I'll write Titus chapter 3. The epistle that we've been reading,
which you know perfectly well, is addressed to Titus. Paul mentions the name of this
man, Titus. nine different times in the book
of Corinthians, 1 and 2 Corinthians alone, besides two or three other
places. He talks about Titus. I want
you to read what he says about Titus over in 2 Corinthians 8. 2 Corinthians chapter 8. We don't
hear preachers say too much about Titus or preach very much from
that epistle, Paul felt so highly of this man. 2 Corinthians 8
verse 23, whether any do inquire of Titus, I tell you about him,
Paul says, he's my partner. Cecil calls me that every once
in a while. That's a compliment to me. Hello, partner. That's
a tremendous compliment to be your partner. And this man was
Paul's partner. and my fellow helper concerning
you." And then, if you turn on over
to Galatians, chapter 2, verse 1, when, you know, Paul didn't
communicate too much with the other apostles. When the Lord
called him on the road to Damascus, he saw the Lord, and he didn't
contact those who were apostles before him. He went into Arabia.
I believe where he was taught the gospel by Christ, our Lord,
personally. And then after three years, I
think he contacted Peter, but this is when he went to Jerusalem,
14 years later, to give an account of his ministry to the Gentiles,
to those in Jerusalem. And Galatians 2.1 says, then
14 years after, I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, with
whom we're very familiar, Paul and Barnabas. took Titus with
me." And some people believe on his very last journey to Rome,
Titus went with him. Well, the theme of this epistle,
which I'm sure you, in the reading of these first two chapters,
are conscious of, the theme of this epistle is found in Titus
3, verse 8. Verse 8, this is a faithful saying,
and these things I will, Titus, that you affirm constantly, the
things we've been reading. And here's a summary, that they
which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. And you see that from the first
chapter when he was given the characteristics or lifestyle
of bishops and elders. And then in chapter 2, he talked
about the older men, the older women, the young women, the young
men, servants, that we are careful to maintain good works. And that's
the title of this study, Careful to Maintain Good Works. Let's
look at chapter 3, verse 1 now. Just go verse by verse here for
a little while. And Paul writing to this preacher,
Titus, put them in mind, remind all believers to be subject to
principalities and powers, to obey magistrates. Remind all
believers, now keep reminding them of this constantly, that
they are to be subject to authority. There's God's order. And it takes
much grace to be submissive to authority. It takes much grace
to be obedient to authority, wherever that authority is found,
whether in the church, or the home, or the workplace, or the
school, or on the street, or wherever we find authority, magistrates,
authority. Why is it difficult? Why does
it take so much grace to submit to authority? The reason is we're
born rebels. And that's the reason. The scripture
says plainly, the wicked are estranged from the womb. That's
us. They go astray as soon as they're
born. Speaking lies. And we come forth from the womb
proud, rebellious, wanting our own way. That's just, that's
born in us. That's our nature. Our nature
is pride. and rebellion and having our
own way. So it takes a lot of grace, constantly, to be an obedient
child. It takes a lot of grace. These
young people sitting here listening to me, it takes a lot of grace
to be an obedient child. Children don't have the understanding
that their parents have, the experience and the understanding,
and they don't think like an adult. And they're born rebels,
so it's just It's hard to be and it takes a lot of grace to
be a peaceful person when someone's agitating us or doing what we
think they shouldn't do, especially when we're the recipients. It's
just hard to be peaceful. Dale and I were talking before
church about little simple things like basketball games, refereeing,
soccer games, the referee, baseball games, the umpire, football games,
the referee. He doesn't call it like we see
it. And we know we see it better than He does. We agitate it. And that's in our nature, you
see. And it takes grace to be peaceful, especially when you
think they're wrong. That's what Peter said over here in 1 Peter.
In 1 Peter chapter 2. This is a good study for us right
here. 1 Peter chapter 2, verse 18. And I'm the greatest defender
in here, so I can talk about this all I want to, you know,
on things our way. Look at 1 Peter, servants, be
subject to your masters, and this goes for those in authority,
with all fear, not only to the good and the gentle, but also
to the forward, also to the fellow that we think is doing wrong. He's not a good policeman. He's
not a good referee. That's what we're on right now.
Not a good umpire. And he may be crooked, but he
is in charge. And believers are supposed to
set an example. Believe in parents. I'll give
you two illustrations. A preacher friend of mine had
sons playing hockey. No, not hockey, soccer. A preacher
friend of mine who loves the gospel, loves Christ. But he
got so involved in that game, wanting his sons to succeed in
their team, and the referee kind of went against him. And he had
a lot to say, until the referee came over to this pastor in front
of all those people, put him out of the game. That's a bad
example. Bad example. And we must not
do that, because... Let me read you something in
Romans 13. Romans chapter 13. And I know he said, not only
to the good, but to the forward. See what I'm talking about? When
a person's in charge, it doesn't matter if he's a fine Christian
man or a bum, he's still in charge until the game's over. Romans
13, verse 1, listen, "...let every soul be subject to the
higher powers." There's no power but of God. A man with a badge
on his shirt here, it's a policeman, recognized authority. He's a
minister of God. Did you know that? He may be
the worst guy in town, but he's still got that badge on. And
when he's on duty, he's my boss. There's no power but of God.
The power is that it be ordained of God. Wherefore, listen, whosoever
resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God. And they
that resist shall receive to themselves destruction. I'll
tell you the other preacher I was going to tell you, Brother L.R.
Shelton, pastor down in Algiers, Louisiana. I preached for him
way back in 1954. But he got a ticket. given him by a policeman for
some something. I don't know what it was. I don't
remember exactly what it was. I remember the story, but I don't
remember what the cause of the ticket. But it notified him to
be in court before the judge on a certain day at a certain
time. And he didn't leave home in time, and he got tied up in
traffic, and he didn't make it on time. And he walked into that
courtroom late. And the judge asked him his name.
He said, you're supposed to be here at 10 o'clock. And it's
1030. I want you to give me one reason
why I shouldn't fine you for contempt of court. Old Brother
Shelton said, yes, sir. I can give you two or three good
reasons. Number one, I'm pastor of the First Baptist Church in
Algiers, Louisiana. And that's going to be in the
paper, that I held your court in contempt. I was in contempt
of the law. Second reason, your honor, I
would never hold your court in contempt, because this court
is the court of God Almighty. And I just didn't make it. I
tried my best, but fine me for anything. But don't fine me for
contempt of court, because your honor, I would never hold your
court in contempt. And the judge said, that's a
great sermon. But it's right. No believer can
hold in contempt the law of God and those in authority. That's
the reason I say a child that is a rebellious child is a lost
child. You can't hold your parents in
contempt without holding God in contempt. That goes for schools
or work or anywhere. You can't hold authority in contempt. Now, this is what Paul has said,
put them in mind. to be subject to principalities
and powers, to obey them, and to be willing and ready at all
times to every good work. That's scripture, to be prepared
and to be willing to do good. Peaceful disposition, a submissive
servant, an obedient child, a peaceful person, a cooperative servant
or workman. That's good testimony. All right,
second verse. And put them in mind to speak
evil of no one, and not to be brawlers, but to be gentle, showing
all meekness unto all men. You know something? Again, I'm
talking to me too. The number one method of maintaining
peace, of maintaining friendship, of maintaining unity in a home,
in a church, in a school or workplace, is to discipline our tongues.
Number one method. I suppose every person in this
world that I've ever offended, it's been because of my tongue.
You guilty of that? He says speak evil of no man. A person's name, a person's reputation,
a person's character, a person's children, A person's family are
tender topics. That's about as tender as you
can get. Let me go over it again. A person's name, reputation,
character, family and children are tender topics and need to
be handled with the utmost care. If it doesn't have to be said,
you don't have to say it, and I don't either. Don't speak evil. Critically. harshly of anybody. It's not necessary. And don't
be a brawler. You know what a brawler is? Well,
it's people that fight. Well, no, that's not what he's
talking about. He's talking about being contentious.
A brawler is a person who's contentious. And we are to avoid being contentious,
to avoid being quarrelsome. It's not a good witness. Always
arguing. Always disagreeing. Disagreeable
persons are not becoming to Christ. So he says, don't speak evil
of anybody and don't be a quarrelsome person, a contentious person.
Arguing, disagreeing, just disagreeable. And the same verse says, and
be gentle. Show kindness and courtesy to
all people. We love this verse over in Ephesians
4. Ephesians chapter 4, verse 32. This is what he's saying here.
Don't speak evil of people. Don't be an argumentative, quarrelsome,
contentious person. And be kind. Here it is in Ephesians
4, 32. Be kind one to another. Tenderhearted. forgiving one another, even as
God, for Christ's sake, has forgiven us over and over and over and
over again. These are good things, aren't
they? Put them in mind, remind them. Our third verse. Before
I read this verse, let me say something here. Two things, two
things are always at work in a person who is seeking to glorify
God. There are two things that work
in that person. A person that desires to glorify
God, who wants to show the Spirit of Christ in his walk and in
his talk. He wants to, that's the way he
wants to spend each day, glorifying God and walking and talking the
way of righteousness and holiness. And here are the two things that
work, that help him. Number one is the grace of God.
the Spirit of God who dwells within him. Paul said, the love
of Christ constrains me. The love of Christ motivates
me. He said, I labored more abundantly than all of them, yet it wasn't
me, it was the grace of God in me. I'm crucified with Christ,
nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me, and
the life which I live in the flesh, I live by the faith of
the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. So enabling
grace. That's going on within us, enabling
grace. We depend on grace. We don't depend on ourselves.
We depend on Christ in us. He's our strength. He's our motivation. He's our ability to do anything of any
worth or goodness. It's Christ, not us. The second
thing that's at work in us that helps us is to remember what
we were ourselves. Nothing will subdue pride like
remembering what we are by nature. Nothing will moderate a person's
impatience with other people than to remember he needed it himself. Nothing
will dull our severity and expectations of others like remembering how
far short we fell of those very expectations. Nothing will cause
us to be more gentle and forgiving toward others than to remember
how many times God has forgiven us. Isn't that right? In other words, that remembering what we were before
Christ saved us, and remembering what we would be if he didn't
keep us, will make us what we ought to be toward others. That's
it. That's the truth. We depend on
his grace, but then also we look back and remember what we were. Now let me read verse 3. Now
he said in verse 2, don't speak evil of others, don't be a contentious,
argumentative person, be gentle, showing meekness, for we ourselves
also were one time foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts
and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating
one." That's what we were! And the only thing that changed
us was His grace. That's the only thing in the
world that changed us. We didn't improve, He improved
us. We didn't reform, he regenerated
us. That's right. We didn't change
the old man, he gave us a new man. So it's not of us at all. That's the reason he said it
in verse 4. Now watch this. In verse 4. That's what we were now. But
when, after that is when the kindness and love of God our
Savior toward man appeared. When did it appear? the kindness
and love of God, our Savior, towards sinners. When did it
appear? Well, it appeared way back down in the Old Testament,
when God promised the Redeemer, when God prophesied about the
Redeemer, when God made pictures of the Redeemer. That's when
God's love and mercy towards sinners appeared, way back down.
Abraham saw it, Moses wrote of it, Noah found it, grace in the
eyes of the Lord. When did it appear? When he came
into the world. It was manifested. God's love
and kindness toward folks like us, who ourselves were foolish,
disobedient, deceived, serving lust and pleasure. The kindness
and love of God our Savior appeared. If you'll turn with me to the
book of Hebrews a minute, Hebrews chapter 9, it tells about these
appearances. Hebrews chapter 9. For us, the
appearance of God our Savior, my, my. In Hebrews 9, verse 24,
listen, Hebrews 9, verse 24. For Christ is not entered into
the holy place made with hands, which is the figure of the truth,
but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God
for us, the man, Christ Jesus, the mediator, the advocate, the
intercessor. the forerunner, appearing in
the presence of God, our representative. Not yet that he should offer
himself often as the high priest to enter into the holy place
every year with the blood of others, for then, if that, he
did that, for then must he often have suffered since the foundation
of the world. But now once in the end of the world hath he
appeared, born of a virgin, born in Bethlehem, came forth into
this world. went to the cross, he appeared
to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. Oh, he appeared. Now look at the next appearance,
verse 27. And as it is appointed unto me,
and once to die, and after that the judgment, so Christ was once
offered to bear the sin of many, and to them that look for him
shall he appear. He's coming back the second time. unto salvation, oh my, without
sin unto salvation. But when the kindness and love
of God our Savior toward us appeared, but you know the appearance that
changed us, the appearance that made us new creatures, the appearance
that turned us from darkness to light was when on our Damascus
road He did appear to us and we saw Him. in the Word as our
Redeemer. God, who separated me from my
mother's womb, Paul said, and called me by His grace, was pleased
to reveal His Son in me. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves, it's the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. We're His workmanship, created
in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God ordained before that
we should walk in them, Good works. Turn to Philippians 2.
Listen to this. Philippians chapter 2, verse
12. Philippians 2, verse 12. Paul
is writing to a church in Philippi that had some trouble, had some
people that were strained from one another. He talks about a
couple of ladies there that were leaders and they were on the
outs with each other. Eunice and who was the other one, I
forget, but he told them to get that straightened out. And he
said in verse 12, Philippians 2, My beloved, wherefore my beloved,
as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only. See,
Paul was down there a long time. That's where he met the Philippian
jailer and Lydia, and he started that church. And he said, now
you've worked things out, you've obeyed in my presence, but now
much more in my absence. You work out your deliverance
with fear and tremor. You solve this problem then.
Get it straightened out. He's not talking about the salvation
of your soul, you know that as well as I do. You don't work
that out with fear and tremor or anything else. It's God that
worketh in you, that's right. But when you've got a conflict,
If Riley and I fall out and we don't speak to one another, Paul
says, you fellas get that straightened out now. Not only if I'm down
there to straighten you out, you do it. You work out your
own deliverance with fear and trepidation. You work out. There's
no reason for this sort of thing. Paul, verse 13, it's God that
worketh in you. It's God that'll give you the
grace and the strength and the humility and the meekness to
will and to do his good pleasure. So let's get back to our Titus
3. Now, we were all these ugly things,
and the Lord appeared. He appeared to put away sin to
the sacrifice of Himself. He appeared to us and revealed
Himself to us. And verse 5 says this, listen.
This is our statement of faith. I love this. And it's not by
works of righteousness which we have done. Not at all. Our salvation, our deliverance, our humility, our dependence
on God, our sanctification, our growth in grace. It's not by
works of righteousness, which we did before we were saved,
or which we're doing now, or which we shall do. Not at all. But he says it's according to
his mercy he saved us. It's according to His mercy,
God's mercy. Mercy to the miserable, mercy
to the guilty, mercy to the hopeless, mercy to the helpless, just mercy. Now mercy didn't deserve it.
Somebody said one time, grace is God Almighty giving us what
we don't deserve. Mercy is God not giving us what
we do deserve. So it's by mercy. I obtained
mercy, Paul said. I obtained mercy. All right, watch this now. I
will give you a little help now on this. By the washing of regeneration
and renewing of the Holy Ghost. The washing of regeneration.
What is that washing of regeneration? It's the new birth. We're born
of the water and of the Spirit. And we're washed in regeneration. Now watch this. Turn to 1 Corinthians
6. 1 Corinthians chapter 6. 1 Corinthians chapter 6, verse
10. He talks about these folks here,
verse 10 and 11. Watch it. Nor thieves, nor covetous,
nor drunkard, nor revilers, nor extortioners. They're not going
to inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. That's
on our record. That's in our nature. That's
what we were. But you're washed. Though your
sins be as scarlet, they'll be white as snow. The washing of
regeneration. The washing of the new birth.
Washed in the blood of the Lamb. You're washed, you're sanctified,
you're justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ by the
Spirit of God. Cleanse with the blood. The blood
of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth us from all sin. And that is
in regeneration. It's not something done down
the road. When God says that when we're
born again, we're born of the water, the Word and the Spirit
of God. And we're born pure, white as
the snow, born without sin. Our babies are born in sin, but
we're born without sin. Our regeneration is a washing
process. And then the second statement
there is the renewing of the Holy Ghost. And what that is,
it's newness of life. You at the quickened who were
dead, Now you're alive. You were dead. Now you're alive.
My soul was lost. He restored it. He gave me a
new life. He gave me a new nature. He gave
me a new heart. He gave me a new family. He gave
me a new hope. Everybody who's in Christ is
a new creature. I guess I thought this too when
I was in religion, didn't know the gospel, that when a person
was saved, God remodeled him and remade him and reformed him. Not so. Not so. That old man
hadn't changed an hour. It's a new man. Newness of life. Behold, I make all things new.
There's nothing in the new creature that was there before he met
Christ. That's exactly like we're born
again. He has begotten us again unto
living hope. That's the newness of life. Everything
that has to do with this old man is going to be buried, go
to the grave, never going to be brought out again at all. And the new man in Christ Jesus
goes to be with the Lord. That's what that means. He talks about us loving people,
forgiving people. We ought to be, because we ourselves
were just like that. But when the kindness and love
of our Savior appeared to us, not by works of righteousness
which we did, but solely by mercy. I'll be merciful to whom I will.
I'll be gracious to whom I will. Solely. He washed us in regeneration. made a new person, born of God,
and gave us a new life with new people, new creatures. And verse 6, what's it? All this, this new life, which
he shed on us through Jesus Christ our Lord abundantly. Oh, that's
the word there. That's the word in that verse.
I know we've worked for years on we're justified. God shed
this mercy on us, and it was through Christ, but it's abundant
grace. It's abundant mercy. That's right. Abundant. Abundant. He shed on us abundantly. Where
sin abounded, grace did much more abound. Listen to this scripture. Christ said, I've come that they
might have life and have it more abundantly. It's not just a doctrine. It's
not just a religion. It's not just an association
with a denomination. It's abundant life. Ephesians
3.20, Now unto him that is able to do abundantly, above all that
we ask or think, according to his power that works in us, abundant
life. John 7.38, He that believeth
on me, out of his belly shall flow rivers. of living water,
abundant life. Now, I want you to turn to Psalm
36. This is just an absolutely fabulous reference to what I'm
talking about, which He shed on us through Jesus Christ our
Lord, abundant life. In Psalm 36, now listen. Verse
5, Psalm 36, 5, you have it? Thy mercy, O Lord, is in the
heavens. Thy faithfulness reaches to the clouds. Thy righteousness
is like a great mountain. Thy judgments are great deep.
O Lord, thou preservest man and beast. How excellent is thy lovingkindness,
O God! Therefore the children of men
put their trust under the shadow of thy wings. And they shall
be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house, and
thou shalt make them drink of the rivers of thy pleasure. For
with thee is the fountain of life, and in thy light shall
we see life." This is not Slim Dickens here now. This is abundant,
abundant, abundant life. The Lord is my shepherd. Therefore,
I shall not want. I shall not want for food, for
visions, for rest, for peace, for life, in this life nor that
one to come, because he has given me in him all that I need. My God shall
supply all your need according to his riches and glory through
Christ Jesus. He shed on us abundantly. Watch verse 7, that being justified,
being justified by His grace, we should be made heirs according
to the hope of eternal life. We're sons of God, heirs of God. If they've gotten us into a living
inheritance, sons of God, according to the hope of eternal life. Now watch 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 maintain good works. These things are
good and profitable to men. In closing, Paul uses that statement
four times in his epistles. This is a faithful saying. This
is a faithful saying. And I want you to look at them
in closing. Turn to 1 Timothy 1, verse 15. This is a faithful
saying, 1 Timothy 1, verse 15. What he's saying is a sure saying. It's a saying you depend on. It's a faithful saying, verse
15, and worthy of acceptation by all men. What is it? That Jesus Christ came into the
world as safe centers of whom I'm chief. You believe that?
I do. That's a faithful saying. Now
here's the second one, 1 Timothy 4, verse 8 and 9. 1 Timothy 4, 8 and 9. That's a faithful saying. All
right, here's another one. 1 Timothy 4, 8. Bodily exercise profiteth little. But godliness is profitable in
all things. What's he talking about? Bodily
exercise. Well, he's not talking about
walking down to the park to keep your heart beating and bodily
exercise and running on these treadmills and riding bicycles.
That's not what he's talking about. That's good for you, I'm
sure, but that's not what he's talking about. The bodily exercise he's
talking about here that profits little if rituals and exercises
and ceremonies of religion of bowing, and kneeling, and keeping
days, bodily participation in circles around the room, and
doing all these things, you know, that don't profit you anything.
Washing your hands before you eat, that sort of thing, in a
religious ceremony. Bodily exercises and those things
profit little. But I'll tell you something that
profits in all things, that's godliness. What is that godliness? It's to worship God in spirit.
truth in the heart. It's to rejoice in Christ Jesus,
to believe in him, to rest in him, to trust in him, to love
him. It's to have no confidence in my flesh, or my deeds, or
doings, or duties. All my confidence is in his precious
blood and righteousness. Now he says, this, watch this,
this Bible exercise prophets a little, but godliness Internal
worship is profitable in all things, having the promise of
the life that now is, a happy time in fellowship with God now
and life which is to come. That's a faithful saying. All
right, here's the third one now in 2 Timothy 2. These are powerful
truths. That's the reason I'm reading
them. Christ died for our sins. Worship is internal, not external. Now, here's the third one. In 2 Timothy 2, verse 11, this
is a fateful saying. If we be dead with Christ, we'll
live with him. If we suffer with him, we'll
reign with him. If we deny him, he won't deny
us. Even when our faith slips, if we believe not, we don't,
any of us believe perfectly, yet he abides faithful. He can't
deny himself. That is a faithful saint. My relationship with him, it
doesn't depend on me, it depends on him. I'm not holding on to
him, he's holding on to me. I'm in his hands, he's not in
mine. That's what he's saying. If you died with him on the cross,
you live. You may, like Peter, in a time of fear, even deny
the Lord, but that didn't take him out of Christ. The Lord didn't
deny him. So that's faithful sin. Aren't
those three beautiful ones? Christ died for our sins according
to the scriptures. He died for sinners. Our Lord
Jesus Christ, His true worship, true godliness is internal, not
just going through the motions. Internal, worship God, spirit
and truth. If we died with Him, We live
with him. If we believe him, even though
we believe with the weakest faith, he'll never deny us. Now, here's
the fourth one. In our text, Titus, this reason
I read those, this goes right along with it. This is a faithful
saying, verse 8. And these things I willed I affirm
constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful
to maintain the godly walk and good works. Now these things
are good, and they are profitable unto all men. All right, I'll
let you read those other verses and work on them, but I hope
that's a blessing to you.