Hello, here we are again with program number four concerning Paul and Titus. Stay tuned for our program. Well, we're talking about Paul and Titus. Paul was an aged apostle. He's getting near the end of his ministry. And Titus was a pastor who was left at Crete to set in order the things that were wanting. Now, it's interesting that we don't hear a whole lot about Titus, although his name is mentioned twice as many times as Timothy, and we hear a lot about him. We're talking about Paul and Titus. That phrase is in the Bible a few times. You read about Paul and his company. Read about Paul and Barnabas five times. Paul and us, Luke said that. Paul and Silas, that's in the Bible five times. Then there's Paul and Timotheus, or Timothy is mentioned once, and Paul and Silvanus and Timothy together. mentioned twice. Well, then we have Barnabas and Saul mentioned together. He's called Saul, and he's called Paul. We'll find him as Saul once, and Barnabas and Paul, we'll find him three times. Then when you get to Galatians chapter 2 and verse 1, Paul was talking about going to Jerusalem, and he said he took Barnabas with him, and he took Titus also. Now Titus is mentioned 13 times in 12 verses, and then one more time with, of course, his name on the book. We find him working with the Corinthians. We find him in 2 Timothy 4.10. Paul said he went to Dalmatia. Doesn't tell us what he did there. But finally, we have him here in Crete. And the purpose here is found in chapter 1 and verse number 5. He says, for this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting." Now, he said, for this cause. Why did Paul write Titus this letter? Well, the Bible says these things happened unto them, and they're written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come. Well, here we are at the end of the age is what it says really and we're there So he wrote for our sake because he was inspired to God all scripture is given by inspiration of God So he was inspired obviously to write this letter But he wrote him for a purpose and the purpose was a cause he said for this cause you remember young David came out and and nobody was attacking Goliath, and he said, is there not a cause? Well, we have a cause. It's called the local church, and a cause is something that we are committed to with a deep commitment, and we're prepared to defend. And so he's writing to Titus and he says, now there's a cause, Titus, and you need to be prepared to defend the cause. To be prepared is to be ready to deal with something or to be ready to deal with someone, and Titus needed to be ready to do both. So Paul writes to Titus, and he says in chapter 1 and verse number 3, he said, you know, this ministry, my life, he says, is pretty well over. He didn't say that in that verse, but it was. And he said, the Lord, in verse 3, has committed something unto me. He said, God has manifested in in due times his word through preaching which is committed unto me and now in verse number one and verse number five and in chapter one he's basically saying Titus I am passing this torch on to you it is committed unto you this what is to preach to preach the truth now the responsibility basically has to do with the faith We've mentioned before that that phrase, the faith, is in the Bible 42 times, and the phrase, your faith, is in the Bible 24 times. Now he says here in Titus chapter 1, Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, I'm reading verse one, according to the faith, the faith. And then he says to Timothy in verse number 13, he says, wherefore rebuke them sharply, that's those people that he had to straighten out some things with, rebuke them sharply that they may be sound in the faith, the faith. the phrase, we find the faith in 1 Timothy 3.13 again in the local church context, and he's talking about boldness in the faith. He says to Timothy back there in 2 Timothy 4.7, I have fought a good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith, the faith. So, we gotta face the facts here. When you look at the subject of the faith, more times the verses are negative than they are positive. In 1 Timothy 4.1, it says, some shall depart from the faith. 1 Timothy 5.8, some denied the faith. 1 Timothy 6.10, he talked about those that erred from the faith. And in 6 and 21, they erred concerning the faith. And in 2 Timothy 2 and 18, there's some that would overthrow the faith of some. And then there's 2 Timothy 3 and 8, talks about those who were reprobate concerning the faith. And so is it any wonder he says here to Timothy in verse number nine, you need to hold fast the faithful words as you've been taught when you put these pastors in, in these cities, he said, make sure they are holding fast the faithful word as he's been taught that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers for there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers. And he mentioned here, especially those who were of the circumcision, which was what their problem was in that day. We have our own set of problems today. And so Paul is writing to Titus here, and he reminds him that the Word of God is manifest through preaching. Now, I know we've mentioned this before, and I want to mention it again because it is so important in this age in which we're living. The word preaching here means to herald, to herald. When a herald came in and followed him on his horse, he came into a town, he said, hear ye, hear ye, thus saith the king. He didn't dialogue with them. He didn't say, well, let's just share some things together. He said, no, I've come here to tell you what the king has to say, and you better listen. He better say what the king had told him to say, and the people in the town better listen to what the king had to say. The fellow on the horse, the herald, he didn't say, well, maybe I better soft pedal this because if some people leave, we won't have the taxes coming in anymore. And preachers today shouldn't do that either. Well, I'm just going to soft pedal this because some people leave and the money will go down. Yeah, well, if that's your focus, get out of the ministry and get an honest job. It says here that his word is manifested through preaching. And so we have the same mandate given to Timothy, back in 2nd Timothy chapter 4, and he said, preach the word. Preach. Herald the word. Just tell it like it is. We used to do that back when I first got saved, back in the mid-50s. Boy, when you went to hear preaching, people were preaching. They just preached the Bible. Now we're just trying to get a crowd, so we'll compromise, do whatever we need to do, in order to get a bunch of people out there who won't pay any attention to what we're saying. You know what that is? That's just stupid. That's what that is. Well, he says, preach the word. In 1 Thessalonians 2 and 4, Paul said, we've been allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel. And so even so, he said, we speak not as pleasing men, but God which trieth our hearts. Now that's the message to Titus as well. He says we've been put in trust with the gospel, so let's speak not as pleasing men, but God which trieth our hearts. Now notice that word which. That doesn't say Even so we speak not as pleasing men, but God who trieth our hearts." It's not saying that God is trying our hearts. He says where the trial of our hearts really comes in, that which trieth our heart, which, what is that? Well, whether we're going to please men or whether we're going to please God. There's the real trial of where your heart is. There's another example of that sort of thing in Philippians chapter 4. And verse number 13, Paul said, I can do all things through Christ, which strengthened me. He didn't say who strengthened me. He said, doing all things through Christ, that is what strengthens me. And so in first Thessalonians and two and four, where we have this verse here that says, even so we speak not as pleasing men, but God, which trieth our heart, that word trieth has been translated proved 10 times. And so we go back to our verse in 2 Corinthians 13 of 5, where Paul said, examine yourselves, whether you be in the faith, prove your own selves. There's the same word. Try to put yourself on trial. Are you in the faith? Now again, we have the phrase, the faith, 42 times. We have the phrase, your faith, 24 times. And Paul is saying to these Corinthians, examine yourselves, whether you be in the faith. Is the faith and your faith one and the same? Put yourself on trial and find out. Prove your own selves, he said. Prove your own selves. And so in chapter one, Paul is telling Titus, you need to put in some pastors who will preach the word. Preach the word. Why? Verse 10, because it says, for there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers. There's many of them that said, and these pastors, they need to be able by sound doctrine, both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers. Why? Well, it says because their mouths must be stopped. Why are you going to stop their mouths? Because they subvert whole houses, teaching things they ought not to teach. That is why they're teaching things they ought not to teach and their mouths must be stopped. Well, that's not very pleasant. Maybe Titus is thinking, well, I just get to be a pastor here. It's going to be a wonderful thing. I'm going to have a little office, and I'm going to sit there, and people are just going to come in. I'm going to preach some really nice messages that please men. Yeah, well, that's not what you're going to do, Titus, if you're going to do what God wants you to do. And that's not what any pastor is going to do today if we're going to do what God wants us to do. to do. So he says, wherefore rebuke them sharply that they may be sound in the faith. Well, I was hoping to get into chapter 2 today, but we're going to have to do that on our next broadcast. But just look at it. We've mentioned before that it says in verse number 1 of chapter 2, but speak thou the things which become sound doctrine. And then down in verse 15, he says, these things speak and exhort, rebuke with all authority, let no man despise you. And so here's the job that Titus has. Paul is writing to him. He says, look, I got myself in a lot of trouble over the years. You're probably going to get in a lot of trouble over the years, too, if you do it like this. But hey, all that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. We don't see much persecution today because we're pussyfooting a whole lot in the pulpit. Titus, don't do that, Paul says. You need to preach the word. He said, as he said to Timothy, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine, for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine." That time's come today. What are we supposed to do? Whether they will listen or whether they won't, they need to know, God said. There's been a prophet in the pulpit. Let's just preach the word.