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Titus chapter 1 and verse 1. And what we're going to be doing
tonight is taking an introduction and an overview of this letter,
quite possibly written the same day as the letter to Timothy,
certainly within the same time frame it appears. The subject
matter is very similar to that of 1 Timothy. He deals in this
letter with both the necessity of sound doctrine, and he gives
instruction on the appointment of elders and the qualification
of elders in the church. So, Titus 1.1, Paul, a slave
of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the faith of those
chosen of God, and the knowledge of the truth which is according
to godliness in the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie,
promised long ages ago, But at the proper time manifested even
His Word in the proclamation with which I was entrusted according
to the commandment 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. Lord, thank You that You provided
us with Your Word, the inspired Word that You have spoken through
the apostles. Lord, thank You that You've opened
our hearts and our minds that we believe in Your Word, that
we believe in what You have set forth here. That we understand
that You desire that we follow Your instruction in Your Word.
And Lord, we pray that You would teach our hearts tonight by the
power of Your Spirit, in Christ's name. What do you think about
this greeting here, Paul's identification of himself? How would you characterize
it in comparison to some of his other letters? Well, other than
the greeting found in Romans, this greeting here is longer
than any of those in any other of Paul's epistles. Now, we're
going to see he and Titus knew each other very well. So if he
didn't set forth his qualifications in this lengthy fashion for the
benefit of Titus, whose benefit do you suppose he had written
this for? That church, that's right. He
is essentially writing here a letter to Titus, but he is giving Titus
his authority here. And he is telling the church,
Titus speaks for me. And that's really what's going
on here. This letter is to constitute a written commission and authorization
from Paul for Titus for the benefit and for the use of the Cretan
believers. So where was Paul when he wrote
this? Look down at verse 5 here. Paul
wrote, I left you in Crete. Now this tells us Paul had been
in Crete. at the same time as Titus. And
we also saw in 1st Timothy that Paul wrote of leaving Timothy
in Ephesus as he, Paul, departed for Macedonia. Now if he did
write these two letters at the same time, he wrote them from
the same place. And Macedonia would be the most
likely candidate for that. And given the many similarities
between this letter and 1 Timothy, and the fact that most believe
these letters were written very close to the same time, there's
at least a reasonable inference that both were written from Macedonia. Now, you will recall, I trust,
that from our study of 1 Timothy, Paul had likely been released
from his first imprisonment in Rome, which ran from roughly
the year 60 AD to the year 62 AD. That imprisonment began,
as Luke recorded it in Acts 28, and while he was in that two-year
imprisonment in Rome, he wrote letters to Ephesus, to Colossae,
to Philippi, and a letter to Philemon. And then Paul was released. And he had been apparently in
both Crete and Ephesus. And then he'd left both places.
He left Titus in one place, Timothy in the other. Not as pastors,
but as his apostolic representatives. Now, there's no complete record
of Paul's travels during this time between his two imprisonments. But we know that he'd been in
these two places and that he'd left both of these places. I
looked up the distance. I thought, well, Crete and Ephesus
must be pretty close together. If he's been released in 62,
he's going to be back in prison, probably 64, 65, he's going to
be executed. Because the difficulties with
Nero were about to become exaggerated, let's say. The distance from
Crete to Ephesus is 465 miles. Now, I don't know how he's doing
all this traveling, but this is what he did. 58 minutes by
plane. By plane. But this was Paul. I mean, this was his whole life
after that incident on the road to Damascus. So we have testimony
now from the early church that Paul had been released. I mean,
we don't just dream these things up. There's testimony from the
early church that Paul was released and then later imprisoned again.
And then we know from 2 Timothy, he's in prison again and expecting
to die soon. So now we're in that in-between
period between the two imprisonments. And so, these two letters are
written in that period between his imprisonments. Now, here's
a letter of 1 Clement. Now, Clement's an early church
father. He writes this in A.D. 96. And I believe he's writing
to the church in Corinth. I'd have to double-check that.
But here's what he writes during this time. Paul preached in the
east and the west and won noble renown for his faith. He taught
righteousness to the whole world and went to the western limit.
The western limit would be Spain. He bore witness before the rulers
and then passed out of the world and went on to the holy place,
having proved himself the greatest pattern of endurance. And so,
this is what we can glean from the early church fathers. Now
if you look to chapter 3, verse 12, You'll see Paul plan to winter
in a place called Nicopolis. This is about 200 miles northwest
of Athens on the west coast of Greece. This is a long way from
where he, from Crete and from Ephesus for that matter. And
that Paul had sent Artemis and Tukikos. Now Tukikos was the
man who brought the letters to Colossae and Philemon. And they're
apparently with him at this time. And he's going to send them to
take over for Titus when Titus leaves Crete. And in 312 he encourages
Titus to come to him in this, in Nicopolis. In chapter 3, verse
13, look down one verse, we see Apollos and a lawyer named Zenos
who were also in Crete and may have been with Paul. And many
believe they had delivered this letter to Titus. And now they're
coming to Crete. And he commends them to Titus.
And as this letter was being written, so Paul had left Crete.
Titus is behind there to straighten things out. He wants him to set
the congregation of believers in order. Now this is a new kind
of church. It is not established in the
way Ephesus was by this time. And we're going to see in a minute
that there's a real difference between what the circumstance
was in Crete from that in Ephesus. What Timothy had to deal with
versus what Titus had to deal with. He's going to be told by
Paul here to establish order and to select an appointment
to serve the people as teachers and shepherds. So who was Titus? Well, we didn't see Titus' name
in the book of Acts, but there he was in Acts chapter 15. We know that because when we
turn to Galatians chapter 2 and verse 1, Galatians 2-1, He writes,
then after an interval of fourteen years, I went up again to Jerusalem
with Barnabas, taking Titus along also. It was because of a revelation
that I went up. Now you hear me talk about Jesus
having appeared to or speaking to Paul at least six times. This
is one of them. He's told to go up to Jerusalem. And I submitted to them the gospel
which I preach among the Gentiles, but in private to those who were
of reputation. Now this would seem to mean Peter,
John, James, and other of the apostles, although he doesn't
identify them here. I did so in private to those
who were of reputation, for fear I might be running or had run
in vain. But look at this, Galatians 2,
3, But not even Titus, who was with me, though he was a Greek,
was compelled to be circumcised. So these Pharisees were identified
in Acts 15 as believers. But they're saying, we're not
believing a gospel that says you don't have to be circumcised
or that you don't have to comply with the law of Moses. So they
had this gospel that basically had them requiring them to essentially
become a Jew. And of course the Jerusalem Council
said, no, that's not the way it is. So we can take Acts 15
and this passage and we can see that after this first missionary
journey, Paul and Barnabas were sent up to Jerusalem and that
Titus went along with them. And he was the Greek, the uncircumcised
one, who kind of became one of those who was the subject of
the dispute. So they demanded that he be circumcised. Paul
says no. Galatians 2.5, But we did not
yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth
of the gospel would remain with you. So they decide, look, God's
saving people how? How does He save people? What's
the instrument? The gospel. And so you are saved
by faith. Believing the gospel. By believing
the gospel. So the Judaizers, of course,
Paul's going to encounter them in Galatia and many other places. We've seen it here in Ephesus.
They're preaching. They want to be preachers of
the law. So now, in 2 Corinthians 2.12, we're going to start to
see Titus involved in working on ... Remember all the problems
they had in Corinth. There were divisions. I'm of
Apollos. I'm of Paul. I'm of Peter. And
there were many problems there. Paul's first letter to the church
at Corinth was obviously answers to questions that were being
put to him. What do we do about this? What do we do about that?
We've got a man who's having a relationship with his stepmother.
What do we do about that? And Paul's having to tell him,
look, he can't stay in the church if he's going to continue in
this. So Titus, we meet him by name here in 2 Corinthians 2.12,
as we did in Galatians. When I came to Troas, now that's
a port city in Asia. When I came to Troas for the
gospel of Christ, and when a door was opened for me in the Lord,
I had no rest in my spirit, not finding Titus my brother. So
this tells us Titus was involved in the ministry early on. Taking
my leave of them, I went on to Macedonia. And that's, of course,
he wanted to go up into Bithynia. And the Spirit tells him, no,
you've got to go over here to Europe. So we don't hear anything
else about Titus until Paul's third missionary journey is reached.
And during this journey, Titus is sent to Corinth on several
occasions. And basically what's happened
here, Paul has traveled from Troas to Macedonia. Titus informed
him that the Corinthians had disciplined that sinner, the
man who was in immorality. As a result, the sinner had repented. And in light of that, he encouraged
the congregation to restore the repentant sinner. Titus is the
one who is informing Paul as to the good resolution of this.
So turn to 2 Corinthians 7, 6. And we'll read a little bit about
Titus here. 2 Corinthians 7, 6. And Titus will be prominent
in chapters 7 and 8 here. But God, who comforts the depressed,
comforted us by the coming of Titus. Now what's that tell us
about their relationship? Paul and Titus were not only
fellow workers, but they were close friends. And not also by
his coming, but also by the comfort with which he was comforted in
you. So Titus was instrumental in working out some really big
problems in Corinth such that he was comforted by their response
to Paul's advice and Paul's instruction. And he reported to Paul your
mourning, your longing, your zeal for me, so that I rejoiced
even more." 2 Corinthians 7, 13, And besides our comfort,
we rejoiced even more for the joy of Titus, because his spirit
has been refreshed by you all. For if in anything I have boasted
to him about you, I was not put to shame. So, you know, Paul
was confident that the Lord would work in these people in Corinth.
And, you know, without going back into the whole letter and
the whole situation there, there was much difficulty there. We
believe he wrote two more letters than what we know as 1 and 2
Corinthians. And he had to make a special
trip there from Ephesus on one occasion to try and calm things
down there. But it looks like Titus had a
great positive impact on the situation in Corinth. And he
says in verse 15, 2 Corinthians 7, that his affection abounds all the more toward you,
as he remembers the obedience of you all, how you received
him with fear and trembling." So Titus is not the young guy
that Timothy is. Titus is a kind of a veteran
worker for the gospel here. And he's very effective. Now,
2 Corinthians 8, 1, He's writing about this. Remember, they were
taking up a collection to take to the poor and needy saints
in Jerusalem. Now they're taking this up in
Greece. And this is a heck of a long
ways. This is in Europe. And of course, Jerusalem's in
the Middle East. So he writes here, Brethren,
we wish to make known to you the grace of God which has been
given in the churches of Macedonia, that in a great ordeal of affliction,
their abundance of joy and their deep poverty, overflowed in the
wealth of their liberality. For I testify that according
to their ability, and beyond their ability, they gave of their
own accord, begging us with much urging for the favor of participating
in the support of the saints. They begged for the right to
contribute to this. And this, not as we had expected,
but they first gave themselves to the Lord and to us by the
will of God. So we urged Titus, that as He
had previously made a beginning. Now this is in Macedonia now. So He would also complete in
you this gracious work as well. very trusted ambassador of the
gospel and, of course, representative of Paul. And then 2 Corinthians
8, 16, But thanks be to God, who puts the same earnestness
on your behalf in the heart of Titus. You know, and it's very
easy, and many of us, we read through these letters, such as
Corinthians, and we don't end up thinking a whole lot about
Titus. Because he's one of several people who get named here. But
as we come now to this letter and to the situation he's dealing
with, now these things take on a little different complexion
for us. He thanks for the same earnestness
on your behalf in the heart of Titus. For he not only accepted
our appeal, but being himself very earnest, he has gone to
you of his own accord. Now what's that tell us about
Titus? He said, I'm going here. There's
work to be done. He didn't just need to be told.
He was a motivated man. We have sent along with him the
brother whose fame in the things of the gospel has spread through
all the churches. And he doesn't tell us who that
is. As for Titus, he is my partner and fellow worker among you.
And then 2 Corinthians 12, 18. I urged Titus to go, and I sent
the brother with him. ... And this is the same brother,
I believe. ...Titus did not take any advantage of you, did he?
Did we not conduct ourselves in the same spirit and walk in
the same steps? So that's pretty much all that
we have of Titus. Those are all the places he's
mentioned in the New Testament. But we can see he's not a minor
player. He is one who along with Silas
and Barnabas was very instrumental in the spread of the gospel in
the first generation. So now, Titus, who had been charged
with this pretty difficult task. I mean, we'd have to go back
and kind of read through 1 Corinthians, and maybe you should do that
this week, just to get a sense of what Titus had been dealing
with there. And we're not going to do that
tonight. But he's got another situation now in Crete. And Paul
believes he's the man for this job. Paul expected that he would
meet him, we saw back in Troas. He didn't find him there. He
was very troubled that he didn't meet up with him there. He went
to Europe. And, you know, we read here,
his spirit was refreshed and his heart filled with joy when
he not only met Titus but heard from his lips the report which
on the whole was favorable. So, you know, that situation
in Corinth was very, very difficult. And Paul had great difficulty
resolving all of the problems there. Titus had had great success
there. He'd acted on the principle that
the way we are going to overcome evil is with good. And that's
what he did. There then follows this long
interval. We don't seem to hear anything
about Titus from about, and again we have to estimate these years,
A.D. 56 until this letter written
about A.D. 63. We don't hear anything about
him. And the next time we read his name anywhere is right here
in this letter that we just read. He was a Greek. He remained uncircumcised
as a test case for the gospel in Jerusalem. He was Paul's fellow
worker. Paul thought very highly of this
man. He undertook difficult assignments.
And now here he is in Crete. Now, Crete was a fairly new field,
a new church plant. And although Paul had been there,
he didn't leave a nice, well-established and orderly church. He left with,
again, problems. I mean, issues to be resolved.
Who is going to—we need to have somebody pastoring, shepherding
these people. And we have to impress upon them
the necessity for sound doctrine. So, the people knew Paul, but
it seems as though from his preamble here, from his greeting, that
he felt he had to make sure they understood who it was that he
was sending and what Paul's authority was to send Titus there. So,
whoever refuses, refused to heed what Titus was saying to them,
was going to actually be rejecting Paul. And Paul says, I'm sent
by Christ. So when they were in Crete together,
obviously the gospel was being proclaimed, there'd been some
disciples gathered, but there was no sense of organization
to the churches there. And probably multiple congregations. But Paul had to move on. Remember,
he had to leave Ephesus too when there were still serious matters
to deal with. Now, we're going to be referring
back to the letter to 1 Timothy. We're not going to repeat everything
we talked about in 1 Timothy in terms of the qualifications
of elders, for example. We'll make reference to them,
and we'll read through them, but qualifications don't change.
The wording's a little different in a couple places, but There
isn't any consensus, by the way, on whether Titus or 1 Timothy
was written first. There is consensus that 2 Timothy
is the last letter written by Paul because of Paul's situation
and his expectation that he expects to be killed soon. But Titus
seems more aggressive, more of a leader. Timothy seems younger
and perhaps more of a follower. Titus is the type of man who
we just saw him. He's going ahead on his own accord. And there's no right or wrong
in that. But Titus also seems a more veteran
presence in the church. Remember, Paul wrote to Timothy,
let no one despise your youth. So, we figure Timothy's maybe
mid-30s at most. And to Titus in chapter 2, 15,
he writes, "...exhort and reprove with all authority, let no one
despise you." Not talking about his youth. So, that would seem
to indicate he was older than Timothy. He loved the Lord. He loved this work. I mean, you
have to love this work to undertake the things he undertook. What's
more unpleasant than going into a room full of people who are
in conflict with each other? This is what he's doing. This
is what he did in Corinth. Now, I don't know that the situation
was that bad in Crete, although Paul will quote some as saying
all Cretans are liars, but we'll see. But, you know, he took on
this work with relish. He was like Paul in personality,
it seems. He was tactful, he was courageous,
but he was also bold. And he's Paul's representative
here. Paul is Christ's apostle. He's sent by Christ. And Titus
is sent by Paul. So he has a position on this
island of Crete. He's not a pastor. He's not appointed
to stay there and do this. He's appointed as an apostolic
representative, as Timothy was in Ephesus. And they're there
under Paul's authority and instruction. And they're to establish these
churches and put them in order, in a sense of order, and raise
up shepherds to lead the flock there in both places. And the
assembly in Crete seems to be smaller than that in Ephesus.
Remember, Ephesus was a major city. Maybe the major city in
Asia at the time. Crete's a little island. And
the church in Crete was newer. This is the only time we read
about it, really, other than in Acts chapter 2 on Pentecost. There were some who came from
Crete to Jerusalem that day. But the instructions are similar,
and why would that be that the instructions in the two letters
are so similar? I'm sorry? What about the two
situations? They're similar. They were dealing
with the same. In fact, these are fairly representative
of what some deal with today in the church. So the dangers
are quite similar, and the answer is what Mike just said, the Word
of God. I mean, that has to be the answer. And so, as in 1 Timothy,
Paul immediately, he almost abruptly, after this long greeting of four
verses, he gets right to the business of the letter. There's
no word of thanksgiving. There's no word of praise of
God. There's just, here's what we need to do. Now, he and Titus
know each other. So, you know, that shouldn't
really surprise us. One, Paul knows he's getting
near the end here, but at the same time, Titus doesn't need
to be urged these things. Titus just needs this instruction.
So in Titus, Paul now stresses again the necessity of sound
doctrine in the communication of new life and in the sanctification
of believers. This is the problem with false
doctrine. This is the problem when preachers
stand in a place like this and say, well, doctrine isn't all
that important. No, it's the truth of the Word
of God. It's the sound doctrine that's the issue in both of these
letters. I mean, why was Paul writing
13 letters, if not to impart sound doctrine? The whole point
of the Christian life is the application of the doctrine that
we're taught in Scripture. So, Paul is writing to encourage
godliness. To a people, in and among a people,
who are marked by verse 12 of chapter 1, a prophet of their
own said, Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons. Paul wanted to teach them sound
doctrine and godliness. You cannot help but stand back
in admiration at these early apostles and fellow workers of
Paul. So we see Titus is a leader kind
of guy. Timothy is a follower. Yet they're
both having to deal with these same issues. All right, so the
greeting. Let's go back to the greeting
now. Paul, a slave of God. Now, a lot of versions translate
this, a servant, a bondservant. But Paul uses the word doulos
here, as he frequently does. And why does he do that? Why
does he use this phrase, a slave of God? What's it in contrast
to? Bondage to? Bondage to sin. I mean, this is what those middle
chapters of Romans are all about. You know, you were once a slave
of sin, held in bondage to it. Now you are a slave of righteousness.
And he saw himself as having no right to question anything
God said to him. I'm a slave. Whatever you want
me to do, that's what I'm going to do. So he's a slave of God. He's an apostle of Jesus Christ. Writes both. Now that's not to
say Christ is not God, obviously. But we are all called to be servants
of God, as your translation may have. But the word doulos means
something more than ordinary subjection. It denotes, in this
case, a minister. One who's called to a particular
task and one who is completely sold out to the will of God.
And Paul authenticates his call to apostleship by connecting
it here. Look what he says, for the faith
of those chosen of God, as if he said there's a mutuality of
purpose between my apostleship and the faith that the people,
the elect of God now have. This is what I'm here for, is
to impart saving faith in the elect. According to the faith
of the elect of God, that is the knowledge of that truth which
is according to godliness. This clause explains what is
the nature of genuine saving faith. What is it? What's the
word here that jumps off this page here in this little clause?
Would you say godliness? That's the word. Genuine saving
faith is manifested in godliness, a devotion to God and to His
Word, a life of obedience to Him. And we know we can't be
saved by our works. Of course not. But godliness
is the manifestation of saving faith. I'm finding a new way
to say something I say all the time here. But the truth is our
lives do reveal what we really believe. So this long, long preamble,
this greeting, this recitation of his apostleship shows us Paul's
not talking to Titus. He's not trying to convince Titus.
He wants the church at Crete to understand. This is an apostolic
letter, an apostolic instruction. Titus wasn't questioning Paul.
Congregation maybe was. So his design was to bring those
who might be rebellious into subjection. Here's an apostle
of Christ sending this messenger. Now you need to listen to him,
to bring them into. And so he goes out of his way
here, look at it, in describing his apostleship. slave of God,
apostle of Christ, for the faith of those chosen of God, and the
knowledge of the truth, which is according to godliness, in
the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised
long ago, but at the proper time manifested, even in His Word,
in the proclamation with which I was entrusted according to
the commandment of God our Savior. We would write on our letter,
Dear Mike, this is what Paul writes. So he's making a point
here. He's making a very important
point. This word truth here. You notice that just kind of
right there in the middle. And the knowledge of the truth.
It expresses more clearly the certainty which is demanded by
the nature of saving faith. What is our faith in but in the
truth? You see there's a world out there
trying to understand and figure out what's the truth. You guys
really believe? Well, why do we believe? Because
it's the truth, and we know it's the truth. It's a wonderful word,
truth, because it's really not capable of various interpretations. It's only capable of one interpretation. Truth is truth. In fact, I'm
not sure there's a word we could use to define truth that defines
it as perfectly as it defines itself, because we understand
what it means. Calvin says, faith only holds
to what is true. Saving faith only holds to what
is true. And this isn't every kind of
truth. It's the heavenly truth we're talking about. Yes, two
and two is four. That won't save you. He's talking
about the heavenly doctrine. The divine truth. Those are just
wonderful words. Divine truth. Now, divine truth
would be contrasted with what? What would be in contrast to
divine truth? Well, lies certainly. The inventions
of whom? The inventions of men, the inventions
of Satan. Whatever men come up with, whatever
men devise as a way to eternal life, as a way to forgiveness
of sins, is false. Truth is such a critical thing
and I think we all know it's kind of It's kind of lost a sense
of its genuine importance throughout the church, writ large. The truth. God has revealed to us the truth
here. And now Paul is telling these people, I'm an apostle
for the faith of those chosen and the knowledge of the truth, which is according to godliness.
Our faith, then. Verse 2. is in the hope of, in
the hope of, when we're talking about this in Scripture and the
believer, we're talking about not something we wish might happen,
we're talking about a certain expectation of eternal life. Our faith is with a certain expectation
of eternal life. This is the joy of being a Christian.
This is the joy of being called to Christ by His Spirit. This is the joy and the contentment
and the comfort that we have in being made spiritually alive
and having the truth just opened up to us. Faith and the practice of godliness
begin with, he says, with the meditation on the heavenly life. In like manner, he says in Colossians
1.5, he raises the faith and love of the Colossians. He says
it's because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. That's
pretty good motivation to continue in the faith. So accordingly,
it ought to always be the aim of the preacher, Calvin says,
to turn away the eyes of men from the stuff of the world and
the wisdom of the world and turn men's eyes to the glories of
heaven. I wish I could describe the glory of heaven better. I
wish I had the ability to comprehend it better and to try to communicate
it better. I suspect there's no words in
any human language that could describe the glory of God and
of His heaven. And this promise, this hope of
eternal life, God promised long ages ago. When did He, where
did He promise this? What did He promise us? First,
before the foundation of the world, and then after He created
the world. And men sinned against Him. Genesis
3.15, the seed of the woman will crush the head of the serpent.
Difficult to understand if you don't understand the context
in which God said that and what He was going to do. Genesis 12.3,
to Abraham, in your seed, all the nations of the earth will
be blessed. Genesis 22.3, in you, in your seed, all the families
of the earth will be blessed. And He says, look, not only did
God say that, but God cannot lie. It is impossible. Because if God could lie, He
would not be what? He wouldn't be God. Wouldn't
be righteous? He wouldn't be God. And he says,
God promised it long ago, but at the proper time, verse 3,
has been manifested. God has manifested the word concerning
eternal life. How? You've said it before tonight. The gospel. The gospel is another
great word. Look at all these great words
we have. Truth. Gospel. Divine truth. He has manifested
the Word concerning eternal life by the Gospel, by the preaching
of the Gospel. The preaching of the Gospel is
that which conveys eternal life. And it's by the preaching of
the Gospel, not only is there life, but there begins this transformation
of the sinner into someone who is conformed to the image of
whom. Think about the worst you ever were. And now think, by
the work of God, you will be conformed to the image of Christ.
There's another concept a little difficult to wrap our arms around,
isn't it? But it's true. And Paul says
in verse 3, With which I was entrusted according to the commandment
of God our Savior. Now why is he calling God our
Savior? Is God our Savior? He sure is. Now the Father and the Son are
both involved. Look, the three persons of the Trinity never
act totally independent of one another. Yes, only Christ was
incarnate. But He was incarnate by the work
of whom? Who overshadowed Mary? God the
Holy Spirit. Who sent the Son, the Father? The Father is called our Savior
because He redeemed us by sending His Son. So He could make us
heirs of eternal life. The Son is our Savior because
He shed His blood. The Spirit is our Savior because
He is given to us as a pledge, carrying Him around in our heart
right now. So the Son has brought salvation
to us from the Father. Spirit has applied this salvation
to us and indwelt us. For Titus himself, who for such
a long time has been associated with Paul, maybe clear back to
the year 50, maybe even a little before, he didn't need to hear
any of this. He'd known Paul for years. This
wasn't information new to Timothy either. But these letters serve
the same purpose. And he speaks to both of them
in the same way. Look at verse 4, "...to Titus, my true child,
and a common faith." There's an interesting thing about this
little phrase. He sees himself, and he was a
mentor to Titus and Timothy. I don't think it's clear that
either one was actually born again under Paul's preaching.
It's certainly possible. Most take that position because
of verses like this. But in either event, both were
serving the Lord with Paul as their mentor. So he says, to
Titus, my own son, my true child, according to a common faith.
Meaning, I may be a spiritual kind of father to you, but we
both are subject to the one and same Father in heaven. The common
faith. We all share the common faith.
There is no hierarchy. There is an organizational structure
in the church. There's even authority in the
church. But again, we're all subject to the authority of God
and to His Word. He concludes the greeting, grace
and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.
Now normally that would have been in verse 2. But he's presented
his authority to Titus as if to hand him and say, here, here's
your authority with the people in Crete. And finally, and we'll
stop here for tonight, for this reason I left you in Crete that
you would set in order what remains and appoint elders in every city
as I directed you. And this, all of a sudden, sounds
like his letter to Timothy. Now Timothy may have had greater
problems dealing with false teachers, but we'll see what Titus had
to deal with as we go on. Thank you that you've sent Paul.
Thank you that you've sent and called so many of these great
missionaries and evangelists in the early church. Not only
Titus, but Silas, and Barnabas, and Luke, and Lord, so many others. We thank you, Lord, for their
witness. We thank you for the service that they rendered, them
and each of the apostles. The women who helped them in
so many ways. It's just a miracle that your
church was able to flourish under such difficult circumstances. And yet we know that your hand
was behind it all. That your power and your wisdom
and your will and your purpose were going to be served. And
that the gates of hell would not prevail against your church.
So Lord, thank You. Thank You that because of all
that was done in that first century. All that was done at the cross
by Your Son. The work of Your Spirit in our
hearts that we can stand here nearly 2,000 years later. Part
of the same church sharing a common faith with Paul, with Titus,
and with all those, Lord, whom You've called to Yourself. In
Christ's name, Amen.
Titus: Introduction and Overview
Series Titus
| Sermon ID | 19251333518119 |
| Duration | 42:04 |
| Date | |
| Category | Bible Study |
| Bible Text | Titus 1:1-4 |
| Language | English |
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