Okay, so we're looking at the epistle of Paul to Titus and we'll look at the first four verses of chapter one. Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness. in hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began, but hath in due times manifested his word through preaching, which is committed unto me according to the commandment of God our Saviour. To Titus, mine own son after the common faith, grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour. So as I mentioned, where this fits in in the New Testament period is about the same time as 1 Timothy. It was written between Paul's two imprisonments there. So this was after his first imprisonment, but before he was imprisoned again for the final time. So they think around 64 or 65 AD. So just a little bit about Titus, the man who received this letter that Paul wrote. He was a Greek believer. So it says that clearly in Galatians 2 verse 3, but neither Titus, who was with me being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised. And so Paul, he chose not to circumcise Titus. And that was in part of that was because of the pressure of the Judaizers who said you had to be circumcised to be saved. And he said, well, no, that's not the case. And Titus being a Greek, he didn't He didn't do that. And that's in contrast with Timothy. Timothy was, remember he was half Greek and half Jew. He had a Jewish mother, but Titus was a Greek. But it seems he was converted through Paul's ministry. As we read there, he called Titus his own son after the common faith. So he was a son to Paul there, and it seems that he might have being converted by Paul's ministry there. And you find he's not actually mentioned in the Acts, but it seems that he possibly went with Paul to Jerusalem in Acts 15. Remember the whole debate that was had over the requirements and whether the Gentiles needed to keep the law? Well, it says in Acts 15 that Paul went with Some of the brethren there to Jerusalem and in Galatians 2 verse 1 It says then 14 years after I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas and took Titus with me also So it is possible that that was the time in Acts 15 that they went to Jerusalem and had that that debate over Judaism there He was heavily involved with the Corinthian church, and so there's a lot of references there, particularly in 2 Corinthians to Titus there. And so it seems that Titus here accompanied Paul on his third missionary journey. And Paul would have him with him. He would send Titus to different places. He sent Titus from Ephesus to Corinth to organize a collection for the saints in Judea who were struggling a bit. And you find different things like that. After Paul's release from his first Roman imprisonment, Titus was left on the island of Crete to organize the churches that were planted there. And so this is where where Paul's letter to him fits in because it says quite clearly there in verse five, he left him in Crete to set in order the things that were wanting or lacking. And so this is where Titus is at this point. And so Titus remained there and until other preachers arrived to continue his work, then it seems if it all went according to plan, he met with Paul in Nicopolis. and which you find in chapter 3 and verse 12, that was the intention anyway. And then you find in the last reference of Titus in the New Testament, he's mentioned in 2 Timothy 4 verse 10, where it says that Demas had forsaken Paul and loved this present world, departed to Thessalonica, Crescens to Galatia, Titus unto Dalmatia. So that's where we find Titus finishing up there. But it seems that Titus was was Paul's troubleshooter. And he was a very forthright type of man. He was quite bold and was happy to take on people and confront people, especially false teachers, those who were involved in sin and different things. And he was really quite happy to reprove, which if you know anything about Timothy, is quite a contrast to Timothy. Timothy was more reserved and more timid being a young man. And Paul had to really encourage him to be bold and not to, not to be upset or not let people despise his youth and different things, but Titus was really of a different nature. And so, you know, even the fact that if Paul took Titus to Jerusalem to sort out these Judaizers who said you need to be circumcised to be safe, Titus was a full-blooded Greek. I mean, and here they are trying to debate whether, you know, what the Gentiles are supposed to do. And he takes Titus along with him. It might've been a bit intimidating for a Greek to be involved in that debate there, but you find Titus going along with that and being involved with Paul and Barnabas and the others in Jerusalem there. We know that Paul sent Titus to Corinth, which was a place with a lot of problems and And Paul sent Titus with his very strongly worded letter to reprove them and to call them back to repentance and different things like that. And he understood that Titus was the man to handle a real confronting issue at that church in Corinth there. And it seems that Titus' visit, if we read 2 Corinthians, it seemed that Titus really did handle the problem and did set things in order there that were lacking in Corinth. And so, and then you find here in the epistle to Titus, Paul has sent him to Crete. And this was, again, not an easy place to minister. As we will see, Crete was a very difficult place for believers, and especially for someone who's trying to establish churches, a very ungodly place. And he said, you know, I'm going to send Titus there. Titus is the man for a tough job like this. And it gives you a bit of a sense of his character, a very forthright man. And so it seems that Titus did in fact handle this mission to Crete in establishing the churches, ordaining elders and everything like that. And he proved a very trustworthy man for Paul that Paul could count on and rely on. because Paul, he was let down by many people along the way, but not by Titus. He was a faithful man who did not shy away from the tough jobs. But as we come to this letter and look at it as a whole, and look particularly at the introduction, As Paul introduces his letter to Titus, before he points out the problems that he was facing and before he tells Titus the duties that he would have to perform, he directs his attention heavenward to God, who's above all and before all else. You notice in these verses, in these first four verses of the opening chapter, God is mentioned in every verse. And it's like Paul, just as he introduces and gives his greetings, he's saying, Titus, look to God, look to God in this situation and put God first in these things. And, you know, I think that's a good principle and a good pattern for us to follow. You think of the opening four words of the Bible. In the beginning, God. In the beginning, God. That should be really the motto for our lives. In the beginning, God. In the beginning of my day, in the beginning of all I do, of every situation, of every problem I face, in the beginning, God. I'm going to put God first in these things, to look to him first and seek him first and his kingdom and his righteousness. And it just seems that Paul, he's saying, Titus, there's a lot going on. There's a lot you have to do. There's a lot of problems. But first of all, look to God. And in these opening four verses, there's three aspects and three different things about God that is highlighted in these opening verses. So the first is we see the God who presides over his servants in verse one. And Paul, he begins, Paul, a servant of God. servant of God. It's interesting, elsewhere Paul opens many of his letters calling himself a servant, but usually he would call himself a servant of Jesus Christ, but in this case he's called a servant of God and that word translated servant is doulos. It means a bond servant or a bond slave. It's a word for a slave. And he says, I'm a slave, a servant of God. And that's a term that goes right back, right through the Old and New Testament. You think of some of the great leaders and the great men of the Old Testament, they were called servants of the Lord. Moses was a servant of God. David, Elijah, all these great men, they were great men indeed, but they were actually servants of God. And then you find that carried over into the New Testament language. And it was a favoured self-description of a number of New Testament writers. James, he begins, he says, James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. Peter, in second Peter, he opens a letter, Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ. In Jude, he begins, Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ. And so this is the first thing that Paul would highlight. He doesn't say, I'm an apostle. And servant, no, he's a servant first. The apostle thing comes later. The first thing he is, the first thing he wants to designate about himself is that I am a servant of God. And I wonder, can we call ourselves servants of God? Of course, it's easy to say, yes, I'm a servant of God, but is that an accurate description of ourselves? It's easy to say we're servants, but do our lives reflect the fact that we are called to be servants of God? As we sang in that hymn earlier, divine almighty Lord, my conqueror and my king, thy scepter and thy sword, thy reigning grace I sing. Thine is the power. Behold, I sit in willing bonds beneath thy feet. Is that where we're sitting? Is that our position? Sitting in willing bonds, not forced bonds, but willing bonds beneath the feet of Jesus Christ. That's what we are called to do as servants. So he says, I'm a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ. So we understand apostle means a messenger or a sent one or an envoy. And so it's this idea of being sent forth. And so in a broad sense, every believer is an apostle because every believer has been sent forth to go forth and proclaim the message of the gospel. In fact, Jesus Christ himself in Hebrews 3 verse 1 is called the apostle and high priest of our profession with a capital A. So why is he an apostle? Because he was sent forth, wasn't he? The Lord, the Father sent him. And in John 20 verse 21, he says, as my father hath sent me, even so send I you. This is what he says to the 12 there or the 11. the in the upper room there after his resurrection he says I send you just as God sent the father sent me I'm sending you apostles and but Paul he's an apostle but in another place Paul felt that he really was not worthy to be called an apostle you see his humility and saying that first Corinthians 15 verse 9 for I am the least of the apostles that am not meet to be called an apostle because I persecuted the church of God. And so Paul was actually a unique apostle, kind of distinct from the 12. He says in that same passage that he was like one born out of time. And so he was like the one that came later on. But he was a special apostle to the Gentiles. And he was given that position and that title, that office directly by Jesus Christ. And this reference to his apostleship was a statement of his authority. And he would do this in various places, calling himself an apostle, particularly in the book of Galatians, where he needed to establish his authority in his teaching because they'd gone so off track with their doctrine. And he said in Galatians 1 verse 1, Paul, an apostle, not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised him from the dead. And he goes on in verse 11 and 12, he talks about the gospel. And we know that the resurrected Jesus Christ appeared bodily to Paul, not just on the road to Damascus, but taught him personally for some time there and instructed him in the doctrine and the gospel and the mystery of those things. And so he was a specially called man, an apostle of Jesus Christ sent forth to do the work of God. And so he continues in that first verse in Apostle Jesus Christ, according, and so this is, he's going on and he's saying he's an apostle to do this certain thing. According to the faith of God's elect and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness. So this is the work of the servant of God and of this apostle. And it should be the work of every child of God who should be a servant of God. The first is evangelism. He talks about the faith of God's elect. So the elect, who's the elect? Well, the elect are those who hear and believe the gospel. Okay, and so those who believe and are born again, they become the chosen ones, the elect. And you see that in various places in the New Testament, in 2 Thessalonians 2, 13 and 14. But we are bound to give thanks all the way to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth, whereunto he called you by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. So that term elect, I know it's been the cause of much debate and misunderstanding, but it's a really beautiful and rich term that describes the believer's position in Christ, chosen in him before the foundation of the world, the faith of God's elect. Paul's responsibility, Paul's role here is to bring people to faith in Jesus Christ. That's the work of evangelism. And this is the work of not just Paul, but for every servant of God. And those who are not actively involved in evangelism cannot rightly be called servants of God. You can really pretty much check if someone really is a servant of God. What are they doing for the sake of the gospel? What are they doing to bring people to faith in Jesus Christ? So you see that first aspect, evangelism there, faith of God's like, and the acknowledging of the truth, which is after godliness. the acknowledging of the truth. So the truth of God's word is the foundation of the Christian life. So he's talking about, first of all, evangelism, but then after people are saved, there's that education aspect. And it's educating God's truth to the children of God. And so, you know, being saved is not the end of the story. Well, you know, I've got my ticket to heaven. I'm okay. I can just go about my life as I please. No, you need to start learning the things that God wants you to learn from the Bible. And likewise, the responsibility of the evangelist is not just to get people saved, but to teach them all things whatsoever I've commanded you. That's part of the Great Commission. But he says that this truth that is being acknowledged and taught, it's after godliness. It's not just any truth. It's not just education. It's not just the truth that informs people and it's not just a philosophy and a way of thinking. No, this is a truth after godliness. It produces godliness and piety in the lives of those who believe it. And I think he points this out in part because there were people at Crete where Titus was ministering. that he mentions like in verse 16 of chapter 1, they profess they know God, they think they know the truth and they're saved, but in works they deny Him, being abominable and disobedient and unto every good work reprobate. He says no, that's not the truth that we find in the Word of God. God's truth is after godliness. It produces a godly life. It produces good works. These people, they just show that they deny God by their works. And, you know, it's sad that there's a lot of people out there who profess to be Christians and they think they're saved and they think they're going to heaven, but you look at their lives, there's no godliness. There's no holiness, no good works. You know, it was said of one preacher that when he was in the pulpit, The people wished he would never leave it. But when he was out of it, they wished he would never enter it. And just because of his lifestyle, they thought he's not fit to go into the pulpit. And there was this disharmony between what he would say and what he would do. And that ought not to be. And you know, James, of course, has a lot to say about this practical religion, a belief that behaves, and he speaks very strongly about it, and he talks about some people who don't bridle their tongues, and they seem to be religious, but if any man among you seem to be religious and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain. It's an empty, worthless religion. Someone who thinks they're religious, but they can't bridle their tongue, they're speaking all perverse things, that's just a vain, worthless religion. In chapter 2 of James, he says, Faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. It's a dead faith if it's got no works, if it's got no godliness. You know, and so let me quote Benjamin Keech on this point. He says, a wicked and impenitent person who loves and lives in sin has not one dram of true faith. And those such say they believe and rely upon Christ, yet his presumption in them. The nature of faith is to cleanse and purify the heart and life of him that has it. That's what true faith does. It purifies your heart. It purifies your outward life as well. That's how we know if someone's faith is genuine. He says it's a truth after godliness. And you find this theme throughout Titus, good works, he comes up over and over throughout the three chapters of Titus. But as we've been looking there at this idea of evangelism and education, that's really the essence of the Great Commission in Matthew 28 where the Lord Jesus gives his church the commission to go therefore and teach all nations. That word teach has the idea of make disciples, teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son of the Holy Ghost, and then teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I've commanded you. And so you see that it's not just the converting of people, it's that following up of that, of teaching them all things that he's commanded us, all things in the word of God. And that's what Paul is basically saying there in verse one, that he's sent to do there. And so as he begins this letter, he points Titus to the God who presides over his servants. And then secondly, in verses two and three, he points Titus to the God whose promises are sure in hope of eternal life, which God that cannot lie promised before the world began. God's promises are sure. You know, the Christian life, is one of confidence and assurance. It's not one of doubt and fear. And the believer has absolute certainty in the promises of God. Absolute certainty. The gospel, it promises eternal life to those who believe. What do we get when we believe? Well, John 3.16, whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. Those who believe, those who are regenerated, they have everlasting life. Similar thing in 1 John 5, 11 and 12. God hath given to us eternal life and this life is in his Son. So the believer who's saved right now has eternal life. So if that life is eternal, by definition, it can never end. It can't be lost because then it wouldn't be eternal life. And so we have that certainty in the promises of God's Word that we have that eternal life there. And he says there at the start of verse two, in hope of eternal life. Now we use the word hope. differently to how the Bible uses the word hope. So you say, well, I hope it rains today, or I hope this happens or that happens. And some people will say, you talk to them and you say, well, do you have eternal life? And they say, well, I hope so. What they're saying is, well, maybe I do, but there's a chance that I don't. And that's the hope that we talk about today. There's a possibility that something will not come to pass. But the hope of the New Testament is a confident expectation. It's something that will come to pass. It's absolutely sure. In Hebrews 6, 18 and 19, it says, which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast. He says, this is a steadfast hope. And 2 Thessalonians 2, 16, now our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God, even our father, which hath loved us and given us an everlasting consolation and good hope through grace. 1 Peter 1.3, God has begotten us again to a lively hope. We talk about the blessed hope and glorious appearing of the great God and Savior. When we hope that Jesus is coming back, it's not like, well, maybe he will or maybe he won't. No, it's we know he's coming back. We're sure he's going to come back. That's what the hope is of the Bible. It's a confident expectation. And we have that hope of eternal life as he speaks of there. And he talks about, It's promised, which God that cannot lie promised before the world began. God who cannot lie. Numbers 23, 19, God is not a man that he should lie, neither the son of man that he should repent. Hath he said, and shall he not do it? Or hath he spoken and shall he not make it good? So he contrasts God, with man. Is God like a man that lies? See, people lie. In fact, in this letter, he talks about the Christians in the first chapter there, in verse 12, the Christians are always liars. And so particularly for Titus, he's in a culture where lying was just normal. But it cannot be said of any man, even the most honest man in the world, that that person cannot lie. It could be said, well, they don't lie or they won't lie, but you could not say of a person, of a man, they cannot lie, because every person has a deceitful heart and has that potential to lie and does lie. But on the other hand, God, who is perfectly holy, without one spot of sin, he cannot lie. It's not just that he won't lie or doesn't, he cannot lie, it's against his entire nature. And this is a God whose promises we have hope in, that he cannot lie. And I thought about this, I thought about the other gods of the false religions, You know, in the Quran, the false god of the Mohammedans, the Muslims, it actually teaches in the Quran, it says that Allah is the best of deceivers in three places. In chapter 3 verse 54, Allah is the best of receivers. Chapter 7 verse 99, no one feels safe from Allah's deception except those that shall perish. And chapter 8 verse 30. Allah also plotted deception, and Allah is the best of deceivers." And people come along and say, well, we all worship the same God, you know, the Muslims and the Christians, that's not the same God as the Holy God of Scripture who cannot lie. This deceitful liar who the Muslims worship, that's not the same God. In fact, it's a devil. They worship a devil because Satan is the father of lies, the Lord Jesus said in John 8, 44. It's a wicked religion, a work of the devil, Islam. But our God, he cannot lie. And so he made this promise of eternal life before the world began, before the world began. In 2 Timothy 1 verse 9, he speaks about this, who had saved us and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. This wasn't an afterthought, this wasn't a plan that God came up with after Adam and Eve sinned and God sort of thought, well, what can I do? No, this was planned before time even began. In eternity past, before the world was even created, before the angels were created, in the councils of God, He had planned this plan of redemption in Christ in the Gospel. And in Revelation 13 verse 8, And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb, slain from the foundation of the world. In the mind of God, the Lamb was slain even before, from the foundation of the world. And he promised the gospel before the world began, but he alone knew it. He didn't reveal that until later. He didn't reveal this promise until later. That's what he talks about here as he moves on. So he promised it before the world began, but verse three, but hath in due times manifested his word through preaching. So he was promised before the world began, but he actually revealed it in due times later on. And he made it known through the preaching of the gospel. And you see how God executes his divine plan according to his timing. It speaks of that timing in Galatians 4 verse 4. He said, just at the right time, when everything was in place, then God sent forth his son into the world and performed that work of redemption. One writer put it this way. He said about the timing of God in revealing Christ in the Gospel. He said, then the Romans had prepared the roads for the ambassadors of Christ to travel, and the Greeks had provided a perfect language for the written record of the revelation. And the dispersed Jews had circulated the Old Testament scriptures and had settled in foreign lands and planted synagogues. And philosophy had confessed her failures in the opinion of her leaders, that there must be a divine deliverer if deliverance comes at all. And it just seems like everything was in place for Christ to come into the world and that gospel to be manifested. The word of God that was, as Christ is called there in John's gospel, was manifested to the world. And as he says there, we beheld his glory. And he says it's manifested his word through preaching, through preaching. And so this is God's method of delivery to convey his promise to mankind. It's through the preaching of the gospel. 1 Corinthians 1.21, And so God has ordained that it's through the preaching of his word, that people come to understand their sin and come to understand their need of the Savior and will come to repentance and faith. In fact, in Romans 10 verse 14, Paul asks this question, how shall they hear without a what? A preacher. He says, if there's no preacher, no one being sent, how are they going to hear? He says, because this is the method. This is the way that God has ordained that people are going to hear the gospel. And so we need to hold up high the preaching of God's word. The preaching of the gospel to the lost and not shy away from that because it's God's way You know God only had one son and he made him a preacher as it's been said and you know, this is a It's a it's a high calling and we should have seen this very highly but he says there in verse 3 Which is committed unto me according to the commandment of God our Savior. So Paul said God has committed this gospel and the preaching of the gospel. He's committed unto me. And he's not just committed to Paul, he's committed to all his servants. He gave his commission to his church there four times in the gospel and once in the book of the Acts. And that gospel that they received was to be passed on to others and to preach to others. And just as he commanded Paul to go out And to proclaim that gospel message, he's commanded us to do the same also. And so as Paul begins this letter, he points him to this God, the God who we serve, and also the God whose promises are sure. We've got sure promises in the Lord, and he can't lie. And this was going to help Timothy, Titus, to remember these things. And then as we come to the fourth verse, We see the God who provides and sustains. To Titus, my son, after the common faith, grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and the Lord. Jesus Christ our Savior. He says he's my son in the faith. So it seems Paul was the means of his conversion. Paul described others in the New Testament in the same language. Onesimus, he says, my son Onesimus in Philemon verse 10. And also Timothy, of course, was, he said, my own son in the faith. So it's quite likely that at some point Paul preached the gospel and Titus was converted under Paul's preaching. But it could mean more than that also, that Titus was his son in the sense of a protege. So we know Paul would have taught Titus and instructed him in the way of the Christian faith and then send him out to do work in various areas. And so he was his son perhaps in that regard also. But he talks also in that fourth verse, he's his son, not just after the faith, but after the common faith, the common faith, that faith that unites all true believers. Remember, Paul was a Jew. He calls himself a Hebrew of Hebrews from the tribe of Benjamin. At one point, he was very proud of his Jewish heritage. But what was Titus? He was a full-blooded Greek. But he says, you know what, we all share a common faith. We're all in the common faith. We're all saved by the one Christ. We all enter by the same door, the same one way. the faith in his blood. Ephesians 4 verse 5 talks about one Lord, one faith, one faith and one baptism. It's not one faith for the Jews and one for the Greeks and one faith for the first century and one faith for the 21st century. No, it's one common faith and it brings us all together and unites all true believers in that way. 2 Peter 1 verse 1 talks about Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour, Jesus Christ. He says, like precious faith, this one faith they all stood by. And then in Jude verse three, Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write of you of the common salvation, there's that word common again. He says, it's a common salvation. because it's just the one way of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. It was needful for me to write it unto you and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith that was once delivered unto the saints. So he talks about that, his son in the common faith there. And then to finish off the introduction, he speaks about, he invokes three blessings upon Titus. He says, Grace, mercy and peace. Grace, God's divine strength for life and service. He says, I pray that God's grace would be upon you. We know that there's saving grace, for by grace are you saved through faith, and that's God's unmerited favour. But To the believer, we also have serving grace or enabling grace, and God gives us grace to do the things that we couldn't normally or naturally do in our own power, but he also gives us grace to not do things that we would naturally do, sinful things. without God's help. And we need this grace every day in our lives. Hebrews 4.16, let us therefore come boldly under the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. And in times of need, we need the grace of God. Paul said, but by the grace of God, I am what I am. He said it's all by his grace. And thank the Lord that we have access to that and we can come to find it at the throne of grace in time of need. But he invokes not just grace, but he invokes the blessing of God's mercy, God's compassion, his loving kindness towards man's need. Now, it's interesting, we're probably familiar with Paul's other letters where he talks about grace, and peace. And he would use that blessing on different people and to different churches and so on. But this addition of mercy is added only in the three pastoral epistles. There's grace, mercy, and peace. And is there any significance in that? Well, perhaps it's because the greater responsibility and burden of pastors requires God's special compassion and his special blessing of mercy. In James 3.1, it talks about, my brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation, a greater burden, a greater responsibility. And it seems that Paul, he doesn't just say to these preachers, yeah, grace and peace to you. He says, no, grace and mercy and peace. And we need God's mercy. We all need God's mercy in our lives. As sinful creatures and so prone to go astray, we need his mercy towards us, his loving kindness. and peace, and peace, that freedom from fear and anxiety. And again, we have two aspects of peace in the Christian life. We find peace with God in justification. So we know that as unbelievers, we are at enmity with God. God's wrath is upon us. His condemnation is upon us. We're not in his favour. We are not at peace with God. But through the blood of Christ, when a person is saved, they're reconciled to God. And in Romans 5.1, it puts it this way. Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. So we have that peace with God. There's no longer that enmity. There's reconciliation and we have fellowship. We have peace with God. But then after we're saved, day by day we can experience the peace of God, the peace of God that He pours out upon us. Just one example of that in Philippians 4, 6 and 7 where He talks about, be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, Let your requests be made known unto God. He says, tell God your needs and tell God your requests. Don't be anxious about these things. He says, if you do that, verse seven, and the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. That's a pretty good deal. Send him your burdens and he'll send you his peace. And he says, Titus, May you have God's grace, his mercy and his peace. And we need God's peace in our lives. And I read an account of a dying woman and a minister was asked to visit her. And the messenger, being ignorant, could give no account of her state, except that she was a very good woman and very happy, and was now at the end of her well-spent life, therefore sure of going to heaven. This is all the minister knew. So he went along and he saw that she was very ill, and after a few kindly inquiries about her bodily condition, said, well, I understand that you are in a very peaceful state of mind, depending on a well-spent life. The dying woman looked hard at him and said, yes, I'm in the enjoyment of peace. You are quite right there. Sweet peace. And that from a well-spent life. But it is the well-spent life of Jesus. Not my doing, but his. Not my merits, but his blood. And that's how we can have peace, not just in the sunshine and the blessing times of life, but even when facing death, the Christian can have that peace that passes all understanding, because it's through Christ and through his merits and his blood, the peace he gives to us. And then just another thought before we just conclude. We can see the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ, particularly in verses 3 and 4. So we see the source of the grace, mercy and peace. It comes from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, our Saviour. So, well, who does it come from? It comes from God, because God the Father is God and Jesus Christ is God as well. There's only one source of these blessings. So we see the unity of the Godhead there. But we also notice at the end of verse three, you find Paul talks about God, our saviour. But then at the end of verse four, the Lord Jesus Christ, our saviour. Well, are there two saviours? Is God the saviour and then is his so-called created son a saviour as well? No. The Bible's quite clear. The book of Isaiah says that there is only one saviour and besides me there is no other. That the Lord is the only saviour. And that only works if God is a trinity. That God the Father is the saviour, God the Son is the saviour as well. because they're both God. And so we see some references and some allusions to the deity of Christ in those verses. But what can we take from this introduction to Paul's letter to Titus? Well, we're just reminded that Titus was in a very tough environment, a tough situation, an ungodly world. And I think we could say the same of our society, the world we live in too. We live in an ungodly world. Philippians 2.15 speaks about, you may be blameless and harmless as sons of God without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation. I think that's true of our nation. We live in a crooked and perverse nation. But he says at the end of the verse, among whom you shine as lights in the world. You know, it's possible in a dark, in a perverse and ungodly nation and ungodly society to shine as lights in the world, to be blameless and harmless. But we can't do it in our own strength. And that's why Paul points Titus to look to God, look to the God of heaven to perform your duties, to endure this tough situation and to tackle these problems you're going to face. And so if we're to fulfil our duty, we must look to God, look to him as our Lord and we as his servants. We need that heart of a servant, that attitude that says, not my will, but thine be done. We need to look to his sure promises and put our trust in them. God cannot lie and we can trust everything he says in his word. We need to look to him for grace and for mercy and peace.