God's Church And God's Men - [Titus]

Some years ago, I read an article entitled, How the Media Would Handle the End of the World. It's a little dated, but I think you'll get the picture. Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones Plummets as World Ends.

Inc. Magazine, Ten Ways You Can Profit from the Apocalypse. USA Today, all caps, We're Dead. Rolling Stone, The Grateful Dead Reunion Tour. Sports Illustrated, Game Over. Ladies Home Journal, Lose 10 Pounds by Judgment Day with Our New Armageddon Diet.

TV Guide, Death and Damnation, Nielsen Ratings Soar. America Online, I told you it was dated. System Temporarily Down, Try Calling Back in 15 Minutes. Christianity Today, Death, Four Possible Views of a Non-Literal Hell.

And Money Magazine, Mortgage Rates and Property Values Hit All-Time Low. But if I were to add the Bible, it would say everything is going to plan. Jesus is Lord. Jesus is King. And in the meantime, God has men.

God has fallible men leading His church. Jesus has purchased the church with His own blood, and He has men lead that church. Today's a special day for us, a bittersweet day. The Johansens are moving away to Hartford.

To Hartford you go. And so in light of that, I'd like to give Eric a charge that the congregation will also benefit from. As we look at the book of Titus, please turn your Bibles to the book of Titus.

The Gospel Foundation for Church Life in Titus

A brief interruption from the book of Hebrews. We are sending out one of our own, probably I think this is the first time it's happened since I've been here in 20 years, where the Lord has grown up a couple, given them the ministry of being a pastor, and we send them off.

And so this is a charge to Eric and the elders and the congregation from the Lord, the book of Titus. And we're going to cover all 46 verses. I know we've covered about 25 verses in 25 weeks in the book of Hebrews, but we're having a jet tour through the book of Titus, this pastoral epistle, 46 verses on how to deal with issues in a local church.

And I think for the outline today in the book of Titus, I'm going to give you, Eric, of course it will apply to the elders here directly, to Pastor Rathbun as well directly, but to the congregation indirectly, seven exhortations that Paul gives to Titus undergirded by the gospel.

Seven exhortations in light of the gospel, how to conduct yourself in a local church. And so directly, this is given to Eric Robert Johanson, but then it's indirectly to the entire congregation. What was Titus doing?

Where was Titus? Just before we get into the text, a little background. Titus was on the island of Crete, and you might think, well, how large is this island? Martha's Vineyard at its longest is about 20 miles.

Crete is about 160 miles at its longest, probably 35 miles wide. It's a larger island. And Paul had been there, and Paul is going to have Titus set up churches there. Now, Paul, as you know, with a great missionary, wanted the gospel of Christ Jesus to go across the world.

And Paul goes to this place that's very immoral, very sinful, and it's a perfect place for the gospel of grace to be proclaimed. Maybe Titus wrote a letter to Paul, and Paul is now responding to Titus.

Very fascinatingly, this book does not describe a lot of doctrine. It assumes it to be true. And I think that's very applicable for you, Eric. We don't need to teach you doctrine. You know doctrine. So how do you live in light of the doctrine that you've been taught?

What was happening, there was a lot of false teachers there, and so how do we deal with a church that's got a lot of false teaching surrounding it? It doesn't make any, it doesn't surprise me at all that in a very immoral place, there would be false teachers who are trying to tear down the church.

It's called the Pastoral Epistle because it's written to Titus, who's a pastor. And I have to make sure I emphasize one more time that in chapter one, there's the gospel truth. Chapter two, there's the gospel truth.

Chapter three, there's the gospel truth. And so what's happening is, there's a lot of exhortations given to Titus, but it's undergirded by the gospel. It's just not sheer morality, sheer to-do list, sheer just solo bootstraps to do everything on your own power.

But in light of who you are, in light of what the Lord Jesus has done, obey the motivation, the foundation, the ground of this message, the veritable spiritual rebar is the gospel. And so we're going to go to chapter one, verse one, for the salutation and greeting, and then get into those seven exhortation in the book of Titus.

I'm just trying to hold myself back because we've got 46 verses. I feel like I need to get in some kind of three-point stance. So if you need WD -40 on the spines of your Bibles, I don't know if that'll work for your iPads, but I feel like, that's not a Bose commercial, is it, Charlie, where the guy's sitting there listening to the music and his hair just is flowing backwards?

Mammarack, sorry about that. The salutation, Titus 1 .1. Paul, a servant of God, an apostle of Jesus Christ. Very typical salutation. Back in those days, there'd be the writer, the reader, and a greeting.

That's exactly what's happening here in the first four verses, but it's a little longer than most other salutations. He jams in some gospel truth. He jams in some doctrinal truth. Only Romans has a larger, longer salutation.

And Paul introduces himself, Paul, a servant of God, by the way, which is rare. You don't see that language used very often, a doulos, a slave of God. Typically, it's slave of Jesus, but here, probably to get people to think, oh, yes, Moses called a servant of God.

Yes, David's called a servant of God. And now Paul, the servant of God, is giving the charge to Titus. It's not Paul telling Titus what to do. It's God, in fact, through Paul, who happens to be, do you notice, an apostle of Jesus Christ.

Even more authority leveled by Paul to make sure Titus understands. And then he says something marvelous, maybe some of my most favorite verses in all the Bible. For the sake of the faith of God's elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness, in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began.

Paul is saying, why do we do ministry? Titus, why should you do ministry? Elders here, Eric, why should you be in ministry? And it's simple for Paul. He's in ministry for salvation, for sanctification, and for glorification.

That's what he wants. Do you notice the text? For the faith of God's elect. He wants the elect of God to believe. He wants them to be saved. He also wants them to grow and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness.

So God saves, and then he sanctifies. And Paul says, I want to be a part of that. I preach the gospel, God saves. I teach the word of God, God sanctifies. And not only that, it says, in the hope of eternal life.

And I want these people who have been saved and sanctified to, in fact, get to heaven. Now, here's the wonderful part. Who gives this charge and this promise? Which God, do you notice in verse two, who never lies, promised before the ages began.

God who never lies. I'm telling you, Crete is full of liars. Even today, well, I was not in Crete today, but when I was there two years ago, and I went to Crete, the island of Crete, I said to the people in Athens before I went to Crete, what do you think of those Cretans?

Now, they didn't say they're liars and gluttons and evil beasts, but they said, you know what? They were looked down upon. They didn't like the people of Crete. And the word kretidzo means to lie. It's a play on the word Cretan.

You ever call somebody a Cretan? Somebody just say, yes, yes. Listening to too many Ramon songs, I'm sure. God is the a-Cretan. He's not the Cretan. He never lies. While the Cretans lie all the time, it's an island known of liars.

God is the unlying God. He doesn't lie at all. And of course, they would love pagans on the island of Crete, and Zeus was a big deal for the Cretans. And of course, he had to lie to get so-and-so's wife.

Their gods were liars. They were liars. And God, through Paul, through Titus, reaffirms the fact. He's not the lying God. He never lies. What does he do instead? He promises. And we talked about this very often here at Bethlehem Bible Church, but which God who never lies promised before the ages began.

God made a promise before Genesis, before angels were alive, before we were alive. He makes a promise in eternity past. That'll blow your mind. And the promise is between the Father and the Son and the Spirit.

Before anyone was created, God makes a promise before time, pre-temporally. It's the language of Luke 22, verse 29. And I assign to you, Jesus said, as my Father assigned to me a kingdom. When was that assignment given?

Before Genesis one. This is the language of Ephesians chapter one. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessings in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world.

This wipes out any kind of God's looking down the corridor over time and he sees all these things. No, this is God in eternity past, makes a promise between the Father and the Son and the Spirit. Side note, can you imagine, congregation, your salvation was planned in eternity past?

Martin Lloyd-Jones says, if you understand that, it should make a man stand on tiptoe and shout out praise to God. Lloyd-Jones says, the three persons met in conference. I speak with reverence, he said, and they planned salvation.

Let us rid forever the idea that salvation was an afterthought in the mind of God. It was not a thought that came to God after men had fallen into sin. It was planned before the foundation of the world.

Verse three of Titus chapter one, and at the proper time manifested in his word through the preaching which I have been entrusted by the command of God our Savior. These promises from a never-lying God are super old.

Why did not the Cretans know about it? Because these promises are articulated through gospel preaching. Yes, they're very old, but God in his time, notice, at the proper time manifested his word preached through Paul, preached through Titus, and the other men that were with him.

God revealed this truth to those through gospel preaching, and that's the way it always is. Faith comes by hearing a message about Christ Jesus. And then he says in verse four to Titus, my true child in a common faith.

And then that great salutation with both Greek influence and Hebrew, grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior. You think, well, you know what, I'm not an elder. How does this apply to me?

Would you look at chapter three, verse 15, just for a moment? What happens is Paul's writing a letter to Titus directly, but I think you can make a case for Paul wanting this letter to be read publicly by Titus and by the other leaders because Titus 3 .15, it says, all who are with me send greetings to you.

Greet those who love us in the faith. Did you know that you there is plural? That you is plural. Paul wanted this letter to be read because he wanted you to listen to it, to you to hear it, not only back in Crete, but also here.

And so Paul is writing to Titus, but it's good for the entire congregation. Now we come to our outline. Seven commands, Eric Johanson, undergirded by the gospel. You must obey if you would like to honor Jesus Christ at Grace Church Hartford.

By the way, there, the outline, I'm going to use one word outlines, all verbs in the command form. And since Eric went to a Southern Baptist school, they all have alliteration. Okay, this one's for you.

Selecting Elders Who Are Above Reproach

Number one, select. Number one, select. Or set up elders, or appoint elders. He skips his typical thanksgiving and now gets right into it. This is why I left you in Crete, verse five, so that you might put what remained into order.

How do you do that? Things are in disorder, they're in chaos, they're out of order. And appoint elders in every town as I directed you. What I'd like you to do is I want you to have elders. The key to having the false teachers silenced is elders.

The key to have a pure church is elders. Of course, the elders are only men. They're only frail men, but they're God's men. And then he gives the qualifications for elder. And he starts off in verse six with an umbrella qualification.

How do you know who to pick? The rich people, the influential people, the political people. No, these are the ones that you pick. This is God's work in the life of these men. If anyone is above reproach, that's the umbrella statement.

It doesn't say they're sinless because there'd be no elders, but they're above reproach when someone makes an accusation against them, it doesn't stick. It's not true. You can be accused all day long, but it's simply not true.

It's above reproach. They need to love their wife. A husband of one wife. They are a one woman man. And his children are to be believers and not open to the charge of debauchery or insubordination. It must've been that these churches were pretty young because if you're a mature church, you'd already have elders by now, but these don't.

So Paul says, this is what you look for. Above reproach, husband of one wife, children who are believers. It could also be translated children who are faithful. These are the kind of men you're looking for.

Verse seven, for an overseer, someone who looks over, that's where we get the word bishop. It's just a synonym for elder, but it talks about what they actually do. As God's steward, must be above reproach.

Isn't that amazing? He says it again. I guess a statute of limitations have expired so I can tell the story. I was a janitor at Grace Community Church for a short time and it was my turn to clean John MacArthur's office.

And so I went in there and they put the rope around my leg, the bells on my ankle. And so I felt like I was getting pretty foxy. So I said to my friend, here's a little camera. I'm gonna sit in John's desk and you take a picture of me in John's office.

It's like midnight. And so I thought I better have an open Bible in front of me. And so I opened John's Bible and it just opened naturally to Titus chapter one. There was nothing underlined in anything on Titus chapter one except two little passages and the underline was above reproach and above reproach.

Only two things underlined. He says it again, above reproach. He must not be arrogant or quick tempered or a drunkard. I mean, this is like pick somebody who's not a cretin. This has to be the work of God in the life of a man because otherwise they would be like that.

We are like that except God. But God, he can't be quick tempered. He can't be a drunkard, violent, greedy for gain. Why? Because he just got done saying he's God's steward. This man, these men have to take care of God's property.

That is God's people as a steward and they must be found faithful. They've got to be hospitable, verse eight, love strangers, lover of good, self-controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined. Because if they're not that, they should be working on themselves, not being in leadership.

And then they are told, the congregation is told through Paul telling Titus directly something that they're gonna have to do. Earlier there are character issues and now this is something that deals with conduct, verse nine.

He, that elder, must hold firm, hold fast to the trustworthy word as taught. Nothing novel here. You don't make up stuff as you go looking for new. That's what young people do, novel, new. So he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine.

That's the positive thing. Teach sound doctrine. And also to rebuke those who contradict it. So this is the right kind of guy. He's above reproach. And what does he do? He has to teach the word. That should not be surprising to us.

And he has to silence or contradict those who teach the opposite. I don't think it happens at our church, but in many churches, the first is applauded and the second is denigrated. That is to say, people in the congregation, we love it when you teach sound doctrine, but woe to the pastor if he ever stands up and says, that person is wrong.

Jesus calling is not good for you. The list goes on. Boy, that causes problems in many churches, but this is the charge from God. John Calvin said, there are some fickle persons who easily suffer themselves to be carried away to various kinds of doctrine, while others are cast down by fear or moved by any occurrence to forsake the defense of the faith.

Paul therefore enjoins that those persons shall be chosen who have cordially embraced the truth of God and holding it firmly, never allow it to be wrested from them. W-R, wrested, or can be torn from it.

And indeed, nothing is more dangerous than that fickleness of which I've spoken. When a pastor does not steadfastly adhere to that doctrine of which he ought to be the unshaken defender. In short, in a pastor there is demanded not only learning, but such zeal for pure doctrine as never to depart from it.

Amen, Eric Johanson, amen. He teaches the right truth. He exposes the truth of God found in scripture, and he exposes the false teacher for what they are. Elders need to know. What about the emergent church?

What about new perspectives on Paul? What about attacks on substitutionary atonement? What about people that say there's no literal hell? They need to know all these type of things. And as one reformer said, here's what a pastor ought to do.

He's gotta have two voices, one for gathering the sheep, and another for driving away wolves. Those are his two voices. The first command in light of the gospel, in light of the promises made beforehand, in light of this eternal covenant of redemption to go rescue sinners by Christ Jesus, number one, select the right kind of elders.

Silencing False Teachers and Rebuking the Circumcision Party

Number two, silence, silence, silence false teachers. Now it's fascinating, there's a connection here. There's false teachers running amok. How do you deal with false teachers? The answer is by having elders.

Elders are the ones that will be the guardians of Christ's church. Verse 10, here's the main section that we start working into. For there are many who are insubordinate, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision party, the Jewish Judaizers.

They must be silenced. That word is, they should have a muzzle put on them. Jesus talks to demons and he tells them to be quiet, be gagged, put a muzzle on it. To use the word, I guess I could use another S word, shut them up, shut their mouths.

That's what the elder must do. Since they're upsetting whole families by teaching for shameful gain, what they ought not to teach. One of the Cretans, a prophet of their own said, Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.

This testimony is true. Therefore, rebuke them sharply. Why? You've got a motivation that they may be sound in the faith. Not devoting themselves to Jewish myths and commands of people who turn away from the truth.

You'd rather be devoted to the Lord Jesus, wouldn't you? I mean, they put a lot of things, these Jews, into their mouth and they won't put a lot of things into their mouth because of all these laws, but it doesn't matter at all.

Externally, ritually clean, to the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, no matter how many rules you keep, nothing is pure. But both their minds and their consciences are defiled.

They profess to know God, but by their works, they deny Him. Or the SV says, they deny Him by their works. They're detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work. Even Epimenides, this secular scholar of Crete, a poet, a Greek poet, he even knew about the Cretans.

And Paul picks up on that. For the elders here, for Eric Johanson, for our visiting pastor, there's not only a selection of elders, but then those elders must do something and if there's false teaching, those false teachers need to be silenced by directly contradicting, by teaching of the truth.

Discipling Older Men, Older Women, Younger Women, and Younger Men

Number three, the third command, undergirded by the gospel. Every God-honoring elder must obey. Select, silence, and now another verb that starts with S, school. That can be a verb, can it? School. School.

I don't always alliterate, but sometimes I do. School, I mean support, I mean disciple. This next section is all about discipleship, training up the next generation. Chapter two, verse one. But as for you, teach what accords with sound doctrine, healthy doctrine, hygienic doctrine.

Older men are to be sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, in love, and in steadfastness. Older women, likewise, are to be reverent in behavior, not slanders or slaves to much wine.

They are to teach what is good. Here's discipleship for ladies as well, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled.

In other words, when these men or these older women or these younger women don't do what the text just says, the word of God is slandered, the word of God is reviled, so let's make sure that doesn't happen under your watch.

Likewise, urge the younger men, verse six, to be self-controlled. How different this kind of living is from the false teachers. The false teachers run around, do all kinds of crazy things, but here, Timothy, you set up and you appoint elders, and the elders teach, and the elders contradict, and the elders train, and they train those young men, train those young ladies, train those older ladies and older men to live a life that's exactly opposite, that accords with sound doctrine, not like these false teachers.

Even at the very beginning in Titus 2 .1, but you, there might be a thousand other people doing some things, but you, Titus, you, Eric, you don't do that. You're gonna train these people to disciple. I love the definition of discipleship that's simple.

Find someone that knows more than you do and learn from them. Find somebody that knows less than you do and teach them. Isn't this part of the Great Commission? You go and you baptize and you teach. Make disciples of all nations.

That's the idea. Giving instruction and wise behavior and good judgment. There's a book entitled The Disciple-Making Pastor. It's an important book because it reflects an important truth. The writer of that book, Bill Hull, says, the pastor must possess convictions concerning disciple-making and declare it as a top priority from the pulpit.

Disciple-making, he said, is at the heart of the church. Jesus has a church. It's in a very dark place. It's in a place called Crete. Set up elders, silence false teachers, train via discipleship, and now number four, the fourth command undergirded by the gospel, show, and that's right from the ESV verse seven, to show.

You lead by your own example. Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works. Of course, the false teachers are bad works, but you have good works, and in your teaching, show integrity, dignity, and sound speech that cannot be condemned.

They might not like you, but they can't contradict you because what you're saying is biblical so that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us. Bond servants are to be submissive to their own masters and everything.

They're to be well-pleasing, not argumentative, not pilfering, but showing all good faith so that in everything they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior. It starts with you. It starts with the elder and his good works.

Now, what's the motivation for all this? Here we come to this gospel motivation, the gospel rebar that comes to the forefront now, verses 11 through 14. Been a lot of law so far, been a lot of imperative so far, a lot of commands.

What's the motivation? What's the ground? How can this be done? Four, verse 11, it's tied even here to the incarnation. The grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people. He's talking about the incarnation of Jesus, and what does this salvation do?

Number one, verse 12, trains us to renounce ungodliness and world passions, and positively, to live self-controlled lives. Self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age. When the gospel comes, it tells you yes to righteousness, no to unrighteousness, and it gives you the ability to actually do it because you are in union with Christ.

Verse 13, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. By the way, there's one article there, it's not great God, the Father, comma, now Jesus Christ.

One article meaning Jesus is God and Savior, the deity of Christ right here, very simple. Waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. And what did He do?

What's the indicative of the gospel? What's the triumphant indicative of the gospel? Who gave Himself for us, to redeem us from all lawlessness, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, who are zealous for good works.

Side note, Eric, you need to make sure you understand the difference between law and gospel, and give them a lot of gospel. Theodore Bezos said, we divide this word into two principal parts or kinds. The one is called the law, the other is called the gospel.

Ignorance of this distinction between law and gospel is one of the principal sources of the abuses which corrupted and still corrupt Christianity. All this command, all these commands rather, to live a life worthy, to live a life worthy of what?

What's the ground? How could I do it? I'm weak and frail, but now the gospel comes in to help. And this gospel brings salvation. This gospel looks for this great hope, Jesus Christ returning to gather His people.

And it says in verse 15, and I say to Eric Johanson, declare these things. It's a great command, a great summary command. Exhort, rebuke with all authority. Let no one disregard you. Number five, seven commands undergirded by the gospel.

Select, silence, school, show, and now number five, submit. It is hard to submit to ungodly authority. It's hard to submit to people who aren't perfect. Titus, what do you do at Crete? People were political machines on Crete.

They loved politics, but they especially didn't like who was leading them. What should a Christian do when it comes to politics? I know that has no relevance in our society, but just kidding. How do you deal with outsiders?

Well, with insiders, you train them, you disciple them. With false teachers, you rebuke them, you muzzle them, you shut them up. But with government authorities, how do you treat them? How do you live in light of a pagan government?

Verse one, remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one. Context there is the leadership. To avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people.

I mean, how could you do that? What's the rationale for that? How is that even possible? Well, do you know what? There was a day and age, Timothy. There was a day and age, I, Paul. There was a day and age, I, Mike Ebenroth.

And there was a day and age, you, congregation, including you, Eric, when you weren't saved. But God saved you and you're different now. This is the rationale found in verse three. See the tie in with the word for?

For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient. I mean, this is my testimony right here. Led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another.

And then the divine interruption. And then the good news. We were these people who were just like lemmings over the edge, listening to every siren song of the world, tempting us and just imbibing in all the pleasures of the world.

And then God interrupts us. And He interrupts us with the goodness and loving kindness. And this God, our Savior, appears. Side note, God, our Savior. If you study that little phrase in 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, and in Titus, it'll be regularly found.

Why? Because pastors need a good dose of remembering God is a saving God. He saves people and He sanctifies them and He glorifies them. And that's what ministry is about because it's a hard job. God appears.

He saved us, verse five. Remember, we were just like these leaders, but He saved us. Oh, we're not better, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to His own mercy. It's all monergistic, it's all of God because He gets all the praise so that none of us will boast by the washing of regeneration and the renewal of the Holy Spirit.

And God wasn't stingy when He did all this. Remember Titus, whom He poured out richly on us through Jesus Christ, our Savior. And He took care of everything so that being justified in God's courtroom, declared not guilty, declared perfectly obedient based on Christ's life, assured by the resurrection, by His grace, we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

The saint's trustworthy. I want you to insist on these things so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works. These things are excellent and profitable for people.

Did not God change your heart from being a pagan to a believer, from being disobedient to being obedient? And that's a good reminder. So when we have unbelievers who are over us and ungodly people who are over us in government, we have to remember, this is exactly what Paul wanted Titus to have his memory jogged by.

The tie-in between them and us. And he says, I want you to be ready for every good deed, not just to be subject to the rulers, not just to be obeying them. I mean, when's the only time we're to disobey rulers, political rulers, if they tell us to sin, then we say no.

On the flip side, we're to be ready for every good work, to be a good citizen, to have a resolution for doing the right things as individual citizens. Yes, we're gonna be heavenly people, we're heavenly minded, we're waiting for the hope of the glory of Christ Jesus when He comes back.

But while we're here, we don't wanna be unfit for good works. We wanna be fit for good works. We wanna render to Caesar the things that are Caesar and to God the things are God's. We could use that language.

And here, Timothy would probably be told this in 1 Timothy as he says to pray for, but here, Paul to Titus says to malign no one. If you'd like to be convicted, here's an easy way to get convicted. Regarding leaders, political leaders, Paul says to Titus, and of course, this was to be taught to the entire congregation.

While you might not like the leaders, you're to not malign them, to malign no one, to blaspheme no one. Those contemptuous public figures that are over us, don't slander them. Paul would say in 1 Timothy 2, pray for them instead.

Trying to injure reputations with our words of leaders we don't like. Paul says, don't do that. Yeah, everybody else on Crete's doing it, I know. But Jesus is your Lord, don't do that. Hebert said, that does not mean they are never to talk of and expose the evils of men.

For Jesus himself did so very forcefully. It means that they are not to malign, slander, or speak injuriously of others. Prevailing practices made this a constant snare to believers. To be uncontentious, do you see that in verse two?

Gentle, showing consideration for all men. This is how we're to react, because we've been saved. God has visited us with his grace, and we are Christians, we are born again. He plays on that a lot, doesn't he?

About the Father's kindness and mercy. This is the motivation. Why should I bow in submission and obedience to ungodly leaders? Because God has been kind to you. God has loved you. God has loved me and delivered himself for me, Galatians 2, Paul would say.

And he's been merciful to you, hasn't he? Harry Ironside had a story about a new convert, and he was given a testimony at a church service, and our two baptismal testimonies remind me of this. This man had a smile on his face, and joy in his heart, and he'd been delivered from a life of sin, and he was telling everyone about that.

He gives all the glory to God, and he didn't want to say anything about himself or his own merits. Ironside said, the person in charge, who was very legalistic, did not fully appreciate the reality of salvation by grace through faith alone, apart from human works.

So he responded to the young man's comments by saying, you seem to indicate that God did everything when he saved you. Didn't you do your part before God did his? The new Christian jumped to his feet and said, oh, yes, I did.

For more than 30 years, I ran away from God as fast as my sins could carry me. That was my part. But God took me, ran me down, that was his part. And then Ironside writes, it was well put, and tells a story that every redeemed sinner understands.

Shunning Foolish Controversies and Divisive People

Eternal life, the hope of eternal life that God would give us. Number six, we have two more to go. We're gonna make it. How about that? 46 verses, 46 sermons. I think when I preached through Daniel on Sunday night, it took me 70 weeks.

That's a sign, maybe. Select, silence, school, show, submit. Now number six, shun, shun, S-H-U-N, Titus 3, 9. There are some things you need to pay attention to, Eric Johansen, there are other things you just need to stiff arm.

That'd be another S, stiff arm. Alliteration's kind of fun, isn't it? Shun foolish controversies and genealogies and strife and disputes about the law. They're unprofitable and worthless. See how this false teacher thing just rears its head up again?

That's really the issue of the church. Some things are not worth talking about. They're worthless. People run their mouths about all kinds of things that are improper in this category. And it's almost as if you could hear the musical lyricists say you're talking a lot, but you're not saying anything.

So avoid that kind of chatter. You've got other things to do, to disciple and to silence and to teach and to encourage. Can't run around and do this all the time. So he says, turn away from, give a cold shoulder to this.

And it's a present imperative. Keep on doing this, because you don't want to get sucked into this kind of foolish talk, trivial talk. And it might be about the law. It might be about genealogies. It might be about all kinds of things.

But you've got two strings on your guitar. Remember 1 Corinthians chapter two? I've determined to know nothing among you except discussions about the law and endless genealogies. They are unprofitable.