Titus 3:8

Titus chapter 3. I’m going to read the first eight verses. Our focus tonight will be on verse 8. Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work, to speak evil of no man, to be no brawlers, but gentle showing all meekness unto all men. For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving diverse, lust and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. But after that the kindness and love of God, our Savior toward man, appeared not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy, he saved us by the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost, which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ, our Savior. That being. justified by His grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. This is a faithful saying, and these things, I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men. May the Lord bless you. to us is sacred and holy word this evening. Fannie Farmer was a graduate of the Boston Cooking School in the 1800s, 1880s. She strongly objected the way cookbooks were written in those days. A nut of butter or flour, a pinch of salt, a glass of wine, a handful of this or that, farmer firmly believed in laboratory-like precision when it comes to cooking. So in 1896, she published the Boston Cooking School Cookbook and insisted that something, insisted on something that no one else seemed to have at that time, and that was standardized measurements for all ingredients that went into the cooking. her instructions left little doubt what that standard would be. A teaspoon is measured level. By eliminating the guesswork and recipes, Fannie Farmer ensured both novice and chefs, perfect results, and earned the name the mother of level measurements. If there is a need for precision in cooking, surely there is a need for precision in cooking, surely there is a need for precision in the spiritual realm when it comes to doctrinal teaching. Paul’s letter to Titus could be a lot shorter and a lot simpler if he did not take the time to elaborate on the doctrines to make sure that they are clearly understood by his hearers. He’s very careful in stating these truths. I’m afraid today that many would be satisfied with a pinch of this truth and a handful of that one and maybe a glass of another doctrine. We have become very sloppy in our doctrinal measurement, and that leads to unsatisfactory results, just like in cooking. Paul wishes to emphasize that faithful doctrine leads to godly living. And so we want to talk about your doctrine and life from this particular passage of Scripture tonight. Now let me begin by saying this. You should realize vital truths of the Word of God are to be given special emphasis. you’ll notice he says in verse 8, this is a faithful saying. This is a faithful saying. You must cling to this faithful saying. Now the faithful saying to which Paul refers is actually probably chapter 2 as well as verses 3 and 1 to 7. The saying does not refer to a single verse, but you’ll notice he talks about these things immediately after. It’s plural. The reference is to the following doctrines concerning salvation in particular. The total depravity in hopeless state of man prior to salvation, verse 3. the kindness and love of God manifest in saving us, not by our works, but according to His mercy, verse 4 through verse 5A, the work of the Holy Spirit in regenerating and sanctifying us, verse 5B, the grace of Jesus Christ as the effective cause of our justification, verses 6 and the first part of verse 7. and the purpose of this divine work. Certainly that we would be heirs of God and have the hope of eternal life, verses 7B, but also that we would live a godly life. Versus 1 and 2, and 1st, certainly chapter 2, verse 2 to 12, all refer to the work of the Christian to pursue that which is pleasing in God’s sight. This, All is trustworthy or reliable. The heart of the gospel concerning salvation comes down to this. It can never be saved by your own good works, because you’re enslaved to sin and Satan. But salvation is always the sovereign work of the triune God, and therefore it is certain in eternal life is sure. Now, these truths are absolutely vital. We can’t wait. on these and think that somehow or other will be okay. If you claim to be an heir of God, if you claim that you have eternal life, you must be believing these truths. Now, we live in a day and an age where we’re often told it doesn’t matter what you believe, as long as you believe. Paul puts the importance here and stresses this on clinging to doctrinal truth, the truth that he has been teaching. People might claim, well, I believe in God. Yes. But what do you believe about God? That’s the question. Do you believe what the scripture teaches about the one true God? That he’s omnipot, that he’s holy and just, that he’s the creator of all things, that he is the one who’s working all things for his own glory, that he stokes the fires of hell? Is this the God? that you believe in? People say, I believe in Christ. Do you believe in Jesus Christ as a Savior as the effective cause of your justification before God? Liberals believe that Christ existed, but he’s a non-miraculous Christ who’s still in the tomb. Muslims believe in Christ, but they only believe he’s just a prophet. The Jehovah Witnesses believe in Christ. but they believe he’s a created being, an archangel, not co-equal, with Jehovah God. So you begin to see what I’m talking about. People say, why believe in the fall of man and Adam? What do you believe about the fall of man and Adam? What state did that leave man in? Many believe man to be sick, damaged by the fall, but not unable to choose good over evil. not foolish, disobedient, deceived with a will enslaved to various lust and pleasures, as the Scripture reveals. So what Paul demands is that you believe these specific statements concerning man and the trium God when it comes to salvation. You must cling to these faithful sayings for this faithful saying. This faithful saying must be constantly affirmed. He tells us here, I will. that thou affirm constantly these things. There’s a Chinese allegorical tale about an artist that was doing some paintings for the King of Chi. And the king said, tell me, what is the most difficult object of all to paint? And he said, dogs and horses, things like that. He said, what is the easiest to paint? He said, monsters and ghosts. And then the king said, well, why is that so? He said, well, people see dogs and horses every day. They know what they look like. And if you don’t get the details right, they’re going to say, that’s not right. But we’ve never seen monsters and ghosts. Therefore, it’s left up to the imagination of the artist, and therefore he can paint it any way he wants to. Titus is to affirm these reliable doctrines because they need to be strongly and constantly emphasized. One reason is that these truths will be well known. Did they come in, bedded in your mind? They’ll be like the dogs and the horses. You’ve been familiarized with these doctrines constantly. So if something is off, you immediately pick up on it. Someone may teach some obscure, obscure idea concerning the book of revelation about the beast in the book of revelation. Like monsters and ghosts, you may not know whether it’s true or false. Let a false prophet get up and teach about salvation and you’ll say, that’s an error. I’m familiar enough with this doctor. I know this isn’t right. I don’t know whether he’s right about the beast, but I know he’s wrong about salvation. While the elder has to teach every year, truth and he’s obligated to teach the whole council of God and keep nothing back. There are some truths that need emphasize more than others, namely those truths that are vital to salvation and more likely to be corrupted by false teachers. You see, he may be confused, like some in the past who have taught that the beast of revelation was Sodom Hussein, and the healing of his wound would be his, restoration to power in Iraq. Well, that didn’t happen. We know that’s false. But at the time, you might say, boy, that sounds really good. Especially if you’re a futurist, you might say, boy, that sounds good. But people sold a lot of books writing this kind of stuff. But this fanciful interpretation is no basis. That won’t damn your soul. You can be off on who the beast is, and you’re not going to go to hell because of that. But if you’re confused about God’s way of salvation, about the person of work of Jesus Christ, you’re going to perish in your sins. And so it’s necessary to hear regularly about God’s work of salvation and how he brings it about. So you understand this. When you hear a form of error, which contradicts the vital teaching of salvation by grace, when you hear that salvation as a cooperative effort between man and God, grace plus works you go say wait a minute that’s not what Paul says here in this passage of scripture before us I read it’s not by works of righteousness and so forth so you should realize the vital truths of the Word of God are to be given special emphasis now secondly the practical purpose of emphasizing these vital truths of the Word of God is told us here in the latter part of verse 8 that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable on the men. Life’s practices grow out of doctrinal beliefs. This is why Paul always starts out with doctrine and his epistles, and he ends with the practical application, how you live. That here means in order that. He says, I want you to constantly insist on these truths in order that those who believe might maintain. good works. Paul makes an obvious connection then between these vital doctrines and the way someone behaves or how they conduct themselves in this life. He declared this in the very first verse of the book when he said that, talked about acknowledging the truth which leads to godliness of life. It’s error, a failure to acknowledge the truth, a lack of doctrinal teaching, a lack of which leads to some type of complacent lacks Christianity. Of course, many people might deny such a connection between belief and practice. They might argue it’s perfectly possible for to be a decent, moral, good person and be an atheist. No, it is not. Not according to Scripture. Psalm 14 dispels the notion. The full has said in his heart, there is no God. They are corrupt. They have done abominable works. There is none that do with good. Now notice the connection. If I deny there is a God, well, then I’m corrupt, and I’m going to live corruptly. You might hear people say, well, you can be a homosexual or lesbian and still be a good Christian, and there are churches who will take you in. No, you cannot be. for the Bible tells us in the book of Romans chapter one that for this cause God gave them up on the vile affections for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature and likewise also the men leaving the natural use of the woman burned in their lust one toward another men with men working that which is unseemly and receiving in themselves the that recompense of their error which was meat. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind to do those things which are not convenient, being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, and so forth. This tells me that those who are in this lifestyle are an abomination, in the eyes of God. It’s very clearly stated in Scripture. When people turn away from God, there’s only one direction you can go, and that’s downhill, away from the truth. It’s a spiritual nosedive, and our Western civilization, I think, is an example of this. We’ve turned away from God and the heritage that we once had as a nation, and look at where we are. We look at the pollution of sin. Look at the pollution of sin. Look at the food. filth, the violence, the corruption that plagues our society. As the church today abandons doctrine, buries the idea of absolute truth, there can only be one outcome of this. Disaster. Every man doing what’s right in his own eyes, and it’s always chaotic when that occurs. It’s the truth that leads to godliness. We discard this faithful saying, it will have a disastrous effect. Look with me at 2nd Peter, if you would. A few book or so over here. 2.2. 2.20 through 22. Very familiar passage of scripture here. Peter writes, For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again in ten, tangled therein and overcome the latter end is worse with them than the beginning, where it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than after they have known it to turn from the Holy Commandment delivered under them. But it has happened under them according to the true proverb. The dog is turned to his own vomit again and the sile that was washed to her wallowing in the mire. Peter is talking about the life, or the effects, I should say, of false teachers on a person’s life. There are those who appear for the time, for a time to embrace the truth, and it seems like they clean up their lives a bit. They, you know, outwardly conform to what they should. They escape the pollutions of the world, he says, in this regard. However, what happens is when they embrace the false teaching of these false prophets, we find that they turn from the Holy Commandment delivered under them. And when they turn from the Holy Commandment delivered on them, what happens? They go back to living the way they used to live, sinfully. Peter gives us a very graphic description of dogs and swine here. Both dogs and swine were unclean animals, repulsive. to the Jews, thus fitting examples. Now, a dog here is not a lovable puppy dog that sits in your lap that you get to beg for treats or something like this. It’s a wild, vicious dog, like the one that chewed up Jezebel, and left behind only the palms of her hands and her ankle bones. These are the wild dogs that ate at the garbage dumps outside the city. You can imagine the maggot-infested, disease-carrying, spoiled meat and food that they probably ate, and it would make them sick, and they would vomit it out. But not being knowledgeable, lacking knowledge, they would end up lapping up with they just regurgitated. And then he says, you know, you can take a pig who loves to be in the mire, the mud, and you can wash it. And perhaps you put it in the mire. nice little pink ribbon on his tail, douse it with some perfume, put a gold chain around its neck, but if you let it loose, it’s going to go right back into the mud hole, despite all that you’ve done prior to that. It’s its nature to do that. This is a way it is spiritually with people. The knowledge of God truth may lead to some outward cleansing of the life, regurgitating of those vile practices they once engaged in. Remember how the demon possessed man, Jesus said. When the demon left him for a time, he cleans up, he swept and garnished the house, his own body. And for a time he cleans up his act. But then what happens is the demons come back, the demon comes back, bringing some buddies with him, and his last state is worse than the first. Have you ever seen anyone cast aside the truths of the Word of God, abandon the church, and pursue a more upright lifestyle. Not going to happen. So life’s practices grow out of your doctrinal beliefs. Now, you were given this specific instruction as a believer. Notice he specifically says, they which have believed in God are to maintain the good works. He doesn’t tell the sinner here to maintain good works in order to be saved. Paul says nothing about good works to the sinner. He repudiates that idea. It’s not by works of righteousness. However, the believer who is saved, he says, now you ought to maintain good works. You’re to be zealous for them, chapter 2, verse 14. There’s a great deal of difference between the living and the debt. The living can be aroused to work. The dead. They have to receive life first before they can do anything. Thus, we must not confuse this exhortation. It is dressed to believers in particular. Those who believe in the triune God, the one who works salvation as he has just explained. As an unbeliever, everything you do is defiled. Chapter 1, verse 15. Only the believer with the Holy Spirit within him, both to will and to do of God’s good pleasure, can please God. Jesus once said, I am the vine and you are the branches. He that abideth in me, and I in Him, the same bringeth forth much fruit, but without me you can do nothing. Unless you’re connected to the main vine, you’re not going to produce any grapes. That seems obvious, right? Unless we’re united to Christ by faith, we’re not going to produce any spiritual fruit. Sought off or removed branch can’t produce any fruit whatsoever. So Jesus says here, unless you united to him, you’re a dead branch. You know, your united union with Christ is very important to producing anything. You need the vitality that comes from him. Now, you as a believer, are to be careful to maintain good works. What are these good works? Well, we’ve been mentioning them all along. I won’t drag this out. We can number works of charity, works of kindness and benevolence, works of holiness, such works as are found in the two tables of the law, the way we ought to worship God, God, the way we ought to treat our neighbor. Anything that’s obedience to God is good works. Anything done in faith toward God and for the benefit and good of our neighbor is a good work. Now, he says you’re to maintain these good words. So he uses an interesting Greek word here. It’s actually a military term. It means to be the vanguard in this. regard, the vanguard of the army, the part of the army, which sort of goes ahead of the main body. We today use the phrase, I’ve heard just used the tip of the spear when it comes to like a penetrating attack, the ones that are out front driving ahead. And so we have that kind of idea. You’re to be at a vanguard with regard to good works. Thus, Paul would not merely have you do good works, but go before others in this regard. Take the lead. Let the ungodly never be able to say, well, those people who believe in free grace and salvation, they don’t live very godly lives. That’s not the way the Christian should be. You’d be useful, beneficial, profitable to those you help by your good works. You remember the story of the Good Samaritan, where a certain man goes down from Jerusalem, heading for Jericho, and he gets overtaken by thieves along the road who beat him up and rob him and strip him of his clothes and leave him half dead, laying on the side of the road. Now, Jesus says there was a priest, and there was also a Levite that came along and saw the man lying on the side of the road. They’re all harmed and beat up and so forth, bleeding in a desperate condition, what did they do? He’s a religious people. They have the Ten Commandments, don’t they? What do they do? They walked on the other side of the road. I don’t want to get too close to this guy. Left him laying there. They were religious men. Who knew the law of God and certainly should have shown some compassion on the wounded man. Their faith was not good and profitable to others, as he tells us to be here in our text of Scripture here. the last phrase of verse 8, that’s not good and profitable. That’s a useless religion. The Samaritan, who’s not normally very friendly with Jews, they didn’t really have dealings with one another, who comes along, he has compassion on the man. He stops. He binds up the wounds of the man, places the man on the beast, takes him to an end, pays for his time of recovery there at the end. He, shows love to his neighbor. So you and I are not to be like the priest and the Levite who are religious, but what good is our religion? It never filters down to being profitable to other people. That’s what has to be avoided. The Christian faith is to be a practical faith. As we have opportunity to let us do good unto all men, especially under them, who are of the household of faith. Galatian 6, verse 10. claims declares that your religion is vain if it doesn’t produce good works. Show me your faith by your works, he says. So we should ponder what we are around those who are our neighbors. You know, Jesus talked about being salt and light. That’s doing good to our neighbor if we’re preserving. and we are giving them the light of the truth of God’s word. What kind of example are you setting? Are you the vanguard in this regard? Well, Fannie Farmer believed in precise measurements for cooking. That’s the way that she thought it should be done. How much more we need precise teaching on doctrinal truth, and emphasis on the vital truths so that we are so familiar with them that we are going to detect any deviation from those things. And of course, the practical purpose of this doctrinal teaching is to lead you to live a godly life so that you’re profitable and you do things that are good with regard to your neighbor. May God help us to understand these truths and apply them properly in our daily life.