While I was going to pray that we have such a timely text to turn to, but actually that's true of all of them, because all Scripture is God breathed and profitable. And what was written before was written for our instruction. But Father, we seem to turn to a point here today in the text of your word that is not heeded as it should be by many who know you, who profess your name, not followed as diligently, perhaps. We pray, Father, that we'll have ears to hear what the Spirit of God would say to each of us that will learn what crucial truth you're pressing on us today as you've called us together with this on your heart for us to fix our attentions on. So teach us, Father, from your word today. We pray in Jesus name. Amen. I've got. A lot to say. I'm bursting today. So let's let's dig in thus far in Titus chapter one. The qualities that we've been looking at are the qualities of an elder and something that we've seen in those requirements in the person who leads in Christ's church is that none of these qualities is anything that any Christian man shouldn't aim at. You can't say, well, thank God I'm not an elder because now I can be a jerk to my wife. Thank God I'm not an elder. Now I can just neglect my children and stay locked up in my room with my TV and my beer. That's not the case. These are qualifications, all of them, that are things to which any Christian man and every Christian man should aspire. What sets elders apart so far is the fact that they are ready and willing to be models in these areas, to try to set the pace in these areas, to show other Christian men how to embody these virtues, these graces to which Christ calls every Christian. But today we're going to see something that is very instructive and that sets the elder apart, something that is uniquely a calling and a necessity and a requirement of a man who's going to hold the office of elder or pastor, overseer, shepherd within the local assembly of Christ. And this is what we're seeing today, the specific climax of all these qualifications, all of these qualifications lead up to and climax in this. And so as we look at this together, we're going to see what God wants to be central in every Christian church. If he's saying this is the thing that the leaders of Christian churches, all Christian churches, this is the thing that they must be adept in, then he's saying that this is the thing that must Set the pace for all Christian churches. And since Christ calls every Christian to be involved in a local church, that means that this is an agenda for you. This is an agenda that that affects every person who names the name of Christ. This is not something you're not you're not listening in on some boring pastor seminar. You're listening in on something that reflects God's heart for you as a Christian within his assembly. So just extremely brief summary of what we've seen in verses five through eight. We've seen first that the elder must show an inculpable family life for six. Secondly, that he must show inculpable character versus seven and eight. And here's the third thing. And where our focus is today, verse nine, he must be doctrinally capable. Please do use the outline that every one of you has been offered in the bulletin today. He must be doctrinally capable. I've translated that verse for you from the Greek this way. holding fast to the faithful word according to the teaching in order that he might be able both to exhort by healthy doctrine and to approve those who contradict. So we look first at his convictions, because this verse takes us into what God says are the requirements of an elder in terms of his convictions and his competency. what his convictions must be and where he must be competent. So first, in looking at his convictions, we'll consider the object of his convictions and then the actions he must take toward that object. Well, what is the object of his convictions? The faithful word according to the teaching, Paul says, or very literally in Greek, the way he phrases it in Greek, there's a way you can do this, Paul literally says, holding fast to the according to the teaching faithful word. So It is the faithful word, and that takes us into the nature of the object, and that is that it is a word. There's the word that goes in that blank there. Write that down. W.O.R.D. What is the nature of this? Is it a drawing? Is it a song? Is it a method for entering into an altered state of consciousness or a feeling? No, it's a word holding fast the faithful, not dance, not faithful holy smoke, but the faithful word. Now, to see where Paul gets this, all you have to do is turn to the very first chapter in the first words of the Bible, the first three verses of the Bible. What do you see? You see God acting and speaking. And the only reason you and I know what he did and what he said is because we read it in his word. And in those three verses, we have the stage set for all of redemptive history and for all of God's plan for his people and how God means to relate to his people. But what God did is he acts, he speaks, and then he moves prophets to write down what he does and says, and what the meaning of his actions and words are. That's what the Bible is. And I've just summed up the whole Bible for you from one perspective. It's all that, from the start to the finish. It's God acting and speaking, and holy men being carried by the Spirit of God to write down what God said, what God did, and what it meant. And so as we look at Titus chapter 1 verses 1 through 3, we see that same pattern. If you were to look at the book with me there, Paul has been reflecting that just in the opening words of this letter. He says, Paul, a bondservant of God, reading from the NAS, an apostle of Jesus Christ for the faith of those chosen of God and the knowledge of the truth, which is according to godliness. So the faith and God's counsel, he says, are expressed in a word, verses two and three, in the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised long ages ago, but at the proper time manifested his word. You see, God's eternal counsels. And the promise of the unlying God is made known in the word. Paul's an apostle to promote faith in that word. All saints share knowledge of God through that word. And so he's entrusted with that word. Verse three, the word in the proclamation with which I was entrusted. So God trusted his word to Paul with the intent that Paul would not be creative about that word, not that Paul would mix it with his own word, but that Paul would communicate that word, God's word to his people. And so as we come to the Bible, we don't waste time with it as if it's the best religious musings of a people in another part of the world. The reason why we spend time with it is because it's our conviction that it's the word of God. If it's the word of God, we mustn't mess with it. If it isn't the word of God, we shouldn't waste time with it. But it is the word of God. And that's why it's Paul's conviction. He was there to promote faith in it. And he shared that same faith with Titus. Verse four, to Titus, my true child in a common faith. So God gave his word to Paul, the apostle. Paul proclaimed that word and taught it to Titus. And the reason why he's working with Titus is because Titus is one who's faithful to share that faith in that word and himself to communicate that word. Christian life at its inception, its continuation and its consummation is all about the Word of God. It's not all about a dance or a mime or a painting. It's not all about an experience or a feeling. But God calls every one of us to meet him the same place he called Adam and Eve to meet him. And where was that? At the point of his word. He spoke to them. He communicated his will to them. He opened his heart to them by a word. And that's the same way he calls us to encounter him by his word. And so that being the case, the center of everything the elder must do. In fact, let me say the center of the only thing that he's authorized to do has to do with that word. And so that means that should be the center of what the Christian church does. It should center around the word of God. And that means it should be the center of the life of every individual Christian. Every individual Christian should be concerned with knowing God and the way God gives himself to be known is in his word. So it's God's word where you and I meet God and thus God calls an elder to be convicted and committed to that word. That's the object of his conviction. The word of God. Now, he gives two qualifications of that word that set it apart. First, he says the word is faithful. Remember the according to the teaching faithful word. Faithful means it's worthy of faith. It's worthy of trust. It's reliable. And by calling that word faithful, obviously Paul is contrasting it with unfaithful teaching, with the unfaithful doctrines of demons, or the unfaithful doctrines of men. These doctrines are doctrines that arise from delusion, that result in deception. These are not from God. They're not worthy of faith. They should not be the objects of our faith. And the unfolding of God's plan and judgment is going to blast these false teachings to dust. If we want something, if we want to hang on to something that will withstand not only the changing epochs of time or the vicissitudes of changing cultures, but will withstand the judgment of God, the only thing we can hang on to is the Word of God. Fads come and go. Fashions come and go. The word of God stands unchanged and it is what will stand past the judgment of God and will in fact be the standard by which God judges us. What did we do with the word of God? How did we respond to the word of God? It's a faithful word. It's worthy of our faith. It alone is worthy of our faith. Not human traditions, not doctrines of demons, but the word of God. So first, it is faithful. The second attribute of this word is that it is according to the teaching, according to the teaching. I want to sing up three truths about that. I'll try the same so you can write them down. Not speak California speed. I'll try. I say I'll try. So three truths about the according to the teaching fact. First of all, by the teaching, he means the apostolic teaching, the teaching of the apostles. The apostolic teaching, because the teaching of the apostles is the teaching of Christ. And that's why not because the apostles were the smartest of men, which they weren't. Thank God. I find that very encouraging, but because they were men to whom God made known his word. Turn to John, chapter 14. Let me just highlight some verses often taken out of context, but they help us understand this. First, John 14, 26, and this first point is the teaching is the apostolic teaching, which is the teaching of Christ. So Christ speaking to the apostles, not speaking to a mixed multitude, not speaking to a mass of disciples, but simply speaking to his apostles in the upper room. Christ says, but the helper, the Holy Spirit. whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you." Well, there it is in essence. Their teacher will be the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit will give them inerrant memory of what Jesus taught. So why can we trust the Gospels? Because they represent the work of the Holy Spirit in the apostles, teaching them all things and bringing to their memory the truth and the words that Jesus had said. Skip to one more section on this in chapter 16, verses 13 through 15. John 16, verse 13. But when he, the spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own initiative, but whatever he hears, he will speak and he will disclose to you what is to come. He shall glorify me for he shall take of mine and shall disclose it to you. All things that the father has are mine. Therefore, I said he takes of mine and will disclose it to you again. This is not a general promise made to all Christians at large. Or else you could not explain the last 2000 years that show no unanimity of belief in what the truth is in all its details, such as promised in these words. But he is not promising this to all Christians. He's promising this to the apostles in whom you do see complete unanimity in what they teach about the Lord Jesus. The Holy Spirit guides the apostles into all truth because he's taking the truths of Christ and they therefore are speaking the truths of Christ. So, it's not that they figure out the truths of Christ, it's that it's disclosed, it's supernaturally revealed to them by the Holy Spirit. So, when Paul says the, according to the teaching, faithful word, he means the teaching of the apostles. That an elder must hold fast the teaching of the apostles. A second truth about that is that this teaching has a definite form. Again, I'll say it a few times so you can write it down. This teaching has a definite form. This teaching has a definite form and among a number of verses we could look at, I'm looking at Second Timothy one verses 13 and 14, but the number of verses teach this. I just can't indulge myself to turn to all of them with you. Not if I want to say the rest of what I have to say. So the second Timothy one versus 13 and 14, Paul says to Timothy, his apprentice, he does not say to Timothy, pray that God will continue to give you new words. Notice that notice he doesn't say continue to be open to the spirit, to give you new revelations. Notice he doesn't say, remain open to a word from God every week. What does he say? Verse 13, retain the standard of sound words which you've heard from me. Timothy was not to be a discoverer of new truth. Timothy was to be a proclaimer of given truth. He was to be a proclaimer of revealed truth. And while in some circles the man is most admired, who claims to have a private pipeline to God, you will search in vain for a syllable to that effect in any of the pastoral letters. These letters, they're expressly written to tell the church what its business is and to tell church leadership what its business is. You will search in vain for a syllable that directs any of them to look to further revelation. But you will find again and again Paul dimming this truth in that we're to hold to the revelation already given, even at that point. Retain the standard of sound words which you've heard from me. And sound words, he says, healthy words, just like we're reading about in Titus, as we'll see. The standard of sound words which you've heard from me in the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. Guard through the Holy Spirit which dwells in us the treasure which has been entrusted to you. So, the word for standard, the Greek word hypotuposis, means a pattern. It means like a prototype. It gives the outline of the truth. Timothy is supposed to retain that. He's supposed to hold on to that and he's supposed to guard it. He's not supposed to try to improve on it. And God forbid he should depart from it. We just read or Bruce just read from Acts 20. Paul was greatly concerned about people departing from the faith and Pastors, above all, must not depart. They should retain. They should guard because the teaching has a definite form. And third, the teaching is non-negotiable. Now, that should follow from the first two. But that's the third point. The teaching is non-negotiable. The teaching is non-negotiable. I'll just allude to a few Scriptures. You can jot them down if you like. 1 Corinthians 14. Paul says almost in passing, 1 Corinthians 14. If anyone thinks he is a prophet or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things which I write to you are the Lord's commandment. So the mark of spirituality is not fresh revelation, but acknowledgment of already given revelation as the Lord's commandments. Now, how do you negotiate a commandment? You don't negotiate commandments of the Lord. God doesn't say, do not commit adultery or flee immorality and say, OK, well, I have a way of giving you half of what you're calling for. No, that's not how God views his commandments. He doesn't ask for half. And so the writings of the apostles are the Lord's commandment. We're not supposed to negotiate what parts we find congenial. The world doesn't find any of it congenial. So give up that pursuit. And we need to commit ourselves to giving it out as given to us. Second Corinthians 13.3, Paul refers to the Christ who speaks in me. Second Corinthians 13.3, the Christ who speaks in me. And finally, 1 Peter 3, verse 2, again, refers to the commandments of the Lord and Savior spoken by your apostles. 2 Peter. If I said 1 Peter, I'm sorry. 2 Peter 3, 2. 2 Peter 3, 2. The commandments of the Lord spoken by your apostles. You see? So what the apostles say is the Word of Christ. And because it's the Word of Christ, it's non-negotiable. So that's the object of his convictions, the word which is faithful and it's according to the teaching. So secondly, what's the action to what action is the elder called? What action must he exhibit to be qualified as an elder? Paul says, holding fast, holding fast to the faithful word, according to the teaching. Well, what does that mean? What does it mean to hold fast? Well, you say that's pretty apparent. It is pretty apparent, really. It's the word Jesus uses in Matthew 6, 24. Famous word where he says, no man can serve two masters. He says, for either he will hate the one and love the other or he will hold to. There's our verb. He will hold to the one and despise each other. So to hold to is the same as to love. And it's the opposite of hating and despising. So to hold to this faithful word is to love it. It is to revere it. It's to have a firm grip on it. And so he says the elder must have a firm grip for himself. And and this word has a nuance of expecting that there's going to be resistance to that grip. That's why you have to have a firm grip as the man with two masters. He may be called out. to have loyalty to the other, but he holds to the one against that call, against that siren pull. And so likewise, the idea here is there may be forces that call you this way or that from your grip on the word of God. But Paul says the elder must be somebody who has such a grip that nothing can pry his fingers from it. Nothing can pull him away from this conviction. So, meaning what? Meaning to hold fast in a firm way. Hold fast for yourself. I can't have somebody hold fast for me. I can't have a mentor who holds fast to the Word for me and say I'm a qualified elder. I'm not a qualified elder because I'm surrounded by people who hold it fast. If I'm to be an elder, I must be myself one who can hold it fast. When I walk out of seminary or apprenticeship or however I approach being an elder, I've got to be able myself to demonstrate that I myself have my own firm grasp on the word of God. Well, hold fast as opposed to what? Well, first of all, most obviously holding fast as opposed to not grasping at all. So this obviously leaves out and excludes anybody who simply doesn't have a grasp on the word of God at all. Somebody, for instance, who is unconverted. And you say, well, that seems obvious. Yeah, it seems obvious, doesn't it? But anybody who knows anything about church history, the last 150 years in particular, knows that a great deal of the ills that have been brought into the Christian church have been brought in by unconverted men. Well, that's not that's not unique to the last 150 years. It covers all of church history. So no man should lead a church who himself is unconverted or is untaught. He's the blind leading the blind or worse than that. It happens a lot. And how does it happen? You say, I can't imagine how that could happen. Really? In a church that prizes charisma and crowd gathering above everything else? In a church that idolizes success? And success is defined by large crowds and books and conferences? You can't see how an unconverted man? I say that's the surest formula to achieve that kind of success. Tell the world what it wants to hear. Surrounded by crowds flocking for the entertainment? There you are. You're a leader in the Christian church today, born up by the crowds of celebrity, adoring fans. I get the first and fundamental requirement here is that the elder must hold fast to the word. He must have his own grip. So as opposed to not having a grip at all, or secondly, as opposed to having a tenuous grasp, a grasp that's not a firm grasp, the orthodoxy of some is the orthodoxy of the moment. Do you follow me? It's the orthodoxy that happens to be the popular orthodoxy. So there are people who are called from the article by Colin Hansen, the young restless and reform today, holding to good doctrine. But in part, they hold to it because it's held by rock stars in evangelicalism. It's held by people like John MacArthur and John Piper and Kevin, the young and and Mark Driscoll and others, Matt Chandler, who are big and famous, popular names. And that's it's good to be part of a movement. So they're parts of that movement. But what about tomorrow when it falls out of fashion, as it surely will fall out of fashion? What about tomorrow when there's the revenge of the Sith, when the opposition rises up in full force? What happens to these men? Does the weather vane shift then when the wind blows differently? I mean, I'm old enough and been a Christian long enough that I've seen it. When I came to the conviction in the 70s that the Bible taught what's called dispensationalism and also taught what's called Calvinism, It wasn't necessarily popular then to combine those two things. And dispensationalism, however, was very popular. It was the dominant way of thinking among those who believed the Bible at all in America. But that shifted and popular people rose up who rejected dispensationalism. And so a lot of the crowd, the young crowd, moved with the shift in popularity. The Bible didn't change, but the crowd changed and it shifted. And so that is the picture of the opposite of having a firm grasp of the of the word, a firm grasp of the word is blithely indifferent to where the crowd goes. It's blithely indifferent to what's popular. The truth is, when you hold to the Word of God, you're usually about 10 years ahead of the curve, ironically. But those who chase popularity are usually a few years behind the curve. It's just kind of an irony of history. But that's not the motivation to do it anyway. Is it the Word of God or isn't it? If it isn't, don't bother with it. If it is, hold it fast. And you need a man to lead a church who is not an up and down, who's not God's little tumbleweed, who's not running after every popular fad and book that comes out. No man should lead a church who himself doesn't have a stable grasp of the word. Now, how do you tell if somebody does? Oh, the surest way to tell if somebody is that way is time and trial. Frankly, that's just the surest way to tell them. Now, when Paul wrote Timothy in first Timothy three, one of the things he told him to look for is you don't want a new convert because Ephesus, the church had been there for a while. So he told Timothy, don't look, don't don't pick a new convert to be an elder. Because he's easy pickings for the devil. He doesn't say that to Titus, because evidently the work at Crete was a new work. And so at this point, he didn't have older seasoned Christians to pick from. But we can't say that we're in that position. Paul may not, Titus may not have had the luxury in Crete. We in America don't have any excuse for not looking for people to lead churches. who have been tried, who have been tested, who have stood firm with their grip on the word of God as the popularity swells and ebbs, hold a position because they believe it's biblical and not because they believe it's respectable. You see, I hope that's clear. So secondly, what is his competent? We've speaked about his convictions. What about his competence? In what must an elder strive to be an expert? Holding fast to the faithful word according to the teaching in order that he might be able. We're just going to pause right there. We're going to see what he must be and we'll see what he must do. We'll see what he must be. We'll see what he must do. What must he be? Paul says he must be able. Now, first, I just want to catch the grammatical phrasing there. Notice that he says holding fast to the faithful word according to the teaching in order that he might be able. In order that so this is the reason that he must be this kind of a man. This is where all of these qualifications and this conviction about the word of God lead that if you want somebody who has the ability in a stable, reliable way to exhort and sound teaching and to rebuke those who contradict. You need a special kind of man. You need a certain kind of man. What kind of man? A man who's inculpable. Oh, what does that mean? Well, he needs to be a one-woman man. If he's got children, they've got to be respectful and not a rebellious distraction. He's got to be hospitable. He's got to not be greedy. See, all these qualifications lead up to this. If you want stability and reliability in a man who's going to lead in terms of the Word of God, then that's the kind of man he must be, culminating in the fact that that kind of guy has a firm grip on the faithful word according to the teaching. And that's how he is able. He must be those things in order to be able to do these two things. Well, I want to talk about that word able. He must be able. Now, this Greek word dunatos means It means to have the power to do something, to have the ability to do something. But actually, in some uses, because there's different ways Paul could have expressed that, sometimes it's used of somebody who's particularly powerful in something. A competent, powerful dynamic in a particular connection. For instance, in Acts 7.22, Stephen says that Moses was a man of power in words and deeds. And he uses that Greek word, mighty in words and deeds. Not just capable, but he was very capable. He's dynamically capable. Or again of Apollos, you remember that interesting character in Acts 24, 1824. Acts 1824, he was mighty in the scriptures, he says, and able to refute the Jews and prove that Jesus was the Messiah. So he was not just capable, but he was powerful. He was dynamic. So I think there's this nuance here that the elder must be powerful. He should be mighty in his ability to use the Bible to exhort and rebuke. He should show a dynamic capability. Any Christian should be able to explain what the Bible basically teaches. If you've been a Christian for any length of time, you should be able to explain the Bible. Any Christian should be able to do that. And the more mature we are, the more ability we should have in explaining what the Word of God says. Hebrews 5 says that, writing what we would call laymen. He says, by this time, you ought to understand about Melchizedek. You ought to be able to teach other people. But I still have to explain the ABCs of truth to you. Hebrews chapter five, so any Christian ought to be able to, but an elder should be someone who displays a growing expertise in the word of God. He may or may not have a lovely singing voice. He may or may not be a great cook. He may or may not be a crowd pleaser or a glad hand or an extrovert. But the one thing he has to be. is he has to have power in the way that he uses sound doctrine to exhort and to reprove. You see? So in looking for full-time pastors, other things being equal, churches often don't make enough of this. They often don't really inquire into this. Now, let me be very clear. I have in mind churches that are looking for full time pastors who are full time dedicated pastors who have have set their course in life to train themselves to be ministers. They've become apprenticed or they've they've gone to seminary or some sort of training. You know, there are many ways of doing it. There is no one. There is no one way of preparing for Christian ministry. But I don't have in mind somebody who is already a full time truck driver, a full time this. But he has the character qualities and the doctrinal ability to be called into life as an elder. But I'm looking at somebody who has had the opportunity specifically to prepare for this. Many churches look for personality. They look for charisma. They look for proven. crowd gathering abilities and programs, winsomeness, the odds of building an awesomely huge megachurch. That's what they're looking for. But what churches should be looking for, and you recognize I'm not making this up, what churches should be looking for is this kind of a character and power in grasp and use of the word of God. That's what churches should be looking for. And that's what you should be looking for as you look for a church. You should be looking for a church centered around the word of God, whose teaching ministry in whatever form is a powerful ministry of the word of God. Now, I can tell you since I've been there that in seminary, it's a joke that nobody's ever going to look at your Greek grades. Nobody's ever going to look at your Hebrew grades. That's a joke. It's used to make people not worry so much about those classes. My suggestion would be maybe we should. Maybe we should, because it showed at that young point in his life when he had nothing to do but that. How hard did he work on getting a firm grasp of the word of God so that he would be powerful in exhortation and rebuke? What effort did he give towards that end? Maybe we should. This takes time. Tell you a little vignette from my dim and distant past. I was Oh, 18, 19, 20, something like that, living at home, going through my first round of pastoral training, learning Greek and Hebrew and whatnot. And I was building my library. I was getting books. Compared to what I've got now, I just had a paltry little collection. But I was getting them as steadily as I could. And my dear mother, who wasn't walking with the Lord at the time, at one point said to me, why do you keep getting so many books. You already know what you think about things. And basically the answer I gave her was for you. This is why I was doing it. I was doing it for you. Now, I didn't know any of you. I couldn't have pointed Copperfield out on a map. But at that point I was preparing for pastoral ministry. This would be What would it be 29, 25, 30 years ago? But at that point, I was aware that I would need to be looked on as a resource, somebody who had a grasp of the word of God and that that didn't just fall out of heaven into empty little skulls, that it took work and study and it took effort. And so, you know, somebody asked me once, how long does it take to write a sermon? And I gave the answer 30 years. You know, there was truth in that answer, you know, not that each sermon takes 30 years, but 30 years of training. Well, now way more than 30 years of training and study and effort and discipline goes into it. A man who wants to do this needs to give himself to doing it and needs to do what he needs to do in order to be powerful in the word of God and not just barely adequate in the word of God. Secondly, what must he do? We're going to see construction work and demo work. We all understand what that is. Construction work and demo work in order that he may be able both to exhort by healthy doctrine and to reprove those who contradict. So first, the construction work, the positive, the construction work, exhort, he says that he might be able both to exhort. Now, I actually want to skip to number two in your outline first, and then we'll come back to number one, how he addresses them. I want to talk about the meaning of this word exhort. How does he address them? He exhorts them. Now, this this word exhort, parakaleo, it means fundamentally it means to call to action of some sort. It may be intellectual action. It may be physical action. It may be spiritual action. But there's always an element of a call to action. It's often translated urge. I urge you, therefore, brothers, or I beseech or I exhort. That's the idea. There's an element of calling to action that requires a response beyond just nodding and looking pious. But it brings somebody to a moment of decision and commitment. It says, This needs to go on in your life. This needs to get going in your life. It's a call to action, whether mental action or physical action. That's the root idea of the word to exhort. Now, let's go back to number one. Who does he address in exhortation? I just want to show you an array of uses of this word. And of course, I'm not saying this word means all of that at once. That's not how you do word studies. I just mean, when Paul says exhort, what sorts of things are comprised in exhorting. Do we narrow it down and think, oh, it's just one thing? Not necessarily at all. For instance, we read this word in Acts 2, verse 40, where Peter is preaching the inaugural sermon of the church on the day of Pentecost. And in Acts 2, verse 40, we read, and with many other words, he solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them, saying, be saved from this perverse generation. Exhorting them. Urging them. You see? So, to Peter it wasn't a matter of, okay, I'll explain the gospel and what you do with it is up to you and the Holy Spirit. I'm going to go watch TV. That wasn't his spirit at all. It was to lay out the gospel as what he knew it to be, a matter of life and death, and to urge people to respond to it. To urge them to repent. To say, this isn't something you can put off for a convenient time. You don't know if you'll have a convenient time. So, repent and be baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Get saved from this perverse generation. He was urging them. They'd heard the Word of God. They'd heard the preaching of Christ the Messiah. And now he urged them to do something about it. Take the Word and do something. Repent and believe. Again, Paul often addresses this. In fact, I'd say characteristically, Paul addresses this to believers in his own ministry. One of the best known, perhaps, Romans 12, verses 1 and 2. I bet many of you have that memorized. And those who don't, probably we should. Romans 12, verse one, Paul says, Therefore, I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And don't be conformed to the world, but approve the will of God. I urge you to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice. That's the word there, parakaló. I urge you, I exhort you, I beseech you to present your bodies. In view of what I've just depicted of God's saving work in the gospel and his sovereignty and salvation, I urge you in response to commit your bodies, all of you, to the service of God, because that's just your reasonable, rational worship. That's the rational response. And I urge you to do it. I urge you to do it. Now, another nuance to that word is, again, a passage I know many of you know, 2 Corinthians 1, verses 3 and 4, where Paul says, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all paraklesis, all comfort. It's the noun form of this verb, 2 Corinthians 1, 3. who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. Every occurrence of the word comfort there is a rendering of this stem of Paracleto, Paraclesis, that this is urging somebody who is discouraged and despondent, somebody who feels pressed down by tribulation, urging that person to hang on, urging that person to hope in God, to hang on in Christ, to trust and obey, to endure, because as Acts says, through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of heaven. So this is an urging, an exhortation that is of the nature of counseling, what we would call counseling. We call personal counseling. That is the nature of this exhortation. dealing with somebody who's despondent and bringing the word of God to bear in a personal way, not simply. And this is part of it, but not simply saying, well, let me explain the oneness of God and the Trinity and the hypostatic union and forward nation and God's aseity. And no, not that. But saying, here's how the word of God bears on the despondency that you're experiencing. Here's what God says to you in your discouragement. Here's what God says to you in your fear about the future, in your anxiety. That's what this is. This is comforting. Bringing the Word of God to bear in a personal level. A couple more. Philippians 4, verse 2. Philippians 4, verse 2. Paul says, I urge Euodia and I urge Syntyche to live in harmony in the Lord. Here's a couple of ladies who are servants of God. They're having a spat. They're having a disagreement. And Paul urges them. He exhorts them. He paracletos them, if you will, to get along with each other. to put their quarrel aside because of the greater goal of serving the Lord. So there is another example of urging. And then another second second Thessalonians 312 in Thessalonica, there evidently were people who'd stopped working and they were living on the support of the church. They were living on the church's handouts because Jesus was just going to come back any time and there was no point in continuing in work. They totally misapplied the doctrine of the imminent return of Christ. And so Paul says, if anyone's not willing to work, he shouldn't eat. And then to those people in Second Thessalonians 3, 12. Now, such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ to work. in quiet fashion and eat their own bread. So see, here's an exhortation that would lead to immediate physical action. He's urging them to take a particular course of physical action and get a job and not use the coming of the Lord as an excuse for not working and being able to give to others who are in need. Two more, and they're from Titus, that comes right back home. In Titus 2, verse 6, he says, urge the young men to be sensible. And this is in a catalog of here's what I want you to say to older men, older women. Younger women, younger men, and these are all exhortations that Paul wants Titus to give to these different categories of Christian, different kinds of action he wants to call each two. And the action you'll see is attitudes and behavior. It covers the whole array of Christian living. And finally, Titus two fifteen. At the sum of this, Paul says, these things speak and exhort and reprove, both the verbs we find in Titus 1.9, exhort and reprove with all authority. Let no one disregard you. Now, I'm going to I'm going to return to this, but please notice this and please notice that it's in the Bible. If I were to clutch my heart and fall over dead, it would still be in the Bible. It's not a me thing. It's a Bible thing. He says, speak and exhort and reprove with all authority. Don't let anybody disregard you. So obviously, Paul does not have in mind somebody who simply stands at a lectern and weaves out theories of Christian living. You following me? We're talking about somebody who gets up toe to toe and eyeball to eyeball and speaks in personal terms about what each of the people under his care is doing with the word of God. Let no one disregard you. Can you do that just by weaving fine lectures with PowerPoint? It takes personal contact and bringing to bear the word of God. And that's one thing that the elder must be powerful in using healthy teaching to exhort. So now to number three, what does he use in his exhortation? And Paul says he uses sound doctrine or better healthy doctrine, as I've translated healthy doctrine. This is doctrine that is sound. It lacks disease. It's alive. It's free from error as opposed to what healthy doctrine is opposed, obviously. Well, first of all, let me just say that he's supposed to exhort in healthy doctrine as opposed to anything else. OK, that's more important than they sound. He's supposed to exhort in healthy doctrine, not in pop psychology. Not in what Dr. Phil says or or Oprah or whatever pop psychologist that might be popular at the moment says self-help books. This is not what he used to use for his exhortation, but healthy doctrine and healthy doctrine is by definition, according to the teaching, according to the word of God, according to apostolic doctrine. So he's not to bring trendy thoughts from the culture. He's supposed to bring eternal thoughts from the word. Do you see that? And what is it opposed to? It's also as opposed, obviously, to sick doctrine, healthy doctrine, not sick doctrine. See, Paul views doctrinal error not merely as being incorrect. You know, like, no, no, two plus two isn't five. That's that's incorrect. Not just incorrect. He views it as sick. He views it as loathsome. He views it as dying and infectious. He views it as something that harms people. It doesn't just make people less intelligent or less correct. It harms them and can send them to hell. It can send them to God's judgment totally unprepared. And further, Paul believes that those who teach sick doctrine are sick people. Not sick in the sense that they're not culpable, but sick in the sense that they're not admirable, that they're not the sort of people who you want to follow. They're not the sort of people who you want to lead you. 1 Timothy 6, verses 3 and 4, Paul says something pretty dynamic. He says, if anyone advocates a different doctrine and does not agree with the healthy words, those of our Lord Jesus Christ and with the doctrine conforming to godliness, he is conceited and understands nothing But he has a morbid interest. Literally, the Greek word says he's sick. He is sickly obsessed with controversial questions and disputes about words out of which arise envy, strife, abusive language, evil suspicions. You see, Paul sees the only alternative. to embracing the healthy doctrine, the healthy words of Jesus and the apostles. The only alternative to that is a sick obsession with that which causes division and doubt and spiritual disaster. And so if you want to be a healthy person, you want healthy food. If you want a healthy congregation, You've got to feed them healthy doctrine. And that's what the elder must do. He must be powerful to exhort, to urge to action with healthy doctrine. That's the constructive work. And you see how far ranging it is. Not merely the impartation of correct information, although it is that too, but also the demonstration of the practical application. Not, in other words, just teaching the theory of marriage, but talking to you about your marriage. Not just taking the theory of family, but talking to you about your child raising. Not just the theory of work, but talking to you about your job. Not just the theory of church, but talking to you about your church involvement and your church presence. You see? And on and on. Not just theory, but praxis. Secondly, the demo work, the negative aspect of the pastor's ministry. He must equally be able to do both, to exhort and to reprove. Now, what does the word reprove mean? It may not be a word we use that much. The word reprove means to expose something and to denounce it as wrong. That's what reprove means to expose something and denounce it as wrong. And it means to make the case and the conclusion. It isn't satisfied by merely saying that something is incorrect. But it goes on to say, and it is morally disastrous to hold to that it's incorrect and must be rejected. It is incorrect and is not of the way of God. So that's what the word reproved means. Let's talk about what it involves and to talk about what it does involve. First, I want to talk about what it doesn't involve, because I often find that helpful. to wipe out the extraneous distractions and talk about what's really at the core. So what doesn't it involve? Well, it doesn't involve the elders personal hobby horses. And sadly, I think we all have them. But the word of God is what's supposed to keep us away from them. If we teach scripture, we should be able to stay away from hobby horses. But many, many preachers have become famous because of their hobby horses, such as partisan politics. such as music style, such as dress, such as diet, such as entertainment choices. Fundamentalism is something that was a great thing and has become a useless word. I don't know how many of you are historians enough to know what fundamentalism was. In the 1920s, what fundamentalism was, was it was a reaction against modernism. It was a reaction against people who were going to save the Christian church by jettisoning the things that we couldn't believe anymore because of science. So they would jettison the virgin birth. jettisoned inerrancy, jettisoned blood atonement, penal substitutionary atonement, jettisoned bodily resurrection. If we would just get rid of these things, they would save the Christian church. It would survive modern culture. Of course, that was modernism and it was a rejection of the word of God. So those who responded against that were called fundamentalists because they clung to the fundamentals. They affirmed the virgin birth, the inspiration of Scripture, the bodily resurrection, the second coming of Christ. These were fundamental doctrines and they embraced these fundamental doctrines. And because of that, they were called fundamentalists. However, sadly, as the decades wore on, the movement completely changed and became led by a bunch of people who really didn't show much interest in the fundamentals at all, but were very interested in whether women could wear nylons at all, or whether anybody could dance, or whether any adult could touch liquor, or what kind of music you can or can't listen to, or things like that. That whatever you want to say about them, what you have to say is, these aren't fundamentals. These are not fundamental doctrines. And so that is not what Paul has in mind when he says reproved. He doesn't mean reproved because of music style or choices in food. That isn't what he's called to do. And also the elder isn't called now talking about what he is supposed to talk about. He's supposed to talk about things that are in scripture. And he's to reprove those who contradict. We'll come to that in a moment. But the idea is, as I think you would probably guess yourself, those who contradict the word of God. I mean, where else would we go from this verse? They contradict the teaching, the faithful word, which is in accordance to the teaching. They contradict the word of God, which doesn't actually mention anything about nylons or what kind of rhythm and music is acceptable. There's not actually a verse about any of those things. So, we're talking about things that are in the Word of God. He's called to reprove them. He's called to denounce them. He's called to expose them as wicked things that nobody should, no Christian should want anything to do with. Now notice, He isn't called to understand them. He isn't called to listen to those who contradict the Word of God so as to be sympathetic to them. He certainly isn't called to give a platform to them so they can present their views to the church and let everybody make up his own mind. He isn't called to open a respectful dialogue and treat him as a beloved and esteemed colleague. He's called to shut them down. He's called to reprove them. He's called to say, dead end, road out, don't go that way. to point to this false teaching and say Christians should shut it. Christians should turn from it. Christians should reject it because of what the word of God says. So that's part of an elder's job. It's equally a part of an elder's job. He must equally be able to exhort positively and to reprove negatively. And he's to reprove those who contradict. That's to whom this reproof is addressed. Now, remember, it's Paul's position, not popular today, but it's Paul's position that there is such a thing as truth. There is such a thing as God's truth. This truth has been revealed. This truth can be known. This truth must be known. And we're held morally responsible for knowing that truth. So to Paul, when somebody contradicts that truth, this isn't an esteemed brother whose views are to be respected. This is a false teacher whose views are to be rejected and denounced and not held by Christians. So all of it points to that there is at the same time the need for a positive ministry and the need for a negative ministry, as we read in Acts 20. They're to shepherd the church of God, we read, but also by the same token, they're to guard against wolves. And the exhortation is the shepherding part and the guarding against wolves is the rebuke part, the reproof part. So let's bring this all down with some observations, some applications and reminders. First, all the character qualities climax in this, the faithful proclamation of the word of God. A guy might be the nicest guy in the world and the most godly Christian, but if he's not capable in the word of God, then this isn't where he should be ministering at this point. Maybe later, but not yet. This is not where he should be ministering. This is important. That sort of person. But in learning that about the church's leader, I just remind you that we just learned God's will for you, Christian. If you're a Christian, this is God's plan for you. And you'll read in here and in all of the pastoral epistles, nothing about supernatural experiences or feelings or dreams or visions. You'll read all about being taught the word of God. being held to the Word of God with a personal application. That's what it's about. That's what God says it's about for you. I can say that on the authority of the Word. Secondly, the elder must develop ability in both areas of ministry. Now, all of us are probably stronger in one than the other. All of us, you know, do one, yay, I'm happy about that. Do the other, not so happy about that. But we're not allowed the luxury of saying, therefore, I don't do that. I hire people who do that. No, it's the elders responsibility to do both. He doesn't have the luxury. You don't you may not know the temptation if you've ever been a pastor, but he doesn't have the luxury of saying. You know, I just have a positive ministry of preaching Jesus and love and puppies and happiness. That's my ministry. That's what I'm called to do. No, I know exactly what you're called to do. Nobody can play that C card. This is the call. It's in Scripture. We can all see it. You can't claim that God's given you a note saying that you're exempt. If you're an elder, elders have to be able to both exhort and rebuke. So Franklin Graham recently did just that reportedly in the news. Son of Billy Graham, head of the Billy Graham Evangelical Association. Franklin Graham says he was shocked to find that their web page had a page that labeled Mormonism as a cult. He was shocked to find there was a page like that. So they removed it. They took it down. And Franklin Graham said, we're calling people names. If I want to win people to Christ, how can I call them names? In other words, calling Mormonism a cult. One of their media representatives said, Mr. Graham's calling. Mr. Graham's calling is not to pass judgment, but to proclaim the biblical truth that Jesus is the only way to heaven, allowing every individual and group to fall along that plumb line. Balderdash. This is playing the mystic card. He has some calling that we can't read about in the Bible. We're supposed to believe. I only know one calling. And we all share the same one if we're pastors. And we just read it. You equally have to reprove. You may not like having to do both. That's OK. You don't have to like it. You just have to do it. That's part of being faithful. But then they go on to say, well, we remove the information because we don't want to participate in a theological debate. Well, then get out of ministry. If you don't want to be in a theological debate, then ministry is the wrong place for you, friend, because that's what it is. He says he doesn't want to alienate his audience. Well, you know what? If you can't say about a religion that denies that God is one, that preaches a different gospel and that adds books to the Bible, if you can't say that's a cult, you aren't ready for public ministry yet. You just aren't ready if you haven't figured that out. And I think labeling and judging is really important. I've had kids. That's how I know. And I have to tell them some things aren't food. Don't eat that. It'll kill you. Well, if I can do that to my kids, can't a pastor do that? We are supposed to be ready to say what doctrines will and won't kill you. Mormonism will kill you. There are the nicest people you want to meet. I'm not saying one personal thing against Mormons. I've known some lovely Mormons. The doctrines send you to hell. Again, I could fall over dead, but that fact wouldn't change. And me telling you is... It's part of my job, maybe the part I like, maybe the part I don't, but it's still part of the job. But by equal token, I also don't have the luxury of saying I'm just a watchman on the wall. And all I do 24, 7, 365 is denounce false teachers. And pretty soon I denounce so many that all I'm left with is a little narrow. corner, and I'm the only one in it because I've just denounced everybody else. That's not the ministry. It's a two pronged ministry. John Calvin just said it excellently. He said the pastor ought to have two voices, one for gathering the sheep and another for warding off and driving away wolves and thieves. That says it. The scripture supplies him with the means of doing both. For he who is deeply skilled in it will be able both to govern those who are teachable and to refute the enemies of the truth. So finally, I just want to say it is your elders God given job both to encourage and exhort you and to reprove and rebuke you. It is their God given job. So when the elder leans into your life and says about some area of your behavior, some area of your thinking that here's an area of the word of God, I'm not sure you've given the attention to that you ought to or says it less tactfully than that. or more tactfully than that, or he warns you that this author you love is teaching deadly doctrine or this radio show you love to listen to is hosted by a false teacher. You need to remember he's just doing his job. He's just doing his job. If you don't like his job, tell God, because God's the one who gave it to him. But I think the wiser thing, if an elder does that in your life, thank God. that you've got one who loves God enough and you enough to be faithful to you in those areas, knowing that you might not say thank you right away because it's equally the calling of God that the elder be powerful in the word of God in his ability both to exhort and to rebuke. Let us pray. Father, thank you for your word and for what it teaches us. We pray that we will hear what the Spirit of God is saying to this church in Jesus name. Amen.