Titus chapter 2 and let's read
beginning in verse 7. We passed over this last week
and went to verse 9 for a couple of weeks, but let's go back to
this. Let's begin in verse 7. Titus chapter 2 and verse 7. In all things showing thyself
a pattern of good works, in doctrine showing uncorruptedness, gravity,
sincerity, sound speech that cannot be condemned, that he
that is of the contrary part may be ashamed, having no evil
thing to say of you, exhort slaves, servants, to be obedient to their
own masters, and to please them well in all things, not answering
again, not pilfering, stealing, proloning, but showing all good
fidelity, that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior
in all things. For the grace of God that bringeth
salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that denying
ungodliness and worldly lust, we should live soberly and righteously
and godly in this present world, looking for that blessed hope
and the glorious appearing of the great God in our Savior Jesus
Christ. who gave himself for our sins,
who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity,
and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. These things speak and exhort
and rebuke with all authority, that no man despise thee." I
can't imagine the burden that this young preacher, and most
people think he was a young preacher in their well-being, But the
burden the Apostle Paul had put him under here, if you'll study
and read the entire three chapters of Titus, it's amazing the responsibility
that this young man had upon him. Paul tells us here in chapter
1 verse 5 that he left him there in Crete to ordain pastors in
all of these churches. We don't know how many churches
there were. There may have been several churches there. But he
had to know the qualification And then he had to determine
if the man was qualified to put him in office. That was up to
this man here, this young man Titus. And then in verse 13 of
chapter 1, he tells him to watch against these false teachers,
these Judaizers teaching Jewish fables and says, Rebuke them
sharply. He had to watch after these false
teachers coming in. and then chapter two what you
and i have been studying in several weeks now he had to instruct
all of these different groups of people the aged men, the aged
women, the young women, the young men and the slaves had to give
instructions to all of those different groups and then he
goes on to chapter three and here in verse one and he's reminded
to tell the churches there to be sure and be subject to principalities
and powers. Don't be lawbreakers. Don't be
out breaking the laws because you think you have liberty to
do it because you're a Christian. And then in verse 10 of chapter
3, he had to look out for those that had divisive attitudes. They just come in to divide the
congregation, make havoc of it. And he says, Rebuke them If they
don't repent, then probably turn them out. I don't know what he
did with them. In chapter 3 and verse 12, he was expected to
bring Apollos and Zenos, the lawyer, on their way. I don't
know what all was involved in that. Maybe it was making sure
they had the finances, the lodging. And then in verse 13, and then
verse 12, he was to travel to meet the Apostle Paul. Paul said,
ìYou come to me. Iíve determined to win her in
this place, so you come to me and Iíll win her there.î And
on the top of all of this, this passage here that I read to you,
that he was to be a pattern of good works. Everybodyís going
to be watching him. Of all that he had to do already,
he had to be careful that people was watching him, that he was
a pattern of good works. And then in chapter 2 in verse
15, I read to you there, he said, These things speak and exhort
and rebuke with all authority. And then in chapter 3 in verse
8, he said, This is a faithful saying, And these things I will
that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed
in God might be careful to maintain good works. What I'm saying is,
what a responsibility that this man had. upon him the work and
labor. And sometimes you wonder how
in the world did they accomplish? How did they find the time and
the energy? They must have had no life but
this life. They never had time to mow the
yards, trim a tree, pet a dog or anything else. That was their
life. And I've read We read just a
few weeks ago about the Apostle Paul. I preached from that passage
where the Apostle Paul said, he was talking about his tribulations
that he was going through and he said, Besides those things
which are without, all the fighting and the struggles, the opposition,
that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches. I can't begin to imagine the
burden that this dear man was under. How did they maintain
any degree of strength to do what they did? The Scripture
tells us. The Scripture tells us. And here's
what Paul said. Having obtained help of the Lord,
I continue to this day. I thank Jesus Christ, my Lord,
who has enabled me. That's it, isn't it? The Lord
stood with me and strengthened me. That's it. But it's not just
of the preachers and the teachers that he speaks these things.
All of us as believers, we have labors, don't we? We face struggles. We face opposition in our hearts,
in our family, on the workplace. And you know it takes the same
grace, maybe not to the same degree, but it takes the same
grace and same mercy and same strength for the Lord to get
us by as it did to get these apostles by. That is the only
way that you and I can make it ourselves. As believers every
day we face opposition. We face hostility of some kind. And sometimes it almost gets
you down. Do you ever just almost get, you think I can't put one
step in front of another? I was humming that old song.
I've been humming it the last two or three days. We used to
sing this old song. And I never did realize that
old song, how it applied to me before. But I was singing that
song yesterday and I've sung it all day today. Sometimes I
feel discouraged and think my life in vain. Did you ever feel
that way? And then I'm prone to wonder
and of my lot complain. But then what did the writer
say? Then I remember Jesus and all He's done for me. And then
I cry, O rock of ages, hide thou me. We need the same mercy, don't
we? We need the same grace, the same
strength that these apostles had. Our sufferings, our trials,
our struggles, our labors, are relative. It's always relative. Our struggles mean just as much
on us, our labors are just as tough on us as Titus was on him. And the Lord give him grace and
the Lord has to give us grace. Listen to Isaiah 41, 13. I, the Lord, will hold your hand,
saying unto thee, Fear not, I will help thee. Fear not, thou worm
Jacob, and ye men of Israel, I will help thee, saith the Lord
thy Redeemer." Paul was writing to a young preacher when he said
this, Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. But
you know that applies to all. Be strong in the grace that is
in Christ Jesus. He wasn't writing to a preacher
when he said this, Brethren, be strong in the Lord and in
the power of His might. It's God who worketh in you. That's one of the most encouraging
verses I know in all the Bible. It is God which worketh in you. Can you imagine that? There's
no labor that's so intense that we can't do it. And there's no
opposition that we can't face without getting down and discouraged
if God is working in us. And I don't care who you are.
I don't care what your occupation is. I don't care what your standing
is in this life. If God is working in you, then
you don't have to get down. You don't have to be defeated.
And as I remember all the labors that Paul was telling this fellow
here, I thought, man, that's the way he did it. That's the
way he did it. Tuesday morning, Remy and Jenny
were going to a new school this year. They changed schools. And
I called Remy about 7 o'clock and I said, Are you a little
apprehensive about going to school today? He said, Just a little
bit. And then he said, But I've been praying about it. I've been
praying about it. Boy, that's a thing to do, isn't
it? I don't care who you are. You may be a student. But there's
help. And you need help. Whatever your
occupation is. Whatever your position in the
church is. And there's grace. There's strength. And aren't
you glad for that? Aren't you glad for that? He
says here in verse 3, He gives us three things here about showing
yourself a pattern. A pattern. He says in chapter
2, in all things, verse 7, showing thyself a pattern of good works,
that's the first thing. in doctrine showing uncorruptedness,
gravity, sincerity, sound speech that cannot be condemned. Good works, showing yourself
a pattern, in doctrine showing uncorruptedness, seriousness,
sincerity, and thirdly, sound speech that cannot be condemned. There are two ways that we usually
learn things. One is by hearing. We hear doctrine. And the second one is by seeing. By hearing, we usually learn
what to believe. And by seeing, we usually learn
how to act. But here is this thing that the
Apostle Paul adds to this. This business of sound speech,
wholesome speech, let no corrupt communication come out of your
mouth. It's more than just having sound
doctrine. It's more than just having good
works. He also adds sound speech. If the instructor doesn't have
sound speech, his doctrine probably won't have much influence, and
his good example may not have much influence. A man may be
a good example in works and have correct doctrine, but the epistle
of Ephesians says, Let no corrupt communication proceed out of
your mouth, but that which is good So there's these three things. I was reading a message by Charles
Spurgeon a few days ago, and he was talking about a man. He
said he just preached the clearest, most edifying message that he
had ever heard in his life. And he said the gracious words
were coming out of his mouth. And they went into a room to
sit down and talk, and he said the same mouth that had these
gracious words coming out of it, maggots started coming out
of it. That's the way Spurgeon identified
maggots. And you know what he said? All
the gracious words that he said in the pulpit lost its meaning
to my heart because of the sound speech that he did not have. Henry Mayhem made this statement
about this. He said, Doctrine and instructions
in the grace of God will carry little authority and influence
if the fruits of grace are not visible in the life of the instructor. Boy, that's so, isn't it? It's
so important to being an example in good works, in doctrine, and
in Word in our speech. Paul often puts these two together.
Look with me in a couple of places. Look right over to your left
in 2 Timothy. Look in chapter 3 here in verse
10. 2 Timothy chapter 3 verse 10, Paul
had just got through saying that there's going to be some, especially
in the last day, that had a form of godliness, but denied the
power thereof. And then he goes on and tells
Timothy here in verse 10, But thou hast fully known my doctrine,
what he taught about God, who God is, and the Trinity to be
a sacred person. It's doctrine about redemption.
It's doctrine about sin and man. You've known my doctrine and
look at this, and manner of life. You know how I live. You know
what I live. You know how I talk. You know
me. Those two things. Look in 1 Timothy chapter 4 and
look in verse 12. 1 Timothy chapter 4 and verse
12. Look at this. Let no man despise your youth,
but be thou an example of the believers in word, in conversation,
in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, and in purity. Till
I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine,
or teaching. Neglect not the gift that is
in you, which was given thee by prophecy with the laying on
of the hands of the presbytery. Meditate upon these things, give
thyself wholly to them, that your profit then may appear to
all. Take heed to thyself. Now see that? Take heed to your
attitude, take heed to your conduct, take heed to your ways, take
heed to your mouth, your speech, and look at this, and take heed
to the doctrine. See how those two things are
joined? Take heed to your conduct, take heed to your doctrine. Continue
thou in them, for in so doing thou shalt both save thyself
and them that hear thee." You see the Apostle Paul often in
his epistles put these things together. Your lifestyle, your
conduct, being an example in that and in the doctrine. These good works, I want us to
look back over in our epistle we're studying in Titus. Look
at the things. Paul mentions good works several
times in these three little chapters, and look what he says about them.
An example of good works. Let's look at that one first.
Look in chapter 1 in verse 16. He rebukes those who have none.
Look what he said. Chapter 1, verse 16. He's talking
about those whose mind and conscience is defiled in verse 15. In chapter
1 verse 16, they profess that they know God, but in works they
deny Him, being abominable and disobedient, and unto every good
work reprobate. They don't even know what a good
work is. They're not able to judge what a good work is. Look
now in our text again in chapter 2 verse 7, in all things showing
thyself a pattern of good works, And you ladies that's ever sold
and you made your dresses or blouses or something, you know
what a pattern is, don't you? You have to have a pattern when
you make your own clothes. And that's what he's talking
about there, be a pattern. But in chapter 2 and verse 14,
look what good works is. It's just the fruit of being
redeemed. It is the fruit of being regenerated. Look what He said in verse 14,
Who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity,
and purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. Believers have good works, don't
they? The Bible even says they are created in Christ Jesus unto
good works. Look in chapter 3 and verse 5,
I love how the Apostle Paul does this. He begins with saying those
who have no good works are just reprobates, they are not really
converted. Then he tells them to be a pattern of good works
and then he goes on to say if you are redeemed, the fruit of
that is good works. And now, lest anybody trust in
their good works, look what he says in verse 4 of chapter 3. But after that the kindness and
love of God our Savior towards man appeared, not by works of
righteousness which we have done, But according to His mercy, He
saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost.
We're not saved by works, are we? We're not kept by our works. You know why we work? Because
we're saved. We're saved. We're redeemed. We're called. We're regenerated.
And we have good works. Old L.R. Shelton used to say,
I remember him years and years ago before he died, I used to
listen to him and he would scream, he was a screaming man, but he
always said, if one hires breath of your salvation, that's what
he always, he was from all the way down in Louisiana and he
had this squealing voice, if one hires breath of your salvation,
dependent upon your works, you're lost, you're lost, he said. He
used to say that all the time. And you know what, when I first
started listening to him, My salvation was dependent on some
of my works. And I'll echo with him. If one
hurts breath of our salvation is dependent upon our work, we're
not saved, are we? By grace are we saved through
faith. We have good works because we're
redeemed and regenerated and created in Christ Jesus unto
good work. And he says here in chapter 3,
verse 8, now look what he says right after that, almost in the
same breath in verse 8. This is a faithful saying, and
these things I will, that thou affirm constantly, that they
which have believed in God might be careful to practice, to keep
up good works. These things are good and profitable
unto men. What we just read about salvation
is good and profitable to men. And good works are good and profitable
to men. And then lastly, he goes down
here in chapter 3 and verse 14, and look what he says here. And
let us also learn to maintain good works for necessary uses,
for urgent needs, that they be not unfruitful. Well, good works,
good works are essential, aren't they, for saved people? They
manifest that we have been redeemed. We have the Holy Spirit. We're
zealous of doing good. And we have these works, these
good works, that's essential for needs. Needs. I tell you, if you folks weren't
somewhat zealous of good works, we'd be in a building tonight
that would be so dirty, we couldn't stand it in here. Somebody has
to clean this building. Somebody has to maintain this
property. Somebody mows this yard. Wouldn't
it look awful if somebody didn't take the initiative to mow this
yard? Somebody has to take up a collection and send money to
our missionaries or they're going to come home. Some things are
just absolutely necessary, aren't they? Good works are necessary
for so many things. That's what he said there. Being
an example, he said. Being an example of good works. What is a good work then? What
is a good work? Well, let me give you some things.
A good work is a work that has to be done for God's glory. It's something that's done exclusively
for God's glory. Whether you eat, whether you
drink, or whatever you do, do it for the glory of God. And
that's a good work if you do it for His glory. A good work
is a work done by faith. Whatsoever is not of faith is
sin. You know by faith those old fellows
did a lot of good works. They pleased God. Noah built
an ark by faith. Abraham offered up Isaac by faith. By faith, Israel marched around
Jericho and it fell. What is a good work? It's believing
God, isn't it? You know this is a good work
tonight. We're here tonight in public worship. You know this
is a good work. And you know why it's a good work? Because
we believe God. He tells us not to forsake the
assembling of ourselves together and here we are. This is good. How good and pleasant it is for
brethren to dwell together in unity. It's good. A good work
is what's done out of love for Christ. If you love me, keep
my commandments. Why did Peter feed Christ's sheep?
Because he loved him. Peter, do you love me? Lord,
you know I love you. Then feed my sheep." That woman
that bought that expensive perfume and anointed the feet of our
Lord Jesus, why did she do that? She loved Him. She loved much. A work that's done for love for
the Savior is good. What's done for the good of the
saints because they belong to Christ, that's a good work. I
was hungry and you fed me. I was sick and you came and visited
me. I was naked and you clothed me. Lord, when did we do this? We don't even remember doing
this. To you, we did it to you in so much as you've done it
to the least of these my brethren, you've done it unto me." Caring
for the saints. Helping the saints. Encouraging
the saints. That's a good work, isn't it?
every good work. Now listen to this and see if
this ain't so. Every good work has a sense of sin in it on our
part. Did you ever do anything that
was good that you felt some sin mixed with it? When I would do
good, evil is present with me. And I think sometimes the Lord
lets us feel that so it will harm us. keep us from trusting
in these things that we do, even we do it for His glory. But you
know something? Every work that's done for His
glory and by faith and love for Christ and for the glory of His
saints because they belong to Christ, you know God's going
to reward that and Jesus Christ is going to acknowledge that. God is not unrighteous to forget
your work and labor of love. which you have shown towards
His saints, and that you have ministered to them." I don't
understand that, but that's what the Bible says, isn't it? That's
what He said. So there's your good works, and
Paul reminds Titus to be an example in them, being an example in
them. Then here in verse 3, he mentions
doctrine, being an example in doctrine, and he mentions three
things in his doctrine. 1. Uncorruptness. in doctrine
showing incorruptness. You know, this is why we have
to establish everything we believe and everything we teach, we must
establish from the Word of God. The only thing, brothers and
sisters, that we have in this world that's incorruptible is
this Bible. The words of this book are incorruptible. Being born again, Not of corruptible
seed, but of the incorruptible by the Word of God. It's incorruptible. And that's why we don't give
you our opinions. I don't want Larry and Wayne
to come up here, and you don't either, to give me their opinions,
to try to impress us, or to make us feel good. I don't want that,
do you? That wouldn't do us a bit of
good, would it? Here's what we want. The uncorruptible
Word of God. If it breaks us, that's good.
If it lifts us up, that's wonderful. But that's what we want. And
that's what Paul told Titus. Being an example in it. And in
gravity, this word gravity means seriousness. Boy, be serious. If this is God's Word, then handle
it with seriousness. I saw a little thing a while
back, and this really offended me. That's what it did. It said, what would J.C. do?
I thought, what is that? And I read another one, what
would Jesus Christ, in parenthesis, J.C. do? Can you imagine that? Can you imagine standing before
the Lord of glory addressing Him as J.C.? Ain't that awful? What would J.C. do? Is that being
serious? Is that taking the incorruptible
word serious? It's not it. You say, Bruce,
you're just getting too picky. Well, look at this next word.
Sincerity. Sincerity. That means real. Are we real? Are we sincere in
this or are we just pretending? Are we fearing God or are we
just pretending? I tell you, I ain't pretending,
are you? This is serious. This is serious. I tell you,
we may joke around, and I'm bad to joke around, and my wife has
sometimes had to get on to me, but when it comes to this Word,
when it comes to the things of God, boy, I want to be serious,
don't you? I want to be sincere. A man can't
be a Christian if he's not sincere. God sees the heart, doesn't He?
If it's not real, then he's not a Christian. When a man comes
before God in prayer, David said, if I regard iniquity in my heart,
if I'm pretending, He's going to know it and He won't hear
me. We have to be real, don't we? So we've got this uncorruptible
Word and we're serious about it and we're real. We're sincere
about it. So our text talks about Titus
to be an example of good works, be an example in doctrine, and
now, than example and sound speech." Verse 8, "...sound speech that
cannot be condemned, that he that is of the contrary part
may be ashamed." Sound speech, that word means healthy. It means
wholesome speech. We've got sound doctrine we establish
from the Word of God. And we have examples of good
works where We're creating good works, and now we have this speech,
this speech, this healthy, wholesome speech. I did a little word study
on this word speech today. I was amazed when I read this
and found out about this. This is what you get into if
you've got a Greek lexicon or something where you can look
up the meaning of these Greek words. When they bring it over into
the English, we lose so much. If you go back to the Greek,
it just opens up and it's amazing. This is one of these words. Listen
to this word, speech. Something said, well naturally
we know that, don't we? That speech, something said,
but listen, including the thought behind it. A topic, a discourse,
including the mental faculties are motives. So here we have
not only the speech, what said, the communication, but the thoughts
behind it, the motives behind saying it. Isn't that amazing? This is the same word that we
read in John 1. In the beginning was the speech. And the speech was with God,
and the speech was God. The same word as this. I don't
know how to connect those two, but boy, it puts some meaning
to let your speech be sound, healthy. When Paul was writing
to the Ephesians in chapter 4 and verse 29, he said, Let no corrupt
communication, there that word is. Let no corrupt speech, let
no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth. Now that's the same
word there, but it's not just the word, but it's what's behind
your speech. It's the motives. And boy, that
brings in something, doesn't it? We may speak and the speech
itself may be true, but what's behind that speech? What's the
reasoning behind it? What's the motive? Why are we
saying it? Why are we communicating what
we're communicating? The very next verse in Ephesians
4.30 says this, Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God. And grieve
not the Holy Spirit of God. He connects those two words,
those two verses. Let no corrupt speech proceed
out of your mouth. Not just the speech, but let
no corrupt motive in. Why are you saying it? Have you
ever said something, talking to somebody, and you knew you
was telling the truth, but you knew you shouldn't have been
telling them at all? Have you ever told somebody something
and you knew it was the truth, but your motives behind telling
them was bad? Did you ever do that? And your
conscience checked you, didn't it? Your conscience checks you
because of that. That's the Holy Spirit. Let no
corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth and grieve
not the Holy Spirit of God. And that's this word here the
Apostle Paul is talking about, sound speech. Not only let your
speech be right and proper and wholesome, but let the motives
behind Let the reason that you're talking to this person be right. Let it be true. And I think the
Apostle Paul is saying here, this sound speech that cannot
be condemned in verse 8, it must mean this. Not only can it be
condemned by those who are your opponents or opposition, but
it can't be condemned by your conscience. It won't even be
condemned of God because it's sound speech. It's not only right
in its wording, but your motives are right in talking about it.
That's amazing, isn't it? That's amazing. Boy, I tell you,
that's why the Word of God says about itself that it's quick
and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing
even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and the joints
and the mark. It's powerful, isn't it? It's
powerful. Man, it's convicted. It's convicted. Let's sum this up right quickly.
From verses 1 through 10, let's do it like this, what we've been
studying on the last few weeks. If we're Christians, if we're
children of God, no matter what age, aged men, aged women, no
matter what sex, young women with children and husbands, No
matter what your standing, no matter what your occupation,
you may be slaves. We serve God. We serve God. We serve the Lord's Christ. We bring ourselves under control
and graciously submit to the rule of Christ with motives that
are high for the glory, for the name, for the Word, for the Gospel
of God our Savior. And we do it and we're motivated
to do it for this reason. Not only this reason, but for
this reason that the name and Gospel of God be not blasphemed. Well, that's a motive higher
than ourself, isn't it? That's what He tells us here. That's
what He told the young women, submit to your husbands, so the
Word of God won't be blasphemed. He tells these slaves, you submit. It's very important that you
submit. You show your masters that you love Jesus Christ. You
believe His Gospel. If you don't, you won't be able
to adorn the Gospel of God, our Savior. Christ taught the necessity of
patience. He taught the necessity of meekness
and long-suffering and even enduring the wrong that people may do
to us if this be for God's glory. If it be for God's glory. Look
with me over Matthew right quickly. You can let go there and look
over Matthew chapter 5. was going to law with brethren
in the book of Corinthians. And Paul said, Brethren, this
ain't right. This ain't right. Brethren going
to law with brethren before unbelievers? Why don't you rather suffer wrong? If it's for the Lord's glory,
if it's going to bring shame on the Lord's name, suffer wrong
first. And look here how the Lord Jesus
tells us in chapter 5 and look in verse 38. You have heard that
it hath been said, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.
You break my tooth and I'll break your tooth. You put my eye out
and I'll put yours out. That's what they used to say.
But I say unto you, don't resist evil. But whosoever shall smite
thee on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if
any man will sue thee at law and take away thy coat, Let him
have thy cloak also. And whosoever shall compel thee
to go a mile, go with him two miles. Give to him that askest
thee, and from him that would borrow thee, turn not thou away.
Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor,
and hate thy enemy. But I say unto you, Love your
enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate
you, and pray for them which despitefully use and persecute
you for this reason. and calls, and out of this motive,
that you may be the children of your Father which is in heaven. For He is kind, and He is long-suffering,
and He is good, and He is patient, even with His enemies who hate
Him. Now is the time for self-control,
isn't it? Now is the time for self-control.
Now is the time to submit and be gracious and serve the Lord
Jesus Christ with high motives, even when it is difficult on
the flesh. Even if you are suffering the
trials of old age or young mothers or young men or slaves, there
is something more important than myself. That is what Paul is
teaching. There's something more important
than my comfort, than everything going my way, and that's the
glory of God. That's framing this beautiful
gospel of Christ where people can look at it and say, my, what
a beautiful picture that is. How else could these poor slaves
endure slavery if they didn't endure it with this thought in
mind? There's something more important than my feelings. There's
more important than what I'm suffering. That's the glory of
my Savior. And you know that applies to
us, doesn't it? It comes right down to where
we live in our daily lives. This is the way we need to live
out our Christian life, day after day. Because there's things that
you suffer. There's things that you go through.
And you can honor God in the small things that comes on you. Lord bless His Word. I hope I
was able to explain that without making such a mess of it.