Let's turn finally in our Bibles to our sermon passage, which is Titus. We've been in 2 Peter for a couple of months, 10 weeks. But we're going to turn this morning to Titus. I want to pull shorter letters. And we're going to read there just the opening verses 1 through 4. So Titus 1. Chapter 1, verses 1 through 4. There's a quick little sermon notes page. I'll fill in some of the details about that as we go along. Titus 1, 1 through 4. Paul, a servant, slave of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of God's elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness, in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began, and at the proper time manifested in his word through the preaching with which I have been entrusted by the command of God our Savior, to Titus, my true child in a common faith, grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior. All of God's people say. Amen. Well, we spent, as I mentioned, 10 Sundays in 2 Peter on the big theme of the second coming of Jesus, the second coming of Jesus. And so I thought after a lot of eschatological talk, lots of talk about the end of all things, we might transition this morning to a little more down-to-earth letter. here of Paul. And he writes, as we see there, verse 1, to Titus, one of his companions, one of his co-workers, one of his co-labors. We read about him in the book of Acts, we read about him in his letters to the Corinthians, for example. And he writes to Titus, Here's the big theme of the book of Titus, to organize Christians into congregations or churches through sound preaching that produces sound living. So to organize Christians into churches or congregations, how? Through sound preaching, why? That produces sound living. In chapter one, verse number five, for example, Paul speaks to Titus about organizing Christians on the island of Crete into congregation. So there were believers there, but they weren't yet set in order. Verse 5 of chapter 1. This is why, he says, they left you in Crete. So that you might put what remained into order. and appoint elders will come to that in every town as I directed you. And then in verse seven, he speaks of the overseer. So notice there, there were believers at some point, either Paul or others had gone there on a missionary journey, believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, but yet they had to be set in order. It had to be some structure and some guidance for them. And so Paul sends Titus there to do that. Just that. Look at how Paul also speaks to Titus then, as he's to order and structure the churches, the congregations there. Notice he talks to him about how, through sound or healthy preaching. Verse nine, he speaks of the kind of overseer Titus was to appoint. So Titus is a representative of the apostles, so he appoints, we'll see, ministers, pastors. He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught. Why? So that he might be able to give instruction in sound or healthy doctrine. So organized churches, how? By appointing preachers to preach sound, healthy doctrine, teaching for believers' souls. Again, look at chapter 2, verse 1. But as for you, teach what accords with sound doctrine or sound teaching. And then notice that third point. So to organize churches through sound preaching that produces sound living. Look with me then in our passage at verse number one. I'll mention this in our outline here, but he speaks about the truth that accords with godliness. Truth that accords with godliness, right? Doctrine and living. Chapter 2, verse 10, he speaks of slaves, servants, adorning the doctrine of God our Savior, adorning the doctrine of God our Savior, that is to do good works, to live lives of godliness, to have sound lives that accords with the sound teaching they have received. And then finally in chapter 3, at verse number 8, he says, quote, those who have believed in God are to be careful to devote themselves to good works. So Paul to Titus, in or on Crete to organize all these believers into distinct congregations with ministers over them preaching sound doctrine that leads to sound living. And so Titus is an important letter for us to take to heart, beloved. We need to come to a greater appreciation for the church universal, but also our local manifestation of the Lord's body. We need to take a greater appreciation for the body that Christ has put us into here in this church. All of us are products of our culture. We all know this. I've given the illustration before that all of us are like fish that are swimming out in the ocean. All we know is water. That's the only environment that we think exists. And we take it so for granted that we only struggle when we're taken out of the environment in which we live. And so we are products of our culture. We just swim. We just live. We just breathe the air that's around us. And that means for the culture around us and its impact upon our lives that we often live life on our own terms. That's what it is to be an American. To live life on your own terms. We don't want others indoctrinating us. We want to define our own reality. What the Supreme Court said many, many generations ago, I think it was Anthony Kennedy, he said, what defines a citizen of America is the right to define one's own reality. That's what it is to be an American, life, liberty. pursuit of happiness, to define our own reality. And so when we live in that water, when we swim in the ocean of the world in which we live, we breathe its air, we end up living in isolation from the church. And maybe except for an hour or two a week, we live in isolation. from our existence and our identity as citizens of a kingdom that's not of this world as members of a body. Members of a local manifestation of Christ's body. Have you ever thought to yourself how is this decision that I'm about to make going to affect my brothers and sisters at OURC? We don't even think in those terms probably. How is this decision going to affect my brothers and sisters at church. Can you say and sing and pray to the Lord? I love thy church, O God. Her walls before thee stand, dear as the apple of thine eye, engraven on thy hand. Can you pray this? For her, the church, for her my tears shall fall, for her my prayers ascend, to her my cares and toils be given, till toils and cares shall end. We need to appreciate the church, the body of believers. in which the Lord's placed us. And so Paul wrote to Titus that he'd organize Christians into congregations through sound preaching that produces sound living. Note that he writes as a servant here, verse one, a servant of God. Typically he calls himself a servant of Jesus Christ, but here he's servant of God, interestingly. But he's using that phraseology like ancient servants Moses, Joshua, Jeremiah, the prophets, the patriarchs of old who were called the servants of God. He even uses the term doulos which can be translated as a slave or often times as a bond servant. Paul exemplifies to us in his identity as a servant of God the very words of Jesus when Jesus said whoever, speaking to his disciples, his closest friends, whoever would be great among you must be what? Your servants. Whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, Jesus said. Why? Matthew 20, even as the son of man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. And so Paul is seeking to live that out, to exemplify that. He came not to be served, but to serve. So he's a servant of God. He's an apostle of Jesus Christ. This idea of an apostle comes from an Old Testament word, a shaliach, which means an appointed or commissioned representative of a king, with the king's word, the king's authority. And so Paul comes to Titus and through Titus, through the believers on the island of Crete, as Jesus' representative, to organize them into distinct congregations, to appoint over them preachers of the gospel who are going to give them sound teaching to cause them to have sound living. So let's dive in then this morning to the first four verses here or so, this introduction. And I want you to see here what Paul says about the truth of preaching. the truth about preaching. So he's a servant, he's an apostle, he's been entrusted by the command of God our Savior with this word. And he gives us a glimpse here, he opens up the curtain for us to peer behind it, so to speak, to see what preaching is all about. Why is it so important for us? First and foremost, the truth about preaching, according to Paul here, is that it's based in God's eternal plan. It's based in God's eternal plan. Look at verse one again, where he says, he was appointed as an apostle, why? For the sake of the faith of whom? God's elect. For the sake of the faith of God's elect. And what do you notice about that phrase? He just assumes, doesn't he? Paul doesn't explain, Paul doesn't go into a lengthy treatise, he just assumes. that God elects, that God chooses. That's how it was in the Old Testament. There's nothing new about the New Testament other than the fullness of revelation in Christ has come. But all the promises are there. All the acts of God are there of creation and redemption and election. Paul just assumes that God elects. And so he came as a preacher, he was sent as a preacher, as an apostle for the sake of their faith. the faith of the elect of God. Think about it like this. Why did the Lord choose Abram out of a household of idolaters? In Genesis 12, when God speaks to Abram, leave your father's house, leave his country, go to a land that I'm about to show you, and I'm gonna make you a father of many nations. Why did God choose Abram? We're never told. He doesn't tell us why he chose Abram? Why did he choose Israel from all the nations of the earth? Why did he choose them? Turn back with me to Deuteronomy 7. Deuteronomy chapter 7 to see what the Lord through The servant of God, Moses, once said to ancient Israel out in the wilderness about why God elects. Why does God choose? Deuteronomy 7 is one of the more fundamental passages in the whole Bible about the doctrine of election. Why does God choose? Why does God elect? For you, he says, notice that verse number six, for you are a people holy to the Lord your God. That's their identity. That's what he said at Mount Sinai. You are a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. Four, you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession. Again, that's Exodus 19 at Mount Sinai. Out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth, He's chosen you to be holy to Him, to be a treasured possession for Him. Why? It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set His love on you and chose you. Notice the parallel there, love and choosing. So election is not a matter of random, arbitrary, just mere sovereign act of God's will. It's a matter of love, right? It's not because they were greater in number than any other people, and so God saw, well, they are greater in number, they can have bigger armies, they can have more ingenuity, so on and so forth, and that's why he chose them. No, notice, he didn't choose them for that reason, he didn't love them for that reason. In fact, they were the fewest of all people, so in comparison to the peoples around them, they were few. But, notice, but, so it was not because, but, it was because. The Lord loves you. The Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers. Who are those fathers again? Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. So Genesis 12, why did God choose Abraham? He didn't tell us there, but he tells us here. Why? He loved him. He loved him. So it's because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers that the Lord your God has brought you out of the mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery from the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. So why did God elect Israel? Because he loved them. Was it because he saw in them something? No. He loved them. Why did God love Israel? Why did God love Abram? Why does God love anyone? Have you thought about that before? Why does God love anyone? You'll have to ask him when you get to heaven. Because that's who he is. Because that's what he's decided to do. God is love. And so in his love, he's chosen. And so Paul is reflecting upon all of that Old Testament teaching of the love of God and aka his electing grace. And he simply says here that He was appointed as an apostle for the sake of the faith of God's elect. And his big point then is that God has an eternal plan. And Paul, his preaching, and Titus, his preaching, and those whom he's going to appoint as elders slash overseers, and all preachers, their preaching plays a part in the eternal plan Look again at verse number two, back to Titus. He connects the believers' hope of future eternal life. So in verse two, when he says, in hope of eternal life, he's speaking of the hope that we have of being with God. So it's a future hope. So he connects this hope of a future eternal life with God, the God whom he says never lies, the God who has promised eternal life, before the ages began. Again, God has an eternal plan. He never lies. He's promised this plan before the ages began. God's eternal. God's eternal. That means his life has existed before anything, or as he says here, before the ages of time existed. The term he uses here is a succession of times. So before anything existed, including time itself, God is. And he had a plan. He promised something. But notice also that eternal means the kind of life that God has. It's not just that God is sort of outside of time or that if we can make a number line with arrows going in both directions that God's eternal in that sense. He has no time. He has no beginning or no end. It's more than that. It's that eternality is the kind of life God has. It's a quality that God has. Our hope of eternal life is not just that we are going to exist in timelessness, right? Our hope is not just that we are going to exist outside the boundary markers of beginning and end. What's our hope? Eternal life, meaning that we're going to live with God and share in his life, which is eternal. And so Paul connects his apostolic ministry of preaching to this future hope of living with and enjoying God. He exists, he says, as a preacher, as an apostle, for the sake of God's elect, those that God has eternally loved, from before the foundation of the world, before time even began. The God who's made a promise before ages began. He's a preacher of that promise. of living with and enjoying God, not just forever, yes, that's true, but to live with God, and all that that means. So the fact that God has an eternal plan, and as Paul says here, that preaching, the truth of preaching is that it's based in this eternal plan of God. This means several things for us. If God is eternal and if God has always been and if God has this quality of life and yet he's made a promise that connects down to us here in preaching, that means something for us. First and foremost, this should transform how those of us who speak, meaning those of us who preach, how we do so. The truth about preaching is that when we gather together, whether in twos or threes or in cathedrals, something eternal is being spoken to us that has nothing to do with life as you know it. Even when we examine men for the ministry, one of the questions we always ask them about preaching is, well, what's your view of application? How do you apply the passage? What does it mean for the person in the pew, in the cubicle, the mom driving her minivan from school to school every week? But first and foremost, Paul says here that preaching has nothing to do with the world that we know. There's something going on, there's something about the word of the gospel that we hear from an eternal God to us here that has nothing to do with life as we know it. It's eternal life. Let me give an illustration of that. This past week, there's a conservative writer, you probably know this guy's name. Well, I won't mention his name, but a conservative writer tweeted out this, or he X'd out this, I guess you say, but he tweeted out. If your pastor doesn't, in all caps, insists, if your pastor doesn't insist You vote, in bold, in his next sermon. So here I am, and here's the next sermon, right? If your pastor doesn't insist you vote in his next sermon, he may as well preach on the blessings of abortion. It's the same thing. And if you attend a church like that, you share in the guilt. Brothers and sisters, You know that we have civic duties as citizens of our city, our county, our state, and our country. And that as Christians, you and I are to do all that we do from the smallest little thing to the biggest thing to the glory of God. You know this. You know this. I believe this, you believe this, we believe this, and we say this and we encourage this in every area of life. Okay? In every area of life, we are to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. But I'm not going to debase this pulpit with mere secular noise. Yes, vote. Okay, fine, I satisfied this person's tweet. Yes, vote. Fine, vote. But you don't need me to tell you this. You don't need me to tell you how to do that, do you? Do you need me to tell you that? Brothers and sisters, you don't need me to tell you vote. You don't need me to tell you to do that. Vote your conscience, pray the Lord's blessing upon the outcome. But those of us who preach, have something that no other religion, philosophy, media source, politician, motivational speaker, pundit, influencer, you name it. We have something that those people don't have. A message from an eternal God about eternity inviting you and I into his eternal life. Preaching is different. Preaching is different. I told the brothers this past Tuesday night at our council meeting, our elders and deacons, I said, you know, this is a podcast and there's a famous historian, his name's Tom Holland, not Spider-Man, not the Spider-Man character, but Tom Holland, the historian, right? And Tom Holland said in his recent podcast, in his big interview in the UK about Christianity, the rise of Christianity, the re-rise, revival of Christianity, he said, keep Christianity weird. And I mentioned to the brothers this Tuesday night, to keep Christianity weird. And I intend to do just that. Keep Christianity weird. That's what God wants from me, I believe. That's what God wants from us. to preach something that no one else can say to you. We have our phones, we have the world at the very fingertips of our hands in a way that no other generation in the history of the world has ever had. You can get anything you want at any second, at any moment, but you cannot get this. A message from an eternal God about eternity, inviting you and me into his eternal life. And yes, that's weird and strange and it may not always connect with us, it may not always speak to our particular needs at every particular moment, but that's what God says. That's what God wants. Now secondly, If what Paul is saying is true, and it is, that preaching is connected backwards to this eternal life of God, and that there's an eternal plan of God, and preaching brings that eternal plan to us, this should transform how those of us who listen to preaching listen to it. Not just how we preach it, but how we listen to it. how we hear what's being said to us. Again, there's something eternal that's being spoken to us, something mysterious, something that's otherworldly going on when you and I hear faithful preaching of the word. You're hearing the eternal God himself coming near to you. You don't get that on your iPhone, I'm sorry. You can't get that on whatever whatever media platform is your favorite. You just don't get that, do you? The eternal God drawing near. You and I, as we hear the preaching of the word, are being transported out of our chaotic, disappointing, mundane lives into eternity. Do you really want me to come to you after six days of hearing all the garbage that we have to hear and all the fighting, all the bickering, all the disappointment, all the struggle in our society? Do you really want to come after six days of that, vote, vote, vote, proposition this, proposition that, all the mail that we're now getting, all the ads that are constantly bombarding us, do you really want to come after all that and hear more of that? Is that what you want? We're being transported out of our chaotic, disappointing, mundane lives into eternity. You need that. I need that. You and I need to hear something other than the drivel that floods the airwaves and floods our ears. You and I need something otherworldly to lift your eyes and our eyes and our hearts to something that's worth hoping in, amen? Every candidate since President Obama, hope and change, hope and change. But we all know how that turned out. We are disappointed and we have only a little change in our pockets, right? And every politician's gonna say this, hope and change, hope and change. I'm the candidate of hope and change. You're gonna be disappointed. So if I come to you and say, oh, the Lord has told me this week, vote, and the Lord has said, thus say the Lord, vote for him, vote for her, vote for this, vote for that, it's gonna end up in utter disappointment. But what doesn't disappoint is eternal life. Should I just end there, I guess? Trust me, that was my longest point, I promise, I promise. Okay, so, the truth about preaching. Second point, a little bit shorter, I promise. Preaching is the means through which this plan is revealed to us. Preaching is the means through which this plan is revealed to us. Note the contrast in verses 2 and 3. Verses 2 and 3. Notice that, we saw that. And then there's the contrast, the comparison and contrast. At the proper time, this promise that God promised from age, before the ages began, at the proper time, that promise is manifested, it's made known, it's revealed in his words through the preaching with which he's entrusted. So this eternal God, in real time, in real space, in real history, in real lives, manifests something to us, he calls it his word, and I'll explain that in a second here, through preaching. Notice that. through preaching. God's word here, his logos, it can mean his speech that is written down in what we call the scriptures, so the Old and New Testaments. The word of God, we can speak of the Bible as the word of God, or the words of God. Okay, that's one sense in which we could take that. It can also mean Christ himself, because as John tells us in John 1, the whole first chapter, really, that the eternal word, the logos of God, has been made flesh, and so it's Christ. He is the logos, he is the word. But I think here Paul's saying something, he's not not saying that, but he's saying something bigger, I think. That little word logos, translated as word here, it's used in Greek literature for a coherent thought that has a purpose. So it can be described as reason or rationality. A coherent thought with a purpose that is going to be fulfilled at the end of human history. So the Greek philosophers spoke about the Logos as the reason, the purpose, the orderliness of the universe. It all has an endpoint and a goal. Now we call that the gospel. We, Christians, call that the gospel. This eternal purpose and reason and rationality and orderliness and structure and purpose and goal for everything that exists, we call that the gospel. The good news. the good news. Turn over with me to 1 Corinthians 2. I think Paul's saying the same thing here in 1 Corinthians chapter number 2. He doesn't use the exact same phraseology but something close to it. Speaking of the gospel The gospel here, in terms of its eternal purpose and plan of God. So in 1 Corinthians 2, beginning at verse 6, Paul has been, in the first chapter, people are clamoring, some want signs and some want wisdom. And those who are seeking after wisdom, they consider the preaching of Christ to be what? Foolishness. But Paul says that foolishness is the wisdom of God. And the weakness is the power of God. Okay, so he goes on then in chapter two, if you read the whole thing, I would encourage you to read the whole thing, but in chapter two, verse six, among the mature, so he's writing now to the body, among the mature, we do impart wisdom. The world wants wisdom on its own terms, apart from the gospel. We do impart or give wisdom, although it's not a wisdom of this age. or of the rulers of this age. So just go back to the first point that I just made, right? There's something about what God imparts to us, his wisdom in the gospel, that's not according to the world's wisdom. There's something that you get here that you can't get out there. Again, verse seven, but we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God. And then this phrase here strikingly sounds similar to what we just read in Titus, which God decreed his wisdom, which God decreed, his plan, before the ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But, and then this is a beautiful, beautiful phrase here, but as it is written, no eye has seen, what no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined what God has prepared for those who love him. These things, the things which no one ever seen, heard, imagined, these things God has revealed to us. Through the Spirit, and in the context, in the power of the Holy Spirit, he preaches the gospel. So he's speaking here of preaching that reveals the mysteries of God, God's purpose, his plan, his decree for the ages, for our glory. In other words, Paul is saying here that the truth about preaching is that it's a manifestation, a revelation to this world that we live in every single moment, but of God's eternal plan for a world that is to come. The hope of the eternal life of God that we are all waiting for is revealed through preaching. There's God's plan, and then there's preaching that makes that plan known to us. That's foolishness to the world. That's wisdom of God, though, to us. Again, this means that Christianity is different from the world, okay? We should be different, and that's 100% okay. The Christian religion is different from the world. We're gonna have our own vocabulary. We've gotta learn the vocabulary. We've gotta teach the vocabulary. And we should expect people come who are new to not know the vocabulary. That's fine. You gotta learn the language. We have our own view of human history as Christians. Everything's moving to a goal of fellowship with God. Glory, as Paul called it there in 1 Corinthians 2. Glory, which he calls in Titus 1, eternal life. The hope of eternal life. We have a view of human history that has that goal, that end point, that purpose. We know the end already. And if we know that goal of human history, God's eternal purpose, and it's revealed to us through the gospel as it's proclaimed to us, that means that no proposition on our ballot, no city council ordinance, no state legislature, no Congress, no Supreme Court, no president is gonna thwart God. Republicans, stop being so upset if Kamala Harris wins. Give me a break. Democrats, don't worry if Trump wins. The world's not gonna come to an end. And those of us who vote for someone else, well, we're voting in the 0.2% anyway, so we got what's coming to us, right? No one or no thing is gonna thwart this purpose that Paul is writing about. We got it too good here. We actually get to vote. We're not actually told who is our supreme leader, right? Shooting missiles across the world at whoever they will, to whomever they desire. We actually get to worship in public, not be afraid. God's purpose is going to work. It's going to... be revealed, it's gonna be realized. So we gotta get our eyes, we gotta get our hearts out of the mud of temporal human politics. Preaching makes known to us, again what Paul says there, what no eye has seen, nor ear has heard, nor the heart of man imagined. And in the context, notice that, that phrase, we always use that phrase to think about heaven, but in the context, what he's saying there, what no one has ever seen, nor spoken, nor heard, nor imagined, is the gospel. The gospel of Jesus Christ. That is what God has prepared for those who love him. Eternal fellowship with him, the gospel. And the gospel of Jesus and your lives, my life, our lives together as Christians does have impact for good in the world. So don't ever take away from Pastor Danny's preaching, we should not vote, we shouldn't be involved, no. The gospel and our lives actually impact and bring transformation to the world. But don't ever forget, even to my post-millennial brothers and sisters out there, okay? The most glorious post-millennial age that you can imagine is still just a faint temporal reflection of this age that is to come that Paul is speaking about. And it's to that hope, and we do hope that our world is changed for the better and the gospel is proclaimed and sinners come to find this hope, but it's to that hope ultimately of eternal life with God that we're moving towards. Third, the truth about preaching is that it serves those God saves. So God's eternal plan of eternal life is manifested to you and me through the preaching of the gospel and it's meant to serve our well-being in this life until that life that is to come. How? It serves our faith. Paul labored and Paul preached, again verse 1, for the sake of the faith of God's elect. So back to our passage there in Titus. where he says there, for the sake of the faith of God's elect. All this talk about election and eternity is meant to bring us to faith and to strengthen our faith. Because it's rooted in God, not ourselves. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ, the gospel. And so, loved ones, the world is throwing everything that it has at us, including the kitchen sink, as we say, but we've got to trust God. And you've got to entrust yourself to Him. Preaching serves for the sake of the faith of God's elect. No matter what the world does and threatens to do and whatever it has done and whatever it might do, trust in God is the point. Preaching should serve that end, the faith of God's elect. Secondly, It serves our knowledge. Paul labored and preached for their knowledge of the truth, he says, which accords with godliness. Their knowledge of the truth. Didn't Jesus say in one of his prayers that this is eternal life, that they would know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent? He is the way, he is the truth, he is the light. Know him personally. by knowing who he is, biblically and theologically, right? We get to know, preaching is meant to bring us into connection with him, to know things about him so that we can know him. Just like we can't know each other unless we know things about each other, our name, where we're from, what we do, what we like, you know, the things that we struggle with, things that we're good at, how we can share those together. Then you can say, I know that person. We have to know who Jesus is, what he's done for us. Preaching serves that end, our knowledge of the truth. And notice that that knowledge of the truth accords with godliness. Again, this means that knowledge is not just mere intellectualism. It's not just facts that we store up in the hard drive of our minds. And as we get older and older, we transition from thumb drives to terabytes and so forth. We are meant to know God. in a personal way. And that knowing him and knowing that he knows us leads us to godliness. Leads us to godliness. Our knowledge of the truth accords with godliness. They go together. They go together. You can't be a Christian that... There's no such thing as a Christian who's a big theology Christian, but there's other Christians who are known for being loving Christians. And the loving Christians know nothing about theology, and the theology Christians know nothing about loving. That's an impossibility. It's a contradiction. I've said it many times before, and I'll say it again, we as a church need to be known for having a big theology, but also just as big a heart for anyone and for everyone who walks through those doors and who comes into our life. Knowledge accords with godliness. And if you ever are hearing things that are just merely pertaining to knowledge and you're not growing in godliness, well, the shame is on me then. Knowledge accords with godliness. Preaching also serves our hope. Again, he says there, verse two, that he labored, he preached in hope of eternal life, the life that God had promised before the ages began. In that hope, he preached and he labored. We're battered, we're bombarded, we're bruised, we're broken by the world for six straight days. And we get to come out of that, come out of that world to hear what God has to say to us about a hope of a life that's different than this life, that's better than this life. A life that no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined. That eternal life that awaits us in a place that God's prepared for those who love Him. We've been spending our last 10 Sundays in 2 Peter and the second coming, and one of the things that Peter said was that the ultimate hope of the Christian is not heaven, but a new heaven and a new earth. And a lot of you ask, well, what does that mean? And I tried to give a little bit of a glimpse of that, but the Bible doesn't say a whole lot other than it's new. But it's not new in the sense that God evaporates and annihilates this heavens and earth and he starts all over again. He takes this thing, this place, this space that we live in, that he made in the beginning very, very good. and that we have plunged into darkness and depravity, he resurrects it to the way it not just was in the garden, but better than that, what it was intended to be. So we think of heaven, but we also have got to think of the new heavens and new earth. And ultimately, what is heaven? What is new heavens and new earth? It's him. It's Christ. Revelation says we will see Him face to face. Will there be animals there? What about a pet? What about this person? Are we gonna have cars there? What are we gonna be doing there? Great questions. What matters though is that eternal life is Christ. And whatever else he brings along with that, but it's Christ ultimately. Preaching is meant to serve our hope of eternal life, our living with Christ. for all of eternity. And so Paul gives us here a glimpse, a little preview, a little peer behind the curtain of what preaching should be, should be. Not always is, but should be. It connects us back to God's eternal plan. It brings that plan to us through human words. And it serves our faith, our knowledge, and our hope and so as Paul concludes he as he always does he blesses his readers his reader Titus and through him to the others and to us grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior and all God's people say amen let's pray Grant us, O Lord, not to mind earthly things, but to love things heavenly. And while we sojourn among things that are passing away, to cling to these that shall abide through Jesus Christ, our Lord, and all of God's people say, amen. Let's respond.