Titus -- Lesson 2

Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. No Compromise Radio is a program dedicated to the ongoing proclamation of Jesus Christ, based on the theme in Galatians 2, verse 5, where the Apostle Paul said, �But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.

In short, if you like smooth, watered-down words to make you simply feel good, this show isn�t for you. By purpose, we are first biblical, but we can also be controversial. Stay tuned for the next 25 minutes as we�re called by the Divine Trumpet to summon the troops for the honor and glory of her King.

Here�s our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth.

Late-Night Banter, Ballroom Dancing, and Social Gospel Tweets

Compromise Radio ministry. My name is Mike Abendroth, and I will try my hardest not to yawn this show. This is the second late Saturday night show that I�ve recorded here. I recorded the show on Titus, the book of Titus, kind of some background on it, and I yawned probably six times, and then I did some twittering, and now I�m back.

I almost just quit, went back home. See, this is my problem with No Compromise Radio. Always biblical, always provocative, always sleepy, always in that order. Getting so old. I�m 56 years old. I�m now to the age where I ask people who run stores and retail operations, �Do you have a senior discount

I took my wife, we�ve been going to some ballroom dance lessons, so for you fundamentalists, you can freak out, turn the channel, and I said, �Oh, you know what? It�s $15 on Friday night. You get one hour of dance lessons, group lessons, and then two hours of dancing.

They play a rumba, then a foxtrot, then waltz, then what else could I do? I can do the foxtrot, the rumba, the waltz, a couple swing moves, something else. I know, I�m Tango, T-A-N-G, slow.

Quick, quick, quick, so, so slow. T-A-N-G, slow.

Anyway, so I said, �I noticed online you had a senior discount. Can I have a senior discount She said, �How old are you I said, �56. She said, �Nope. I said, �How old would you have to be

She said, �Uh, nobody�s asking me, �65. So it cost me $30 for three hours each for Kim and I. Not each, $30 total for Kim and I, sorry. It�s been fun. Actually, I�m going to maybe do a whole show on this sometime about the benefits of a husband who would grab his wife and take some ballroom dance lessons because if an oaf like me could do it, I know you could, men, but it�s actually good because men are to be the leaders, women are to be the followers, and on the dance floor with ballroom dancing, it really is true.

And they just follow the lead and so, guys, you have to lead. That�s important. Men either lead or be led. That�s the New Testament, essentially, pragmatically. Anyway, we�ve been taking the dance lessons and who knows.

I just put out a couple of tweets. I wanted to see if I got any retweets, see if we got any traction on those. At NoCompromiseRadio, no, at NoCoRadio. The tweet that I put out today, �Social gospel sounds as dumb as it is when you substitute other words.

Cultural gospel, economic gospel, sports gospel, fair trade gospel, vegan gospel. Don�t those sound stupid to you? They do to me. Lakers gospel, gender gospel, Republican gospel, hipster gospel, skin color gospel, weight gospel, unibrow gospel.

See, I laugh at my own shows. I laugh at my own tweets. That�s why we do what we do. You know, only $12 will get me another 1 ,000 followers. Last time we were looking at the book of Titus. Oh, don�t forget if you want to go to Germany and Switzerland with us, a pricey trip but an excellent trip, LivingPassages .com or go to NoCompromiseRadio .com and you�ll see the Living Passages link there.

A trip to Europe, May 20th through 30th. And if we get enough people, it�ll even be more fun. We�ll see. I�ve got to get enough. I�ve got to get some so I can go. But if I don�t get the some, then the none, then we�ll have no fun.

I think, well, I�m going with Gendron. He�s got a bunch of people. He moves in different circles than I do. I think he�s got like 30 people signed up. I�ve got like four. So, don�t tell me with Gendron.

Tell me with Abendroth, NoCoRadio, Social Gospel. We�re looking at Titus and I like looking at this book because it�s spicy, as my daughter would say when she was little, �Daddy, that�s picey. And it is very relevant, of course, because all Scripture is.

But basically, what Titus is doing, he�s receiving a charge from Paul that has its roots and its grounding and its motivation in the Gospel, chapter 1, 2, and 3 all contain references to the Lord�s work.

So, we�ve got the indicatives. But the imperatives spin out from that and it�s essentially false teachers are there in Crete. That makes sense. It�s a crazy place. It still is. And since there are false teachers there, what do you do?

How do you combat false teachers? Well, you have elders. So, I want you to get elders in all these cities and these elders will live out who they are in Christ and they will walk in a manner worthy, to use Paul�s language in Ephesians 4, and that is what you do.

These people on Crete were susceptible to the false teachers. And Paul says, �All right. You get some elders. Get some faithful elders and they will oversee teaching you proper, pure doctrine and out of that will certainly stem good behavior and this will go against what these other men, the false teachers, are doing.

And when you see right living, it�s because there�s a background to that and that undergirding is that God, the Son, gave himself for us to redeem us from the Everly Brothers. Remember them? Every lawless deed.

That�s Titus chapter 2. And if you are a Christian, of course, you will live a life of good works, not perfect works or anything like that, but I could put it this way. Sanctification starts at justification.

You�re not saved by your own works, but certainly if you�re saved, that�s John 1. So at least we�re going to go less than six this time. I already feel better. You have Titus 1, 2, and 3 and it�s pretty much like a regular Paulian letter except a few differences and it starts off this way, �Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ.

It gets longer than that. That�s just the very beginning, but it�s a longer salutation than normal. It�s longer than every other salutation except for the book of Romans. Of course, it does have the writer, the reader, and the greeting.

It�s got that, but he expands it out some and he gives maybe one of my favorite all-time salutations, but Paul is right and he calls himself a servant of God, doesn�t say that about himself except here, and why does he call himself a doulos, a slave of God?

Well, that word servant of God, slave of God is used of David and Moses and Old Testament people who were speaking for God and that�s exactly what Paul is doing. Paul is speaking for God and he says even furthermore that he has received authority from God as an apostle, apostle of Jesus Christ.

That is Paul�s sending agent. Now, this is the divine source for all of Paul�s exhortations. Paul has no authority on his own, but he does have authority here. �For the sake of the faith of God�s elect and their knowledge of the truth which accords with godliness and the hope of eternal life which God who never lies promised before the.

Ages. Yeah, that�s true. I�m sorry about that. I don�t know what else to do.

Just keep going. When you�re tired, you keep going. Notice this longer salutation. Paul is at the core saying, �Why am I in ministry, Timothy? I, a slave of God, a spokesperson for him and one who�s sent by Jesus Christ, I�m in ministry for the faith of God�s elect, that is to see people get saved, knowledge of the truth which accords with godliness, to see people learn and grow in Christ, sanctification, and then it�s in the hope of eternal life, and this is glorification.

I want to see people get saved. I want them to learn and grow in Christ, and I want them to get to heaven. And of course, all the people that God has saved will get to heaven, but he says that�s what he labors for, saved, sanctified, and glorified.

And it�s pretty amazing where he says, �In the hope of eternal life which God who never lies promised before the ages began. This is the unlying God, and when you think about that, here�s the unlying God who makes a promise, the unlying God, the one who never lies.

To be a cretin is to be a liar. �Kretidzo� is the word Paul uses, the one who never acts like a cretin. Can you imagine? Cretins lie. We�re going to find that out pretty soon. They�re always liars. And Zeus, who was pretty famous in Crete, had to lie so he could have relations with the human woman as he took the form of her husband.

He has no virtue, that is, Zeus has no virtue. Everything about Zeus was a lie. All the people at Crete were liars, and here is God, this unlying God. God promised people eternal life, and he doesn�t lie about it, and he is truthful about it.

This is the command of God, our Savior, the text will go on to say. Who was there to hear the promise in eternity past? If he made a promise, to whom did he make the promise? Angels weren�t alive, people weren�t alive.

It was the Trinity, triune God, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. And we call this promise, intra-Trinitarian promise, pre-temporal promise, the covenant of redemption. The Father gives the elect, the bride, to the Son that he might go rescue them and redeem them by his death, confirmed by the resurrection.

And he, before he creates anything or anyone determined to save, people chose them, and God made the promise. To whom did God make the promise? Well, I think you have to say to yourself, if this is before the time began, it was to the other members of the Trinity.

To use that language of covenant in Luke 22, Jesus said, and I assign to you as my Father assigned to me, a kingdom. And that is the Father and the Son, and of course the Spirit was involved as well. This is the language of Ephesians 1.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.

In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ according to the purpose of his will. When did God choose? He chose before the foundation of the world. Calvin said the very time of election chose it to be free, for what could we have deserved or in what did our merit consist before the world was made?

Outside of human influence, independent of what people would do, it says in 2 Timothy 1 .9, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity.

From the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who had been slain, Revelation 13. Book of life from the foundation of the world, Revelation 17. 18. Before anyone did any good, here's the promise to the Father, the Son, and the Spirit.

God doesn't look down the corridors of time. He makes a promise before anyone was alive, the counsel between the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. It's pretty fascinating when you think your salvation was all planned before Genesis 1, before the world was created.

Lloyd-Jones says it is the realization of this fact that makes a man stand on tiptoe and shout out praise to God, chosen before the foundation of the world. To get over that, it's hard to get over that.

The Father commands the Son to go rescue sinners by dying and being raised from the dead. Remember what Jesus said, I have the authority to lay down my life and I have the authority to take it up again.

This commandment I receive from my Father. When? In eternity past. John 17. I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. John 17. When? Eternity past. The Father sends the Son on a specific mission.

And you read that in John over and over and over. And it says in verse 3 of Titus, and at the proper time manifested in his word through the preaching with which I have been entrusted by the command of God our Savior.

These promises of the never-lying God are old. Why did the people at Crete just come to find out about them now? Because this is the proper time. This is the sovereign time. This is the exact time where it should be manifest.

And how is it made manifest? Through preaching, through proclamation, through God sending frail evangelists and preachers and pastors to this very strange island called Crete. Salvation. Salvation in Christ Jesus is for Jew and Gentile, solely earned by Jesus and his merits, promised in eternity, but manifested by gospel proclamation.

Ministry by Gospel Proclamation and the Question of Continuing No Compromise Radio

Well, I am weak and fallible. Good thing that the gospel doesn't turn on eloquence. And that's a good time to stop for a second. Mike Abendroth, No Compromise Radio. If you want to write me, no, at nocompromiseradio .com.

That's for strange things. If you want to go to the website, snoop around, easily, thanks to Jonathan and Linton, easily a searchable website. If you want to type in somebody's name and you want to learn what we have said or talked about about a particular person, type in Tim Keller.

It should pull up and then you can look at one of those 1 ,500 episodes about whatever particular topic. I would like you to write me. We're going through kind of a transition time here. Do we keep going?

Is it worth it? We're into the seventh year, I believe, of No Compromise Radio. I don't know many other shows that are daily. I mean, maybe if it's their full-time job, but other pastors doing daily radio shows, I don't know how many others do it.

And do I, I mean, I can always contribute the Bible. I understand that. But is there really a need? Is there a need to keep doing No Compromise Radio? I'm not asking for back slapping. Just check the currency with that little yellow pin before you send them in.

That's all I'm asking for. But seriously, I'd love to know. The gospel proclamation comes to this, not little town, but this island. And God has strategically placed Titus there. It was almost going to be number three, but I stopped.

Regularly, you'll see that. God our Savior, God our Savior, God our Savior in the pastoral epistles. Why? Ministry is hard, and it's good to be reminded that God is a saving God. And here, do you notice, peace and grace come from both the Father and Christ Jesus.

Talk about equality and talk about Trinity. There you have it. You say, well, I'm not a pastor. I'm not an elder, nor do I ever want to be one. So how can this book be applicable to me? Well, this is how you would pray for these particular people.

But if you look at Titus 3 .15, we looked at the salutation earlier. Now we look at the close. All who are with me greet you. Greet those who love us in the faith. Grace be with you all. Look at that plural.

Grace be with you all. I think Paul is expecting, isn't he? Paul is expecting Titus to have this letter read to other churches. And congregations would hear this, of which you are a part. Now we come to the outline for the book.

Simple. Remember from last week, indicatives of the gospel in chapter 1, 2, and 3 undergird, strengthen, guide, motivate these exhortations. So for the sake of outline, it's going to be easy. All one word, all verbs, all in command form, second person imperative, all alliteration.

Six commands undergirded by the gospel. Every elder and pastor must obey if he'd like to honor God the Savior and the Lord Jesus Christ. Okay? Sounds good? Sounds good. While we're on the radio here, it's sometimes nice to check Twitter, so we'll just do a little AdNoCo radio.

Oh, see? Somebody just said, my kids are watching High School Musical. I think I'd rather sit through a Gaither Christmas special. Hmm. Okay. Clinton recount plan draws sore loser jibe from Team Trump.

What is Thanksgiving Day? Steve Nichols, Ligonier Ministry. Think that's about all I got. Huh? That's it. Number one, the first command in Titus. In terms of my outline, there might be other commands and all that stuff.

Almost, almost. That's number three. Couldn't stop it. Select. Let me give you some commands. Select. In other words, set up elders. You're going to appoint elders. I had to get some alliteration. I don't do alliteration very often.

Always alliterate. But here, we had to do it. Speaking of which, my, and I'm so tired I can't remember his name. My linguist friend. Now, I didn't say Lingua Franca, but my linguist friend in Atlanta area.

Can't even remember his name. Send me an email. You know, it's like John Dawson. I knew him for a while, then he just floated off the face of the earth. Okay, what's the linguist's name? Who listens to No Compromise Radio?

What do you mean, how should you know? I'm the host. Yeah, I know that, but I'm asking you the question. Barney. Fred, would you know? Sometimes I just picture Fred in the room with me, and that's when I really start preaching away.

First one is set up or select. This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order and appoint elders in every town as I directed you. So, Titus' job is to set up elders, to select elders, to appoint elders, and then he gives some qualifications.

And it's fascinating because outside of teaching, there's going to be not many like duties described or prescribed. Here are the qualifications. They're just the right kind of guy. A holy, I don't mean a holy man in a weird way, but just a man who lives a lifestyle commensurate with what the gospel teaches.

And it says, it's almost number four, but I withheld it. If anyone is above approach, the husband of one wife, children are believers and not open to the charge of debauchery or insubordination. What Paul skipped was his Thanksgiving section.

Lots of times he has a little thanks section. He skipped it in Galatians, but it's in his other books. And he gives some virtues here, some qualifications of elders. Tells you that the churches are younger, immature, and he said every town needs these elders, needs these overseers, needs these leaders.

And then he gives the qualifications. It is simple to me when I think to myself, congregational rule, Pope rule, to say, well, okay, here, elders, it should be elder rule. Maybe you'll want to say elder led.

We'll talk about that in another show, but it's elder rule. Who rules the church? Jesus. And then he says, I want you to have these men. Well, my name is Mike Abingroth. This is No Compromise Radio, info at nocompromiseradio .com.

Don't forget the trip to Europe next year. Don't be one of these scaredy cats about, well, what might happen in Europe, Wittenberg and Zurich and Geneva. You're going to have a great time. Love to go with you.

No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abingroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible-teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life-transforming power of God's Word through verse-by-verse exposition of the sacred text.

Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 1015 and in the evening at 6. We're right on Route 110 in West Boylston. You can check us out online at bbchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.

The thoughts and opinions expressed on No Compromise Radio do not necessarily reflect those of WVNE, its staff or management.