Titus chapter 2, page 1204 of your Pew Bibles. Titus 2 concerns how the sound or healthy doctrine is to be applied in our various callings, places, and relations. Hear now the reading of God's holy word, Titus chapter 2, verse 1. But speak thou the things which become sound doctrine, that the aged men be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, in patience, the aged women likewise that they be in behavior as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things. that they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed. Young men likewise exhort to be sober-minded. In all things, showing thyself a pattern of good works, in doctrine showing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity, sound speech that cannot be condemned, that he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of you. Exhort servants to be obedient unto their own masters and to please them well in all things, not answering again, not purloining, but showing all good fidelity, that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things. For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world. Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. These things speak and exhort and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise thee. Thus far the reading of God's holy word from Titus chapter 2. First in verses 1 through 10 we have speaking sound doctrine by age, sex, and status. Verse one, speak thou. Unlike these false teachers who speak lies and have their man-made commandments, thou, but, don't be like them, you speak the things, he says, or keep on speaking these things, which become sound doctrine. Sound doctrine or healthy doctrine has practice that is becoming or suitable, proper or fitting to sound doctrine. I know that our faith is theoretical and practical. It has theory or doctrines, things that are to be apprehended by the mind exclusively, and it has teachings and propositions, statements that are made, but it also has a lifestyle to be suited to that doctrine. So it is theoretical practical we say, both theory and practice are entailed in our faith. Doctrine and duty, faith and works, salvation not by but unto good works. The Geneva Annotations say the doctrine must not only be generally pure, that is you should have a general idea of the truth concerning God and salvation, not only generally pure but also applied to all ages and orders of men according to the diversity of circumstances. That is also sound doctrine. What is your circumstance? How old are you? What are the orders of men? What are your circumstances that will dictate what is godliness in your case? Now, may you pray for your pastor and for all pastors that they would speak such things. May they have such words that are healthy and health giving doctrine. And what are these suited to sound doctrine words that he's supposed to keep on speaking? Then you see verse two, that the aged men be sober, he says. Restrained, that's the idea of sobriety, not drunk or passionate. Grave, that is according to Thayer's lexicon, august, venerable, reverend, to be venerated for character, to be honorable. And this is the duty of manhood, that as a man gets older, he is to be more venerable in his conduct, in his character. He's nothing to be like a clown, and there's nothing worse than an aged man who's a clown, who is not respectable or honorable, who deserves to be beaten rather than respected. Then he says the older men are to be temperate. This again is having to do with sound doctrine and how it's applied. This word temperate means to have a sound or a healthy mind as opposed to a person who's lost their mind or out of their wits beside themselves. It means the ability to curb desires and impulses. You ever have a desire to do something and you just go and do it? Or an impulse, I want that, so you take it. This is the opposite of that. Temperance means you rule over your passions, they don't rule over you. Your mind has control over your impulses. You are sensible, therefore you are orderly, and you're self-controlled, as opposed to a person out of control, who cannot stop themselves, they can't help themselves. The body does not rule the mind, but the mind rules the body. This is why Paul says to mortify passion or pathos in Colossians 3, because the pathos will rule you if you don't rule it. If you don't put it to death, it'll put you to death. God rules us by our minds. That's why the Bible is not a book of smells or pictures or images. It's a book of what? Words. Because God rules us through our minds. And the mind is then to rule over the desires. That's what it means when he says for them to be temperate. Now what's interesting about this word temperate is it's used in different ways. In verse five it's translated that the young women are to be taught to be discreet. It's the same word though as this temperate. So not only are the older men to be discreet or to be healthy or having sound minds, the young women are to have sound minds. Then the verb form is used in verse four, where the older women are to train the younger women to be sound in their minds. That's what that means in verse four, where it says that they may teach the young women to be sober. The word teach isn't in there. It just means to soberize them, to make them sensible, in other words. That's the idea of what the older women do for the younger women. The younger men also in verse six are told to be sensible. So all categories, older women, younger women, older men, younger men, everyone is supposed to be sensible. Everyone is supposed to be sound in their mind, having a healthy mind, curbing their appetites and impulses so that they live a self-controlled and sensible life. All classes of believers must do this. I note then this doctrine, though some duties and virtues may be unique by age or sex, this is universal and there are others like it. Some duties and virtues are different. There's different emphasis or priority or even absence in some cases, depending on the sex or the status of a person or the age of a person. This is no such duty. This is a universally applicable duty. All believers must behave in a temperate way, having a sound and healthy mind, controlling and curbing their appetites and their impulses, their desires. And then notice concerning the older women in verse three. The aged women likewise that they be in behavior as becometh holiness. This literally means as befits those who go to God's holy place. Or that which is suitable to what is sacred. Ready, in other words, to do God's bidding at all times. reverent in behavior, or fearing God at all times. And as contrasted with this, he says, not false accusers. This is the word for a she-devil, a feminine devil. Be holy women, not she-devils, that's what he's saying, false accusers. Not drunkards, not ruled by your passions and desires and cravings. And then he says that they are to be teachers of good things. Now this is not contradicting the prohibition of women teaching, of course not, and he's not referring to a public office here. He's referring to a private office respecting specific things where young women need to learn to be sensible and they're not sensible. So what they're to do is to come alongside these women in counsel, encouragement by their lip and by their life, come as alongside the younger women and help them to become clear headed. Help the young ladies to have scripture and reason over their passions to put off their impulses and desires and to be women who are befitting what is holy. That's the goal of this teaching. And notice, how does that teaching express itself? Well, he says that they may be sober, that they may teach them, that they may soberize them is literally the verb that's used, that they may make them sound in their minds. This is the purpose for the older women who are holy in their behavior, who've regulated their tongues, who teach these good things. They're to bring young women to a healthy mind. Because if you look around the landscape of our day, you find that young women are very foolish. You find that they're ruled by all sorts of irrational notions, and that they think that their little version of reality is actually true, and it's not. A prime example of this is abortion, where a woman, young women usually, gets impregnated, why? Because she doesn't rule herself as a general rule, there are exceptions to this, but most young ladies cannot control their passions, so they end up pregnant, but they don't want the baby. And how can you sober up a young woman? Well, you bring her to the fear of God, so that she can be holy and learn to control her passions, but is that what they teach them? No. Destroy the child. Murder the child. Leave off your responsibility. Just the opposite of what God requires to be taught to young women. They're not being sober. They're not being soberized by older women. They're being told to follow your heart. Be true to yourself. Oh, marriage gets hard? Just divorce your husband. It's fine. We all approve of it. We all say it's okay. You don't want any kids? Just kill them. Murder your child. Try to prevent it if you can, but if you can't prevent it, kill the baby. These are the voices that come in to speak to women to drive them away from God so that they're out of their right minds and they're not sober any longer. And here's the remedy. The older women are to teach the younger women to be sober. They are to bring them to soundness and health in their thinking so that they're ruled by God through his word, by their reason, not by their passion. Ladies, lay hold on your responsibilities. Take your duties seriously. And by God's help, do not be influenced by the flighty Disney princess culture surrounding us. Me first. What I want, not what God wants, not what befits holiness, but what befits my little version of reality with easy solutions. No. And notice here, he goes on. What does a sensible, sober woman want? to love her husbands, or to love their husbands, as he says, and to love their children. Again, as the older women soberize the younger women, here's what they train them to do. Take care of your man. Take care of your children. A domestic focus. Not, and in fact it's very interesting, he does not say that they're to do these things, to love their husbands and to love their children. That's actually, that would be a level of seriousness to do these things, but he says for them to be these things. This is the end goal when the older women are done training the younger women, they are husband lovers. They are children lovers, not that they just do the activity. You can do something and not really be into it, not have your heart in it, not have your whole self given over to it. But when you are something, nobody has to tell you to do it. It's who you are. It's what you have become. And he says these younger women are to be trained to be philandrous, lovers of husband. and philotechnous, lovers of children, that's what they are, to be, it is a noun, and that's extremely important. A woman's calling then is domestic, It concerns her husband and her children. This is the sober-minded reality of the Bible. Hate it, mock it, or embrace it. This is what God made women for. He gave them this holy calling. Remember, they're to behave themselves as becometh holiness. This is a holy calling from God. God has designed women for relationships, for a relationship with their husbands and with their children. And you'll notice that's what he's focusing on here. This is how women are going to become holy. And this is why Satan fights against this. He doesn't want women to be holy. He wants them to be lawless she-devils. So ladies, embrace this holy calling. Tune out the godless noise and chatter of those who would mar this sacred calling, the profane, who would come in and say, don't be holy. Be profane like us. Defile yourself. Behave in an indiscreet way. Don't be ruled by God. Be ruled by your passions and your impulses. He goes on, verse five. As they're trained by the older women, they're to learn to be discreet. They're to learn to be chaste. Again, sound in mind. That's the idea of discreet there. A healthy mind. They are chaste, meaning they rule their passions so well, they're like an athlete who overcomes the hurdles of sin. Noah Webster says that this word chaste means one who is pure or genuine or uncorrupt. free from barbaric excess or affected extravagant expressions. So there are two kinds of people, he says, Webster, and I think this is true, who are not chased in their speech. People who speak too low and people who pretend to speak so high. Chastity is the median, the sobriety, the sober words ruled by your mind. speaking what is true and good and lovely of good report, any virtue, any praise. These are the things of chastity. Then he says, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands. They have a domestic calling. They pursue what God says is good, not what the world offers to them, but what God says, this is good. They want to be what God has said, what he has designed. They are subject to their husband's will and command, and this Satan cannot stand. Satan wants women to be rebellious against their husbands, to follow their own hearts, to be lazy and idle, not diligently keeping home, not looking after their husbands and their children's interests, but look out for number one. Go outside of the home, do your own thing. Don't listen to him. Don't subject your will to your husband. Why? Because he wants the word of God to be blasphemed. And notice what the apostle says there. Why should women be subject to their own husbands, keepers at home, chaste, discreet? Why should they love their husbands? Why should they be healthy in their thinking and love their children? That the word of God be not blasphemed. You see why Satan so opposes this holy calling of women. He wants God's name dragged through the mud. Verse six, young men likewise exhort to be sober-minded. They're to have a healthy mind, just like the old men. They're to rule their appetites as well, just like the younger women are to be brought to this health of mind by the older women, so the young women, all of God's people, are to be of a healthy, a sober mind. And then notice Titus himself as a pastor, in all things showing thyself a pattern of good works. Here's why the qualification is so high, whether in doctrine or in good works, the pastor is set in an example, a type that others may follow, a pattern that they may in following in his footsteps, follow the Lord Jesus Christ. in doctrine showing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity. Corrupt doctrine is opposed to sound or healthy doctrine. This doctrine is with gravity, dignified, pure, and honorable, not able to be corrupted, a sound system of scripture teaching. This is what Titus was to have, and this is what he was to say to others. Sound speech that cannot be condemned, it cannot be reproved, it cannot be found fault with, because what he says builds on the sacred word of God. Then he goes on, verse nine. Servants are to be obedient to their own masters. And this is very interesting. To be obedient here is in the middle voice. To subject yourself to your own masters. Not to be forced into obedience. Not that it's some kind of law of nature, but that you voluntarily say, I will submit myself to my master. That's what the slave is required to do. And he says, to please them in all things, not answering again. We call that talking back. And then he refers not just to not talking back, but not purloining. That's where you take things and you steal it, hide it in your coat so nobody sees it, but rather show all good fidelity. And this is not true just of slaves. This is true of anyone in a position of inferiority, anyone under authority. Do you obey only when you're watched? Do you faithfully fulfill the commands of your superiors? Do you take away the time or the money or the food or the goods or the resources or the land of your superior? That's what he's talking about, purloining. Taking something that does not belong to you and saying, I will take this away. And children, this applies to you as well. Do you obey your parents at all times? If not, you're purloining. Do you waste time when you're given a job to do? If so, you're purloining. Do you steal food or cookies from the cookie jar? You're purloining. Do you take your parents' money when it's sitting around? You're purloining. And he says, don't do that. so that you may adorn the doctrine of God, our savior. Here's the purpose for avoiding these evil practices is so that when we say we believe in God, our lives are like a sermon that preaches that we actually believe. We adorn the truth that we believe about God. We gain honor for God's truth rather than exposing it to ridicule. Then verses 11 through 15, the gospel grace produces self-denial, living sober, righteous, and godly lives. The grace of God that bringeth salvation, that Christ was sent to save us from our sins, that we are justified by faith alone through Christ alone, this is the grace of God. And what does the grace of God teach? That we are to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts. We are no debtors to the flesh. This describes how the grace of God appeared because the participle teaching points us back to the grace that bringeth salvation. How is it that this grace of God appeared? By teaching us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts. We should live on the positive side, don't live this way, deny this, we should live soberly, righteously and godly. These are adverbs. Soberly. Notice L-Y. This is true in the Greek as well. It describes how we live. Live is the action. How am I to live? Soberly, righteously, and godly. These are gospel adverbs. The grace of God teaches us to live this way. Now soberly means, as we've talked about, to have a sound mind, where you rule over your impulses, your passions is ruled by the truth of God. Righteousness, of course, or living righteously means according to God's justice, giving to God what is his due in the first table, giving to your neighbor what is his due in the second table. And then godly is especially focused in on God himself and the fear of God. His rights in the first table of the law, in other words. So when we have righteous and godly put next to each other or just and godly or just and pious put next to each other, that's a reference to the two tables of the law. The duties I owe to my neighbor, justice. The duties I owe to God, piety or holiness. So here we have all the duties that God requires of us. That's how we should live. And the gospel teaches us to do that very thing. Grace then perfects nature. The law has been broken. That's why God sent his son and gave us grace. Then as the law has been broken and we're convicted of breaking the law, we come to the gospel for forgiveness, for grace to pardon all of our sins. And then what does the gospel tell us having forgiven us our sins? Let's take you back to the law so that you can live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present age. Grace perfects nature. Let us live with a sound mind, loving our neighbor as ourselves, loving God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and keeping both tables of the law. Then look at verse 13 with me, please. As we live this way with these gospel adverbs in the present world, verse 13, looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our savior, Jesus Christ. If you have one of these handouts, I'll make reference to this at this point. There is a rule known as the Granville-Sharpe rule. It's a basic rule of Greek grammar, which reads as follows. When the copulative and connects two nouns of the same case, if the article the precedes the first of the said nouns and isn't repeated with the second, then the latter noun always relates to the same person expressed by the first noun. And basically all this is saying in Greek, you'll have the word the, and then you'll have a noun, and then you'll have the word and, and another noun. And the word the encompasses both nouns, both things. Now here, let's look at this passage, Titus 2.13. We'll look at Acts 20.21 later. Acts 2.13, looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the, there's our article in Greek, the what? The great God, there's our first noun, God. And, there's our copulative, and our savior. There's the second noun. Our God and our savior. One definite article, the, and the word and goes in between the two nouns. You see that? When that happens, the second noun is joined together with the first. Now this is very important. Some people believe that Jesus is not God. He is not the great God. They believe that he is a demigod or just a creature or an emanation from the great God, but he's not the great God. But you'll notice the apostle says he is the great God and Savior. He's both. Jesus Christ is both the great God and Savior. And this rule is followed throughout the New Testament, where the apostles will rename things with one definite article and the word chi or and in between those nouns. Jesus Christ is God, the great God, and he is also the Savior. And so then, therefore, our Savior Jesus Christ is a farther description of the great God. Who is the great God? Our Savior Jesus Christ. And this is a proof, not the exclusive or only proof in the Bible, but one of the many proofs of the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ. Keep that handout for later during the sermon. So Christ is our great God and Savior, and we look to him. We, having been saved by his grace, called to live soberly, righteously, and godly, we are looking for his return. Note verse 14, Christ gave himself, so we look ahead to that hope we have, and we also look back on what Christ has already done, verse 14. He gave himself for us. What was the purpose for which Jesus gave himself? Twofold, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, that's the first purpose, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. This is the twofold righteousness of the gospel, one imputed in the forgiveness of sins and the imputation of righteousness, one imparted by which we are purified and made zealous unto all good works. Let us be zealous for good works. Let us be thankful for Christ's redemption as debtors, not to the flesh, but to the spirit. And then finally he says, these things speak and exhort and rebuke with all authority. And again, this is the job of a pastor. exhort, rebuke, and to do it in an authoritative way, not just, eh, maybe this is true. Maybe you should think about, no, you should do this. This is what you should do. You should live in good works, zealous for them. You should live soberly, righteously, and godly. It is not optional. If you would like to be saved and you want to profess that your sins are forgiven, then you must walk in a holy way, living according to God's commandments, or your profession is vain. That's what he means. Speak these things in exhortation and rebuke in an authoritative manner, not letting men despise you as if, oh, you have no authority, you're just like I am. No, that's not exactly the case. There are ways in which Titus was the same as his neighbors, and there were ways in which he was different. And thus far, the explanation of God's word from Titus chapter two.