
of the world and the elect are in him. You cannot preach grace If you
do not preach election, can't be done. You can't preach the gospel and
not preach election. And I say that no one is so. Nobody's ever preached the gospel
that did not preach election, the God of election. You see the only option. to not
preaching election and salvation by works. You can't preach the
gospel and not preach election. Now you can preach election and
not preach the gospel. Now let me clarify what I'm saying
there. You can preach really a distorted
view of election. Anybody that preaches election
right, preaches the gospel right. I mean, it all goes together.
You can say, well, I believe in election and preach some kind
of distorted view of election and still not preach the gospel.
But you can't preach the gospel and not preach the glorious,
high, holy, God-exalting, Christ-honoring truth of God's electing grace
in Christ Jesus. Election glorifies God. I love the way he talks about
the faith of God's elect. Let me tell you something about
God's elect. They need election. They love election. The elect
love election. All of them do. The enemies of election have
a pick me God, a God not worthy of worship, a God that doesn't
deserve the name God. Thank God for the God of election. This is a doctrine of divine
praise. Paul said, we're bound to thank
God for you. You see, this is a doctrine of
divine praise. We're bound to think God always
for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath from
the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the
Spirit and belief of the truth. Now, you'll only worship, you'll
only worship an absolute sovereign God that you can't control, that
you can't manipulate. You're in his hands. That's the
God you worship. Oh, worship the King, all glorious
above. The faith of God's elect. So the first point is election.
I spent too much time on that, so I'll be more brief on the
next three. Faith. The faith of God's elect. What is the evidence of election? Faith. Am I elect? Do you believe the gospel? Do
you rely on Jesus Christ only as everything in your salvation?
Do you look nowhere else? You're elect. The faith of God's
elect. I love that passage. As a matter
of fact, I want you to turn with me to Acts chapter 13. Acts chapter 13. Now this is Paul's first recorded
sermon. And I said something about this
last week. We'd all do well to read it. His first recorded sermon. And here is Luke's editorial comment
with regard to this sermon in verse 48. And when the Gentiles heard this,
they were glad. They glorified the word of the
Lord. And as many as were ordained
to eternal life believed. Who believed? Those who were
ordained to eternal life. You see, wherever there's election,
there will be faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord said in
John 6, 37, all that the Father giveth me, there's election,
shall come to me. There's faith. Wherever there's
election, there is faith. Now, some of the objections to
election, other than it not being fair, that's people's first Well,
that's not fair. And that's my first objection.
It's your first objection. How can it be fair for God to
save one and pass by the other and we all of a sudden become
God's judge and we have no idea of the ridiculousness of what
we're thinking or saying when we say that? But that's the first
objection. But the next objection is why
election will kill missions and it'll say we don't even have
to have faith. Why do you need to have faith if the elect are
gonna be saved? You don't even need to have faith.
Why witness? Why go out and preach to other people? It's useless
if election is true. Well, that's just not so. The only
way I know how to answer that is none of it's true. I love
the way Paul said, I'd do all things for the elect's sake.
He would go out in places and get beat up, stoned, whipped
across the back, knowing that's what was going to happen to him
when he entered in. But knowing this, God had elect people in
that place, and I'm willing to go through anything for them
to hear the gospel. As a matter of fact, all the
great missionaries that went out Judson, Kerry, all those
fellows, every one of them went out believing election. And this
is what excites me about preaching. God's going to elect people.
I can't talk anybody into believing. I can't save anybody, but he
does. And he's got a people that he is going to save, and that's
what we rejoice in. He's going to elect people. And
we're willing to do, by the grace of God, we're willing to do whatever
it takes for them to be able to hear the gospel. And as far
as somebody saying, well, why believe? That's just plum silly. Anybody who hears the gospel
is going to believe the gospel. It doesn't take, well, I don't
need to believe as long as I'm one of the elect. That's ridiculous.
As many as were ordained to eternal life believed, all that the Father
giveth me shall come to me. Remember, faith isn't a person. Faith isn't a set of propositions.
Faith is in a person, the Lord Jesus Christ, who he is. I love the way the Lord said,
all that the Father giveth me shall come to me. We come to
a person. And we know who that person is.
He's God. He's absolutely sovereign. He's altogether lovely. He's
altogether glorious. He's holy. He's love. He's gracious. He's merciful. We come to this
person that the word reveals. And when he says to us, you didn't
choose me, I chose you. We say, we know. We know. We believe that. All of the elect have faith. They look to the Lord Jesus Christ
alone. They all say with Paul, 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. The elect
believe. And you don't need to try to
figure out whether or not you're one of the elect. You need to
believe the gospel. That's what you're called upon
to do right now, to believe the gospel. What if I'm not elect? Believe the gospel. You're commanded
to believe. Now, wherever there is this faith,
the faith of God's elect, faith is an acknowledging of the truth. That's what faith is. It's an acknowledging of Now,
Lord willing, I'm going to bring a message on this next week,
just what does it mean to acknowledge the truth. But let me be, this
is what I'll end up saying next week, more briefly, right now. The truth is the cross. That's the truth. That's the
whole counsel of God. That's the truth of God. Cross
reveals the entire character of God. You remember when the
Lord said, I came to bear witness to the truth? He's talking about
going to the cross to bear witness to the truth. When he was nailed
to the cross, you know what that did? That bore witness to the
character of God Almighty. Every attribute of God on full
display. His sovereignty, His purpose,
His holiness, His faithfulness, His wisdom, His power. Everything God has been pleased
to make known with regard to Himself is found in the cross
of the Lord Jesus Christ. We acknowledge the truth concerning
God, what the cross tells us. And it's only the cross that
tells us the truth with regard to ourselves. Now understand
this. You and I are never going to
really know how sinful we are. We couldn't take it if we really
saw. I believe that, we couldn't take it. But I know this, the
cross tells me that I'm so sinful, Todd Nibert, I'm so sinful that
if the restraints were removed and I was left to myself, I would
murder God's son. And don't say, well, I'm so bad
because I did this. Well, you ought not to have done
this, and you ought not to have done that. I realize that, but that
doesn't give the real picture. The only picture with regard
to how sinful you and I are is the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. At Scripture, they delivered
Jesus to their will. That's what was going on. He
was delivered by the determined counsel and foreknowledge of
God. And they with wicked hands took him and crucified and slew
him. That's us. And the cross tells the truth
with regard to salvation. My salvation was accomplished. Listen to this. My salvation. My standing before God. God accepting
me. God seeing me as holy and unblameable
and unreprovable in his sight was accomplished by what Christ
did on Calvary's tree." Nothing else. Luke 9 verse 31, Moses
and Elijah speaking to the Lord on the Mount of Transfiguration,
they speak of the decease which he should accomplish. Hebrews 1.3 says, when he had
by himself purged our sins, he sat down at the right hand of
the majesty on high." The acknowledging of the truth concerning God's
character, concerning my character, and concerning God's salvation
all seen in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. In saving faith, there is always
an acknowledgment of the truth, a recognition, a discernment
of the truth. And who are they who discern
the truth? Those who have the faith of God's elect. Now here is the fourth point.
Paul, verse one, servant of God and apostle of Jesus Christ,
Titus 1.1, according to the faith of God's elect and the acknowledging
of the truth, which is after godliness, which is according
to godliness. What is godliness? You know, I have to admit that
the word scares me. Because when I hear the word
godliness, the first thing I think of is, well, that means you need
to be like God. And as a matter of fact, one
of the definitions that I've read of godliness is godlikeness. Godlikeness. Didn't the Lord
say there's none like me? To call some man like God? No. When I hear somebody say he's
a godly man or a godly woman, you know, that makes me cringe
when I hear it, because do you know that the word God is not
in either one of those words? Godliness, the word theos, the
Greek word God, is not in that word. I don't know why the translators
put it there. I guess maybe they had a good reason. I don't know
what it is, but the word is literally well-devout. God's name, God's
title is not in it. Well-devout. Somebody that's
devoted. Every believer is devoted to
the Lord. If I'm not devoted to Him, I've
never known Him. Oh, this is what produces this
true reverence, this true fear, the fear of God that's the beginning
of wisdom, the fear, the respect, the awe of God. That's what godliness
is, well reverent. Godly is the same thing, well
reverent. Now what produces this reverence? reverence, this fear of God that's
the beginning of wisdom. And I love thinking of the fear
of the Lord. I'm afraid of him. I'm in awe
before him. And this is not talking about
a slavish fear of dread and a fear of mistrust and a fear that I'm
going to get squashed if I do something wrong. This is an awe
of his person. Well, let's close by looking
at first Timothy chapter three. Verse 16, and without controversy. There's no argument allowed here.
I love reading this one time, there was a man and another,
there were two preachers who were brothers, and one denied
the deity of Christ. And he asked his brother to preach
for him, And he said, now, I don't want you to preach on anything
controversial. He said, agreed. And he read
his text without controversy. Great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. Now, don't you love the way Paul
calls godliness that produces devotion to God, what he does
is preach the gospel. He defines the gospel. Great
is the mystery of godliness. This is what has caused true
devotion. It's not something found in the
natural man's heart. It's God becoming incarnate. God becoming
flesh. The Word was made flesh, the
eternal God, the Son of God, the infinite became an infant.
Spent nine months in his mother's womb, was born in a cow stable,
lived for 30 years in obscurity, keeping the law perfectly. And
then his three years of public ministry, nailed to a tree, put
away sin. God was manifest in the flesh,
justified in the Spirit. God the Holy Spirit justified
everything He did. He demonstrated the great doctrine
of justification by that just one. That just one made every
believer one who's never sinned. That's what was accomplished
on the cross. My sin was put away, blotted out, His righteousness
given to me. I stand before God as one who
never sinned. Then the next thing he says is,
sing of angels. You know, I think of angels,
those majestic beings that are greater in power and might than
we are, the scripture says. I doubt that they're too interested
in most of the things that go on on this planet. Many things
just escape their notice. You know, they're not concerned
about the things we're concerned about in the world. But I guarantee
you they watched every moment of the Lord Jesus Christ. Every
moment. They were just watching. They
were amazed. God became flesh. What's he doing? I can think
of when he was nailed to a cross. They didn't understand everything
that's going on. I bet they were just waiting. You want us to
smite? You want us to kill? You know, they... He was seen
of angels. Oh, they were mystified by this.
And then He was preached to the Gentiles. Me and you? Are you amazed by that? Are you
amazed while you're sitting here listening that you and I get
to hear and believe the gospel? What a blessing of grace. Believed on in the world. I believe. I do. I believe the gospel. and he was received up into glory,
having finished whatever it was the Father sent him to do, received
up into the glory, accomplishing salvation. That message, believed,
is what godliness is. Great is the mystery of godliness. Now here we have four things
that cannot be separated. Where there's election, there's
faith, always. Where there's faith, there is
the acknowledging, the discernment, the perception, the embracing
of the truth, always. Where there is the embracing
of the truth, there is godliness, always. These things are never
separated. May we all be people who have
the faith of God's elect, the acknowledging of the truth, which
is after godliness. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for your
word, how we thank you for who you are. How we thank you for
your glorious salvation. We're so thankful that you elected
a people. We're so thankful that Christ
became their surety. And Lord, our only hope is that
he is our surety. Lord, how we thank you that he
came in the flesh, kept the law, honored you, paid for sin, completely
saved and justified those he died for. How we thank you for
the gift of faith. How we thank you for the acknowledgement
of the truth. How we thank you for godliness.
Now bless this message for your glory and for our good. In Christ's
name we pray. Amen.