Titus 2:6

Titus chapter 2, I want to read verses 6 through 8. Our focus is on verse 6 tonight. Young men, likewise exhort to be sober-minded. In all things, 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 thing to say of you. May God bless to us his sacred and holy word this evening. There was a young man that came rushing up to a fairy breathless after running at a terrific pace, and just as he got there, the gateman shut the gate in his face. and a bystander said, well, you didn’t run fast enough. The disappointed man answered, I ran fast enough. I didn’t start on time. In the spiritual realm, I’m afraid that many young people don’t start serving the Lord when they should. And they may think that they have plenty of time to serve the kingdom of God later in life. But the scripture commands us, to remember thy creator in the days of thy youth in Ecclesiastes chapter 12 and verse 1. For many, youth is wasted on frivolous things, vain, and many empty pursuits. Here’s a description I read of some young people. Our youths love luxury. They have bad manners, contempt for authority. They show disrespect for their elders. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, and tyrannize their teachers. Just right for our day and age, wouldn’t you think? Well, it was written by Socrates, the ancient Greek philosopher of 400 BC. There’s nothing new under the sun. And we see that youth certainly need to be serving Christ from their youth. Now, Paul has been stressing the qualities which various groups of Christians should possess. He has emphasized that all believers certainly should live in a manner that indeed would befit sound doctrine. Because your behavior reflects upon the gospel of Jesus Christ. having spoken directly about the aged men and aged women and we looked at now also he’s spoken to the young women he turns his attention to the young men and that’s where we’re picking up here in verse six now as we’ll see titus is also a young man and therefore what the apostle seems to say directly to him in verses seven and eight could certainly be applied to all Christian young men as well to some extent. So we’re going to talk about young Christian men tonight from this text of Scripture. I’ll begin by saying this. As a young man, your behavior must be in harmony with holiness in all areas. Young men likewise exhort. Now, you’re not exempt from the previous duties of the other groups. It may appear at first glance that Paul has very little to say to the young men on the island of Crete. He’s just finished a rather detailed exhortation to some of the other Christian groups. And when you compare what the scripture says regarding the aged men and the aged women, the young women, you might think, well, the young men are getting off quite easy here in this section of scripture in verse six. So you have these rather detailed commands given to the young Christian woman. You might think, I guess they are the black sheep of the church, because look how much he has to say about them. But Gordon Clark in his commentary says this, possibly women are given to gossip more than men are. And obviously adultery requires both. Probably men are more inclined to drunkenness than women, and they may be less kind. Hence, Paul says likewise, and with this word, he applies the same injunctions to Matt. So what he said to others, he’s also going to apply to the men with that word likewise. That carries in like manner. In other words, the young man here must be exhorted to be grave. to be temperate, to be sound in the faith, be sober, to live in charity and impatience with their lives and so forth. You don’t really escape. He’s just not going to duplicate everything that he has said before. So your behavior as a young Christian man must be in harmony with the holiness that is required of a true Christian. Now don’t think that God only requires you to just be sober-minded. and that completes your Christian obligation. Christ expects more of you than that. So you don’t get off that easy. So you are not exempt from the previous duties of the other groups. You’ll notice here you’re not free to sow your wild oats. I want you to look with me at Ecclesiastes 11.9, if you would, in the Old Testament in the book of Ecclesiastes, see what Solomon says here to the young man here in verse 9 of chapter 11 of Ecclesiastes. Solomon says this, rejoice, oh, young man, in thy youth. And let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth. And walk in the ways of thine heart and in the sight of thine eyes. But know thou that for all these things, God will bring thee into judgment. It’s a common error to think that you have plenty of time for religion when you get older, so you might as well enjoy your youth, do whatever gives you pleasure. Follow your heart. Solomon here takes note of this presumption. He takes note of this attitude that he sees in young men. And he sees young men rather recklessly pursuing sinful pleasures and sinful things in this life. doing whatever their heart desires, their eye lusts motivate them to do. And so we have that saying that, you know, young people, so you can sell your wild oats now, as though it would be perfectly acceptable for young people to do so. And eventually they’ll get over that phase and be more mature and settle down. Solomon doesn’t say that’s the case. He warns you if you pursue this course of sowing your wild oats, so to speak. It will result in God’s judgment falling upon you. Not only perhaps in this life, but also in the life to come at the final judgment, when you may indeed have to give an account for all that you’ve done, as the scripture indicates to us. If you set your face against the things of God in your youth, if you’ve done, think you can blow off the true religion and just do as you please? Don’t think in your more mature year, somehow, I’ll just swear things with God. The Bible says you have to seek the Lord while he may be found and call upon him while he is near. The trouble is the Ethiopian cannot change his skin nor the leper, his spots. And then may you also do good that are accustomed to do evil, the Bible says. If you can think of an Ethiopian changing his skin or a leopardist spots, well then you can do good after you’ve been doing evil. If you pursue evil, don’t think you’re all of a sudden, you can turn it on and all of a sudden I’m going to start doing what’s right. When you’re ground, the field of your life is full of briars and thorns, scripture tells us in Hebrews Hebrews chapter 6 that its end is to be burned. And so that should be a warning to us. You are not free to sow your wild oats. Now you’re blessed if you’re enabled to serve the Lord from your youth. Remember now thy creator in the days of thy youth. It’s interesting. I read chapter 11 verse 9, but if you just go a few verses ahead, we get to chapter 12, he adds this phrase. This is what you should be doing. Young men don’t do this. Do this. You know, Satan whispers in your ear you’re going to miss out if you don’t pursue sinful pleasure as a young person. The truth is, you’ll be happier and more content doing what God says in his word. And see clearly that God makes demands upon you as a youth. You’re not free from obligation to the Lord. If God is pleased to call you to salvation in your youth, you will never regret using your strength and your vitality for the kingdom of God on this earth. Do you want to have to pray along with David in Psalm 257? Remember not the sins of my youth? Jonathan Edwards once said that people ought to serve the Lord out of the sheer pleasantness of it. An interesting statement by Edwards. I was called to the Lord by the Lord in my youth. when I was around 12 years of age. I came to a saving knowledge of Christ. And I honestly can’t say there is a pleasantness to knowing and serving the Lord in this life, that God grants an inner peace, that fellowship with Christ is indeed a chief joy that one can have in this life. Do you really think that the pursuit here of drugs and alcohol, and sexual sins and gambling and racing cars and music and parting. Somehow are others going to bring you happiness. There are millions that can testify. It does not. It would be a great blessing to escape a lot of the nonsense that goes on in youth and be drawn close to the Lord in our youth. To be trained in the ways of the Lord from your childhood is a privilege. The hours I spent as a, as a, teenager, studying the Word of God, reading Christian literature, memorizing Bible verses, praying, attending the House of God. I count as a rich blessing. I think it’s a great heritage to have that. I was very thankful that I had Christian parents that took seriously the duty to be in church, took seriously the scriptures, and we should never think. lightly of that. So let me make this observation to you young men tonight that are here. Take notice of the huge bundle of folly that is in your own heart, that it naturally resides there. And pray that the Lord will keep you from the temptations and enable you to escape Satan’s traps as you go through this life. There’s a lot of temptations that comes. come with youth. Study the scriptures. Wherewithal shall young men cleanse his way by taking heed thereto according to thy words. Psalm 119. Verse 9. Take, for example, godly men, not the people of this degenerate world. And a forethought. Remember that the Lord requires the first fruits, the first fruits, the first offerings of the walk, the first born when it comes to human beings in the Old Testament, which indicates to us, of course, this lesson, give God the best years of your life, not the leftovers, not the dregs of your life. So as a young man, your behavior must be in harmony with holiness in all areas. Now, secondly, as a young man, you are especially to be self-disciplined, sober, minded, he tells us in this text of scripture. The Greek word here translated sober-minded is not the same word for sober as you find in verse 2. This particular word can be translated as temperate. It carries the idea to curb one’s appetite, to be moderate, to be self-disciplined, to have one’s senses about him. It has a general broad application. Thus it carries the idea of being prudent, self-control, self-disciplined, sound mind. I’m going to take it in the sense here of living a self-disciplined life of godliness. A young man, as a young man, you’re to live by biblical principles. Not simply by your feelings, not by your emotions, it hardly need to be said that in this permissive self-indulgent climate in which we live, and evidently the Christians in Crete lived as well, self-discipline is essential. People had beast-like behavior on the island of Crete. So it remains just important for Christians, I think, in young men today, to have self-discipline. You must be able to discern what God would have you do in the various situations. you find yourself in life. And you must choose that goal over any competing sinful desires opposing it. Your mind must be set on doing the will of God when it conflicts with your feelings and emotions. This requires self-discipline, curbing your appetites. If we look at Joseph, we see in Scripture a man who controlled his passions. You’ll recall that Joseph as a young man was sold by his brothers into slavery. He was purchased by an Egyptian official by the name of Potterfer. And as Joseph served this man, the Lord prospered everything his hand touched. And soon Joseph was in charge of Potipher’s whole household. Now Joseph was a young man. He was very handsome man because the Bible says he was a goodly person and well-favored in Genesis. 396, his personal attractiveness caught the attention of Potipher’s wife, and she persisted in flirting with him and desired we know sexual relations with Joseph. No doubt she used various hints, suggestive expressions, maybe bodily language, we don’t know, to let Joseph know she was available, and eventually she boldly said, come lie with me. For a young man in the prime of his life, his youth, this was a very strong temptation to undergo. She was a sophisticated, wealthy, attractive woman. He was unmarried. He was away from home. He was relegated to slave status and no doubt lonely. And it wasn’t just a single time we find that Potiphar’s wife pressed him about this matter. She spoke to him day by day, the scripture says, and Joseph refused to listen to her. So she went as far as to actually trap him alone in the house. But Joseph fled from her presence. How was he able to do this? What kept him from sinning? Well, the scripture reveals Joseph’s thinking in Genesis 379, there is none greater in this house than I. Neither have he, Potiphar, kept back, anything from me but thee, his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God? First, Joseph recognized that what Potiphar’s wife had proposed was a great evil. It was a great sin. His mind here was thinking about the commandments of God. Adultery is a great evil. Now, you might say but the law wasn’t given until Exodus chapter 20. Yes, but it was written on Joseph’s heart before Exodus chapter 20, and he knew that it was wrong to commit adultery. Second, Joseph knows that indulging in sexual relations would be offense to God, deserving a punishment, the all-knowing God is fully aware of everything that he does. Every thought and his, every action. He lived in light of that truth, that God was watching him. That’s a good point to keep in mind as a young person. The third thing, Joseph sees that this sin would affect others as well. Potipher would be affected. Who trust him, who has given him this great authority over his household. It’s wrong to harm Potiphar, the husband, and he wouldn’t do it. And thus Joseph has his senses about him. His mind is stayed on the Lord and what the Lord would have him do. And this curves any desire or feeling within him to indulge in this wicked activity. And this is the way he handles this circumstance. Now we have David. Also, we could point out as a young man. And we see him displaying patience. As a young man, God had promised David the throne of Israel, having rejected the rebellious King Saul. Remember how Samuel anointed him to be king. However, David was not elevated to the throne immediately. And the jealous Saul, discerning the popularity of David after the killing of Goliath, persecuted the young man, sought to kill him again and again. Remember, he was not old enough to even be in the army when he went out and slew Goliath. So he’s still a young man. On one occasion, Saul and his army were pursuing David and his men, and David and his men were hiding in various caves up in the forest and the wood in the high mountains and so forth. And Saul arriving at a special place set up camp in this one area, near where David was spotted last. And you can see Saul and Abner in the middle and all the troops surrounding the king and protecting him. Now, in the dark. of that evening, David and Abishai were able to creep into the camp, you’ll recall, and take the king’s water bottle and his spear. Everyone, even the guards were fast asleep for God had sent a deep sleep upon them. And while they’re standing over the king, picking up these items, Bishai says to David, let me smite your hands. enemy right now. One time. I only I need one shot with a spear, and I can take care of this whole situation for you. You know it’s God’s will for you to be on the throne. God has given you a golden opportunity to remove your enemy. Seize the day, David. Strike him dead right now. And what does David say immediately? No. We’re not going to touch the Lord’s anointed. No one can strike down the Lord’s anointed and not be guilty. So here David discerns the Godly goal. And the godly goal is he must patiently wait until God’s time for him to be king. And then he’ll be elevated. So he’s not going to kill out of revenge. He tempers his spirit and allow God to remove Saul in due time. He must do what’s right before God above everything else. So he doesn’t try to find the quick way out of persecution and the easiest sense. to the throne. His mindset is to please God and so he shows self-discipline. He displays patience. He’s not impetuous. I will wait. Wait till God gives me the position. And he controls any of emotions for a quick fix here. So this is what we’re talking about. We talk about self-discipline. Here’s two examples that we could pull out. Let me ask you, are you self-disciplined as a young Christian man? Do you see how important it is for you as a young Christian man to be self-disciplined in all areas? Whether we talk about your appetite, your sexual desires, your anger, your covetous desires, your pleasures, we could go on and on and on and on. There’s a lot of areas that could be covered. It is the wicked, the Bible says, that are given over to Vile of Fyla. infections, Romans 1.26, as a judgment from God. Is the backslider in heart who is filled with all his ways, Proverbs 1414. But you have not so learned Christ. God command you to flee youthful lust in 2. Timothy 2.22. Or put away evil from thy flesh, Ecclesiastes 11 and verse 10. This is the will of God that ye abstain from fornication, 2, Thessalonians 4.3. So God expects you to concentrate your efforts on self-discipline in this life. Now, how do you go about this? Let me give you a few suggestions here. First, seek from the Lord a humble heart. Seek from the Lord a submissive spirit. pride is the enemy of self-control, and it always leads to a fall. Second one, realize that inward lusts are great sins, even though you never allow them to break forth into outward actions. Keep your heart with all diligence and mortify evil thoughts right away. Don’t indulge them. The third thought. Determine in your heart, like Daniel, that you’re going to obey God’s word. Make it your pledge. Remember what the psalmist said in Psalm 119, verse 8, I will keep thy statutes. That’s the attitude we need to take into our lives and the way we live it. Fourth, develop a healthy fear of God. This will keep you from faulting. faltering. Like Joseph, how can I do this great wickedness and sin against God? Fifthly, follow after righteousness. 2 Timothy 222. It’s interesting. After telling Timothy to flee youthful lust, what does you tell them to do next? Follow after righteousness. Don’t do this. Do this. He immediately gives something positive to do. And there’s a lesson to learn from that. Sixth, learn moderation in all things. Don’t overindulge in anything. Don’t let yourself get caught up in everything, anything that would end up dominating you. So are you a self-disciplined as a young Christian man? And lastly, here, let me talk about, as a young Christian man, you are to be encouraged about self-discipline. He is to exhort them to be self-disciplined. Now here we have the idea that pastors don’t always have to use their authority. Sometimes it’s necessary. Timothy at first, however, is to, in a spirit of meekness, to draw the young men to their duty here, to exhort them to do what is right, not force them to do. If you look just a few pages over to the book of Philemon, it’s interesting how Paul in his dealings with Philemon, remember who had the slave, Onesimus, who ran away, and he wants to tell Philemon, treat him as a brother, you know, take him back, and so forth. Notice how he says this in verses 8 and 9 here of Philemon. He says, wherefore, though I might be much bold in Christ to enjoin thee, that which is convenient, Yet for love’s sake, I rather beseech thee, being such a one as Paul the age, to now also a prisoner of Jesus Christ. I could give you a command. I could command certain things from, I’d rather appeal to you out of love for you, and your love for Christ, that you would do this. And you take Onesimus back, you’d see him as a brother now in Christ and so forth. And so he’s moving, he’s moving. moving him here out of love. It’s true that young people often lack confidence, and sometimes they make foolish mistakes in life. They need someone to gently correct them. They need someone to help them to focus on the right things in life. When they get on the wrong track to turn them from it, if possible, encourage them to do what’s pleasing before the Lord. Self-discipline is never something that is fashionable, and an evil and wicked generation. But young men need to be dealt with in a gentle fashion for failure to self-discipline as a common problem. We start out gentle in dealing with people. Any young person who honestly examines his or her life realizes how often he or she sins in this regard, I know what I’m really like. I know my temper gets the best to me. Lust is a problem. problem. Perhaps you struggle with food. Gluttony. Maybe you struggle with pride. God deals with you knowing your weaknesses, and he calls you to seriously address all these sins. When you read about the people of God in Scripture, they’re not perfect. They struggled with self-discipline too. And sometimes they failed miserably. David and Samson, heroes of the faith, certainly felt. the lustful temptations. Peter, I’m afraid, was very proudful that he thought he, you know, I would never deny the Lord, and then denied him three times. Jonah, as we’re studying that book, burned with sinful anger. He, quite a temper tantrum at the end of the book, very angry with God and what God was doing, and he had to be rebuked for it. Although the Lord is pretty gentle with him and dealing with him in that situation. But at the same time, you see that he needed someone to sort of direct his thinking in the right way. Gideon was afraid to do what God could mean. he lacked courage to do it. Moses killed an Egyptian, failing to wait for God’s time for Israel’s deliverance, and so he was impetuous or impatient. and yet God forgave these men, continue to work with these men. This doesn’t excuse their sin nor remove the sad consequences of their actions. Self-discipline isn’t easy, but it takes the work of the Holy Spirit within you, enabling you to obey the Lord over the tide of the flesh and the world in Satan. When David sinned against the Lord with Bashiba, he penned Psalm 51. And in that Psalm, we see how he dealt with his sin. He confessed his sin. He took full responsibility for his actions. There were no excuses. I’ve sinned against the Lord. He acknowledged his sinful heart by birth. This is the source of the problem. I’m born in sin. And we should recognize that as well. He sought God’s forgiveness on the basis of the mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ. It’s our only hope for forgiveness of sin. And we have to go to the Lord. We have to ask for his forgiveness. We have to trust in what Christ has done, that his blood would wash away all our sins. He prayed for God to create a new heart and a new spirit within a renewal, right spirit in him. He prayed for spiritual renewal in his life. And he praised the Lord for his goodness and mercy, knowing that God, God is a God of grace, a forgiving God. He praised God for that quality that he had when he came for forgiveness, that God is a God that will forgive me. That’s a wonderful thing that we have such a God. So this demonstrates how to deal with sinful failure, and we’re going to have some sinful failure. It’s how you react when you sin against the Lord. Look at this Psalm carefully. See how David handled himself. Well, the young man, who missed the ferry said he did so because he didn’t start on time. He ran fast at the end there, but he didn’t start early enough. He missed the boat. You need to remember your creator in the days of your youth. Don’t miss the boat. Remember young people, God demands that you are self-discipline. This in addition to all the other duties of holiness, if I could focus on one thing that put it out as a priority, Be self-discipline. And that’ll help you in all the other areas of life as well. Let us close with the word of prayer.