Open your Bibles with me tonight,
please, to the book of Titus, Titus chapter 2. I started to say, with regard
to most of you young people, most of you children, I've known
you and been preaching to you all your lives. But as I look
at the congregation, with regard to most of you, I've known you
and have been preaching to you all your lives. and you're very dear to me. Thank
God for the privilege of being here. And I thank God for your
pastor, for his diligence and study, preaching the gospel here. God using him to establish this
gospel witness in this place. And I pray for you. I pray for
you regularly and care for your lives. And I want to talk to
you real plainly as I talk to my own family. Will that be all
right? My subject tonight is Adorn the Doctrine of God. Adorn the Doctrine of God. My daughter sitting back there,
as most of you know, was raised by a pretty strict father. And from the time she began to
go out with young people doing various things with groups of
kids her age, to the day she got married, and often since
she's been married, I would say to her when she'd go out the
door, don't ever forget who you are and whose you are. Because everything you say, everything
you do, everywhere you go, reflects on your mother and your father,
Grace Baptist Church of Danville, on the gospel of God's free grace,
and upon God our Savior. Don't ever forget who you are
and whose you are. I say to you, children of God,
don't ever forget who you are and whose you are. Everything
you say, everything you do, everywhere you go reflects either good or
bad upon Todd's Road Grace Church, the gospel of God's free grace,
and God our Savior. So I say to you, in all your
lives, at home on the job, in the schoolroom, on the streets,
in all your lives, adorn the doctrine of God our Savior. Now let me be very, very clear.
I do not suggest for a moment that you or I should make a show
of our faith a show of Christianity, a show of religion to men. Our
Lord Jesus tells us plainly, when you pray, go to your closet
and pray, don't stand on the street corner. He tells us plainly,
when you fast, wash your face and don't tell anybody you're
fasting. Our worship of God is very much a private matter and
you cannot show Christianity by what you do. Now, I suggest
you write that down because you won't remember it. You cannot
show Christianity by what you do. You can show religion by
what you do. You cannot show Christianity
by what you do. My instruction to my daughter
back there, what she would say, what she'd do, where she'd go,
would have a reflection on me. But she couldn't show anybody
whose daughter she was by the way she lived, where she went,
what she did. You can't show Christianity by what you do.
When you try, you only show self-righteousness and works religion. The world
around us cannot recognize anything spiritual, anything true with
regard to the things of God. Folks who don't know God don't
know his children, and you can forget trying to make them know.
It's not gonna happen. It's not gonna happen, folks.
Well, I want the world to know what a fine Christian I am. The
world will never know that, and you shouldn't want that. The
world will never know that, and you shouldn't want that. Why
would you want the world to brag on you? Why would you want people
to brag on how good you are? Only because you think you're
good and worth being bragged on. When James said, I will show
you my faith by my works, he gave two striking examples of
men, a man and a woman who showed their faith by their works. Abraham
and Rahab. They showed their faith by their
works. How so? Abraham took his son up to Mount
Moriah and offered him as a sacrifice to God. and he wouldn't even
let Eliezer go on the Mount with him. The only people who were
aware of what Abraham was doing was Abraham, Isaac, and God. So the showing of his faith was
not showing it to men who didn't know God. He's showing his faith
as he walks with God. Rahab took the spies and hid
them and sent them out another way, believing God. But what
Rahab did, no one was aware of except Rahab, the spies, and
God. So I'm not talking to you about
showing your faith to the world. I'm talking to you, Clare Sheridan,
about living in this world for the glory of God. Living here every day for God's
honor. Are you interested? Are you interested? Hold your Bibles open here at
Titus chapter two, and let's see what God says. I want to
show you five things in this passage. We will be very brief,
but I hope to be crystal clear. The gospel of God's grace teaches
all who experience it all to whom God's grace is revealed
in the experience of salvation. The gospel of God's grace teaches
all who are born of God how to live in this world for God's
glory. And if you think your character,
your conduct doesn't matter, I'm here to tell you, you haven't
yet learned the gospel. Jesus Christ comes into a man's
life. He comes into a woman's life.
He comes into a boy's life or a girl's life as the sovereign
king sets up his throne in your heart and takes rule of your
life. And if he doesn't do that, you've
not experienced God's grace. You've just got a little notion
about religion. All right, here's the first thing. Verses 1 through
10. The Apostle Paul teaches Titus
and me, your pastor and all other gospel preachers, how to conduct
this work of the ministry. And it begins in this passage
of this pastoral epistle by telling us to teach people how to live. Teach folks how to live. Oh,
you don't dare tell people how to live. It's high time somebody
did. Everybody who influences you tells you how to live wrong.
Everything you see on television, everything you hear in school,
everything you hear on the news, everything you hear from people
teaches you exactly how you ought not to live. Would you pay attention
to how God says you ought to live? Read what it says about
the adorning of the doctrine of God our Savior. This pastor
tells us to preach the doctrine of God. He says, speak things
which become sound doctrine, things that are concurrent with
the gospel of God's free grace, ruined by the fall, redemption
by the blood, regeneration by the Holy Spirit, salvation by
grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. But specifically,
gospel preachers are here told by the Spirit of God to pointedly
and authoritatively, that is pointedly and with the authority
of God himself, tell folks what the responsibility is as children
of God in this world, no matter how old, no matter how young.
Look at verse two. He addresses just about everybody
here. Aged men. That the aged men, that's talking
about, let's say, us who are senior citizens. That will, much
of us qualify. Aged men. Teach them to be sober. Isn't that strange? I thought
all aged men were. He's not talking about being
sober as in not drunk. He's talking about being sober
as in acting like men who are responsible. Grave. Taking serious things seriously. Teach aged men not to quit living
as men responsible to God and responsible as men in this world. Teach them to be sober. Grave. Temperate. Temperate. Exercising
self-control. Just because you get old, no
reason to start living in lasciviousness for yourself. Teach them to be
sound in faith. You older men, don't quit reading
and studying this book. Don't quit asking God to enable
your pastor to teach you and give you ears to hear the word.
Teach them to be sound in charity. generosity. Taking care of God's
people and God's cause wherever need arises. I just spoke to
the man back in the office a little bit ago about some of these new
works. Some of them are going to need some help. They're going
to need some help. Take care of it. Take care of it. Seek
to wherever need arises, you take care of it. Take care of
it with generosity and be patient. Be patient. Folks have the idea
that age brings patience. Oh, no. Oh, no. That's the reason
old men are generally considered crabby old men. Exercise patience. Ask God to teach you patience,
especially patience with your younger brother, your younger
sister, the weaker brother, the weaker sister, patience with
folks who haven't had as much experience or given as much light
or as much opportunity as God's given you. Be patient. Look at
verses three and four. He says to age women, the aged
women, likewise, teach them that they be in behavior as becometh
holiness, not false accusers. What's that got to do with holiness?
Everything. Gossip doesn't become holiness. False accusing is slander. The spreading of idle tales. Ladies, that's not becoming holiness. Not giving too much wine. That
simply means don't be drunk. You can have a glass of wine
with your meal if you want to. Have one before you go to bed.
Have one when you get up in the morning if you want to. I don't care. And God
doesn't care. Just don't get drunk. Just don't
get drunk. Teachers of good things. Oh, God give you grace to teach
good things. Do you know how seldom that comes
from aged women? You think about your aged mother
and father. How seldom do you hear them teach
good things? What's he talking about good
things? That they may teach the young women to be sober. Not giddy little girls, but sober. You got a husband to take care
of, a wife, children to take care of. You become a wife now,
be sober, be sober. Days of living to have a good
time, those are over. Be sober. What's that mean? To love their husbands, to love
their children. Well, nobody has to teach a woman
to love her husband. Do what? Don't ask people to
love their children. What? Oh, yeah, you need to know
how to love them. How is that? To be chaste keepers
at home, he tells us in the next verse. Chaste keepers at home. How I wish I could get women
to quit trying to be theologians. I travel a lot, and I meet up
with a lot of women who had the stupid, insane idea that they
are gifted of God to teach people. And when they assume to teach
me, I let them know I'm not looking for a woman to be my theology
professor. Women ought not seek such things. What's a woman supposed to do?
Teach the young women. to be good wives and good mothers. Teach them how to sew and take
care of the house and cook. Wouldn't it be wonderful if a
woman knew how to cook? Wouldn't that be a great thing? Wouldn't
it be wonderful if a woman didn't have to take care of the house
so that when her husband comes home, he comes home to a pleasant,
well-prepared house in which to delight in his family? That
doesn't mean a woman can't work. You compare the same statement
with the back when he talks about being chaste and keepers at home.
He's not saying you stay at home all the time, but you're home,
ladies. You're home. I'm not talking
about the house in which you live. I'm talking about your
home. Your husband and then your children, and I put it in that
order on purpose, should be the life-consuming care of your heart. Your husband and your children. The children will soon be gone,
hopefully. Hopefully. I just had one. And I tell you, I hated to see
Doug come get her and take her away. I did. I hated it, but
I'm so thankful he did. I sure hated it for her. She
just turned, I better not say. It's all right, she just turned
44. Just turned 44 Saturday. I would hate for a 44-year-old
daughter to be living at home now. Now, there was that, oh
no, you want them to, go out on their own, but the children
are going to leave. And you make certain that your life is built
together with your husband, not with the children. Make certain
that your care is for your husband and for your children in that
order. Teach them to be discreet. Chaste. Chaste. Chaste. What a strange word in
this day. Isn't that sad talk? Isn't that sad? Chaste. I wonder how many teenage girls
never heard that word, chaste. Young ladies and older alike,
listen to this old man. If you want to be treated like
a lady, dress like one and act like one and talk like one. And if you want to be treated
like a whore, Dress like one, act like one, and talk like one.
Oh, that's too plain. I wish I could make it so plain
you couldn't help but to hear me. If you want to be treated
like a lady, dress like one, act like one, and talk like one.
Be chaste in your behavior. Chaste. Keepers at home, good. Obedient to their own husbands. Oh, can't say that. Well, let's
see. Obedient to their own husbands. I don't remember who it was,
and that's a good thing, because obviously the marriage didn't take place
under me. But on one occasion, I had someone ask me to perform
a wedding for them, and in preparation, they said, now, we want to make
up our own vows. We don't want any of this obedient
to your husband stuff in it. I should get somebody else to
do it. I'm not going to marry you. No, no. That's what a marriage is made
of. A woman obedient to her husband. That's what God requires. Well,
Brother Don, that's out of step with the times. I've been trying
my best for 47 years to live out of step with the times. I
recommend you do the same. I would heapsite rather live
in communion and fellowship with God than have the approval of
men any day. be chaste keepers at home, obedient
to your own husbands. Now look at verse six. Young
men likewise exhort to be sober minded. Sober minded. You young men, we've all been
where you are. You get up high school age, get
into college, and you maybe get out of college, you graduate,
and you, why won't, why won't they treat me like a man? Because
you don't act like one. You don't act like one. You want
to be treated like a man, act like one. That means you be sober.
Grow up quick. That's exactly right. I recall
years ago somebody, reprimanding me, saying, you ought to let
your daughter be a child for a while. You're making her grow
up too quick. I haven't regretted that. I don't think she does. Be sober. Be sober. Act like
a man. You have the age now. Assume
the responsibility. Pastures, verses 7 and 8. In
all things, Paul says, Don Fortner, you sow yourself a pattern of
good works. Pastor, by the way you live,
by the way you commit yourself to Christ, by the way you commit
yourself to the cause of God, by the way you commit yourself
to your family and to God's family, By the way you handle the affairs
of this world and relationships with men, good and bad, show
an example of godliness. What a pastor is required of
God to do. You pray for this one and for
yours. that we may be, by God's grace,
men of uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity, with sound speech,
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. Now, if you've been around much,
you will find out that folks have a lot of evil things to
say about the fellow preaching to you. One of the ladies in
our church, one of the young ladies said to me a few months
ago, said, I've been looking things up with your name on the
internet. She said, do you know what people are saying about
you? Yeah, I'm a little bit aware, not much. I don't pay much attention
to it. But you're not going to stop that. You're not going to
stop that. You're not going to stop folks
from yakking about you. They will invent things. You're
not going to stop that. It is our responsibility to live
in such a way as to give men nothing legitimately to say. That's your responsibility, Clarence,
in your business. And my responsibility as preacher to you. My responsibility
as God's servant. Verse 9. Exhort servants, that
takes in the rest of us, everybody who works for somebody else,
and everybody does. You might not think so, but everybody
works for somebody. Exhort servants to be obedient
to their own masters, to please them well in all things, not
answering again, not giving a lot of lip. not belonging, not being
lazy, but showing all good fidelity that they may adorn the doctrine
of God our Savior. Look at these next words. In
all things. Oh, spirit of God. Teach me so to live. And teach
these your people so to live. I'm calling for all who believe
the gospel of the grace of God to adorn the doctrine, to show
forth the beauty and grace of the gospel in all things to the
glory of God, so that whether you eat or drink, whatsoever
you do, do all to the glory of God. You fellas remember Gordon
shopping for that engagement ring for a while? I remember
it well. I went to Kay Jewelers in Winston-Salem,
North Carolina, and I was looking for just the right diamond. I
was pretty sure she was going to say yes, but I was looking
for just the right diamond. And I couldn't afford much. She's
still wearing it, but I just couldn't afford much. I think
it cost $100, and I paid on it for a year. But I finally bought
it. And you know what sold me on
it? That smart jeweler took out a piece of black velvet, cleared
off the top of that counter, And he laid that little old diamond
right there in the middle of it with bright light shining. Man, that thing sparkled. Oh,
it sparkled. He showed that diamond in the
best light he could make it appear in. Rich Bird showed the gospel
just that way. live in this world for God's
glory, showing forth the gospel we believe in the best light
possible, doing what we do, whatever it is, whether it's mowing your
yard or eating your breakfast or taking your boy out to go
fishing or hunting or to a ball game, do it for God's glory so
that you seek in all things to better the lives of those you
influence. Now, look at verse 11. Here the
apostle describes for us the work of God's grace. For the
grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men. When Paul says the grace of God,
he's talking about the doctrine of God, the gospel of God. He's
not talking about free will, but free grace. Not works, but
grace. Not works and grace, but grace. He says the grace of God that
brings salvation. It is God's grace that brings
salvation, and God brings salvation to sinners by the gospel. Faith
comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. And this
grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. Not
that it has appeared to everybody in the world. There are folks
in Lexington, Kentucky who've never heard the gospel, but it
has appeared to God's elect among all men everywhere. Grace is
the origin of the gospel, and grace, the grace of God brings
salvation, and it appears, it appears to God's elect at the
appointed time when God's pleased to call them by his grace. Now
watch what it does. Verse 12, here's what it does,
it teaches us. The grace of God that brings
salvation teaches us, teaches us. The word is educates. When I teach, I I do my best
to prepare. I get things organized. You folks
who are teachers, whether teaching in Bible classes here or teaching
in school, you prepare and you study and you work and you make
your lessons and you do your best you can to present the lessons,
but man, it's hard to be a teacher. It's hard to be a teacher. A
teacher doesn't just present the lesson. A teacher makes sure
you get the lesson. That's a big difference. That's
a big difference. I had a few, very few teachers
when I was in school. I remember our Greek professor. He was good. I didn't like him
a bit. He was Arminian to the core,
but he was a good professor. He was a good professor. And we
started out with about 200 kids in the class, 150, 200 fellows,
young men in the class. By the time the semester, first
semester was ended, we had about 30. The rest of them changed
degree majors because they couldn't get the degree in theology without
Greek, and they just couldn't get it, just wouldn't do the
work. But this professor, if you did the work, you learned
the language. I guarantee you, if you did the
work, you learned the language. And to make it certain, all you
had to do to pass the class, make 100 on everything, that's
all you had to do. Anything less was failing. And
I'm 75. Anything less was failing. He
made certain you got the lesson. When you got done, you understood
what he was talking about. Every day. When God comes teaching,
you're going to learn. The grace of God doesn't just
present us with an idea. The grace of God teaches us,
effectually, irresistibly, continually, teaches us. What does it teach
us? Watch what it says here. Verse 12, that denying ungodliness
and worldly lust, saying no to ungodliness, saying no to worldly
lust, we should live soberly, righteously and godly in this
present world. Grace teaches us to look for
eternal life in Christ, teaches us to believe the gospel, and
grace teaches us how to live soberly, righteously, and godly
right here, right now. in this present world. Now, I
know we have the idea that we live in a different age than
the folks have. Do you know how our Lord described the day in
which Lot lived? The day in which Noah lived?
The day in which Jonah lived? He said, they ate, they drank,
they gave in marriage. So shall it be in the days of
the coming Son of Man. That is to say, everybody has
always lived like hell. That's just fact. Everybody has
always lived like hell. That's the way the world lives.
And the gospel of God's grace invaded the pagan Gentile world
among the Romans, a society every bit as perverse and corrupt as
the United States of America in 2015. Every bit is perverse. Every bit is corrupt. And you
read the sixth chapter of Romans, you find out that when Paul wrote
to them, he just expected them to live for God in that perverse
society. Grace changes people. Grace gives men a new nature,
a new heart, a new will. teaches us to live soberly, righteously,
and godly right now. With respect to ourselves, soberly. With respect to others, righteously. With respect to God, godly. How can I be as pointed as possible? You're not your own. Did you hear me, child of God?
You're not your own. You don't have a right to act
like it. You've been bought with a price. So glorify God in your
body and in your spirit, which are God's. I beseech you therefore,
brethren, by the mercies of God, This is what I'm asking. Mitch,
I call on you and Carla. I've known you a long time. I
urge you by the mercies of God heaped upon you in Christ, present
your bodies one living sacrifice with me, with these God's people. Present your bodies a living
sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God. by Christ Jesus. Live your life in this world,
day in and day out, by faith in Christ, presenting your life
to God as a sacrifice upon the altar he has ordained, the mercy
seat, Christ Jesus the Lord. Now look at 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. All of my life as a believer,
the most popular things discussed in the religious world have been
prophecy nuts. They write books. Y'all remember
Y2K? Some of you, too, you ought to remember that. When they were
getting ready to enter the year 2000, man, the world lit up with
books. I mean, fellows wrote books.
They went all over the country writing books. Shelby and I had
some friends visit us. They were on their way. Folks,
I say friends, folks we went to school with, they were on
their way somewhere close by and he had written books on Y2K
and oh, all the things. After it came and went, I looked
for some of his books and got rid of all of them. Write new
books now and go sell them to somebody else. Everybody write books on
prophecy. God never gives us a hint as
to when Christ is coming. There's not a hint given in this
book. I defy you to find it. Not a hint given. We're never
told to look for signs. We're told to live day by day
in the anticipation of Christ coming right now. Right now. Let me see if I can illustrate
what that means. Y'all can't tell this by looking
at me, but Shelby likes to feed things. And she likes to feed
good. And until Faith graduated from
college, she seldom ever traveled with me anywhere. She stayed
home, took care of the house, took care of Faith. And I would
usually let her know close to the time I'd be coming home.
And you know, I never was there to see what she was doing. But
I can tell you exactly what she did. I can tell you exactly what
she was doing. Usually, she'd have a fresh dish of macaroni
and cheese ready to come out of the oven. And she'd be dressed
up pretty good. She'd be dressed up pretty good.
She'd been working all day, and then she'd get cleaned up and
dressed up pretty good and have on her apron. I always had an
apron on when I'd come home. And I can just picture her going
out the front window, and she'd look for that truck to come down
the road. And she didn't see anything. She'd go back to work
some more. And then a little while, she'd go back, look out
the window, see a truck come down the road. A little while,
she didn't work anymore, maybe look in the mirror and pinch
her cheeks a little bit, and check her hair, be sure it was
all right. And then she'd go look out the window again. And
she'd see the lights of that truck. Out the back door she'd
go, standing on the stoop, waiting for me to get home. Serving all
the while, looking for me to appear. Oh God, teach me to live like
that. Living every minute in the service
of my Master, looking for Him to appear. looking, looking,
looking for the blessed hope and the glorious appearing of
the great God and our Savior, Jesus Christ, looking for the
mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. Now, preacher,
can you give us a motive? Can you give us a motive? MacIntyre's
chapter two, verse fourteen. Can you tell me one good reason
why Doug Hacker and Faith Hacker should be expected to live like
this? Can you tell me one reason why? Christ gave himself for us. You need something else? You need something else? Christ
gave himself for us, do I? Christ gave himself for us. Look
at it. That he might redeem us by blood
and by the power of his grace from all iniquity. and purify
unto himself a peculiar people. Peculiarly, distinctively loved
of God, chosen of God, redeemed by God, called by God, a peculiar
people, zealous of good works. Now read verse 50. These things teach. These things
speak and exhort both the doctrine and the duty of grace. Speak
them. Exhort them. Press these things
with earnestness. Press hard. Press your folks. Keep the pressure on. Keep the
pressure on. Keep the pressure on all the
time. Keep the pressure on. Oh, you
shouldn't do that. Yeah, you should. Yeah, you should. We rest in Christ. We rest in
Christ. Yes, we rest in Christ. And we're
to press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling
of God in Christ Jesus. I recorded the ball game last
night. I'm not really a big basketball
fan. I didn't play basketball, I played football. And I don't
know much about it, but my grandson loves the game, so I try to keep
up with it a little bit. And I watched Coach Calipari. Do you know what he's doing all
the time? Shouting at those boys, running up down there, waving
his hand, shaking his fist. Do you know what he's doing all
the time? He's keeping the pressure on. Keeping the pressure. If you ever give up, it's over. Keep the pressure on. Keep the
pressure on. Exhort and rebuke. Reprove every neglect. Reprove
everything that contradicts, everything that denies these
things with all authority. Speaking as God's servant to
God's people. Let no man despise thee. Give
no one reason to. Give no one cause to despise
you. have no regard to the opinions
of men or to them despising you, but give no man cause to do so. May God the Holy Spirit give
us grace that we may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in
all things for just one reason. for the glory of him who loved
us and gave himself for us. Our God, oh God our Father, how boundlessly gracious you
have been to us. How indescribably merciful. What bounties of your goodness
we've experienced just the little we know, let alone the infinite
magnitude of goodness and mercy we're ignorant of. How coldly, how indifferently, how callously we return to you. Will you, God of all grace, Teach
us, teach us to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this
present world as useful instruments in your hands for the good of
many and the glory of your son. Amen.