Sunday Sermon: Hold Firm to the Trustworthy Word (Titus 1:5-9)

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You're listening to the Preaching Ministry of Gabriel Hughes, pastor of Providence Reformed Baptist Church in Casa Grande, Arizona.

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Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday on this podcast, we feature teaching through a New Testament book, an

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Old Testament book on Thursday, and our Q &A on Friday. Each Sunday we are pleased to present our sermon series.

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Here is Pastor Gabe. Would you open in your Bible, please, to Titus chapter 1 as we come back into our series, into our study in the book of Titus.

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As I had said to you last week, it is a short book. It is compact. It's the shortest of the pastoral epistles, even one of the shortest in the

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New Testament. And yet we find such rich doctrine when we unpack this book, which we will spend the next several weeks in.

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It won't be a terribly long series, though. One of my intentions when we get to the month of October, since it's in that month that we typically remember or will commemorate the beginning of the

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Protestant Reformation over 500 years ago, my intention in October is to go through the five solos of the

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Protestant Reformation. So it'll be done by then, and then we'll do that series, and then we have a new series that will begin in November.

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So this is short, but yet I hope it will be impactful and that you will gain from the rich doctrine and even the specific instructions that we will find in Titus, not just with regards to the gospel and the faith that we share, but even our responsibilities in the church.

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As this being a pastoral epistle, we will certainly find instructions in the function of the church, which we see today, especially given the instructions regarding qualified elders.

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Coming into this morning, I was reading earlier this week from Henry Smith, who was a

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Puritan that lived in the 16th century, an English clergyman, and he said the following, we have some love of the truth, but we have no courage to labor for it.

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We are like a merchant that would gladly gain, but dares not venture the seas for fear of drowning.

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And may it not be said of us that we love to hear, but not do, and instead would hear the word of God this morning and do what it says.

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Here in this passage that we look at today, we see the qualifications of an elder who is supposed to love the truth and communicate

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God's truth. And we see here not only the responsibility of that man, but upon each and every one of us to hear the truth and do what it says.

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In honor of the word of the King, would you please stand? I am reading from Titus chapter 1 verses 5 through 9 out of the

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English standard version. Hear the word of the Lord. This is why

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I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order and appoint elders in every town as I directed you.

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If anyone is above reproach, the husband of one wife and his children are believers and not open to the charge of debauchery or insubordination.

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For an overseer is God's steward must be above reproach. He must not be arrogant or quick -tempered or a drunkard or violent or greedy for gain, but hospitable, a lover of good, self -controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined.

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He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.

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You may be seated as we pray. Heavenly Father, in this passage of scripture that we are looking at today, we come once again to the qualifications of an overseer, of a pastor or an elder in the church.

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And we see in this man an example of a mature Christian. So though all who are here may not be called into this kind of ministry service, yet we all should look at these characteristics and desire as he does to live godly lives in the present age.

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We also see of this man that he is to hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught.

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And who of us could say that we're exempt from that? We too must hold firm to the words of life that were spoken by Christ to his disciples that have been spoken to the people in their day and have, by the preservation and work of the

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Holy Spirit, come to us even today, that we may hear the word of God and do it.

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Help us to not just pay lip service to these things or be gathered here because we're fulfilling some religious duty, but we love to hear

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God's word. And we love Christ to the degree that we obey him with joy.

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Work in our hearts and stir in us a desire for your ways. It's in Jesus' name we pray, amen.

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As many of you are surely aware, the Summer Olympic Games opened this past week in Paris, France.

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Believe it or not, this is the first publicly attended Summer Olympic Games since 2016.

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The Games in Tokyo in 2020 were postponed due to COVID. When they finally took place in the spring of 2021, they were largely held behind closed doors.

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So this has been a highly anticipated return to form.

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As with any other Olympiad, there are always some kind of opening ceremonies consisting of artistic presentations coordinated by the host nation.

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You might see something of the culture of that nation in these opening ceremonies. And it's all mixed with the usual pomp and circumstance that go with being a ceremony, like the lighting of the torch, the parade of nations, an official declaration of the start of the

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Games, that sort of thing. This year's opener began with the ringing of the bells of the iconic

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Notre Dame Cathedral and ended with a titanic performance from Celine Dion.

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Some of you will understand that pun. It'll hit you later. But whatever could have been remembered about these opening ceremonies, and whatever could have been remembered about the 2024

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Olympics at all, has now been overshadowed by a blasphemous scoffing of Christianity.

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Few may remember the Paris Olympic Games for anything else but an opening ceremony bit that featured drag queens, including children, seated at the

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Lord's table, mocking the Lord's supper. Now some have said, oh, that's not really what this was.

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It was actually supposed to be a depiction of this Greek decadent feast. But the officials of the

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Olympic Committee have since come out and said, no, that's exactly what it was. But we didn't mean any offense by it.

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And yet the Olympics now are very busy online, on YouTube and on other forms of social media, claiming copyright on those videos and having them removed so that you don't see what it was that the whole world saw happen just a couple of days ago.

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Now, this sort of thing should not be all that surprising to us. France has been undergoing a rapid secularization, and this is the fruit of it.

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As I said in our introduction to the book of Titus, doctrine and life go together. And that's not just about what we as Christians should be listening to and doing.

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This is everybody. It doesn't matter your religion or walk of life. Whatever you believe, you will see manifested in a person's life.

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What you believe has a direct effect on the way that you live. Once again, from Titus 1 .1,

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our faith in Christ and knowledge of the truth produces godliness. France as a nation has cast off God, and the result is more and more ungodliness.

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There is no such thing as neutrality. Secularization, which is supposed to be the absence of religion, is not some blank slate.

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And now we're going to decide from here which religious path we are going to go. Secularization is a religious path.

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And that direction is away from God and into more ungodliness. May it be a reminder to us not to lose our direction.

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We keep our focus fixed upon Christ, and we also see the continuing need to share the gospel with others.

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It's a dark world and just getting darker. And we need to shine the light of Christ, which is our only hope.

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What we're going to see here in Titus over the next two lessons, talking about this lesson today and the lesson that we will consider next week, there is a contrast here between the good teacher and the false teacher.

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The good teacher demonstrates in his life godly character and good works. And as we'll see next week, the false teacher is detestable, disobedient, and unfit for any good work.

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And likewise, it would be said of those who follow them. You follow sound doctrine, you'll demonstrate godliness.

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You follow false doctrine, and the result is ungodliness. So today, our attention is upon the good teacher who holds firm to the trustworthy word as taught, that we may follow this example.

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Now, the passage that we look at today describes the qualifications of the overseer of a church, just like we had read in 1

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Timothy 3, verses 1 through 7. Many of these things look just the same. This was a passage that we were in earlier this year.

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This particular passage, Titus 1, 5 through 9, contains three musts.

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And these three musts kind of build the outline of the passage. First of all, he must be above reproach, verses 5 through 7a.

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And these verses list other characteristics under that requirement of being above blame.

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No charge of wrongdoing can be brought against this man. Instead, he demonstrates these kinds of characteristics.

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Secondly, there is a contrasting list of what he should not be.

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And then, even with those things, he should not do this. Instead, he should do this, which kind of directly parallel that.

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And that's in verses 7b through 8. And then last of all, we have the requirement of him as a teacher specifically, what he must be as a teacher, and that's verse 9.

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So again, this separates out in verses 5 through 7a, and then 7b through 8, and then we have that requirement of what he must be as a teacher in verse 9.

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Let's come back to this once again, Titus 1, 5. This is why,

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Paul says, I left you in Crete so that you might put what remained into order and appoint elders in every town as I directed you.

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Now, remember, Paul has left Titus on the island of Crete, which is one of the largest islands there in the

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Mediterranean. There are some 100 cities on this island. We don't know for sure if there's a church in every city, but certainly,

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Paul and his missionary brethren had done a great missionary work there and had spread the gospel and many churches were planted.

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So wherever these churches are, whether Titus has a responsibility to go to all 100 of them or there were fewer than that, he has this task set before him that he is to check on all the things that are happening in those churches that have been planted through the sharing of the gospel, and he is now supposed to take the next step for those congregations.

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They are a body of believers, but they are, in a sense, without a shepherd.

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They don't have somebody to guide them in the teaching and the truth that they have heard from the apostles.

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So Titus has this job of going into those churches and appointing elders.

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Now, that's plural. It's not just raise up a pastor so they got a guy that'll lead them, give them a priest or something like that.

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It's not what Paul says, but appointing elders in every town. Town is singular, elders are plural.

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So the functioning model that we have there then for church polity in these respective churches is that there would be a plurality eldership.

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That would be the ideal, that you would have not just one man that's kind of set over everybody else, but that there would be a body of men who are learned and understanding in the scriptures, who are mature

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Christians that meet the qualifications that are given here, and will therefore shepherd and guide that church in the truth that they will believe, which produces godliness.

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All of that coming back to verse 1 once again, where Paul says that he is an apostle for the sake of the faith of God's elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness.

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So who are these men that are going to teach the people the truth of God's word that they may grow and produce godliness in their lives?

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That's the job that Titus has. And we've seen elsewhere in the New Testament references to plurality elders in churches, most notably the

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Ephesian church, one church but multiple elders, which Paul himself had appointed and had set them over the care and the teaching of that church.

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When Titus was sent to pastor that church, he serves as kind of a pastor but in a plurality eldership, as we had seen previously in 1 and 2

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Timothy. Now, we have already gone over qualifications of an overseer before, when we were in 1

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Timothy 3 earlier this year, and we're going to do that again here as we look at these various qualifications. But this would also be a good place for us to consider church polity.

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That's not something that we've talked about yet as we have considered the function of a church. We have eldership, we have deacons that are talked about in 1

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Timothy 3. What is church polity? Well, polity very simply is another word for governance.

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This is the way that a church would govern itself. We read in 1

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Timothy 3 how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church. In that same chapter, we saw the qualifications for elders and deacons.

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Later on in Titus, we're going to see further our responsibility to one another in a church.

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But how about the way that church specifically is structured in its governance?

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So I think here in verse 5, where Paul is instructing Titus to appoint elders in all the churches, it's a good place to reflect upon polity and why is it important.

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When we talk about church polity, we're talking about the way that a church is governed or governs itself.

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Now, any good church polity begins with Christ, who is the head of the church,

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Ephesians 1 .22 and 5 .23. As it's also said in Colossians 1 .18, he is the head of the body, the church.

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So as we even confess from our own confession this morning, what is Christ instructed for his church?

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And this is the way that we are to govern ourselves under the direction and the headship of Christ.

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If a church does not recognize Christ is the head, then it's already a failure in its polity.

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From here, a church congregation builds its polity on the word of Christ. Now, there are three main kinds of church polity.

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There are probably various subsets under each one of these headings, but almost every kind of polity will fall into one of these three categories,

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Episcopal, Presbyterian, and Congregational. Those are the three main kinds of church polity.

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So first of all, Episcopal. Episcopal comes from the Greek word episkopos, which is often translated bishop or overseer.

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As in 1 Timothy 3 .1, where Paul said, if anyone desires to be an overseer, he desires a noble task.

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The word for overseer there is translated from the Greek word episkopos. You might be familiar with the

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Episcopalian denomination. That name is taken from this word, but it's not the only example of the

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Episcopal model. It's not that you only find it in the Episcopalian denomination. The Episcopal model is the governance of a church under a single leader.

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So one man who kind of sits on top of all the decisions that are made in that church.

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The most famous or perhaps the most infamous example of Episcopalian polity is the

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Roman Catholic Church under the headship of the Pope, who is said to be the Vicar of Christ.

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Now, according to Catholic answers, being the Vicar of Christ implies the Pope's supreme and universal primacy, both of honor and of jurisdiction over the

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Church of Christ. So in other words, he has on earth the same power and authority that Christ has over the church.

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The Greek Orthodox are Episcopalian in their governance. The Anglicans are another well -known

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Episcopalian body. In fact, the Episcopalians are the American version of the

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Anglican communion. The head of the Church of England is the monarch, who at the present is

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King Charles III. The King of England then appoints the senior clergy, beginning with the

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Archbishop of Canterbury, who is the senior bishop and principal leader of the Church of England. At the present, the archbishop is

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Justin Welby, who has been appointed by Charles's mother, Queen Elizabeth II.

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He was appointed in 2013. These are just a couple of well -known examples of Episcopalian polity, but sometimes this polity doesn't exist on this large a scale.

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Even a small independent Baptist church can have an Episcopalian polity.

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If there is a pastor who runs everything, everything is done by the will of that one man, and everyone knows he's the rooster, he's the head honcho, he's the guy that calls the shots, that church's polity, though it may say

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Baptist on the sign, is Episcopalian. I have been in churches where they might claim to be congregational, but no, the pastor rules, and everybody knows that.

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Like, they may give lip service to the fact, we're a congregational church, but kind of under their breath, they're going, no, the pastor does everything.

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He kind of runs the show around here. He always gets what he wants. Now, I would present to you that we do not see this kind of model anywhere in the

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New Testament. That is not an example of a church... There is not an example of a church being run by one man.

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The Roman Catholics, of course, are going to maintain that the entire church was put under the headship of St. Peter.

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But not only is that not what Jesus meant when he said, on this rock I will build my church in Matthew 16, 18, we do not have it repeated or even alluded to anywhere else in the

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New Testament. Nowhere is it said that Peter has some kind of primacy over the rest of the apostles.

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Nowhere is it said that Peter is the vicar of Christ and we answer to him, nor is there going to be some sort of succession of the chair of St.

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Peter in the church down through the ages. We don't find that modeled anywhere in the New Testament. Now, some have argued that James is presented as the

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Episcopal head over the church of Jerusalem, like in the book of Acts, but that is not correct.

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In Acts 21, 18, it says that when the apostle Paul went to Jerusalem, he went to James, who may have been functioning like a senior pastor in his role in Jerusalem, but the text says all the elders were present.

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So James was just one elder among many. He wasn't the single figurehead over an individual church.

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Now, let me say that if you come into a church where there isn't a plurality eldership, there may only be a pastor, but there isn't a plurality of elders.

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Should you automatically think, oh, well, that church is dysfunctional, they're unbiblical, they're not even following a proper biblical model?

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No, because it may be the case that that church is undergoing a growth period and that there are not enough qualified men in that congregation who could step up and serve in that role as elder.

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As Titus has been appointed this role to go and appoint elders in every church, he's going to examine those men according to the qualifications that Paul sets forth here, but they have to be qualified.

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It's not appointing a plurality eldership for the sake of having a plurality eldership. It's finding those men who are qualified and placing them in those positions.

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I've been in that place before. In fact, with the first senior pastor position that I assumed, it was kind of funny to even call myself a senior pastor because there was no one else,

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I was the pastor. And we were undergoing a growth period in which we were looking for those qualified men, and I had a task that was set before me in helping to mature those men and train them in an understanding of the gospel and being able to teach it and do so well, and then find from those men which ones would be qualified to be an elder.

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And we did find from those men qualified elders, and within about two years of my assuming that senior pastor role, we had our first plurality eldership in the 60 year history of that church.

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It had always been up to that point, the pastor's the guy, he's the one that's running everything. But I helped the church to see this isn't the biblical model that we should be following, and we should instead raise up other men, just as we saw

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Timothy appointed to this in 2 Timothy, teach other men in these things also so that they may be trained in this task that is set before us, to carry the torch, to teach the good news, to train people for godliness.

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So, yes, Episcopalian may not be the biblical model, but just because a church has a pastor and no one else doesn't mean we should immediately write them off as being unbiblical.

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The second kind of polity is Presbyterian. And this is derived from the

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Greek word presbyteros, meaning elder. This is the word that appears here in Titus 1 .5

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for appointing elders in every town. Appoint presbyteros is what

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Paul is telling Titus to do. This is a form of church government where the authority rests not on a single individual, but with the body of elders or presbyters.

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A church will have several elders. That will include the pastor and other elders as well.

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But even those elders will answer to a higher board of elders. And then even that board of elders probably has yet another board of elders that they are supposed to answer to, and so on.

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In many cases, though in not every case, the assets of that church might even be controlled by the denomination.

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So even a church's building is not owned by that particular body, but it might be the denomination that owns it.

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So the denomination decides even what happens with the building and everything else that the church possesses. Of course, the

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Presbyterian church is the most notable example of this kind of polity, PCUSA, PCA.

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It's in the very name of the denomination after all. But most Reformed Protestant denominations are

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Presbyterian. The Dutch Reformed, the Reformed Church of America. But there are also some non -Reformed denominations that may function this way, including some charismatic churches and denominations.

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And I believe I've heard it said that the Seventh -day Adventists also follow this kind of polity. So this is

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Presbyterian, and automatically whenever we hear Presbyterian, we think what? Baptizing babies, right?

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That's what they do. That's why they're a Presbyterian church. But no, that name is more specifically to their polity.

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That's why they are called that. Now, the third, last but not least, we have the congregational polity.

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Now, it is often understood that a congregational church means that the authority rests with whom?

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Rests with the congregation, hence why we call it congregationalism. It functions like a democracy or perhaps like the

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United States, a constitutional republic where the majority rules. But that is just a form of congregationalism.

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Historically speaking, a congregational church is simply an autonomous church.

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It doesn't answer to any higher authority. It is self -governing. We don't have anybody else over us.

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The individual church body is not answerable to an authority outside or over that particular body.

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So in that sense, our church is congregational. Though, of course, the most common kind of congregational polity is a majority rule in which the congregation, the authority rests with the congregation.

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I was invited to become part of a church one time in which it was said to me, well, we're moving toward an elder -led congregation.

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We're a congregationalist church now, but we're moving toward elder -led congregationalism. And then I came to find that that wasn't really the case at all.

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That might have been a selling point, but that's not where they went. And in fact, that church was really just run by the pastor, and the elders functioned as staff.

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In the first church that I became a pastor in where I was ordained, there was a senior pastor, and then

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I was one of two other pastors, but we were not functioning as a plurality eldership. In fact, that senior pastor had like a board of men that he assembled for himself that helped to lead him in decisions.

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And us associate pastors were not given any word into any of this at all. So we just served as like the pastor's staff.

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The pastor would come up with this idea and he would say, now you guys have to execute it. I'm like, do we have any say in this at all?

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No, or you're fired. So that's not a true plurality eldership in that sense.

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We just become the pastor's support staff. Now, I would present to you that congregational rule also is not the ideal form of polity that we find instructed in the

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New Testament. In fact, when a church is run by a democracy, things tend to go really bad.

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After all, it was the majority in Israel who raised up a golden calf.

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And then the majority in Jerusalem voted to put the Son of God to death. So this is not the best way to have a church operate, where you have a majority of the laity in whatever stage of maturity of the

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Christian faith that they might be, having all control over the decisions that are made in that church.

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So what kind of polity does our church follow? What would you say that Providence Reformed Baptist Church in Casa Grande, Arizona, what would be our polity?

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Believe it or not, we are some element of all three. We are first of all congregational, in the sense that we are an autonomous self -governing church.

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And there are things that the body itself has a responsibility to do in a church.

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So we're not elder -ruled. It's not all of us as elders telling you what to do, and you have to do whatever we tell you to.

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There are things that the church has a responsibility to do, and we've considered that in other places, church discipline being one of those things.

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In Matthew chapter 18, verses 15 to 17, where Jesus tells his disciples the way discipline is to be conducted in the church, everybody in the church has a responsibility to that kind of polity in which

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Jesus gives to everyone in the church, not just to the elders. So there's a certain responsibility that all people in the church have, and in that sense, we are congregational.

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But we're an elder -led congregationalism. So in that way, we're also kind of Presbyterian. I am not one guy that sits over all the decisions that are made here in the church.

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Even I have the responsibility, though I might be the lead teaching pastor, I have a responsibility, as you do, to be subject to my elders.

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And so in this way, I can be as obedient as anybody else in the church to being subject to some of those other men, those mature men of God who have been appointed to these positions, that we might serve in these roles together as shepherds in the church.

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So there's something of a Presbyterian polity that exists here as well. Now, how about Episcopalian?

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Well, that's only if absolutely necessary. We may not function in that way exactly, but say a time comes in which there's only one man here in this church and not several that are qualified to serve as elders, in which case the congregation may look to that man to shepherd them in the decisions that need to be made and in the teaching of the church.

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Although the ideal would be that hopefully we get to a point where we're raising up mature men of God who can step into those roles and fulfill then the polity that we really see being laid out here of plurality eldership.

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So that's a little bit about church polity, which in our study of the pastoral letters, we haven't considered yet until we've come to this particular point.

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But you see, again, Paul saying to Titus, appointing elders in every town as I directed you.

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As Brother Allen had read this morning, the passage from Acts, in Acts chapter 6, where we see the appointment of the first deacons.

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The apostles even give it to the church. You find these men. You find the ones who are qualified to serve in these roles, and you come and present them to us.

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And so the congregation tests and examines. They find six men, and they bring them to the apostles who lay hands on them and bless them, and then the apostles continue the work of teaching that needs to happen while these deacons do the work of becoming the hands and feet and serving some of those physical needs that the congregation has.

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Here we have the qualification specifically of that man who's going to be over the spiritual needs of the church, especially.

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Who is this man and how is he qualified in leading the teaching of a body of Christ?

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So in verse 6, it is said, if anyone is above reproach, if he is the husband of one wife and his children are believers and not open to the charge of debauchery or insubordination.

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And then in verse 7, for an overseer as God's steward must be above reproach. So in this first instruction, you see it bookended with the call to be above reproach.

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Now, what does it mean to be above reproach? But simply, he is above blame. You can't look at this man and know that there is something about him in his life that is wicked and sinful and must be called out.

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Well, yeah, he stands in front of you and he preaches the gospel every Sunday, but I know he's down at the bars during the week.

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And he's getting drunk or he's going out to places that he shouldn't be or he's saying words with people with language that he shouldn't be saying.

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Or I see this guy loses temper all the time and he flies off the handle with people. If you see that in his life, then he's not a man that is above reproach.

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Now, there are some sins that would probably immediately disqualify a pastor from his job and probably permanently disqualify him from that position, because he sinned to such a degree that that sin always marks him.

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And everybody who looks at him will see a man who is not above reproach. Now, does that mean that he can't be forgiven of those sins?

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Of course he can be forgiven. In fact, that man should step out of his role, because he's no longer qualified, and then be subject to the church in the disciplinary process.

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That he would be convicted of his sin, turn from it, repent, and be restored in a spirit of grace.

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But that does not mean that he is therefore now re -qualified for the position of pastor.

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He may no longer be qualified for that position. There are also sins, though, that a pastor may commit that won't be that serious.

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Perhaps it's something to a degree that he needs to resign for a time and work on those things in his flesh, that he needs to be convicted over and work out, that the

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Holy Spirit would work out in his life. And then come a time where he would be qualified once again and be able to step back into that position.

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Or there may just simply be something that you've seen him do wrong that just needs to be confronted. And it doesn't have to be a big deal.

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You're just following the guidelines that Jesus gave in Matthew 18, 15. If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, and let it be between you and him alone.

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And if he repents, then you have won your brother. And it may be that sort of a thing that needs to be confronted as well.

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But remember what we had read previously in 1 Timothy chapter 5, let there not be any charge brought against an elder, except on the evidence of two or three witnesses.

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And as an elder or even the senior teaching pastor is a public figure, he's in front of people most of the time.

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He's probably the one that is gonna face the most attacks from people that are outside the church. So be careful when some of those accusations get hurled at your pastor.

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Is that really true of him, or is there really an evidence of two or three witnesses that can verify this claim or this charge that is being brought to him?

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I wrote on my blog this week, for those of you who had read it, when I put three reasons why

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I'm a Baptist. I talked about a period of time in which there were false accusations that were brought against me and how my church handled that.

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Tested me according to those accusations and found them to be illegitimate. So we do have a model in scripture that is given to us as to how those charges be raised and how those things be tested, so that this man remain someone who is above reproach.

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He is the husband of one wife. We had discussed that when we were in 1 Timothy chapter 3. This very specifically means that he is a one woman man.

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So he is not only not married to multiple women, but he also doesn't have his wife, and then he's carousing around with other women on the side.

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As a one woman man means that he is faithful and loyal to her. Because again, as he is supposed to be a

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Christ -like example, Jesus has only one bride. His bride is the church.

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And so let a pastor, an elder or an overseer, also be a one woman man, in that he models in his life exactly what

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God intended for marriage from the very beginning. That it would be one man and one woman for life.

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From there, his children must be believers and not open to the charge of debauchery or insubordination.

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Now, it doesn't mean that all of his children have to therefore be baptized, or else he's unqualified in his position as a pastor.

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But rather, that you can see in his children's lives, that they are subject to the instruction of their father.

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And if the father is leading his wife and his children in the training and the discipline of the Lord, then you should see evidence and fruit of that, even within his own family.

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Well, where you see a child that is unruly and undisciplined, and he acts like that caricature of the

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PK that we have in American evangelicalism. He might sit in his pew on Sunday morning, but he acts like a hellion the rest of the week, or maybe he's even acting that way in church.

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Once the pastor says amen, there he goes, tearing up the building. And influencing other kids in bad ways and things like that.

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If that's what you see in this man's family life, then perhaps he needs to be confronted about that and called to resign.

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His children must demonstrate themselves as being believers. They're subject to their father's instruction and subject to the scriptures that he guides them in.

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And not open to the charge of debauchery or insubordination. So then in verse seven, it says once again, kind of bookending this, an overseer as God's steward.

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Remember, we read that also in 1 Timothy, meaning that he's one that's been placed in charge over the household of God.

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To kind of oversee those things that God would have him put into order, just as Titus has been instructed to do here.

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He must be above reproach. Now, the second part of this begins in the second half of that verse, in the rest of verse seven.

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He must not be arrogant, or quick -tempered, or a drunkard, or violent, or greedy for gain.

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So now we have a list of he must nots. Must not be arrogant, he must not be full of himself.

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You must see demonstrated in this man a matter of humility, that though he may stand in a position that is described as a ruling position.

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Remember in 1 Timothy 5, it says that those who rule well are worthy of double honor.

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A teacher was called a ruler in Israel. Jesus' confrontation with Nicodemus in John chapter 3.

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Aren't you the ruler of Israel? Talking to Nicodemus as a teacher. So it is an authoritative position.

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But how does he use that position? Does he use it to lord authority over people? Or is he a servant?

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Do you see humility in that man? That he is not in that place to better himself.

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But he is in that place for the benefit of the body that he has been appointed to shepherd.

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So he must not be arrogant and full of himself. He must not be quick tempered. So he has control over his emotions and doesn't let his emotions get out of hand.

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Becoming angry at people, flying off the handle with people. Before Becky and I came here,

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I had interviewed with another church to replace a pastor that had been fired for this very thing.

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Being one of the problems among many, it seems. But especially he had a problem with his temper. And even the church secretary told stories of how his door would be closed and he would just be yelling and screaming at people in his office.

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And when she was telling me that story, there was another gal that kind of walked in and said, I was working down in the nursery down there and I could hear it all the way down there.

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So this was the problem that was going on with this particular man. But that shows him to be unqualified if he can't gain control over his emotions.

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If he is a drunkard, he subjects himself to the control of substances. Drunkard doesn't just have to be wine.

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It could be any kind of substance that controls his thinking or dulls his wits and his thoughts.

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And he would be subject to these things rather than being in control over his own thoughts and his own body.

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Or he's violent, or he's greedy for gain. And remember what we talked about with regards to that in 1

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Timothy 3. If he's greedy for money, he would be willing to compromise the message of the word to appeal to more people and therefore gain more money.

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And where Paul said in 1 Timothy 6 .10, the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.

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It is because of this love that many people have pierced themselves with many pangs. This was not just some sort of proverbial statement.

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Hey, watch out for the love of money. But it was specifically in the context of false teachers. False teachers love money and are greedy for gain and will teach what they need to teach in order to gain more of it.

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Instead, here's the contrast, verse 8, he must be hospitable. Notice that in the first must not, he must not be arrogant, but instead he must be hospitable.

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So he's showing humility in that way. He takes that which God has blessed him with and he wants to bless other people with that.

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He must be a lover of good. He looks for the good things. He's not a man who is just constantly cynical and complaining and bickering and arguing about all these things.

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He's constantly negative and he's down, but he looks for the good things. And he wants to encourage you in good.

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He doesn't sin himself. He doesn't encourage you in sin or even let sin just kind of go on.

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Like, that person will figure it out or whatever else. But this is a man who loves good to such a degree that when he sees or hears something wrong, he will confront it and direct the people of God in the way that they should go.

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He is self -controlled. Once again, that contrast with he must not be a drunkard, but he has control over himself, over his wits, over his conscience, over his very body.

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And then he must also be upright. He must be holy and he must be disciplined.

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When you go to Psalm 1 and you read about the wise man and the way in which he walks, not sitting in the seat of scoffers or in the way of the wicked, do you look at your pastor or the elders of your church and you see that kind of man demonstrated?

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He's a man who is upright, as the Old Testament refers to as a person who is of good character, pursuing godliness.

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He is holy and not like the world, not filled with worldliness.

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He is disciplined in that he doesn't let the temptations of his flesh gain strength over him, but he is able to live in godliness as he is called to do and as the rest of the church should be as well.

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So once again, what we have here, first of all, he must be above reproach. And then secondly, he must not be these things.

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And then last of all, we have the statement with regard to his qualifications as a teacher, verse 9.

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He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also rebuke those who contradict it.

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And here, my friends, is where we come back to that mission statement of the letter itself. Having a knowledge of the truth which accords with godliness.

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And this man must be devoted to that sound word which produces godliness.

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That is his task. That is his skill. That is the thing that he must be able to excel in, in this role that he would have.

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He knows the word of God. He holds fast to it. And you know that he does because you hear him speak it, and then you see it in his life.

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Everything else that had been said here about this man, all of those other characteristics and qualifications, this is the outflow of the love of God or the word of God that he loves.

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He loves it. He labors in it. He holds fast to it, and nothing is going to sway him from it.

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When the world gets crazy, as it does, if you are watchers of the news, he doesn't despair.

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He holds fast to the good promises that have been given to us in Christ our

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Lord. When the temptations of his flesh arise, as they most certainly will, because we still exist in these corrupted bodies, he is not ruled over by those temptations.

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But because of the word of God he loves, and the gospel that he is committed to proclaim, because he knows he has been forgiven by Christ and is filled with his

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Holy Spirit that gives him power, he is able to reign in those temptations.

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And do as Paul says in 2 Corinthians 10, 5, take every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ.

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He is on a regular basis, even in his own physiology, saying, get behind me,

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Satan. And he is drawing near to God, as said in James 4.

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Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. And all of this in light of good doctrine.

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We are not just...it is not just said to us, behave, be good, do better.

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Although those instructions by themselves are right, and we should be obedient to them, but it is not just left to us to obey those things without the power of God within us that gives us the strength to obedience.

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You, in and of yourself, have no ability to obey the word of God. It is only because of the

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Holy Spirit that dwells within us that we're able to hear God's word and do what it says.

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When you are tempted, do you find yourself unable to resist that temptation?

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And you may confess, over and over again, I try to reign it in, I try to rule over it,

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I try to master it, but I can't ever get there. It always masters me.

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Then may I suggest to you that you are trying to do this under your own strength and not under the strength of Christ.

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The Spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. And if you try to do it under your own power, we fail over and over again.

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My friends, I am a living testament to that. So many times in my life,

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I've tried to do it my way, as the old song goes. And when

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I do it my way, I routinely fail, even as a professing Christian. I try to do it the way that I think that I need to do it, and sometimes

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I don't even ask for anybody's help, I've got this covered, and I try to do it myself, and I fail over and over again until I come to realize

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I've been trying to do it under my own power instead of under the power of Christ. And am

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I coming back to my Lord, and over and over again, like a beggar falling before Him and saying,

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Christ, I need you. And all of this under the good doctrine, the good teaching of our

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Savior, that has come from Him to His apostles to us, and through His Holy Spirit makes alive in our hearts, that we may hear the trustworthy word as taught and hold firm to it, so that we, like this qualified overseer, may be able to do what

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God requires. Now, He also, in addition to this, in addition to holding firm to the trustworthy word, in addition to being able to teach it,

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He must also do something else here. He must give instruction in sound doctrine and rebuke those who contradict it.

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Anytime I've confronted false teaching in the public square, whether that be online or publicly or through the podcast or anything else like that, maybe

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I've preached about it even, and it's come up in a sermon, and I've said, beware this false doctrine. I've made you aware of certain false doctrines even this morning.

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There is somebody that will be sure to confront me and say something to this effect, judge not, lest you be judged, like Paul Washer's response to that, twist not

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Scripture, lest you be like Satan. But if somebody will say to me, who gives you the authority to say that this is right and this is wrong?

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And I will say, well, first of all, it's not my authority I'm appealing to, it's God's word. His word has said this, and it is contrary.

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What I'm warning you about is contrary to what has been directed according to the word of Christ. But also it is said that this is the job of a pastor.

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And so I will simply say to them, hey, I'm just fulfilling the role that it is said that I'm supposed to fulfill,

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Titus 1 .9. He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also rebuke those who contradict it.

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There is a responsibility of a pastor then not just to teach the truth, but even warn the sheep about the lies.

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Because remember, as we have heard from even our Savior in Matthew 7, that they will come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly, they are ravenous wolves.

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They may look like they have the truth, but really what they have is a heart that desires to devour and lead astray.

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Now, a shepherd or an overseer may have this responsibility in front of him, but all of us have a responsibility to hold firm to the true word of God, the true teaching, to live according to it.

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And we also must be aware of those things that exist out there in the world that contradict it.

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And sometimes you might need a little help, somebody that will tell you, this is wrong, so beware of it. Other times, you might be the one who is in that role of helping to warn a friend, hey, this stuff that you're flirting with here is not of God and you must be careful lest you be led astray and lose your grip on the true word that we're supposed to hold fast to.

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All of us have these responsibilities in this way. And once again, all of it flows from a sound teaching of God's truth.

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This is, once again, for our knowledge of the truth which accords with godliness.

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It should produce in us godliness that we may walk in the way that is pleasing unto

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Christ. I know it may sound like from one week to the next that I'm just beating the same drum.

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God's word says this, so be holy. But I'm beating the drum that Scripture beats.

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I'm walking to the rhythm that has been set by our Savior and desiring to be like him and to inherit his kingdom.

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I hold fast to his word and the promises that have been given to us in Christ.

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I remind you once again of Titus 2, 11 to 14, for the grace of God has appeared bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions.

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Again, rebuking those who contradict it. And instead, we are to live self -controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great

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God and Savior, Jesus Christ, 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.

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My friends, if you know you've been redeemed from lawlessness, have nothing to do with it.

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And instead, walk in these good works. We have in this passage, once again, a man who must be these things, the godly characteristics that are listed there.

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He must not be this, those ungodly characteristics, but instead, he must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught.

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And once again, when we affix ourselves to a knowledge of the truth, what it produces in our lives is godliness.

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♪ What can wash away my sin?

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Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole but Jesus?

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No crash makes me white as snow.

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No other bounds I know.

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Thus for my heart and this I see.

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Nothing but the blood of Jesus. For my sight he does.

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Oh, precious is the flow that's no other.

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Nothing can force it on snow. No crash, no.

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This is all my hope and peace.

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Nothing but the blood of Jesus. This is all my righteousness.

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Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, precious is the flow that makes me white as snow.

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No other bounds I know. Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

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You've been listening to the preaching of Pastor Gabriel Hughes, a presentation of Providence Reformed Baptist Church in Casa Grande, Arizona.

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For more information about our church, visit our website at ProvidenceCasagrande .com. On behalf of our church family, my name is

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Becky, thanking you for listening. Join us again Monday for more Bible study, when we understand the text.