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Titus-Msg-18-28 · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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  Speaker 1: Every once in a while I will receive a letter
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  Speaker 1: that will make me stay awake the evening and think
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  Speaker 1: about its contents. One such letter arrived a couple of
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  Speaker 1: weeks ago. Because it ties in so directly with the
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  Speaker 1: message of Titus, I thought I would share part of
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  Speaker 1: it with you, dear Chuck. I was deeply moved by
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  Speaker 1: your talk on Martin Luther. In fact, I tried to
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  Speaker 1: sing with you at the end, but I cried instead.
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  Speaker 1: I feel so small. Our heroes look so big, so deep,
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  Speaker 1: so much better than.
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  Speaker 2: Me.
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  Speaker 1: I'm so comfortable, and I'm so mediocre. I want to
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  Speaker 1: know something. When you were twenty seven where you like
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  Speaker 1: you are now, had you already read all the right books?
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  Speaker 1: Did you know all the hymns? Were you as deep?
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  Speaker 1: Was Christ so real in your life that your words
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  Speaker 1: pierced people's hearts. I ask that because I want to
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  Speaker 1: know if there is any hope for me. I am
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  Speaker 1: not broad nor very deep. I wasn't raised in the church.
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  Speaker 1: I don't know the hymns. I still have to read
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  Speaker 1: all the words. I wasn't raised to be a big
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  Speaker 1: reader either. I want to read the right books, but
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  Speaker 1: I get very frustrated when I go to Christian bookstores.
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  Speaker 1: Who needs books like pray your way to big Bucks?
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  Speaker 1: Or if you're sick, you're a lousy Christian? Or positive
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  Speaker 1: thinking never say sin or a book full of goofy
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  Speaker 1: rhymes to replace talking with God. I've also heard you
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  Speaker 1: say that one becomes like those with whom he spends
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  Speaker 1: his time. I'm surrounded by mediocre people. More I'm mature
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  Speaker 1: than the Lord. The less people I find worth imitating.
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  Speaker 1: I'm not so mature though, that God is the only model.
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  Speaker 1: You're one of my models. I want to know. Are
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  Speaker 1: you like my other models? Like? Do you rip your
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  Speaker 1: wife apart in front of other people? Do you talk
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  Speaker 1: big but turn whimpy when it's time for action? Are
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  Speaker 1: you worth imitating? How can I be excellent? I don't
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  Speaker 1: care about him pressing anyone. I just don't want to
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  Speaker 1: be mediocre. That's a good letter for me to read.
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  Speaker 1: It's convicting. It isn't a stupid letter, he asks, is
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  Speaker 1: this stupid? It isn't stupid. I need to be called
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  Speaker 1: into account by men like that. I need to be asked.
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  Speaker 1: Do I talk big but turn whimpy when it's time
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  Speaker 1: for action? You know what he wants? You know what
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  Speaker 1: that man wants. He wants reassurance. He wants to know
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  Speaker 1: that it's real. He wants the truth. He's tired of
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  Speaker 1: the phoniness connected with preachers that have big mouths. Preachers
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  Speaker 1: with big mouths are a dime a dozen. It's livers
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  Speaker 1: that are rare, Preachers that live what they say, to
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  Speaker 1: use the old cliche, who practice what they preach. That's
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  Speaker 1: why I stay awake at night and think about that letter.
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  Speaker 1: People long to know if the preacher is for real,
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  Speaker 1: if the Christian they work near is for real. They
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  Speaker 1: want to know if the lady that works at the
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  Speaker 1: desk next to me is real for Christianity works and
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  Speaker 1: keeps her from stealing from the company, or keeps him
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  Speaker 1: from cheating on his income tax, if he does his
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  Speaker 1: business right, if he's honest with his finances. I dusted
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  Speaker 1: off one of the old volumes I have on Titus,
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  Speaker 1: and it's by doctor Ironside. Ha Ironside, and way back then,
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  Speaker 1: he writes, never was there a time when the necessity
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  Speaker 1: of practical piety was so marked as in the days
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  Speaker 1: in which our lot is cast. Loose doctrine makes for
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  Speaker 1: loose living. On the other hand, it is quite possible
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  Speaker 1: to contend earnestly for fundamental principles when the life is
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  Speaker 1: anything but consistent with the profession. All this brings us
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  Speaker 1: directly into the Book of Titus, and I am so
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  Speaker 1: grateful this simple three chapter, forty six verse book is
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  Speaker 1: included in the New Testament. Unfortunately, it almost seems like
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  Speaker 1: a bookend, pushing up next to second Timothy and holding
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  Speaker 1: up that great book or first Timothy. And you pass
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  Speaker 1: quickly even to Phileman. And people know phi Leman better
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  Speaker 1: than they know Titus. We certainly know Timothy better than
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  Speaker 1: we know Titus. Timothy, where Paul says, teach sound doctrine,
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  Speaker 1: it's in Timothy where Paul says guard the Gospel. It's
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  Speaker 1: in Timothy that Paul says, preach the word, be consistent
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  Speaker 1: in season and out of season. That's Timothy. And those
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  Speaker 1: words are etched in our mind. The school where I
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  Speaker 1: trained in Seminary chose as its motto from two Timothy,
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  Speaker 1: preach the word. That's Timothy. And here'sits Titus gotten little letter.
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  Speaker 1: But all of the exhortation, and all of the strong doctrine,
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  Speaker 1: and all of the charge and motion of the Timothy
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  Speaker 1: letters really have nothing to offer if there isn't a
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  Speaker 1: life to back it up. And that's Titus. Titus is saying,
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  Speaker 1: I dare you to preach that way and not live
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  Speaker 1: that way. I dare you to talk about the doctrine
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  Speaker 1: of godliness and not deal with it in your life.
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  Speaker 1: Your deeds deny or underscore the doctrine you claim. That's Titus.
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  Speaker 1: Titus letter says, give attention to your behavior just as
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  Speaker 1: much as you do to your belief. I think it's
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  Speaker 1: implying if you don't do that, bet, don't talk so much.
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  Speaker 1: Quit preaching now. The man who got the letter bears
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  Speaker 1: its name Titus. He he is a Greek. He was
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  Speaker 1: one of Paul's converts, a close friend he became. In fact,
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  Speaker 1: it seems as though Titus was one of those men
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  Speaker 1: with whom Paul traveled on difficult journeys. He would take Paul.
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  Speaker 1: He would take Titus with him, for example, to talk
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  Speaker 1: with Peter about his his duplicity. It was it was
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  Speaker 1: alongside Titus that Paul reproved Peter for playing one hand
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  Speaker 1: against another, playing the role of a jew, and then
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  Speaker 1: when the gentiles were there, acting the part of a
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  Speaker 1: gentile and Titus was alongside Paul at that time of reproof.
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  Speaker 1: He was a man who apparently had great inner fiber,
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  Speaker 1: sufficient inner fiber to be left in a lonely place
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  Speaker 1: to help establish the saints in the truth of God
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  Speaker 1: see verse five. For this reason, I left you on
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  Speaker 1: crete that you might set in order. What remains we
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  Speaker 1: look at the rest of it in a moment. The
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  Speaker 1: location of the letter is, of course, the island in
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  Speaker 1: the Mediterranean named Crete. Now, as I say that, I'm
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  Speaker 1: prompted to add that an island is a deceiving place.
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  Speaker 1: Most of us have spent some leisure time on an island,
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  Speaker 1: whether it's Catalina or Hawaii, or one of the Grecian islands,
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  Speaker 1: or perhaps one of the one of the islands in
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  Speaker 1: the Caribbean. They're wonderful places to relax. But I don't
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  Speaker 1: know of an island where it is easy to have
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  Speaker 1: a ministry. Our temptation is to say, when we come
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  Speaker 1: to an island like that, oh, that God would call
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  Speaker 1: me here to minister on this island. You talk to
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  Speaker 1: people that live on any of those islands and ask
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  Speaker 1: them what it's like ministering there year in and year out,
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  Speaker 1: and they'll tell you another story. It's been my observation
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  Speaker 1: on the few islands I have been on that these
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  Speaker 1: places are marked by slow growth, a great deal of tradition,
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  Speaker 1: the work of cults and the Eastern religions, a lazy,
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  Speaker 1: laid back kind of mentality, and a confused theology. And
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  Speaker 1: you wrap all that up together and add to it
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  Speaker 1: church splits, a transient kind of people, pastors that don't
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  Speaker 1: stay very many years, and you've got the makings of
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  Speaker 1: madness in the churches on islands. Paul left Timothy at
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  Speaker 1: left Titus. See it's so much a part of me
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  Speaker 1: to use Timothy instead of Titus that he doesn't even
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  Speaker 1: get the press he deserves. Paul left Titus on that
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  Speaker 1: island and not Timothy. Paul left Titus with the kind
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  Speaker 1: of fiber that this man had to do that job.
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  Speaker 1: I have a copied the words from one writer on
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  Speaker 1: this chart we've given you. Let me just read the
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  Speaker 1: words to you. Titus was the man for a tough assignment.
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  Speaker 1: Titus clearly had the strength of mind and toughness of
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  Speaker 1: fiber which enabled him to face and to handle difficult situations.
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  Speaker 1: There are two kinds of people, people who can make
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  Speaker 1: a bad situation worse, and people who can bring order
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  Speaker 1: out of chaos. Titus was the man to send to
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  Speaker 1: the place where there was trouble. There was trouble on
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  Speaker 1: the island of Crete in the church. So when Paul
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  Speaker 1: writes to Titus, Titus has several needs. One is the
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  Speaker 1: need for encouragement. If you have ever ministered alone on
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  Speaker 1: an island, you understand. If you have ever ministered alone
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  Speaker 1: in a place where there has been trouble, you understand.
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  Speaker 1: He needed encouragement. That was one of his needs. Second,
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  Speaker 1: Titus needed some help with some particular people who were
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  Speaker 1: becoming difficult to deal with, and so Paul, in writing Titus,
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  Speaker 1: gives him information on how to handle him. Now, I
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  Speaker 1: hurried over verse five, and I want to go back
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  Speaker 1: for a moment and look at it. It's kind of
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  Speaker 1: the kernel of the whole message. When you look at
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  Speaker 1: the history of this letter. I left you on crete
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  Speaker 1: that you might set in order what remains. Now, we
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  Speaker 1: often place emphasis on the setting in order, and that's
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  Speaker 1: important because that's the positive side, but we haven't thought
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  Speaker 1: much about what remains. Pause and meditate on that. After
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  Speaker 1: a church splits, it's that which remains that the next
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  Speaker 1: man has to pick up the pieces and build on.
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  Speaker 1: After there has been a squabble, a fight, a battle royal,
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  Speaker 1: and an assembly, that which remains is that which is
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  Speaker 1: following the fight. In this case, it could mean things
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  Speaker 1: left undone. It could mean things that survive. The Greek
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  Speaker 1: term set in order is a compound word meaning to
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  Speaker 1: set straight thoroughly and to do a clean job of it.
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  Speaker 1: At Robertson, an old Baptist scholar of yesteryear, writes, the
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  Speaker 1: new pastor faces problems after the tornado has passed. I
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  Speaker 1: thought that was a word of wisdom from that man.
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  Speaker 1: Many a man this very night is facing the church
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  Speaker 1: after the tornado. They are the unsung heroes of the
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  Speaker 1: Church of Jesus Christ. If you know of one, you
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  Speaker 1: spend your extra moments praying for that Titus today, who
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  Speaker 1: is working on that which remains. There are certain missionary
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  Speaker 1: types that are good placed in an area where there
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  Speaker 1: has been trouble, to calm and to settle, and to
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  Speaker 1: solve and to soothe the nerves that are that are
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  Speaker 1: on a raw edge. Titus was that kind of man.
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  Speaker 1: He's sent to pick up the pieces of a splintered ministry,
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  Speaker 1: perhaps to set in order some things that have never
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  Speaker 1: been set right, perhaps, and he's going to do it
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  Speaker 1: on an island, for there isn't much around to applaud,
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  Speaker 1: and there aren't big crowds to encourage him. Here's Titus
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  Speaker 1: slugging it out a rare man. Now, the letter is
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  Speaker 1: not complicated. It is a letter that is encouraging Titus
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  Speaker 1: to mix well, good teaching and good living. Blend them, Titus,
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  Speaker 1: marry them, model them in your life. You'd be the
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  Speaker 1: healing agent. If you can't find it around you, you
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  Speaker 1: model it now. After a four verse introduction, and you
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  Speaker 1: may wish to just look on the other side of
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  Speaker 1: this outline and take a look at the chart. After
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  Speaker 1: a four verse introduction, we move into a section in
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  Speaker 1: the balance of chapter one I will call taking charge.
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  Speaker 1: I think Paul is saying to Titus, take charge. I've
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  Speaker 1: put you there for a purpose that has a positive
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  Speaker 1: and a negative philosophy. The positive part is to appoint
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  Speaker 1: elders in every city as I directed you. Verse five
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  Speaker 1: concludes with those words, you're to have the right kind
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  Speaker 1: of leadership, if you are to have the right kind
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  Speaker 1: of church. I have never in my life, nor do
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  Speaker 1: I expect ever to see a church that is really moving,
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  Speaker 1: doing a job without leadership, without the right kind of leadership.
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  Speaker 1: And as the church grows and enlarges and impacts a
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  Speaker 1: larger segment of the body, the broader must be the leadership,
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  Speaker 1: and the greater must be the delegation of responsibility, or
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  Speaker 1: by and by the single person who tries to do
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  Speaker 1: it all will crack one way or the other. He will,
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  Speaker 1: in exhaustion, have a breakdown emotional or physical or both.
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  Speaker 1: Or he will begin to believe his own stuff and
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  Speaker 1: become a dictator, or in blind spots he will fall
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  Speaker 1: into morral decay. One man rulership doesn't work, Paul says
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  Speaker 1: to to Titus, put together the right kind of leadership
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  Speaker 1: in every city, and have got to be the right
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  Speaker 1: kind of men. Verses six through nine describe the qualities
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  Speaker 1: needed above reproach one woman, man having children who believe,
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  Speaker 1: not accused of dissipation and rebellion. He must be above
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  Speaker 1: reproach as God steward, not self willed, quick tempered, addicted
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  Speaker 1: to wine, pugnacious or greedy, but hospitable, loving what is good, sensible,
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  Speaker 1: just devout, self controlled, holding fast the faithful word, which
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  Speaker 1: is in accordance with the teaching. Why that each one
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  Speaker 1: might be a model, that each elder, that each leader
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  Speaker 1: may be able both to exhort in sound doctrine and
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  Speaker 1: refute those who contradict. Now with that, he turns to
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  Speaker 1: the negative. There are going to be those that contradict.
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  Speaker 1: When you have strong godly leadership, invariably you will find
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  Speaker 1: strong ungodly influences. So the godly leadership must be able
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  Speaker 1: to contradict or stand against those that don't agree. And
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  Speaker 1: the next section has to do with the rebels. Ten
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  Speaker 1: through sixteen, or really ten through fifteen describe the negative
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  Speaker 1: side of leadership, and it isn't a happy picture. There
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  Speaker 1: are many rebellious men. This is why there has to
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  Speaker 1: be the right kind of leaders. I think the chapters
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  Speaker 1: divide into three questions. Who verses one to four? What
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  Speaker 1: verses five to nine? And why verses ten to sixteen?
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  Speaker 1: Why do I have to have the right kind of leader?
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  Speaker 1: Because they're rebellious men, many of them. They're empty talkers,
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  Speaker 1: they're deceivers, especially those of the circumcision. They're Jews. They've
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  Speaker 1: got the right roots, but they haven't the truth. Look
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  Speaker 1: at what he says about them. They must be silenced
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  Speaker 1: because they upset whole families, teaching things they should not
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  Speaker 1: teach for the sake of greed. They're in it for
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  Speaker 1: the money. When then he even quotes one of their
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  Speaker 1: own prophets, creatures are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.
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  Speaker 1: The testimony is true for this cause, forget them. Why
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  Speaker 1: aren't you glad? He doesn't say that, I'm glad. He
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  Speaker 1: doesn't say, turn your back on him and go your
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  Speaker 1: way and build your own little island within an island,
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  Speaker 1: and you have this body of truth, and don't let
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  Speaker 1: anybody in that's going to disagree. You just keep your
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  Speaker 1: own little group. Doesn't do that, He says, you roll
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  Speaker 1: up your sleeves, and you reprove them. See how for
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  Speaker 1: this cause, reprove them severely. They may be sound in
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  Speaker 1: the faith, not paying attention to myths commandments of men
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  Speaker 1: who turn away from the truth. And then he gives
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  Speaker 1: sort of a philosophy to the pure. All things are
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  Speaker 1: pure to those who are defiled and unbelieving. Nothing is pure,
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  Speaker 1: but their mind and conscience are defiled. Now before the
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  Speaker 1: chapter ends, he very graciously sets before Titus a balanced
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  Speaker 1: kind of charge. He says to Titus, they profess to
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  Speaker 1: know God, but by their deeds they deny him. Notice
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  Speaker 1: how they tie together belief and behavior, doctrine and deeds.
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  Speaker 1: They profess out of their mouth come big actions, but
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  Speaker 1: when it comes time for the truth, they turn whimpy.
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  Speaker 1: They don't have the goods. What they really have is
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  Speaker 1: a verbal message without a life to back it up.
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  Speaker 1: They are detestable, disobedient, and worthless in that state. That's
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  Speaker 1: the point. Now there's a strong implication for Titus, but
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  Speaker 1: he comes to that in a moment. He's just setting
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  Speaker 1: him up for his application. You get to chapter two.
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  Speaker 1: We're no longer taking charge. We're now giving advice, and
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  Speaker 1: Paul gives Titus some good advice on some specific situations
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  Speaker 1: and groups of people in the church at Creede. As
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  Speaker 1: for you, now you're going to be different. By their deeds,
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  Speaker 1: they deny the one they say they speak of, But
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  Speaker 1: for you, you speak the things that are fitting for
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  Speaker 1: sound doctrine. Now, if you've got your pen handy, I'd
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  Speaker 1: like you to underscore several groups of people. Oh, before
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  Speaker 1: I do that, let me read one more thought from Ironside.
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  Speaker 1: I thought this was good in light of this difference
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  Speaker 1: between the preacher of truth and the hypocrite. Men will
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  Speaker 1: forgive a preacher if he is not eloquent or highly cultured.
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  Speaker 1: They will forgive him if he lacks in personal attractiveness,
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  Speaker 1: or even in wisdom. But they will never forgive him
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  Speaker 1: if he is insincere. He who handles holy things must
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  Speaker 1: himself live in the power of them. His speech is
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  Speaker 1: to be as sound as his life and teaching, in
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  Speaker 1: order that those opposed to him may be put to shame, when,
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  Speaker 1: like the enemies of Daniel, they can find no evil
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  Speaker 1: thing to say against him. The man who is a
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  Speaker 1: preacher of righteousness ought have his files absolutely open to
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  Speaker 1: whoever wishes to look. His private life is as much
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  Speaker 1: at the disposal of the public as his public life.
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  Speaker 1: He can speak with the ring of a clear bell
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  Speaker 1: because he knows there isn't some shadow or some haunting
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  Speaker 1: image he has to hide lest he be found out. Titus,
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  Speaker 1: I want that kind of life for you, so that
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  Speaker 1: when men write letters like that, you're able to answer them,
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  Speaker 1: You're able to appreciate them, You're able to search and
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  Speaker 1: ask is that true of me? Now? Titus. In doing
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  Speaker 1: the job as a leader in the Assembly, there are
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  Speaker 1: certain people that need attention. You got your pen ready
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  Speaker 1: Verse two. Older men say some things to the older constituency,
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  Speaker 1: the older men older women Verse three. They are to
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  Speaker 1: have certain truths given to them. They are to be
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  Speaker 1: reverent in their behavior, not malicious gossips or enslaved to
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  Speaker 1: much wine, teaching what is good. In fact, they have
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  Speaker 1: a ministry with the younger women. That's another one to
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  Speaker 1: underline young women. We have begun a ministry in our
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  Speaker 1: church called the Titus Love Connection TLC. We're hoping to
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  Speaker 1: engage older women with the younger women in ministry with
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  Speaker 1: one another, so that we carry out and practice the
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  Speaker 1: truth of Titus two, three and four. How many older
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  Speaker 1: women feel that their lives are spent over and done with,
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  Speaker 1: they have nothing more to contribute, when in fact they're
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  Speaker 1: carrying with them more wisdom than they've ever known in
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  Speaker 1: their lives. But there is a need to harness that
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  Speaker 1: power and channel that wisdom into younger minds that are
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  Speaker 1: often at the mercy of the media and the cheap
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  Speaker 1: novels available today and the silly soaps that are out
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  Speaker 1: there telling you a certain message of the way to live,
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: and the stupid counsel of the worlding winning the hearing
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  Speaker 1: of the younger older women are to ministered to the
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  Speaker 1: younger women to love their husbands and to love their children,
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  Speaker 1: and to be sensible and pure, and workers at home,
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  Speaker 1: and kind and subject to their own husbands, that the
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  Speaker 1: word of God may not be dishonored. It's right there,
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: underscore young men. Verse six. Likewise, urge the young men
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  Speaker 1: to be sensible by the way he likes that word. Sensible, elders, sensible,
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  Speaker 1: older people, sensible, younger women, younger men sensible, and verse seven,
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  Speaker 1: in all old things, don't forget yourself. Underline yourself right there,
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  Speaker 1: you tit us be an example of good deeds, with
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: purity and doctrine, dignified sound in speech which is beyond reproach.
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  Speaker 1: Why that the opponent may be put to shame. There
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: is nothing that silences the enemy like a godly life.
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  Speaker 1: Remember that where you work before and above and beyond
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: all the passing out of tracts, as essential as you
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: may feel, that is, is the passing out of your life.
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  Speaker 1: The living of the message in your neighborhood, the living
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: of the message on the trip with your business friends,
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: the living of the message at the conventions, the living
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: of the message with other u of the same profession. You, Titus,
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: you be one that puts to shame the opponents nothing
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: bad to say about us. By the way, isn't that interesting?
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: I just saw that Titus is told in a singular
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: word to be an example singular of good deeds, so
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  Speaker 1: that the enemy would have nothing bad to say about us.
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  Speaker 1: Plural one. Poor testimony impacts that same group in a
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  Speaker 1: larger circle of the same profession. How long has it
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: taken some of you to get over a bad experience
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: with a hypocritical preacher? How long will it take some
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: of you to finally forgive and to go on having
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: been impacted by a Christian liar or a deceiver? See one.
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: But it impacts a broad base of others in the
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: same group. Now, use you're still underlining urge the bond
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: slaves Verse nine. That's a good thought. That's you at work,
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: you say, Now, that's good. That's a good illustration of
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: me at work. A bond slave to be subject to
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: their masters. Now, if you're a master, underlying that you're
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: an employer, and you have bond slaves that work in
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: your salt mind to be subject and everything to be
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: well pleasing, not argumentative? Are you argumentative? Are you well
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: pleasing where you work? Are you that kind of employee?
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: The scripture speaks of that, not pilfering, not taking what
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: is not yours, but showing good faith that they may
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: adore in the doctrine of God, our savior in every respect.
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: You see there it is again your life stands like
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: a beautiful jewel, like an like a radiant gem in
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: the setting of where you work, and its silence is
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: the critic of Christianity. Now with that, Paul turns to
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: a great doctrinal moment. He's good at that, for the
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men.
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: And what has grace taught? What has grace said to us?
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: Has it said? To live as you please? Because it
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: covers all doesn't matter really how you live, doesn't matter
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: how you square your life with scripture. It just really
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: matters that you claim grace and live as you please.
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: Look carefully. Grace instructs us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires.
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: Grace instructs us positively to live sensibly. There it is again,
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: righteously and godly in this present age, and the interesting
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: Verse eleven is the past at salvation you were saved,
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: It brought salvation. Verse twelve is the present. It currently
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: instructs us to do these things or not do these things.
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: And then grace impacts the future at verse thirteen, looking
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: of our great God and Savior Christ Jesus. And what
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: was he like? Well, he had a life that backed
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: up what his lips said. He gave himself for us,
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  Speaker 1: that he might redeem us from every lawless deed and
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: purify for himself a people for his own possessions, zealous
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: for good works. There it is again. Now look at
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: the last verse. These things Titus speak exhort reprove with authority,
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: Let no one disregard you. The ending there caught me
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: up short. I didn't know what that meant. It's a
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: fascinating term. It appears only here in all the New
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: Testament translated disregard you know what it means literally, it
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: means to think around. Let no one outthink you. It's okay, Titus.
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: If others can outpreach you, it's okay, Titus. If others
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: can even outread you, or outsing you, but don't let
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: anybody else outthink you. And it's connected with the word authority.
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: One of the ways that the pastor of a church
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: continually earns the role of authority is by his thinking.
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: He thinks before he speaks, he thinks before he preaches,
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: He thinks about the ministry, he works on it in
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: his mind. He works on the argument of his message,
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: on the philosophy of his ministry. And this applies to
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: all pastors in all parts of the work of a church,
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: in all levels of the staff. Don't lose that respect
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: of authority people have for your profession because they're able
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: to outthink you or see through that. By the way,
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: it's an interesting thought that the minister is not one
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: of authority because he's a good entertainer, he's a good thinker,
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: he has a reputation for doing his homework. I don't
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: have a better way to put it. Don't hit from
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: the hip, don't wing it. Have thought behind what you teach,
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: because people are going to think and form opinions about
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: ministry and Christ and the church, and furthermore about you
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: and what you stand for on the basis of how
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: you think. Let no one think around you and therefore
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: disregard you. Finally, chapter three, he's talking about doing right.
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: Remind him to be subject to rulers, to authorities, to
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: be obedient, to be ready for every good deed, to
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: malign no one. It's a mouthful of things we can
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: just whip through here. To be uncontentious, to be gentle,
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: showing every consideration for all men. We're talking about people
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: that have authority. We're talking about elders and leaders, and
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: older women that let lead younger women, and husbands and
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: masters and bond slaves. And he's singing to all of
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: us to be gentle, to show consideration for people, not
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: to play spiritual king of the mountain, not to bully
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: people around, or to push him in a corner and
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: intimidate them or pull rank on them. Be gentle, don't
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: be foolish, for he describes how they once were Verse three.
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: We were once foolish, disobedient and deceived, and enslaved to
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: various lusts and pleasures, and we spent our life in
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: malice and envy and hateful and hating one another. You
• 35:19
  Speaker 1: remember those days, You remember those days when you were
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: at the mercy of your emotions. Remember the days when
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: you had no power to change your life, when sin
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: was your master, when you woke up in the morning
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: and you were driven by lust. All day long, you
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: were driven by lust to the evening, you were driven
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: by it, and you had no way of getting out
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: of that horrible, horrible vortex as it sucked you in
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: day after day. Says, that's the way we were. We
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: were like that. We hated people, and we were hateful
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: in ourselves. But he said, grace of God came to
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: our rescue Verse five, He saved us. I love this passage.
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: He saved us not on the basis of deeds which
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: we did and righteous. That wasn't how we got saved,
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: on us richly through Christ, that being declared righteous by
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: His grace, we might be made heirs according to the
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: hope of eternal life. And now sort of the key
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: verse of the whole book, this is a trustworthy statement
• 36:20
  Speaker 1: concerning these things. I want you to speak confidently so
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: that those who have believed may be careful to engage
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: in good deeds. Before I close, I want to say
• 36:34
  Speaker 1: a word about the next three verses because they helped
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: me at a time in my life when I wrestled
• 36:39
  Speaker 1: greatly with a particular individual who was giving me grief,
• 36:42
  Speaker 1: and I dried to do all the right things, and
• 36:45
  Speaker 1: I kept coming up against this brick wall, this savage
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: kind of individual, this person that would not would not listen,
• 36:54
  Speaker 1: and would not reconcile. Then God showed me Titus three
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: ten to eleven. Let me give you verse nine. Shun
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: foolish controversies in genealogies, strife and disputes about the law,
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: these theoretical arguments. They're unprofitable and worthless. Now reject a
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: factious man. Watch this carefully reject a factious man after
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: a first and second warning, knowing that such a man
• 37:21
  Speaker 1: is perverted and is sinning being self condemned. Wow, that
• 37:29
  Speaker 1: helped me immensely. I had dealt with this factious individual
• 37:33
  Speaker 1: time after time, not twice or three times, but it
• 37:36
  Speaker 1: seemed like for well over a year. Said the things
• 37:40
  Speaker 1: that should have been said, and I set them with
• 37:42
  Speaker 1: the right spirit, and I kept coming up against this wall,
• 37:45
  Speaker 1: this resistance that I came across this passage. Some individuals
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: are relentlessly savage. They will not repent, and they give
• 37:59
  Speaker 1: a pastor. If a pastor continues to try over and
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: over and over again to win that person, this person
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: is to be rejected Verse ten. Why well, let me
• 38:13
  Speaker 1: read a couple of paraphrases. The Phillip says, if a
• 38:16
  Speaker 1: man is still argumentative after the second warning, you should
• 38:19
  Speaker 1: reject him. You can be sure he has a moral twist,
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: and he knows it the New English Bible. A man
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: of that sort has a distorted mind and stands self
• 38:33
  Speaker 1: condemned in his sin. You see, he's fighting himself, but
• 38:39
  Speaker 1: you become the scapegoat. How many pastors today are scapegoats
• 38:44
  Speaker 1: of a factious savage and they're wishing somehow to win
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: that individual and to turn him and to bring him
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: to repentance. He is not going to change, and that
• 38:56
  Speaker 1: is through the efforts of that particular pastor. Titus and
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: pastor today reject him after a second warning. You've done it.
• 39:09
  Speaker 1: This individual is perverted in sinning and self condemn If
• 39:15
  Speaker 1: you're a member of an elder board and your pastor
• 39:17
  Speaker 1: and you happen to be listening to this message right now,
• 39:20
  Speaker 1: and a pastor in particular assembly where you are is
• 39:23
  Speaker 1: just drained and broken and just about to walk away
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: from it all. Help him out, help him know that
• 39:33
  Speaker 1: he cannot win them all, help him go on with
• 39:37
  Speaker 1: his ministry. He closes with a very personal word, and
• 39:43
  Speaker 1: then he signs off by saying, Grace be with all
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: of you. Three things stand out, and I get them
• 39:49
  Speaker 1: from three verses Titus one sixteen. They profess to know God,
• 39:55
  Speaker 1: and by their deeds they deny him. Here's the first,
• 39:57
  Speaker 1: deeds defend or deny our doctrine. Let me live with
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: you for long enough, and I'll tell you your doctrine.
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: You watch me long enough and you'll know my doctrine.
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: Deeds defend or deny our doctrine. Second, from Chapter two,
• 40:19
  Speaker 1: verses eleven and twelve, the grace of God has appeared,
• 40:22
  Speaker 1: bringing salvation, instructing us to deny on godliness, et cetera.
• 40:27
  Speaker 1: Grace guards godliness. It doesn't cheapen it. Let's use the
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: word elevate. Grace elevates godliness. It doesn't cheapen it. True
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: godliness is the product of grace. Never could be possible
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: without it. Grace elevates godliness, it never cheapens it. And
• 40:49
  Speaker 1: the third is in this three to eight verse that
• 40:51
  Speaker 1: I call the key verse of the book. It's a
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: lot like the first one. Behavior verifies belief, Behavior verify
• 41:07
  Speaker 1: his belief. The greatest checkpoint is just to watch a
• 41:11
  Speaker 1: person's life. How easy it is to talk big but
• 41:19
  Speaker 1: turn whimpy when it's time for action. I love the
• 41:23
  Speaker 1: story of the British pastor who had spoken strongly to
• 41:26
  Speaker 1: a large congregation on Sunday of honesty. He preached his
• 41:32
  Speaker 1: heart out, and the next morning he caught the trolley
• 41:34
  Speaker 1: to go back to his urban ministry, and the driver
• 41:38
  Speaker 1: of the vehicle gave him too much change. And he
• 41:42
  Speaker 1: walked back and he sat down on a finger, the
• 41:44
  Speaker 1: shillings in his hand, and he thought, first my, how
• 41:47
  Speaker 1: wonderful God provides and in such surprising ways. But the
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: longer he sat, the hotter the coins became, and the
• 41:55
  Speaker 1: less he could live with himself. And so when he
• 41:58
  Speaker 1: came to his stop, he walked up to the front,
• 42:00
  Speaker 1: and before getting off, he gave the excess change back
• 42:03
  Speaker 1: to the driver, and he said, you accidentally gave me
• 42:05
  Speaker 1: too much change, And the driver said, oh no, it
• 42:08
  Speaker 1: wasn't an accident. See I was in your congregation yesterday
• 42:11
  Speaker 1: morning when you spoke on honesty, and I thought I'd
• 42:13
  Speaker 1: put it to the test and see if it was true.
• 42:21
  Speaker 1: Not all checkpoints are that overt, but sometime they occur
• 42:25
  Speaker 1: when we least expect them. Father, open our eyes to
• 42:32
  Speaker 1: the truth of what we are hearing and what we
• 42:33
  Speaker 1: are doing. Show us the value of a balance between
• 42:39
  Speaker 1: doctrine and duty, belief and behavior. May we hear your
• 42:45
  Speaker 1: voice this evening, in these quiet moments of worship, in
• 42:50
  Speaker 1: the name of Christ. Amen.
• 42:56
  Speaker 2: The preceding message, Titus Plain Talk for Pastors, was copyrighted
• 43:00
  Speaker 2: in nineteen eighty two, and the sound recording was copyrighted
• 43:03
  Speaker 2: in twenty twelve by Charles R. Swindall, Inc. All rights
• 43:07
  Speaker 2: are reserved worldwide.