It's a little epistle of Titus
chapter 2 if you want to turn there. I want to read the first eight
verses, Titus chapter 2, and let's begin in verse 1. Titus chapter 2. If you have
a few Bibles, it's on page 1300. way over in the New Testament. This will mainly be an introduction
to Titus chapter 2, but I want to read this to you. And beginning
here in verse 1, Paul writed to this young preacher, Titus,
and he said, But speak thou the things which become sound doctrine,
that the aged men be sober, great, reverent, temperate, sound in
the faith, in the doctrine of faith, and in the grace of faith,
in charity, in love, and in patience. They age women likewise that
they be in behavior as becometh holiness, not slanderers, not
false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things,
that they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their
husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, wise, chaste,
keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the
word of God be not blasphemed. Young men likewise exhort to
be sober-minded, 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
servants to be obedient unto their own masters, and to please
them well in all things, not answering again, not prolonging,
not stilling, but showing all good fidelity, that they may
adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things." We could
call this, I guess, living out our Christian life or living
out the Christian life in our home because this basically,
the first few verses of this chapter is concerning the home,
the Christian home or the home. He mentions here verses 2 through
6. He mentions the aged men. You
notice I read that about the aged men and the aged women.
And then the young ladies and the young men. In verse 5 he
mentions the home there. Speaking of the young women having
children and God in their home. And he says to be discreet chast
keepers at home, obedient to their own husbands and goods.
And then in verse 9, he deals with a Christian workplace. Did
you notice that? Masters or servants, be obedient
to your masters. Now, I don't know why the Apostle
Paul does this here, but he doesn't go into detail. In other places,
Colossians and Ephesians, he goes into detail about the workplace. He deals with the attitude of
the master as well as the attitude of the servant. And we will deal
with this when we get to it, but they had a lot of slaves
back then. Sometimes when you see this servant, it was literally
a slave. If you and I were writing this
epistle today, we would probably say, let the employee be obedient
to his employer. But the Apostle Paul is dealing
here with a workplace. And in chapter 3 and verse 1,
he deals with a Christian living under the rule of government.
He says put them in mind to be subject to principalities and
powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work. What's a believer's attitude
towards the government? We're going to look at that when
we get there. And I think the order the Apostle Paul sets these
things forth in is very important. He begins in chapter 1 and we
could have called chapter 1 life in the church, couldn't we? That's
where he begins. Life in the church. The family. The church family. Hearing the
Word of God. The faithful Word. We studied
on that. In chapter 1 in verse 9, holding
fast the faithful Word as He has been taught. Holding it fast. In another place, He said, holding
it forth. He holds it fast in His own heart.
And He holds it forth to those who are listening to Him in the
congregation. He calls it the faithful word,
sound doctrine, and another place he calls it the word of life. And he holds it forth in two
perspectives. And this is so important. We
looked at this. He says doing this in chapter 1 in verse 9,
to exhort. That means that as he proclaims
the word of God, he advises people. He instructs people. He teaches
people from the Word of God. He warns them. He encourages
them. And He comforts them. All of
that is in the Word to exhort. And then He says to convince.
And that Word has to do with those who are in opposition to
the truth. To convince means you convict
them. You prove where they're wrong and you prove their guilt
and you reprove them. And as we preach the Word of
God, there's things that we preach that's very positive, things
that's very encouraging. The Gospel is positive, isn't
it? There's no aspect about the Gospel that's negative. It's
very positive. And then we preach things that's
very negative, too. We learn from things that's negative.
Listen to this. He that believeth on the Son
is not condemned. That's positive, isn't it? And
that's so encouraging. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them which in Christ Jesus. But the rest of that verse is
negative. He that believeth not is condemned
already. And that has to be said too.
So we have the negative and we have the positive. There are
those who believe. They are reconciled to God. We
exhort them. We encourage them. We warn them. We teach them. And there are
those who are still the enemies of the cross of Christ, and some
of them even openly. And what do we do with them?
We convict them, don't we? We convince them that they're
wrong in what they believe, that they're against the Lord. And
in chapter 1, Paul spends several verses describing those who needed
to be convinced. We read that in the last few
verses of chapter 1. He says they're unruly. They're
vain talkers, they're disobedient, they teach things they oughtn't
for filthy lucre's sake. And this is what the ministry
is all about, exhorting and to convince. Exhorting, encouraging,
advising, comforting, and convincing, convicting. That's what the ministry
is all about. And it's not just the pastor
that does that, it's the whole church. The whole church has
a ministry. I know the pastor gets up and
preaches in public, but we don't confine the ministry to these
four walls, do we? When we go out of here to our
homes and talk with our neighbors and we talk with those in the
workplace, what do we do? We teach them, don't we? We present
the Word of God to them. The ministry has to do not just
with the pastor, but with the whole church. But why does Paul
begin with this? Why does he begin with exhorting
and convincing? Why does he begin with life within
the church? Why does this take priority over
chapter 2? I mean, the home is an important
place, isn't it? The workplace is an important
place. Living in this society under this government, that's
important. But here, life in the church,
Preaching the Word of God and hearing it and believing it is
the most important aspect of life. And that's what we see
the Paul beginning in chapter 1, life within the church. Why
does he do that? Here's where life begins, is
it not? Here's where spiritual life begins
under the Gospel. Hearing the truth and believing
it. Before we ever think about going
back to our homes or into the workplace, life begins by hearing
the Word of God. Of His own will, He begot you
with the Word of Truth. When the Lord Jesus told that
Gadarene to go home to his friends, He didn't tell him to do that
until He had first put him in his right mind and clothed him. Then he said, Go home to your
friend. You got a home? He saved him and didn't send
him home. When he told Zacchaeus to come down out of that tree,
and Zacchaeus came down and received him joyfully, then he said, I'm
going to abide at your house. So what's God's priority? God's priority is not making
good homes. His priority is not making the
workplace good or having a good society. God's first priority
is making Christians. He begets us by new birth. He teaches us the truth as it
is in Jesus. He opens our hearts to know His
Son. And then He sends us back to
live our life in the family. and own our jobs and end society. Life in this world is not easy,
is it? It's not easy. Life in this world is not easy.
There's times when our family is under great trials. Most of
us know that, don't we? And there are times when the
workplace is such a burdensome place to be, I tell you, more
than I've got fingers and toes. I've come home from my job where
I used to work with my heart extremely burdened. And a few
times I've come home sobbing. Trials in the family, trials
in the workplace, and trials in society, right on down to
our local government. But think of this. What would
life be like? What would our families be like?
What would the workforce be like without a Christian influence
in it? We think it is bad now and we
think our homes are in a mess sometimes now. What would it
be without a Christian influence in it? Think of what a stable influence
a truly gracious old man has on a home, an old man who is
sound in the faith, an old man whose heart is full of the love
of God And he loves the Lord and he loves those around him.
And he lives in the exercise of patience. That's the old man
that the Apostle Paul was talking about. Do you know anybody like
that? Haven't we all known some old
man just like that? And he has these three graces
in his heart that society, no matter what aspects of society
you're talking about, these three graces are survival, love, faith,
and patience. We've all known old men like
that, haven't we? The grace of God in their hearts. And he talks
here about the aged women in verse 3. What an example of Christian
behavior an aged godly woman is to young people. I tell you, It can't be easy
being a young mother. It can't be easy having children
and raising children and keeping the home. And especially in the
day we live, a young woman with young children can err us so
easy. Haven't we seen that? And how
valuable aged women are. A godly aged woman is to a young
woman who is raising her children. Boy, we need Christian examples
today. Do we not? We sure do. And here in verse 4, he mentions
these young mothers and their influence that they have over
their children, over their husbands. Teach the young women to love
their husbands and to love their children. What in the world is
he talking about? You either love somebody or you
don't, right? But that's not what he's saying.
What he's saying is you can't teach this aspect of emotion
to anybody. That's something you have towards
somebody you don't. He's not talking about the emotional
aspect of love, but teach them how. Teach them how to love their
husband. Teach them how to love their
children. You read some of the great men
of old, like John Newton and Charles Spurgeon, and listen
to the testimony that they have concerning their mother. Mothers
can teach children like nobody else. The dad can't. Other siblings
cannot. But mom has an influence over
children that nobody else has. There have been children who
have been raised in lawless neighborhoods. And the only thing that kept
them from lawlessness themselves was their dear mother, their
Christian mother, teaching them, loving them, and praying for
them and praying with them and teaching them the Word of God.
And that kept them from the lawlessness in their lawless neighborhoods. Nobody can teach children like
God. And here in verse 6 he talks
about the young men. Young men likewise exhort to
be sober-minded. Boy, we have all seen young men,
haven't we, that the Lord has saved them and they are sober-minded. Boy, they are precious and they
are such examples. Paul was writing to Timothy and
he said this, Timothy, let no man despise your youth. Be now
thou an example. in word, in your conduct, in
your faith, in your love, being an example. And what an example
a young man is, ramming in the classroom, in the hall, in the
workplace. The Lord Jesus said this to His
church, You are the salt of the earth. You are the salt. You are the preservation of society. What would have happened to Sodom
and Gomorrah if there had been ten righteous people who lived
in those cities? It would have been killed. It
would have been preserved. If I find ten righteous people,
I won't destroy those cities. But he didn't, did he? And that's
why they were destroyed. There is a preservation, a preservative
element in Christian men and women as God saves them and sends
them back into the home and in the workplace and in society
to live out what they believe. The Lord Jesus said, ìYouíre
the light of the world.î Thatís what the church is. Thatís what
believers are, in their little homes, mom and dad and the children
in their One mother preserves the home. One dad is the light
of the family. You are the light of the world.
Take one saved man and put him in the shop and he is the only
man there that knows the Lord. He is the light of that place.
You are the light of the world. And Paul wrote to the Philippian
church and here is what he said. Do all things without murmuring
and disputing. that you may be blameless and
harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke in the midst of a crooked
and perverse nation among whom you shine as lights." Society is evil, isn't it? It's
perverse. It is that. You and I are living
in a perverse society. Sometimes it touches our family
to the breaking of our hearts. But does it not? It does. Evil touches our family and breaks
our hearts. And sometimes the most burdensome
hours you can spend is in your workplace. But here is what the
Lord does in this evil society. He saves His people by His grace
in Christ. He teaches them of His redeeming
purpose and love and grace. He gives them a good hope of
life eternal and sends them back into society to live for His
glory and their good. He sends them back to their home,
to the workplace as favored men and women of heaven who know
the truth as it is in Jesus. That is what he is saying here
in chapter 2 and verse 1. Let me read it to you again.
But speak thou the things which become sound doctrine. I was
reading this in an amplified commentary and here is what he
said. But as for you, teach what is fitting and becoming to wholesome
doctrine, the character and right living that identify true Christians. How is a Christian to live in
the light of what he believes? As he hears the faithful word
preached and as he reads it and studies it for himself, how is
he to live in the light of what this Bible teaches him? And you
know something, brothers and sisters, if we don't live If
we don't live our daily life, if what we say we believe has
no effect on our life in our home and in the workplace and
in society, then it's very doubtful we believe what the Bible teaches. Paul mentions here in chapter
1 and verse 9 this wholesome doctrine these pastors were to
preach. How important it is that we come
to public worship and hear the truth preached. How important
that is to be taught, to be exhorted, to be comforted, to be instructed.
It is critical if you and I are going to live out the Christian
life in our homes and at work and in society. I am not saying
public worship is the only place to hear the truth. I am not saying
it is the only place to learn. and be exhorted and comforted. We do that at home, don't we?
Thank God we have Bibles to read at home, and many of you listen
to other preachers and tapes. But you can't help but see and
realize that when you read the Bible, we often hear this mentioned
in the places of public worship. When someone is preaching the
Bible, preaching the Gospel, You hear this said, when they
heard this, when they heard this, how many times do we read that
in the Bible? When they heard this, they were
glad, they were encouraged, they were instructed, they were comforted.
Or when they heard this, they were pricked in their hearts
and cried out, men and brethren, what shall we do? And some, when
they heard this, they got angry and said, ìThis is a hard doctrine.
Who can hear it?î All of this took place in public worship
where the gospel was being preached. However and wherever we get these
truths of Godís redeeming grace in Christ in our hearts, they
must affect the way we live our lives. And I say they must. I believe they will. So it's not first and foremost
good homes that we need. It's not a good workplace or
a good society, but first and foremost and always, it's good
Christians. That's what we're in need of,
is it not? Good Christians who reflect the attitude and behavior of what they say
they believe. It's reflected in their daily
lives, the truth that they profess. Let me appeal to our conscience.
Let me appeal to our conscience. What do we believe about God?
What do we believe about God? About this sovereign, ruling,
reigning, overruling, redeeming, Triune God. What do we believe
about Him? What do we believe concerning
His eternal purpose? Have we not heard of God's eternal
purpose? Do we not believe it? What do
we believe about the everlasting, never failing, conquering, ever
abiding love of the Lord Jesus Christ to His people? What do
we believe about Romans chapter 8 and verse 28? Do we believe
that all things work together for good to them who love God,
to those who are called according to His purpose? Do we believe
that? Do we believe that God through
His grace has given us a good hope of life everlasting? What do we believe? What do we
profess to believe about God and His Word? Listen, how would our home life
be affected? How would our workplace be affected?
How would society be affected if we lived out what we profess
to believe? I'm not saying it would have
a positive effect upon anybody, but I am saying this, it would
have a profound effect upon you and me. Would it not? It would. And that's what this
book is speaking about. That's why He puts these things
in the order that He does. He begins with church life. He
begins with preaching the faithful word. And people believe in it
and get it in their hearts first. And then going back into your
house, back into your homes, the aged men and the aged women
and moms with children and young men and living out the truths
of God that they say they believe. That's what it is. I heard a politician not long
ago and he was promoting abortion, the awful ungodly sin of abortion,
killing of the unborn. Cursed be he that taketh the
reward to slay the innocent person. But he had most of his people
in his district. They wanted him to vote that
way, and that's the way he voted. But he was a religious man. He
was a religious man. And here's the statement that
he made when someone confronted him. He said, I separate my politics
from my religion. And you know what I said as I
looked at that TV? No, you don't. No, you don't. Your politics is bad and your
religion is worse. That's what the Bible is teaching
us. That's what we're looking at here. He begins with the church
family. He begins with you're in the
truth and believe in it. And you don't separate that.
You don't go home and put that on a shelf and say, it doesn't
matter how I live at home. It doesn't matter how I live
at work. It doesn't matter how I live in society. That's why
Paul begins with chapter 1 before he ever goes to the home. It's
critical for us to know and believe the truth. It's critical. There's
no life eternal without knowing the truth. And then it's critical
that through carefulness, through God's grace, we live out that
truth in our daily lives. It's so critical. And that's
the introduction to chapter 2. And Lord's Will and we'll begin
there next week. And take it short in verse number.