Titus 1:4a

Titus chapter 1 and verse 4 we’ll be looking at the first part of this verse tonight to Titus my own son after the common faith grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Savior may God bless to us His sacred and holy word this evening a story is told about John Ruskin, who was a famous artist. One day a lady who was a friend of his showed him a handkerchief that was made a very precious material. However, there was a blot of indelible ink that had been splattered on the handkerchief. The lady was lamenting to Ruskin that this very valuable handkerchief was ruined beyond repair. Rushkin asked if he might have it. He says, well, yeah, you can have it, but I don’t know what you’re going to be able to do with it. Some days later, Ruskin brought the handkerchief back to her. Beginning from that blot, making the blot the center of the whole matter, Ruskin had drawn the most intricate and delicate pattern and design so that he made some that was ruined beautiful. You know, the salvation of God is like that. He takes ruined sinners, fallen in Adam, and makes something beautiful out of them. Changes them forever. You can actually see the marvelous transformation take place in the lives of people brought to salvation in Jesus Christ. Paul has introduced this letter. He’s spoken about his call to be an apostle, a sent one, in order to preach the word of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Now, the purpose of this preaching was to bring to the faith the elect of God. In other words, the manifestation of God’s word is meant to bring God’s people out of darkness and into the kingdom of God’s dear son. So the gospel of God provides the hope of eternal life for God, who doesn’t lie, promised that in Jesus Christ, even before the world began, as he tells us in verse 2. The apostle writes this letter to a person who knows the truth about what Paul has written. He writes to Titus, Mine own son, after the common faith. But of course this epistle is not just written for Titus’ benefit, but for the benefit of the church there at Crete, and also, of course, for our benefit, even today, as the people of God. Let me begin by saying this, consider your unworthiness before salvation, Titus. What do you know about the person? of Titus. Well, as his name indicates, Titus was a Gentile. He, by nation, is said to be a Greek, according to Galatians, 2,3. He was born of heathen parents, received a heathen education, no doubt, of worldly wisdom, and following the philosophers of Greece. In his early years, he was certainly totally ignorant. of the ways of salvation in Jesus Christ. Indeed, he was without God in the world, without Christ, and without hope. He was a stranger to the covenants of promise. He was uncircumcised as a non-Israelite. He had no idea about the covenant made with Abraham and the promise of the seed to come, the Lord Jesus Christ. He lived in spiritual darkness. and yet out of this sad and hopeless state, Titus is brought to faith in Christ. His name means truly honorable. That was a misnomer before he was converted. But we have to say that now, by the grace of God, he is someone truly honorable. Because God grace has changed his life. After his salvation, he accompanied Paul and many of his missionary. trips. He is called a partner and a co-worker of Paul. He seems to have been a more forceful individual and character than Timothy. Perhaps he was older, maybe he was more mature than Timothy. Remember, Paul at one point had to say, don’t let anybody despise your youth when he spoke to Timothy. Paul often entrusted Titus with some crucial tags. Outstanding among them, you recall was the delicate mission when he had to go to Corinth. The Corinthians had promised that they were going to take a collection up for the poor saints at Jerusalem who were undergoing, I guess, some type of famine in the land at the time, and they had a very difficult time. And so Paul would emphasize the need to provide for their physical needs, because they had provided by sending out missionaries for Gentiles to be benefited spiritually. And so they had promised this. And Paul, you know, taking them at their word, he goes around to other churches and different parts of the continent of Europe. And he’s telling them, oh, the Corinthians, you know, they’re going to give and so forth. And so forth, so to encourage other people to give. well, they hadn’t taken up the collection. And Paul realizes that delegates from these other churches are going to be heading for Corinth very shortly. And he said, it would be embarrassing if they come, not only for you, but for me too, if they come, and you haven’t taken a collection up, and we have to sort of force your hand to do it. He says, I want you to do it willingly, cheerfully, not because, you know, you got caught in a situation where now you have your force to do it. So who does he send? Times running out. He sends Titus for this delicate mission. And so he manages to talk to them and encourage them and they make the collection so everything turns out okay in the end. But Titus seems to be a man with gifts of leadership and oversight, organization. And so he leaves him on Crete. here before the other before these groups of individuals are formulated into churches. They’re not formulated yet. They don’t have any elders. And notice verse 5, for this cause they left thee in Crete that thou should have said in order the things that are wanting and ordain elders in every city as I appointed thee. So we have some of these loose congregations. No elders at this point. And so he sends Titus to handle this part. of the duty and the work of the ministry here. And in many ways, Titus was often used as a troubleshooter, if you would, by the Apostle Paul. But we see this amazing transformation. He’s not what he used to be, but by the grace of God, look what he is now. As a helper and assistance, the Apostle Paul himself. We have a lesson here about the grace of God in saving unworthy sinners. If you look at Titus and you might say, well, why would God save Titus? What did he have in him that would have moved God to save him? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. He was a heathen parents, pagan country, godless education. So why was he called? Why should he be raised up to serve God in this important duty of being a missionary helper? Well, it’s the power of God’s grace. It breaks through the, the strongest opposition that confronts it. You know, we talk about irresistible grace. When God has decided to pluck someone from the burning, he plucks them. There’s no question about it. Here’s a man that’s born and raised without the benefit of the presence of the Word of God, and he had to please the Lord to reach out and save Titus. And he does the Lord. this in many cases. You know, there are people who have access to the Word of God all their life, may have even taught from their younger years, who are not converted. And yet, here’s a man who is converted, because that was God’s purpose. He was one of God’s elect people. Where sin abounds, God’s grace does much more about. That’s one of the greatest things about divine grace. It makes you ponder. It’s one of those things you wonder. It puts you in that situation where you wonder about how God does this. I told you about my friend Ricky Austin, who was in the seminary. He was a sweetmate of mine in seminary. And before he was converted, he was in gangs, he was in drugs. He was in knife fights with gangs, chain fights, and everything else. And when you walked into his room, we each had, there was, like, two people in a room, and there was a, in between there was a bathroom with four sinks and a shower and a commode. And then there was two rooms on the other side. So I, you know, we would be running into each other all the time. So we’d be talking, and I went over to his side, and I’m talking to him, and on his bulletin board, but they had a little desk for everybody in there, and they’re on their side of the room. On his bulletin bar, he had two pictures. Now, the first picture was his mugshot when he was arrested with the numbers underneath it from the police station. And you look at this picture and you’re like, that’s Ricky Austin. And it was like long red hair. I mean, he had this red hair and he was like down to his knees. He looked haggard, he had this scow on his face. He looked very rough. And then right beside that picture, he had a picture. He had a picture of himself, clean cut, shaved, smiling with short hair. And he said, that’s what I was before God saved me. That’s not, this is what I am now. It was very stark just to see the difference that God made in this man’s life. That’s what we’re talking about when we talk about the grace of God saving people. A lot of you know about George Mueller, but did you know what he was. was before he became the man of all those different orphanages that he had. At the age of 16, in Bristol, England, he was imprisoned for theft. Later, he attended a university. He lived a hard drinking, reckless, immoral life. He acted dishonestly, even with his friends. They couldn’t trust him. At 20 years of age, He came under the influence of the scriptures, and God miraculously changed his life. It was like a metamorphosis. This man, who had been a thief, was now so utterly a new creature in Christ that the whole course of his life changed. It was like a completely new person. Indeed, he gave away of the money that was sent to him. for personal use, no less than $135,000. That was a lot in those days. And the principle of Ephesians 4 about a former thief, let him steal no more, but work with his hands that he may give to the person in need, he seemed to be taking that to heart. Not only did he end up pastoring a church, but he of charge of five immense orphanages, which created a tremendous need. for cash, and it led to an extraordinary prayer life where he would pray and God would, in miraculous ways, provide for his orphanages. In addition, he ran a publishing depot, bringing millions of Christian tracks and books and Bibles to pass out. Yes, that young man who started out in prison for theft was a lasting testimony to the grace of God. My friends, consider your own life. Maybe you haven’t had the dramatic conversions that some of these people have had that we talked about like Titus or like Ricky Austin or perhaps George Mueller. But in a very real sense, did you not see your own vileness and depravity? Didn’t the Lord have to bring you to the place of looking at yourself to a place of shame and humiliation and repentance? And did he not change the way you walked and changed the course of your life? Yes, he did. Only the grace of God can take a worthless sinner and do that. Remember how Jesus said that it was the harlots and the publicans that entered into the kingdom of God before the self-righteous who were very religious in his day. I emphasized this. Lest there be an unsaved person who is deceived into thinking, well, they’re just too bad to be saved. They’re too vile. They’re too guilty. They’re too deprave for God to save. No, you are not, because there have been many people who have been in that condition, and God has saved them. You come as you are. You come as you are. Let the wicked forsake his way, the unrighteous man, his thoughts, and let him return him to the Lord, and you have mercy. upon him to our God for he will abundantly pardoned. Isaiah 55, 6. So consider your worthlessness, or unworthiness, I should say, before salvation. You look at Titus, you think about who he was and what he is now. Secondly, consider your need for a spiritual birth for salvation. Titus, mine own son, he says here. Now Paul calls Titus a son. He doesn’t mean that Titus, Titus is a physical son, as if he’s related to him by blood or naturally in any way. It doesn’t even appear that Paul ever married. He remains single that he might serve with one mind of the kingdom of God. Paul didn’t even meet Titus until Titus, it seems, was fully grown. Paul is speaking in a spiritual sense here. The grace of God creates very near and dear relationships what we call a spiritual family. He’s part of the spiritual family of Christ. What Paul means is that Titus here was his convert. Can we put it to this way? He gave spiritually, humanly speaking, he gave birth to him by the preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Of course, God is the one who gives the actual birth. But it was through Paul’s preaching. He’s saying that this man, Titus, came to know the Lord. Lord. And so he calls him my son. The confused Galatians, you remember, they had once come to believe the gospel, they were considered Paul’s little children. He says, My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you. In Galatians 419. However, some false teachers had come and began preaching another gospel that somehow or other they had to be circumcised in order. to be saved and they seem to have been embracing this. And Paul was upset by this false doctrine that they’re embracing. And he rebukes the air right through the book of Galatians. But he bemoats the fact, I have to travail in birth again. You know, I have to go through this again and make sure that you’re truly one of God’s people. And he says, if that’s what it takes, that’s what it takes. So he’s giving out this kind of idea that of giving birth through the preaching of the gospel to these individuals. Jesus, remember, talked about the need for spiritual birth to Nicodemus, the ruler of the Jews who came to him by night. When Jesus talked him about, and Nicodemus is thinking he has to go back into his mother’s womb or come out the second time or something of this nature, didn’t realize that Jesus was telling him, no, it’s not that you have to be born in the flash again, You need to be born of the spirit. As he put it, that which is born of the flesh is flesh, that which is born of the spirit. It’s spirit, marvel not that I said unto thee, you must be born again. This is the birth of which Paul speaks here in this text of Scripture. Now, you can’t claim to be saved. You can’t claim to be among God’s people or in God’s family or have God as your father unless you had a spiritual birth. Examine your heart here. Are you born again? Don’t be deceived about this matter. Being reborn involves being a new person. The Spirit of God opens the eyes of your understanding. You’re brought to faith in Christ. If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. The old things pass away, all things become new. That’s what we’re talking about. Centuries ago in Africa, Augustine was born, his father was a pagan. His mother, Monica, however, was a Christian. And as a young man, he decided that he wanted to go to Rome. I understand Rome, you’d have to think of it as the giant drain of a sewer. Because all the corruption goes there. It is a very wicked, immoral place. So his mother didn’t want him to go there. She tried to persuade him not to, but Augustine left anyhow. Getting away from his mother’s influence, he lived the most wicked and immoral life imaginable. He lived for a time in sexual immorality with a young woman. He abandoned all restraint, pursued every sinful pleasure imaginable. However, he was born again in a very startling fashion. He had heard the preaching of a man named Ambrokes. yet Rome. One day, while in his garden, he heard a voice saying, take read. Take read. It was actually some young boys in the neighboring yard playing some type of game. And they kept saying, take read. He, being moved by these simple words, thought of taking and reading the scriptures and picked up the Bible. And opened the at random and read from Romans 13, 13 and 14. Let us walk honestly as in the day, not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering, and wantonness, not in strife and envying, put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill the lust thereof. And immediately a change came over Augustine. Through the preaching of Ambrose and this occasion where the Word of God he read it for himself, God somehow powerfully applied these words to his heart and brought him to salvation and he told his friend later, I have been regenerated. I have been born again. Consider your life and ask yourself, have I experienced a spiritual change? Have you been born of the spirit? Now, you’ll notice he indicates that he’s a genuine son in the faith. He says, my own, my genuine, my true son, as he puts it here. You see, Titus was a genuine child of God. It wasn’t an illegitimate son. He wasn’t just a nominal believer. I’m afraid there are some who call themselves to, you know, Christians and clean to be born again using a term that’s very frequently used and they can cause a lot of shame. Those who say they’ve received the word, but after the initial enthusiasm, that dies away and they go back to their old way of life. There was a famous minister who was once confronted on a public street in Chicago where a drunk lay on the side of the curb intoxicate. and a man pointed to that drunk and he said to the minister, see there, that’s one of your converts, to which the minister replied, yes, he must be one of mine, for he certainly isn’t one of the Lord’s. There are those who claim to have a spiritual birth, but they really have no part in salvation. But what a blessing if you know someone is a genuine son in the faith, a product of the power of the Holy Spirit, truly brought to repentant, and salvation in Christ, consider them the legitimacy of your claim to be born again. Just because you go to church, just because you pray, just because you’re sincere in your religion doesn’t make you a true son. But here’s what God says in Ezekiel 36. A new heart will also give you and a new spirit will I put within you, and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh, and I will put you my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you shall keep my judgments and do them. Here’s a person who not only gets a new heart, but it is shown in the way they behave, in the way they walk. They keep the commandments of the Lord. So consider your need for a spiritual birth for salvation. The third thought here, consider if you possess the common faith of all who claims salvation. He says here, Titus, my own son, after the common faith, the people of God believe the same truths. The Bible declares that there is one faith, Ephesians 4 or 5. It’s called by Peter a like precious faith, that we all have that alike as believers in Christ. We as a church believe in the same doctrinal truths which provide unity, among us as members of the Church of Christ. To us there is one God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. To us, there is one mediator between God and man, Jesus Christ, the Savior. We believe in an elective grace of God. We believe in the substitutionary sacrifice of Christ, the Son. We believe in the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit. We believe for all people that they need to be regenerative. generated and be granted a new birth. So there is one, Lord. There is one faith. I’m intensely grateful that we have one faith. It provides a real unity among us as the people of God, for we can discuss matters and profitably discuss these matters and edify one another, because we’re on the same page about these matters. If the church has to spend all its strength in continual, debate, then, you know, it draws away from the edification. It draws away from the witness of the church at large. This is why confessions are faith are so useful. Because a confession allows us in a very small compass to have a really, what we might call, a body of divinity. It’s short, brief statements. And someone says, well, what do you believe about God? Tell me about the Godhead. Well, it’s nice if you can go to to the confession and say, this is what I believe right here about the Godhead. There’s one God, there are three persons, they’re all equal, co-equal, and so forth. And this provides for agreement among us. You know, I believe that the doctrines of sovereign grace are really a litmus test for where one stands regarding the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. If we could sum them up in a phrase, it would be that salvation is of the Lord. All error, really, is a detraction from that truth, that salvation is of the Lord. So I am steadfast, immovable, firmly fixed in our belief of these great doctrines in the Bible concerning salvation, these doctrines of grace. I think it’s essential that we have agreement on this. Let it never be forgotten that the Spirit of God is the one who brings us into unity of the faith. He produces this. He brings people together. We may have diverse backgrounds. When you get together, you find out you have a lot in common with this person because the Spirit has worked in their life, the Spirit has worked in your life, and the Spirit has brought you together. So the people of God believe the same truths. Now, the observation I would make from this is this. This is a denial that there are many ways of salvation. It’s the common fate. This is what everybody believes who’s going to heaven. Everyone who’s been predestined to eternal life. That God has promised them eternal life before the foundation of the world. Everyone who was among the elect believe these truths. There are those who foolishly imagine that you can belong to this faith and there are many ways of salvation and you’re believing belong to that faith. It’s okay. It doesn’t really matter. As if the Jews could be saved by keeping the law of Moses and the Gentiles could be saved by the law of nature and the Christians could be saved by the gospel and the Muslims could be saved by the law. Oh, we’re all going up a different side of the mountain, but we’re all going to get to the top at the end. That’s the kind of language that is used. But if there is one true faith, the common faith, if there’s only one Christ the Savior, if there’s only one way of salvation and that’s through Christ the way, then it’s impossible for all religious paths to end up leading you to heaven. Impossible. Have any of you heard of the Baha’i faith? This faith has a famous temple in Wilmet, Illinois. It’s a building that utilizes the symbolic number nine. Nine doors to it, nine pillars it’s founded on and so forth. What happened was they said, we’ll take the nine greatest religion in the world. will kind of bind them all at one. And so what they did is they decided that they would make this building look like a bit of a mosque, a bit of a cathedral, and a bit of a synagogue. And you can each come in your door, you see, and for that particular faith, and worship there together in unity with one another. This is how it is portrayed by those who follow it. Around the central dome of the building are various quotations both inside and out, all of which emphasize the unity of all the great religions of the world. They might have a quote from the Bible by Christ. They may have a quote from Allah. They may have a quote from one of the other religious leaders like Buddha or something of that nature. This idea to bring everybody together and the Baha’i faith was brought about by a young Persian. Here’s what he said. The religious leaders of the world had forgotten their common origin. Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad were equal prophets mirroring God’s glory, messengers bearing the imprint of the great creator. Is that something you could subscribe to? I know I couldn’t. Like Jesus Christ is more than a prophet. Someone greater than the prophet. Jeremiah or anyone else had walked the earth. He’s the son of God. Friends, the Bible teaches this can’t be true. We’re not all going up, you know, a different side of the mouth. We’re not all going to get to heaven. Let us never be tempted to think otherwise because maybe they are sincere in their religion. And they all, you know, we want to all get along with everybody. Listen, narrow is the way, and few there be that find it. Believe what Jesus. said. And he didn’t come here and bring all religions together. If anything, he divided people. He brought a sword, in a sense. He was one who brought a message about the narrow way. And about a lot of the fakery, a lot of the falseness of the religion of his death. He didn’t try to somehow or other bring all the Pharisees in and all the Sadducees in and all the Sadducees in. and bring a few pagan religions in and we’ll all worship together. Nothing of that sort do we find in scripture. John Ruskin rescued a fine handkerchief made of precious material by drawing around an ink blot and most delicate and beautiful pattern and design and rescued it. The salvation of God is like that. He takes those ruined by the fall. stained by the vile of sins, the worthless sinners you can imagine, and he saves them. And he grants them a spiritual birth so that they’re actually new people in Christ. And all of God’s people are brought to a common faith regarding this salvation in Jesus Christ. The whole idea of the spirits work within us and causing us to grow is to bring us into this fuller unity among us as the people of God. Let us keep this in mind. Let us close.