Titus 2:2

Titus chapter 2, I’m going to read the first 10 verses here. Our focus is still on verse 2 tonight. But speak thou the things which become sound doctrine. That the aged men be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, impatience. The age women, likewise, that they be in behavior as become of holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things, that they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children. To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blaspheme. Young men, likewise exhort to be sober-minded. In all things, should be not blaspheme. Showing thyself a pattern of good works in doctrine, showing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity, sound speech that cannot be condemned, that he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed, having no evil to say of you. Exort servants to be obedient under their own masters, and to please them well in all things, not answering again, not purloining, but showing all good fidelity, They may adorn the doctrine of God, our Savior, in all things. May God bless to us. He is sacred and holy word this evening. In the 1980s, there was a TV news presenter, Anna Ford, which was involved in a documentary about men. And she interviewed, as I understand, 120 men from all walks of life, from all levels of society, and she talked to men from judges, the minors, and everything in between. She asked what, when asked about what she found, she said she was depressed. It appears that not one man that she had talked to had any real purpose in life. Asked what was needed by men, she replied with great insight. She said that the outer man and the inner man, needed to meet or come together, which she explained as this. I suppose this means finding God. Not exactly what she meant by that remark, and how she identifies God, I can’t answer. I don’t know. But she actually said more than she probably knew by such a state. According to what Paul writes in these verses, Anna Ford is on target in this sense, the true masculinity here. is about an outward, loving, defined strength, which is based on a healthy inner spiritual character. You can’t neglect a walk with God where you will indeed undermine your manhood. When your inner life is pollinated by Christian faith, by charity, and by love, and patience, true manhood blossoms. Paul here is emphasizing the sound doctrine that is needed by all Christians, and there were five different groups in verses 2 to 10 that he mentions. But our focus is on verse 2 when he deals with the aged Christian men. Now, as an elderly believer, you are to exhibit spiritual, matured it. As we saw last week, you are to be an example in three specific areas here. Be sober, be grave, be temperate. Now the apostle turns to the spiritual soundness, which directs the Christian walk in the second part of this verse. And the first thing you need is this. You need to be sound in the faith, as he says here. What is soundness of faith? I think soundness of faith here may be taken in the sense of its object, and that which you believe, a sound faith in the truth or the doctrine that is revealed to us in the scriptures. How can someone who is a child in biblical knowledge be a grown man in the faith? They can’t be. Children in faith have to digest doctrinal milk. But those who are mature in the faith can eat doctrinal meat. So you need to have a solid grounding in the truths of Scripture. You can’t be fluttering about like a butterfly when it comes to doctrine. You need to be anchored in the faith. You need to know why you believe. what you believe. You need to be able to defend the faith that was once delivered under the saints. Indeed, you should have a conviction about doctrinal truth. Now, we live in an age of what I will call irrationalism. When we’re told that the Bible is full of mistakes, we’re told the Bible is full of inconsistencies, there are paradoxes, there are paradoxes, you logically can’t understand it, and that what God knows and what man knows can never coincide, things of this nature. Indeed, some boldly declare that the Bible is insufficient for man today. That the Bible contains these insolvable mysteries and that the real truth cannot be discovered. The question is, what do you believe about the Word of God? if you do not hold the scriptures to be inspired, the message of God, and its doctrines to be the basis for salvation, and for living your life, you are not sound in a faith. Do you have an assured confidence granted to you by the Holy Spirit that the remission of sins, that everlasting life, that perfect righteousness and salvation are freely given to you by the grace of God for the sake of Christ? Do you have that assurance? Is your faith evident in all your thinking and your speaking and your actions? Does it produce a healthy Christian life? What you believe directly affects how you live. You don’t believe correctly? You don’t live correctly? It’s as simple as that. Do you know that your Redeemer lives, as Job says? And do you know that he loved you and gave himself for you, as Paul says. Are you living in the light of such a faith? Because unless you have a systematic grasp of doctrinal truth, you’re not sound into faith. And if your faith doesn’t result in a godliness of life, such a faith is not valuable. So what is soundness here of faith? Now, why is your soundness of faith so important? Let me begin with the aged men in this regard. Psalmness of faith is required of older men in the Lord because, hopefully, you’ve had a longer use of the Word of God, and you ought to be more knowledgeable about the Word of God. You’ve been taught, you’ve been exposed to the doctrines of Scripture for over a number of years. You’ve heard the preaching of the Word of God. You’ve had time to work out issues, to think them through, to ponder them with fear and trembling, working out your salvation as it affects your life. You have more experience in the ways of God and how God works. You’ve had the privilege of seeing God’s providence operate in mysterious ways to help you. All those things, you’re the background by which you’ve learned some painful lessons. about sin and Satan and everything else. And thus you should be a solid pattern example for the younger believers. You know what God has done. You know the trouble we’ve had with sin and how it’s beset you and so forth. All those things should be of help to you. For one, supposed to be mature in the faith, to yield the doubting, to waver with regard to the truth, to demonstrate faulty, judgment to faint in affliction is a greater sin than it would be for a babe in Christ. Now, if you read the account of Moses in his life, you’ll see that he certainly was a great man of the faith. A mature man, a man who lived by the Word of God. A man who was, you know, told what to do it immediately, by God, he’s told what to do it. Immediately you see him. setting out to do it. Here was a man that God used to write the first five books of the Bible. He was granted a greater knowledge of the Lord. He was a man that went up on Mount Sinai and met with the Lord, so to speak. So he was a mature saint, sound in the faith, a leader of the people of God, a man who believed and lived according to the Word of God. And yet on one occasion, when Moses was old, he failed to obey the Lord. He dishonored the Lord in the sight of the nation of Israel. He doubted God’s word. Millions of Israelites were crossing the arid desert on the way to the promised land, and when they arrived at Maraba, Kadesh, the people murmured because it was an evil place, because they didn’t have any water to drink. And the Lord told Moses to speak to the rock, which said, stood before the Israelites and that the Lord would cause water to come forth from the boulder in front of them. In fact, like a river of water to supply the needs of the people. Moses smote the rock twice with his rod, and water came forth, and the Lord rebuked Moses for this in Numbers 20 and verse 12, because you believe me not. to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel. Therefore, he shall not bring this congregation in the land which I have given them. Here is the great Moses himself, but in a moment of weakness here, he dishonors the Lord, and his faith fails him here, in this sense, that he doubts, and he’s not allowed to lead the children of Israel into the promised land. Now, he was up on the mountain, remember looking over, the land and so forth, but he wasn’t allowed to go in. Because of his maturity, because of his position, because of his knowledge of the truth, and all the benefits that he’s had, his doubting was more serious. And so he is prevented from going into the promised land and leading the children of Israel at that point. So as an aging Christian man, let us not be lacking in soundness of faith. faith. You have every reason to be a mature and knowledgeable believer. Now, it is true that every Christian should strive to be sound in the faith. There’s no question about that. This is not just something you ignore because you’re not an older Christian. That’s not what he’s saying. But an older Christian should be an example in this particular area. They should be excelling in this particular area. You should be studying the Word of God carefully. Learn its doctrines and know them well. Put into practice what you believe. How else can you be useful in the kingdom of God? There’s a great need today for a knowledge and understanding of God’s truth in a systematic way. I met many professing Christians who know some things about Scripture. And yet there are many areas in which they are blind spots or no real knowledge. of the truth of God’s work. Some things that are really basic Christian doctrine or practice that should be obvious. I was mentioning to Keith this morning, you know, when I grew up, I was never taught the Christian work ethic from the passage of scripture we looked at this morning. I grew up in a fundamental, various fundamental Baptist churches. Not one time do I ever remember anyone opening those passages of scripture up and explaining it in the sense of how we ought to apply this text to us as workers. It seems like that should be basic, but it’s something I see a blind spot. And when I grew up in that area, Dr. Gordon Clark once said this, and I thought it was appropriate to quote for you tonight. There have been times in the history of God’s people, for example, in the days of Jeremiah, when refreshing grace and widespread. sped revival were not to be expected. The time was one of chastisement. If this 20th century is of a similar nature, individual Christians here and there can find comfort and strength in the study of God’s word. But if God has decreed happier days for us, and if we may expect a world shaking and genuine spiritual awakening, then it is the author’s belief that a zeal for souls, however necessary, is not sufficient condition. Have there not been devout saints in every age, numerous enough to carry on revival? Twelve such persons are plenty. What distinguishes the arid ages from the period of the Reformation, when nations were moved, as they had not been since Paul preached in Ephesus, Corinth, and Rome, is the latter’s fullness of knowledge of God’s word. To echo an early, Reformation thought, when the plowman and the garage attendant know the Bible as well as the theologian does and know it better than some contemporary theologians than the desired awakening shall have already occurred. The key is the average common believer knowing the scriptures and applying it to their lives and it has an impact on society. society. So if you desire to have spiritual reformation in our land, you have to begin with yourself. You have to begin with your study of the Word of God. Need to be sound in the faith. Secondly, he says here, you need to be sound in love. What is soundness in love? This is the, we have the old English word charity. Here’s used now. When we use the word charity to use the word charity to we’re normally thinking of the expression of love when we give to the poor. We think of charitable organizations or charitable giving or something of that nature. Originally, though, the word here meant to love. Some commentators restrict this love to the second table of the law, summed up by Jesus Christ, as love thy neighbor as thyself. However, I believe the way the Christian expresses his love for God, is his love for his neighbor. Certainly, you need to be healthy in your love for God, because love is of God. It’s the chief virtue of a child of God. Put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness, perfectness in Colossians 314. God demonstrates his love by the sending of his only begotten son into the world to die on the cross. as a believer, you are a recipient of that love. And you’re able to love God and your neighbor only because the love of God has been shedded abroad in your heart by the Holy Spirit, which has been given to you. And thus if man say, I love God and hateeth his brother, he’s a liar. For you that loveeth not his brother, hath not whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he have not seen? So there seems to be a connection here between love of God and love of faith. our brother or our neighbor. Therefore, coordinating a love of God will lead directly to loving your neighbor. And thus the charity I think that’s spoken of in this text should apply to both aspects, loving God and loving your neighbor. Jesus said a new commandment I give you, that you love one another as I have loved you. By this shall all men know you are my disciples. Now, on the island of Crete, Paul has already said that some people were living as evil beasts, deviring, harming one another. But the Christians are to live in such a way that demonstrate they were true followers of Christ, which means living in a loving way. During World War II, the situation for Allied POWs in the Far East under the Japanese was terrible. These prisoners that were in the famous, prison camp on the River Kwai found themselves in a situation so dismal, so terrible. The death rate was so high that people there, the prisoners were acting like animals. In their desperate struggle to survive selfishness reign, they thought nothing of stealing water from others that were dying. Their justification for such an unkind act was he’s going to die anyway. They would steal people’s food from them. It was a dog-eat-dog situation. It was one of the situations where there was the survival of the fittest. Let the weak perish. But in the midst of all this, eyewitnesses tell us that a miracle occurred. And things began to change. The selfishness of the struggle for survival gave way to kind. and thoughtfulness for others. It all began with a scotchman named Angus McGilvery who lived and exhibited Christian love. He lived a Christian life and exhibited Christian love. The man literally gave his life for his friend in the camp. The friend was very ill and about to die. Someone had stole his blanket, so McGilverie gave him his. someone had stolen the man’s food, so McGilvery gave him his food. And the result, of course, was that the man, his friend got better, but Agnes died. Jesus said, greater love, have no man than this, and the man laid down his life for his friends. And Angus McGilvery paid the price of the greatest love here. The story began to get around camp, and it was a talking point. among the prisoners about how this man had acted. And it made people think it was sort of like a wake-up call. And amidst all the worst possible conditions, this example of love broke through. Instead of everyone just caring for themselves, the prisoners began to act more kindly toward one another because of his example. In God’s love, the aged men must be strong, we’re told here. Why is that? because love is chief among the gifts and the virtues which God blesses his people with, as 1 Corinthians 13 tells us. Without God’s love, all the other gifts of the spirit are not going to mean anything. So again, the older believer must be a good example to those younger in the faith. All believers should be sound in love, but especially, the aged believers. What is soundness of love? How is your soundness of love to be evaluated? There’s a couple of thoughts I suggest you. One, selflessness. The Bible says in 1st Corinthians 135, that love seeketh not her own. If you carefully evaluate most people’s love, you find it is based on some type of hope of receiving something in return. You give somebody a benefit, but you hope to receive something in return. And it’s sort of the idea, I love those who love me. It does not begin with God. It’s not exercised out of a love for God. It’s generally self-seeking. You’re expecting something in return. Christian love seeketh not her own. Christian love can be sacrificial love, where you sacrifice your time. your finances, your effort to help someone without expecting anything in return. God has taught you that love is giving of yourself for God so love that he gave his only begotten son. You can love your enemies and do good to them, which despitefully use you. Your goal is to love the individual out of a pure, desire to do this person good. You don’t look for a return necessarily for your love. You can show love to the most unreasonable and wicked individuals simply because you recall that God loved you and you were ungodly yourself. We read about the Good Samaritan who comes upon the robbed and wounded and left for dead Jew. When the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans, he could have said, ah, that guy, he’s just a Jew. It’s not my responsibility, but he’s not. He takes the responsibility. He, you know, pours the oil and that on the wound and tries to bind him up, takes him to the end, pays for the expenses. He wasn’t concerned about whether he’s going to get paid back. He wasn’t concerned about what kind of response this guy was going to have. He was just taking, he saw a need, he took care of it. That selfless love. True love here is also genuine. Let love be without hypocrisy, Romans 12.9. Hypocrical love is something that comes from the teeth out. In other words, it’s only what you say. And there’s nothing there in the heart to back it up. As 1 John 318 says, My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth. If your love is genuine, then, of course, you demonstrate it by tangible acts. As the apostle, John points out, genuine love is caring for someone who is in need. So when you see your brother and sister in Christ who’s hungry or he’s without shelter or clothing or whatever the case may be, you don’t say, well, be warmed and filled or I’m praying for you, brother. When you have the ability to help them, you help them. It’s not showing genuine love just to somehow rather speak nice things to them without, backing them up. You recall that Judas complained about the money being wasted when Mary anointed Jesus with the oil prior to his death on the cross. And how he made a big deal about, why, this money could be given to the poor. You’re wasting it here. But the scripture tells us he didn’t really have any concern for the poor. It was hypocritical, this love. Did he really, was he really worried about the poor? No, but the Bible says, He had the money bag for the disciples. He was the treasurer of the group, and he was stealing from the money bag, and he wanted the money to go into the bag so he could get money from it. He would be able to steal it for himself. It was hypocritical, his love. The third thing I would say is this. Genuine love here, non-hypocrical love, is focused on doing good to others. Look at Romans Chapter 13 with me tonight a moment. Romans 13. begin with verse 8 and read through verse 10. Paul says here, O no man anything but to love one another. Here’s the one thing you do, oh, everyone is love. For he that loveeth another hath fulfilled the law. For this, thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not bear false witness, thou shalt not covet. If there be any other commandant, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, thou shalt love thy name. neighbor as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbor. Therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law. Friends, you’re going to meet people in this life you may not have any loving feelings for. They may be bitter enemies. You might think to yourself, I don’t know how I could ever love that person. Perhaps this person has wronged you in some fashion. Maybe they falsely accused you. May they be aligned your character, whatever they’ve aligned your character. it doesn’t really matter what the actual case is. But here’s the point. Never confuse feelings or emotional desire for biblical love. I have already stated that love is giving. Don’t think of it as, well, I have to feel good toward another. It doesn’t matter how you feel toward your neighbor. It matters how you act toward your neighbor. feelings can change. God demands your actions be consistent. Whether you feel like it or not, doesn’t matter. Now, hopefully your heart would be moved that. You would feel right about that. But God requires you to love your neighbor by doing good to him or her. You pay what you owe the person. You don’t harm him or her. By committing adultery, by stealing, lying, bearing false witness against them, coveting their possessions, their wife, or whatever the case may be. Under the law, God demanded that if your enemy’s donkey had fallen into the ditch, you had to stop and help him. Help him get his donkey out of the ditch. Now, he said, if your enemy’s donkey falls into the ditch, not just your neighbors, but the guy that you don’t get along with, the guy that gives you the hard, the hard, time, gives you trouble. There’s nothing there about, well, work up good feelings and try to get your right feelings about him first and then go and help him. You simply do good to your neighbor, even though you might consider him an enemy. That’s what God expects you to do. You know, David sparing Saul’s life when Saul was out to kill him, and it found him in the cave, you remember. He spared his life, even when all his band that were, a band of men that were with him, this is the perfect opportunity. God has given him in Providence has placed it right in your hands here. He couldn’t do it. He didn’t do it. He didn’t do it. This is the Lord’s anointed. I’m not going to take his life. He did him good when Saul was doing him evil. So your kind actions may be the very means of thawing that icy relationship that you have between you and your neighbor and may end up producing the right feelings. I’ve always said if you pray for the person who’s your enemy, eventually it changes your spirit toward that person. And that’s why we should always be focused on doing right to them and praying for them. And this would be helpful to us if we would do this. But if you want to fulfill the law, don’t do these things, these actions against your neighbor. That’s loving your neighbor by not committing these sins against your neighbor. The third thing here, he says, is you need to be sound in patience. What is soundness in patience? Well, when we talk about patience, we’re talking about the Christian’s staying power. Patience is often related to the end of things as we await for Christ to return and so forth. But this gift of patience often occurs in the context of trials. chastisements, persecutions of the Christian. Patience is willing to suffer hardship and painful things for the sake of the true faith. Here we’re reminded that not everything about the Christian life is supposed to be one of comparative ease. Patience means there’s hardship. Patience means there are difficulties that we have to overcome. Your life is. Life will be a tough life, perhaps, requiring some grit and endurance as well as faith and love. These three graces go together. If you lack soundness and faith and love, then you’re certainly not going to have patience under the trials and sufferings of life. Scripture says, in patience possess you your souls. You’re to endure all crosses. that you’re called to bear. You’re to take up the cross and follow Christ willingly. Pray and not faint under these circumstances. You’re to learn to be cheerful in affliction. You know, when the scripture talks about counting at all joy, it’s not always an easy thing to do, but isn’t that what we’re commanded to do? God, does it work in your life? Be thankful for. even under extreme hardship. Because all things are being worked for your good, by the Lord. Expect God’s deliverance, that God will hear your plea, that as you cry out to him day and night, he will respond. resign yourself to the will of God. Thy will be done. That is our approach here. Scripture says, Behold, we count them happy which endure. You have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord, for the Lord is very pitiful and of tender mercy. James 511. The soundness of faith. Why, of patience? Why is soundness of patience particularly required of aged men? Now, obviously, as we’ve been saying all along, every Christian ought to be certainly sound in patience. We all need patience. Tribulation works patience. You can’t do without patience. God is sure to develop such a grace in your life. You can count on it. But here, patience is particularly commended to the older Christian men, I think, for various reasons. One is that aged men are frequently more cantankerous in spirit. I don’t know. Maybe old age is a time of testing where you’re compassed about with many infirmities. Maybe you become Maybe you become frustrated with the circumstances that you’re in. Maybe it’s difficult for you to bear a physical decline or whatever the case may be. But if you’re not supported by Christian patience, you might give way to murmuring against God. You may have a harsh spirit toward others because of maybe the pain or agony that you have in your life. By reason of your lengthy Christian experience, your endurance of previous suffering. Hopefully You’ve developed patience by God’s grace. Then you should be well practiced in displaying patience. And may the Lord grant you this grace in abundance so that you may honor him in spite of your present sufferings in your older period of your life. This is what the scripture would command of us and particularly of age. men. Now Anna Ford, who was a TV news presenter, was convinced after interviewing 120 men, that something was lacking. The inner and outer life of men were not coming together and they didn’t have any purpose in life. And her conclusion was they need to find God. God makes a difference in someone’s life. A real man, as he’s meant to be, is one who’s sound in faith, in love, in patience. And this must be what you seek to be regardless of what stage you are in the Christian life, but in older men, in particular, we are to be examples of this. Hopefully, you’ve learned something along the way, and that God has taught you as you’ve gone along in your Christian life. But let us close. I don’t know.