Titus chapter 1 as we continue in our worship of God. We continue to worship by hearing his word preached and proclaimed, announced in our hearing, in our midst. Titus chapter 1. Our focus today is going to be on verse 9. As a church, we're currently going through the process of examining and preparing to call another elder, another pastor. And so the last few weeks, we've been working through this first section of the book of Titus, the qualifications for leadership in Christ's church. We've looked, of course, at the qualifications for leadership evidenced by a man's home life, qualifications for character and virtue. Today we will focus on the last qualification, his ability to teach, found here in verse 9. We're going to be focusing on verse 9, but let's go ahead and just read all of verses 5 through 9 for sake of context. Titus 1, 5-9. Brethren, let me remind you again, this is the voice of Christ speaking in His church. 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. 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, for an overseer's god 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. 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." Amen. Let's pray again. Our Father, You have promised to look upon the one who is humble and contrite in spirit and the one who trembles at Your Word. Father, we know that in and of ourselves, we can't produce this reverence, this trembling, this humility. We pray then, Lord, that as we approach Your Word, that You would provide, that You would give what Your Word calls us to. We pray, Lord, that you would remind us of the awesome privilege of hearing your word. We pray that you would feed our souls with your truth, that you would write your law upon our hearts, that you would give us ears to hear the voice of our Savior calling. We wish to see, to hear our Savior. Reveal him, we pray, in your grace. In the name of Christ, our Lord. Amen. A few weeks ago, our president nominated Judge Katonji Brown-Jackson to serve under nation's highest court, the Supreme Court. And part of the confirmation process for that, Judge Katonji was questioned and examined to determine her fitness to serve as a Supreme Court Justice. And perhaps you saw the most controversial part of that process. When a senator from Tennessee asked Katonji, can you define for us what a woman is? The shocking reply that made all the headlines, of course, was she said, no, I cannot. I'm not a biologist. On one hand, as we look at this question, it was a bit of entrapment. The senator knew when she asked that question that no matter how Katanji answered, she would be vilified by somebody. But on the other hand, the question itself was important, and I believe it was entirely appropriate for the occasion. Why so? Because not just anybody is fit to serve as a judge of our nation's highest court. It is imperative that a judge of the court know the law, and that they are committed to following the law, and that they have the wisdom and the skill to rightly apply the law, particularly in complex situations. A judge is not called to make up the law. but rather to rightly interpret and apply the law of the land for the good of the people. And to do that, the judge must have the knowledge and the wisdom necessary to make what is at times very careful distinctions. Right now in our nation, of course, there's a great deal of fervor, there's a great deal of debate over how we define what is a man and what is a woman. I know, it's hard to believe, but that is a complex and heated issue in our day and age. And so in this sense, if a judge cannot provide a definition to this very fundamental reality, How will they ever be able to discern highly complex legal and ethical matters in order to rightly perform the duties that they have been entrusted with? Now, I bring this up not to make a political point. That's not my goal here today. I bring this up because I believe this is a helpful illustration as we now come to the final and the most critical qualification for leadership in Christ's church. Over the past few weeks, we have seen how an elder, how a pastor, how a leader in Christ's church must undergo an examination process. Not just anyone is fit to lead. They must be examined to determine their fitness for the office. And in this, as we've seen, we saw from the first two verses that the elder must be a proven leader, evidenced by a well-ordered home. Last week we saw that he must also have proven character, evidenced by a life demonstrating the power of the gospel. But today we see that leadership and godliness is not enough. An elder must also possess the skill and the ability to interpret, to teach, and to rightly apply this gospel that has been the model of their life and ministry. So here in verse nine, we see what we might call the ultimate qualification for leadership in Christ's church. It's the most specific of them all, and it's the one that stands above them all. It stands above them all not because teaching is more important than godliness, by no means, but it stands above them all because this is the only qualification in this list that's not required of every other Christian. All Christians are called to be good leaders in the home. All Christians are called to model their life after the virtues and to avoid the vices listed here in verses 7 and 8. But the gift of teaching is unique. It's not required of all Christians. And more than this, without the ability to teach, A man cannot carry out his duties as an overseer in Christ's church. So if we returned again to the illustration of Judge Kitanji, the ability to teach is kind of like the central qualification in a job description. You know, whenever we evaluate someone for a job, we must consider if they are able of or capable of performing it. You know, you've probably filled out an application before where they ask you things like, are you able to lift 50 pounds, right? Objects up to 50 pounds, or are you comfortable navigating Microsoft Office or Adobe or Photoshop or whatnot? Well, in the same way, here in verse nine, the church, all of us together, are presented with a qualification that gets at the heart of the pastor's job description. We have a solemn responsibility to look at a potential leader, ask these questions. Is this a man who knows God's Word? Is this a man who is devoted to God's Word? Is this a man who can carefully and rightfully apply God's Word to complex life situations? And ultimately, we do this because as we considered last week, the ultimate goal of the church, the ultimate goal of the Christian life, is godliness. What produces godliness? Titus 1.1, we saw it last month. The knowledge of the truth is what accords with godliness. Romans 1.16, it is the gospel that is the power of God unto salvation. 1 Peter 2.1, it is the preached word that grows us up into salvation. So the hope of sinners and the hope of God's people in pursuing godliness doesn't ultimately lie in leadership or in following the example of a man's life. It ultimately lies in the truth. If the church is to be rightly ordered, if the faith is to be valiantly, if I can say that, preserved, If souls are to be saved, if people are to be sanctified, the church needs leaders that can communicate God's truth, feed God's people, and rightly apply this word to all of life's situations. That's what we see in our passage here this morning. To break this down, the verse, verse nine, very easily falls into three points. So that makes it pretty easy. We'll consider three points today. We see a creedal qualification, we see a ministerial qualification, and we see an overseer qualification. First, I want to point out a creedal qualification. A leader in Christ's church must hold firm to the trustworthy word taught. Now, by creedal, probably hear the word there obviously, creed, which simply is Latin, I confess. By creedal, what I mean by that is that this qualification concerns what a man believes, what a man confesses. It's not even yet getting to the aspect of teaching. What does the man believe? 1 Timothy 3.15 says that the church is the pillar and buttress of the truth. So to be a leader in this church, which is the pillar and buttress of the truth, a man must know and believe and confess the truth. Now, when we think about this, though, I don't want you to overlook the fact that the Apostle Paul is still talking about kind of the arena of godliness, or the qualification of godliness. Holding firm to the trustworthy word is a matter of character. It is a matter of godliness. A godly man is a biblical man. You can't have true virtue without truth. You can't have true Christ-like character without truth. A godly man is a man whose daily bread is the Word of God. A man whose life is devoted to the Word of God. So we're not even talking about giftedness yet. First we need to consider a man's passion for the truth and whether his life demonstrates that this is a man of the Word. Here the text says he must hold firm the trustworthy Word. To hold firm means to cling, to grasp tightly. And the word itself implies some sort of opposition. There's some sort of resistance here that might cause him to let go, to release his hold upon the word. And this, of course, we face pressures from the culture, pressure from false teachers. Pressure from those inside the church who don't like the truth. There's fear that holding on to the Word is not going to end well. There's doubt that the Word is indeed inerrant, or it's sufficient, or that it's really effective to accomplish the work of God. There's a temptation to run to other things, to other things that people want. They have itching ears to other things that seem more effective at building a church or making people flourish, for lack of a better term. But in the face of all this pressure, in the face of the resistance here, this is a man who tenaciously holds firm to God's word in all things. This is a man who will not release his grip on the Word because of internal pressure or external pressure. This is a man who will not let God's people be robbed from the truth. The only truth that will build them up to salvation. But furthermore here, notice that Paul says he holds to the trustworthy Word as taught. Important here is that there's a definite article, the trustworthy word. It's defining something specific, it's not generic. Theologians, and I agree with them, typically understand this as Paul's referring to an organized, recognized body of doctrine. I believe this is one of the many verses in the New Testament that show us that early forms of creeds and confessions were already taking place, taking shape in the church. But for us, I think this points out, it's not enough for a man to be devoted to the scriptures. It's not enough just for a man to know and recite the scriptures. If you think about it, the Pharisees knew scripture better than anybody. Down through history, the most famous heretics, men like Joseph Smith, for example, they knew their Bibles better than any average Christian. No, the trustworthy word. At the end of the day, this refers to apostolic doctrine, but for us, it means the scriptures as interpreted and taught by the apostles themselves. In fact, that's why Paul adds here, as taught. His point is, this is a doctrine that is received by the elder, not invented. This is not our gospel. This is not our message. This is not our views or our preferences. This is a posture of total receptivity. The man has received the faith once for all delivered to the saints, as we heard earlier from Jude. He has received this body of truth handed down to him, and he knows, this is a firm conviction of his life, that he must never tamper with it. dilute it or subtract from it. It's sacred. It's not his. He is a messenger of the King. He's a steward in God's household. He is a herald entrusted with a message of another. That's why again this is a matter of character. For a man who's in love with his own views and preferences, a man who loves to hear himself talk, a man who passes himself off as someone with all the answers, a man who chases after fads, a man who always looks to the culture for cues, that's not a man of humility. That's not a man of total receptivity to the Word of God in his life and in his ministry. So we must ask here, does this man have a clear grasp of Christian doctrine? Is he a doctrinal man? If it's not clear in his mind, it's certainly not going to be clear in the minds of those who listen to his teaching. Does this man understand the fundamentals of the faith? Does this man understand the historic body of apostolic doctrine? Does his life and his ministry bear witness to a heart that is fully convinced of the power of God in the Word? Not just intellectually, but is he relentlessly devoted to Scripture? This is a very basic job description for the pastor. A leader in Christ's church must be a man mighty in the scriptures. That's a creedal qualification. His resolve to cling fast to the truth and not to align it or adapt it according to popular thought or culture, but to feed Christ's sheep with Christ's message. Secondly, we see a ministerial qualification. By ministerial, what I mean here is that by first clinging to the truth, he must then be able to minister and apply that truth for the good of God's people. Just like godliness itself without the truth is not enough to make an elder, Maintaining sound doctrine itself, by itself, is not enough either. An elder must be able to perform the pastoral and the spiritual task that is set before him. He is God's steward in God's household, and what does the steward of a household do? He needs to dispense the master's food to the servants, to the members of the household, I should say. So in this, look up to verses one through four, and remember how Paul began this letter. He starts by saying he's a servant. He serves for the sake of God's elect and their knowledge of the truth that accords with godliness. So again, God's servant, serving God's people, applying the truth that will lead them into godliness. But notice how he continues in verse two. and hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began, verse three, and at the proper time, manifested in his word through, how has he manifested it in his word? How has God revealed the gospel? How has God used the truth to cultivate godliness? Through the preaching. with which I have been entrusted. God has chosen that the truth that leads to godliness and the glorious realities of the gospel are revealed and made known and delivered to God's people through preaching. That's why preaching must be central in the life of the church. Nothing is more important in the life of the church than the preaching of God's Word. Everything else we do, no matter what that is, whether we're talking about Bible studies or discipleship, whether we're talking about singing, whether we're talking about work in the community, helping the poor, whatnot, helping widows, everything flows down from what is primary and most central, the preaching. And the church's life and ministry and godliness will never rise above the level of its preaching. So sure, a preaching is not the only way in which sinners are saved and sanctified, but it is the primary way. It is the central way according to the will of God. And if I had time, I could take you on a survey through the New Testament. It is obvious, it is clear, it is repeatedly emphasized. Preaching leads to godliness. Preaching is the most central responsibility of a leader in Christ's church. So to break this down a little bit further, back in verse nine it says here that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine. Sound doctrine, the word sound literally is healthy, healthy doctrine. Just like healthy food rather than junk food is what leads to a healthy and nourishing life, healthy doctrine is needed for a healthy and nourished and flourishing spiritual life. That's why ministers have often been called physician of souls. They are like a doctor, they are like a nutritionist, caring for the health of your soul. That's their job, that's their responsibility. I know we live in the individualistic age where we can kind of feed ourselves, well I can read my Bible on my own, I can read these books on my own, I can listen to these preachers online on my own. And all those are good and necessary, but ultimately you need the care of a physician. The Bible does not present us with a view of the Christian life that is self-feeding. You will be impoverished if you rely upon only yourself to feed yourself. That's why God has given gifts to the church, Ephesians chapter four. Christ, the risen Christ, has given gifts for her health and for her nourishment. So the elder must be able to give instruction that leads to a healthy spiritual life. If we were to look at the parallel passage to this in 1st Timothy 3-2, there Paul describes it as apt to teach, or able to teach, or skillful in teaching. What this means is that this man, a pastor, an elder, must be able to tell God's people what God's Word says. and he must be able to apply it in ways that make it clear how they are called to respond. It's like we considered earlier with the judge. If the judge doesn't know the law, if the judge doesn't rightly interpret the law, if the judge can't apply the law to the specifics of life, They're not going to be a good or helpful judge. They're not going to serve the good of the people. They need a particular wisdom and a particular skill in this manner. And it's the same with a pastor utilizing the word. So here's a man who has the skill to explain scripture, to break it down, to dig deep and pull out what's hidden below the surface. This is a man who has the skill to dissect the human heart, to understand sin and rebellion and ignorance, so as to rightly apply the truth of God's Word appropriately to each situation. You would never want to give a legalist more law. You would never want to give one struggling with assurance more things to do. Whenever a physician is called to diagnose a particular ailment or malady, in the same way, a pastor must know the human heart and be able to apply what is needed to treat that specific malady, spiritual malady. In this also, the man must have a proven ability to incite God's people to action. to motivate them to godliness, to comfort them in affliction, to grant assurance to the doubting, to rebuke those who contradict, as we'll see here in a moment. That's what it means to have skill in teaching. Now, here also, at the same time, we do need to be careful. This qualification does not mean that every elder must be able to step right up into the pulpit and enthrall people with his preaching, with his wisdom and his wit and his rhetoric. Preaching is one central aspect of pastoral ministry, but it's not the only criteria that we look at when we consider whether a man is able to teach. Not every elder will be skilled in the pulpit. But what this does mean, for example, if you're struggling to understand the Bible, a particular passage or an issue in scripture, or you're struggling with how to understand a life situation that you're in, this is someone that can give you biblical wisdom. This is someone who can give you an answer. He's got wisdom that you can trust. He can teach you things that you don't already know. He can show you things and apply the word in ways that you haven't realized before. And while this might not always be in the pulpit, he can do so at least in group settings, at least in a living room Bible study. This is a man, essentially, when he opens up the Bible, he doesn't say shallow or superficial or crazy things. He gives you a faithful understanding of the text, and he does so without confusion, without awkwardness, without other difficulties that will cloud the understanding and grasp of the Word in the mind of the hearers. He's got a natural and cultivated ability to speak, to secure the listening ear, of the average person and to produce godliness in those who hear." Now, even with all this said, though, don't miss the forest for the trees here. Why is it important? Why is it important that a pastor be apt to teach? Sadly, so many in our day do see this as important, but maybe for the wrong reasons. They want to be entertained. They don't want to be bored. Church is boring enough, they might think, already. Or they want to be wowed intellectually. Or they want a man who can build a church, hold a crowd, keep them interested all the time. But in contrast to all of this, the real reason why an elder must be apt to teach is because the truth regularly and faithfully applied each and every week is the greatest need of God's people. We need the truth. That's why if you look at our liturgy, we read the Word, we sing the Word, we sang Psalm 1 today, we pray the Word, we preach the Word, we observe the Word in the Lord's Supper, The greatest need of God's people week in and week out is the truth. And that's why it's important for a man to be skillful in teaching because nothing, nothing must get in the way of God's people grasping the truth. Able to teach ensures that the truth goes forth without being unnecessarily confusing or causing distraction by the one delivering it. He must know the truth. He must be devoted to the truth. He must make plain the truth to God's people. Well, this then leads to our third conclusion today, excuse me, third consideration today. We're not yet ready to conclude, almost. What I'm calling the overseer qualification. Overseer qualification. He must confess the truth, excuse me, he must believe the truth and confess the truth He must positively minister the truth, and now finally, he must also negatively minister the truth. He must guard it, he must protect it. We see this clearly in verse nine, that he may be able to give instruction and sound doctrine, and also to rebuke those who contradict it. John Calvin famously said here, a shepherd ought to have two voices, one for gathering the sheep, and another for warding off and driving away wolves and thieves. The duty of a pastor is not just to speak positively. It's not just to identify the truth. It's not just to make everybody feel warm and encouraged and inspired and motivated and happy inside. Although a positive outcome is always hoped for, part of a minister's duty is to rebuke those who believe or live contrary to the Gospel. If your pastor never says things that make you uncomfortable, if he never says things that rub you the wrong way, if he never challenges your sin because he's scared to offend you, I would doubt whether that man really loves you. A minister who fails to do those things is gonna do damage in Christ's church. Here, it's important to remember that, or to understand that Paul's referring to those inside the church. In fact, that's why we read Jude earlier. That's why I chose that reading for the reading of the law. He's speaking about those from within the church profess Christ, but lead people astray through false teaching. And this goes all along with what we see all over the New Testament. Paul says that the time is coming when people will not endure sound doctrine. He says in Acts 20 to the church in Ephesus, fierce wolves are about to come into the church, not sparing the flock, and from among your own selves, he says that to the elders, by the way, implying that it's one of the elders or among the elders, from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things to draw away the disciples after them. because of the reality of false teaching, it's all over the church and will be until Christ returns, it's not enough for a man to just be able to identify and teach the truth. He must identify error as well. He must call out error. He must rebuke error. He must warn the sheep. And he must have the skill to refute this error with sound doctrine. I think what this is getting at here is he doesn't just shout down those who contradict. He actually has the ability to overthrow false doctrine. He actually has the skill to demonstrate its error, refute their arguments, and that only comes, of course, with a life devoted studying God's word. A great theologian, John Murray, once said, The difference between truth and error is not a great chasm. It's a razor edge. So often the problem with false teaching is not just in the things that are said, but it's with the things that are not said, that are left out. And so often the most dangerous error is the one, is the lie, that is closest to the truth. The pastor must have a cultivated skill and wisdom from God and study and knowledge to discern this razor edge between truth and error. To discern and dissect often very convoluted and complex situations, like a judge of the court listening to two sides and trying to figure out what's true. Puritan John Owen said, "...men cannot preserve for others that which they are ignorant of themselves. Truth may be lost by weakness just as well by through wickedness." Brethren, when we scan down church history, don't we see a mountain of sad examples? Churches that once stood for sound doctrine who once preached the Gospel, but now, Ikibat is written over the top of their door. There's no glory. They're dead and they're lifeless. They're apostate. They're the way of the world. It's because of this right here. They've neglected this thing. We want a pastor who will preach positively, a pastor who will bring in the crowds and inspire the people, make the old ladies of the church feel happy, wow the church with his intellect and his wit, get the church on board to really getting to work in the community while they neglect the duty of a pastor to defend the truth. Of course, you don't need me to tell you that this is really, really unpopular in our day. I mean, you think about one of the worst faux pas of our culture. One of the worst cultural sins in our day and age is offending someone. We live in a day of positive reinforcement, of niceness, of always emphasizing what you're for. Let people know what you're for, not just what you're against. We live in a post-modern day where confidence about the truth is seen as arrogant. Brethren, you must not be surprised if your leaders correct or rebuke or warn you from time to time. That's his job, and he will give an account before God for that. And more than this, as you evaluate just our church, when we cling to something, when we stand for something in our day, it means that we are going to offend people from time to time. When we cling to the truth, there will be people who come into our midst and leave. there will be people who will be disgruntled, and they will say things about us, and they will turn the other way when we see them in public, and they will speak about our church, and they will make accusations, and they will say we're self-righteous, that we're cold, that we're hard, that there's no love here, that we're the frozen chosen, that we don't care about the community, that we don't care about the pressing of social issues of our day. And of course, we should never seek or desire this, but we need to realize that it's unavoidable if we cling to the truth. This is going to happen. As the Apostle Paul said elsewhere, if I was seeking to please man, I would not be a bondservant of Christ. Paul is our model in that. You know, the Lord Jesus Christ is our model in that as well, because he encouraged and he built up and he comforted, but he also reserved some of his harshest rebukes for the enemies of the gospel. And his ministry pushed way more people away than it attracted. This is a man who confesses the truth, who believes the truth, who's able to instruct and build up with the truth, as well as correct and rebuke and defend the truth. This gets at the heart of a pastor's calling. It's the essence of his job description as a steward in the household of God. Well, brethren, as we now bring this all to a conclusion, I want to take a step back and just Make sure that we all have a grasp of the big picture. You might be here today thinking, well, what does this really have to do with me? I'm not a leader. I don't want to be a leader. Maybe you're here and you're like, well, I don't even have a part in the upcoming examination process here at CRBC. What does this have to do with me? Well, I want to leave you with two important takeaways. one specific to here in verse nine, and one more broad regarding verses five through nine. The first takeaway, over the past few weeks, we have seen how a pastor, an elder must be a proven leader, a man of character, and a man who's able to teach. And I just want to stress to you again that these three must go together for the health of Christ's church. We considered this at length last week. How so often we can look for a teacher and neglect a man's character. Right? But think of it this way as well. We live in a celebrity-obsessed culture. And truth be known, if you have a smartphone or if you have a computer, you have some of the world's greatest preaching at your fingertips. You can listen to it anytime you want. Delayed R.C. Sproul, John MacArthur, Alistair Begg, Mark Dever, Sinclair Ferguson, Paul Washer, John Piper, the list goes on and on. This is a tremendous privilege and these things, these men can do a lot of good for your souls. But on the other hand, I want you to see you must not think that this is the diet that your soul needs for nourishment and growth. For these men, you don't get their leadership. Verse six, you don't see their character. Verse seven and eight, you don't live among them. They don't know you in your heart, in your situation. All you get is verse nine, their teaching. And just like godliness without teaching is not enough for a healthy church, teaching without leadership in the example of godliness is not enough either. You need to know your pastor. You need to imitate his example. You need to receive his teaching. You must be a part of a community where you live among each other. That is a shepherd of your soul. Not just a talking head who dispenses information. But secondly, more importantly, and finally, I don't want you to walk out of here today thinking that it has all to do with a pastor. This all has to do with a man. Because true leadership in Christ's church is never about a man. It's never about the man himself. It's not about his leadership. It's not about his character. And it's ultimately not even about his teaching. Rather, true pastoral leadership is about Jesus Christ, the chief shepherd. The pastor doesn't lead himself. He doesn't take the church in the direction that he wishes to go or he ought not to. The pastor is to lead so as to take the people by the hand and bring them to Christ. The pastor's character isn't ultimately about himself either. He models the virtue and the character of Christ so that people will see him, not exalt the man. And the pastor's teaching and preaching are not his words and his agenda and his preferences. A pastor is called to only speak the words that he's been authorized to speak. If I can't say to you, thus says the Lord, I don't have authority in that manner I'm speaking. But when a pastor speaks biblical instruction, words of forgiveness, words of comfort, words of rebuke, words of love, words of hope, when he speaks on the basis of and with the authority of Scripture, the Word of God teaches us that people are actually hearing Christ Himself. That's why choosing a man for ministry is so important. That's why listening to his preaching, the man that God has given to your congregation, man or men, is so important as well. In his preaching, in his teaching, you need to evaluate, what do you hear? Do you hear his preferences and opinions, his political views, his social views, his rants and rabbit trails and ramblings? Or does the man illuminate Christ in your mind and in your heart? Do you walk away feeling it in your bones? The conviction, the love, the comfort, the adoration of Christ Himself. Remember the Scriptures that say, God makes His appeal through His ambassadors. And when we see that, we will see the dire importance of leadership in the church. We will see the dire importance of teaching and preaching as well. And we will understand it's not about a man, it's about Christ. Does this man take me by the hand and lead me to Christ? With his life, with his leadership, with his words. There's a famous story about C.H. Spurgeon. I don't recall the details off the top of my head, but it went something like this. There was a group of men who traveled to London with the sole intention of hearing the famous Spurgeon preach. And one of them recounted that they were walking into the great metropolitan tabernacle just amazed, wow, this is where Spurgeon preaches. Wow, this is world famous. I can't wait to hear him. I can't wait to hear this wonderful preacher of the gospel. And they were enthralled with the excitement of hearing this magnificent preacher. But he recalls that when they were walking in, they were talking about what a magnificent preacher. I can't wait to hear him. But walking out, all they could talk about was what a magnificent Savior. He said, we forgot Spurgeon. We forgot the Metropolitan Tabernacle. All we could think about was what this glorious Savior had spurred and proclaimed to them. Brethren, that's the qualification spoken of right here. A pastor's job each and every week is to show you what a magnificent Savior you have in the Lord Jesus Christ. May God give us grace to see our Savior and Redeemer. Amen. Let's pray.