But let's turn to Titus chapter one in your Bible, Titus chapter one. I am a preacher preaching on preaching tonight. This is like wonderful. What a wonderful opportunity before me, the duty of every elder and the duty of every pastor to hold fast the word of God, to hold on to the word of God, to, to teach the truth and to prevent error, to guard from lies. Titus 1 verses 5 to 9. Now we're going to focus on verse 9, but let me read the whole paragraph so we can get the qualifications for leaders as we've been talking about that. Verse 5, 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. Namely, if any man is above reproach, the husband of one wife, having children who believe, not accused of dissipation or rebellion, for the overseer must be above reproach as God's steward, not self-willed, not quick-tempered, not addicted to wine, not pugnacious, not fond of sordid gain, but hospitable, loving what is good, sensible, just, devout, self-controlled, holding fast the faithful word which is in accordance with the teaching, so that he will be able both to exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict." Father, I come to you tonight. We lift our hearts together asking that you would feed us. Even in the words of that hymn, that we would hear our Savior's voice through the teaching and the reading and the expounding and the applying of your word. Lord, we as a local church family, we must be faithful to your word. And we live in a day where preaching is despised. We live in a day where exhorting is rejected. We live in a day where rebuking is mocked and outright rejected. And yet, Lord, we have come to your word and we pray that we would submit ourselves to the authority of your word. That we would bow to the clarity and the relevancy and the necessity of your word. So guide us, we pray. In Jesus' name, amen. The great reformation theologian and pastor John Calvin once said in the 1500s that every faithful pastor has to have two voices. He has to have two voices, one for gathering the sheep and another voice for warding off and driving away the wolves and the thieves. And then Calvin went on to say the scriptures provides him the means for, for both. This is the duty of every faithful pastor, the voice to gather the sheep and the voice to protect from the wolves. This is what a shepherd does. Think of what a shepherd would do for his own sheep when he's keeping watch over the flocks. He would feed them. He would nurture them. He would care for them. But at the same time, he must be vigilant and fight even in the night watches against the wolves that may come. A loving father, a loving father can relate to this because a father knows that he needs to instruct his children in the truth. He's got to teach them. He's got to lead them in the way they should go. But a loving father also knows that he has to protect his children from harm as well. You got to teach him, but you have to protect them. They go together. It's not an either or, it's a both and. He must disciple them and he's got to defend them. against all harm. That's what Jesus did. None other than the Lord Jesus Christ, the perfect shepherd, the God, very God come in human flesh. He did this in Luke chapter 10. You remember that that's a Mary was seated at the feet of Jesus, right? Hearing the word of God, no doubt hearing the truth and the doctrine and the teaching that came from the lips of our Savior and then just a few verses later in Luke chapter 11 Jesus is at a meal with some Pharisees and he is rebuking those who are contradicting the truth of the gospel. We live in a day where this is mocked, despised, ridiculed, and even just outright rejected in many churches. Why is it so important? Why is it so critical to not only teach the truth and preach the truth, but to prevent error and to protect from bad doctrine? A couple of reasons here I put in your outline. Number one, why is it so important to do this? Because of obedience to God. Because of obedience to God, we're going to read in Titus 1.9 here, and I'm going to explain how important it is to be obedient to God, to exhort in sound doctrine and refute those who contradict. It's an obedience issue. Number two, because of the love for the truth. Because we love the truth, we must promote the truth and defend that which would oppose the truth. Third, because of the worth of souls. We have to do this. We have to proclaim the truth and defend against error because of the worth of souls. It's only a little bit of error that can damn a soul forever. And number four, because of the subtleties of Satan, subtleties of Satan, we have an enemy who doesn't come to people and whisper in their ear, I hate you and I want to destroy your soul in hell. We have a very cunning enemy. He's much smarter than that. He comes and he gives most truth. He gives a lot of truth. He'll give popular truth. He'll give accepted facts. but he won't give the whole truth. Number five, it's so crucial because of the imitation of Jesus. We have to follow in the footsteps of our savior and examine what did Jesus God do when he came into this world? He exhorted in the true doctrine and he refuted those who contradict. Now, in Titus 1, 5-9, as we've been talking about in the last month, this is the paragraph dealing with qualifications for every elder and for every pastor. Now, elder pastor, and overseer are all synonymous in the New Testament. An elder is a pastor, and a pastor is an elder. They're really one and the same. There might be different functions of a guy who might be the teaching one or the vocational one, but really in the sense of their role and function and calling, these requirements are to be met by every elder and by every pastor. and he is to be above reproach in the home, he is to be above reproach in his heart, and now we come third and lastly to the theological requirement of every elder and pastor. It's almost like we come now to the theological dimension. Here's the duty, here's the ability, here's the skill of the man who is to be a pastor in the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is nothing new. 1st Timothy chapter 4 talks about this. You know it in verse 11, prescribe and teach these things. Verse 12, we teach our children this, let no one look down on your youth, but rather in speech, conduct, love, faith, and purity. Show yourself an example of those who believe until I come give attention to the public reading of scripture, to exhortation, and to teaching. Don't neglect the spiritual gift within you. And then verse 15, take pains with these things, be absorbed in them. We even see in 2 Timothy 1 and verse 13, retain the standard of sound words. You've got to retain good doctrine. You've got to hold on to this good doctrine. 2 Timothy 2 verse 2, the things that you've heard from me in the presence of many witnesses and trust these to faithful men. You've got to take what you've learned from the apostolic doctrine and you've got to teach it to others who can then teach others and pass it on. 2 Timothy 2.15, be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed accurately handling the word of truth. And then again, 2 Timothy 4.2, preach the word. Be ready in season and out of season. Reprove, rebuke, exhort with great patience and instruction. And now we come to Titus chapter 1, that the man of God needs to be holding on. Not to culture. Not to fads. Not to passing movements and trends. No. The man of God, the faithful shepherd, needs to be holding on to the Word of God. But, let me state it negatively, because it needs to be said in our day. That means that a faithful elder cannot devote himself to the teachings and commandments of men. That means that he can't devote himself to unprofitable speech. That means that he cannot devote himself to cultural fads and trends and movements, not only in society, but even more than that, in just mainstream evangelicalism. He cannot give himself to worldly philosophies. or man-pleasing, or gossip, or trying to please people, or be the most popular and the most well-accepted man that he could possibly be. No, the man of God in the ministry is to hold fast to the truth of God's Word. Maybe to simplify it, every faithful pastor Every faithful elder must be an expert in one thing, and that is the Bible. He doesn't need to be an expert in culture, and politics, and psychology, and all the sporting teams. He needs to be an expert on the Bible. Now, the book of Titus is an amazing little book. It's really kind of a manual for church life because the book is going to teach about how the local church is to function, how Christians are to live, and how doctrine is to be believed and lived out. In other words, Titus 1 is on leadership. Titus 2 and 3 is on living. Titus chapter 1 is about the qualifications for leaders, and then chapters 2 and 3 is about living out this godly walk, living out the gospel in relationships. Okay, so the elder is to be above reproach. above reproach. We saw that in chapter 1 verse 6. You see it here. If any man is above reproach, we'll say it again. That means that every elder and pastor must be a male. The Bible forbids a woman from being a pastor. She cannot be an elder. The Bible is clear. A man needs to be above reproach, and he's a husband of one wife. If he is married, he's a faithful man to her. So, he's above reproach in the home. He's above reproach in his heart. We've looked at all the qualifications of that, the character qualities. And then tonight, We come to the only skill that is required right here in this paragraph. And that is, he must be a man who handles the word of God well. Now, the last qualification that we have in verse nine is last, but it's crucial. It's final, but it's essential. It's mentioned last, but it's not of last importance. It is of primary importance. Follow with me as I look at verse nine, and I just want to sort of bring out a couple of things before we launch into the main meat of the verse. Every elder, verse nine, is to be holding fast the faithful word. The idea of holding fast means to have a strong attachment to something. It means to cling to something, to be devoted to the word of God. And it's called the faithful word. Faithful because it's reliable, it's truthful, it cannot fail, it cannot deceive. It's the faithful word of God, it's the scripture, it's the gospel, it's what God has given. He's got to hold on to that faithful word. In other words, the elder is going to be a tireless pursuer of God and His word. And in doing that, he's a model for the congregation. He's an example to follow for the congregation. The word of holding fast reminds me of a husband, a new husband, a married husband who would hold on to his wife, you know, after they're married on their honeymoon, he would hold her close, he would hold her tidy. He loves her. He's committed to her. He is devoted to her. He doesn't want her to be out of his sight. It's that clinging. It's that devotion. It's like a man, a dad, who's holding a small child when he's walking through a busy airport. He doesn't want the child to be lost. He wants to hold on tightly to that child. Every faithful elder needs to hold on to the Word of God like that, with vigilant, tireless fingers that are firmly wrapped around the Word of God. He's got to hold it fast internally in his heart. He's got to hold fast to the Word of God. We might even say consistently, every single day he's got to be a man of the He's got to be a man knowledgeably. He's got to be a growing man in the Word. Seminary is good. A Bible degree is good. Reading some theology books is good. But there's always more to learn about the Lord and His Word and truth. He's got to be a man who holds on to the Word of God courageously. whoever is coming against him, whatever pressure is coming against him in the church or outside of the church, he's got to be a man who holds on to the word with courage. And then he's got to hold on to the word joyfully as well. Delighting in the truth of the word, like David in Psalm 119, I delight in your commands, the psalmist would say. And he's holding fast the faithful word, verse 9, I have, which is in accordance with the teaching. It's in accordance with the teaching. There's sound doctrine. His belief comes from the word and what he says is in accordance, it's in harmony with apostolic doctrine. He is holding on to good, orthodox, historical doctrine that is scriptural and it is trustworthy and proven. It's like, here's the man who's got a chapter and verse for what he says. Here's the man who's got proof for what he preaches. Here's the man who is holding on to the word in such a way that his finger is on the text of scripture as he is walking through the Bible in his teaching. And this isn't only a lesson for an elder. This is really a principle for every one of us, that we would all be holding on to the faithful word. Now, how much more so a pastor, an elder leading the church, but for every husband, for every father, for every man, for every Christian to hold fast the faithful word is what we are called to do. Okay. Well, why? That's good. It's good to know the Bible. It's good to hold on to the Bible But why it's one thing to study. It's one thing to know about Theology, it's one thing to to get the degree. It's one thing to have the the Bible college certificate, but but so what? well Every elder should hold on to the faithful word for two main purposes. Now, in verse 9, look at the little phrase, so that he will be able. There's a competency here. He's got to be able. He's got to be skilled. He's got to be able to do two things in the ministry. And these are not up for grabs. These are not debatable. These aren't up for a poll. These are not up for argumentation. These are not up for how well people like them and how well people receive them. This is what God says. Every faithful elder must be a Bible man clinging to the word for two reasons. Number one, to exhort in sound doctrine. And number two, to refute those who contradict. Now, let's just kind of walk through these two purposes together. Why should every elder hold fast the Word? He must be able to do two things. Number one, in your outline, he must be able to exhort in sound doctrine. Now, the parallel is in 1 Timothy 3, verse 2, where Paul says he must be able to teach, able to teach. This is a timeless, true, necessary duty of every faithful servant of the Lord to teach the Word of God. That doesn't mean that everybody's going to be a pulpit preacher on a Sunday, but that means that every leader who has the office of elder needs to be able to exhort in sound doctrine. Now, this phrase is going to teach us how he is to teach, he's going to exhort, and what he is to teach, sound doctrine. How and the what are both here. How is he to do it and what is he to do? Look with me at the first, how, he's to exhort. The word in the Greek, it's not just to instruct. It's not just to teach. It's a word that means to strongly plead. It's a word that means to exhort, to beg, to encourage strongly. It's even used to urge. It's used in the Bible for preaching. It's used to compel. This is the idea. He's got to be able to exhort. I'm compelling you. I'm calling you. I'm pleading with you. Acts 2, verse 40, on the day of Pentecost, Peter kept on exhorting them, be saved from this perverse generation. In Acts 14, 22, Paul is on the missionary journey and it says the apostles exhorted the believers to continue in the faith. It's the word used in 2 Corinthians 5, 20, when God is making an appeal to you through us. Well, that appeal is this word. God is begging. God is urging. God is compelling. God is exhorting. It's the same word in chapter two of Titus verse 15. These things speak and exhort. Here it is. Exhort with all authority. These are not ear tickling stories. These are not emotionally driven pep talks or topical and selective teachings. Rather, these are powerful and precise pleadings from a man of God who is committed to pleasing God. We need exhorters. This is not a lecturer. This is not an instructor. This is not just a teacher. We need men who beg, men who plead, men who exhort, men who summon, men who urge. This is what it is to preach. It's teaching on fire, or Lloyd-Jones would call it logic on fire. It is instruction with persuasion. There's an element of urgency where I'm compelling you. That's the idea. He's got to hold the word. so that he can exhort. But he doesn't exhort with his own ideas. He doesn't exhort with what he's read, you know, from the pop psychology books and what the other pastor says down the road. No, he is to exhort in sound doctrine. The Greek word means healthy, healthy doctrine. He must teach and exhort and plead with proper understandings of gospel truth. It's like he's got to glean the truth, he's got to grow in the truth, and then he's got to give out the truth. And I think of all the, all the doctrines. You know, consider with me, bibliology, doctrine of the Bible. He's got to know the doctrine of the Bible. This is a sufficient, inerrant word of God that every word is from the mouth of God. He's got to have an accurate theology proper, knowing that God is infinitely holy and just and merciful and gracious and true. He's got to have an accurate Christology, that Jesus alone is the Savior, that he is God, he is man, he is reconciler, and he alone is the one who can deliver from coming judgment. He's got to have an accurate pneumatology, doctrine of the Holy Spirit, that the Spirit of God is the one who regenerates. He is God. He is the one who points to and he glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ. The Spirit of God indwells the child of God and protects him until glory. He's got to have an accurate anthropology. All men are dead in their sin, dead in their sin, unable to please God, unable to come to God, unable and unwilling because they're unable to choose God, to do anything that would be pleasing to God because of the abhorrent evil of sin that has infected every part of his being. He's got to have an accurate soteriology, doctrine of salvation, that salvation is a work of God. It is a work of God. He's got to have an accurate angelology, demonology, Satanology, and an accurate ecclesiology, doctrine of the church. The church is the body of Christ, made up of true, regenerate believers. And the church is made up of believers and it is for believers so that they can honor Christ and obey his word and walk in holiness. He's got to have an accurate eschatology, knowing that Christ is coming back again one day to judge the living and the dead. He will restore all things. for his own glory. It's like the man is fired up by the gospel. It's like this man who is holding fast the faithful word is able to exhort with three main things. All men have been ruined by the fall. And yet there is redemption found in Jesus Christ because of the regeneration of the Holy Spirit. That's how the man exhorts in sound doctrine. He's committed to the apostolic, revealed, historical theology in the Word of God. He's got to hold on to his Bible and know the Bible to exhort in sound doctrine. But there's a flip side of the coin, and it's number two, he's got to be able to refute those who contradict. He's got to refute those who contradict. End of verse 9. Not only is he able to exhort in sound doctrine, but parallel to that, he must refute those who contradict. Look, our culture would scream at us for this. There are people around the world that would be arrested for opposing other people's views in the title of hate speech or whatever they want to call it. But here's what God says. We must refute those who contradict. Part of good leadership requires the preventing of harmful half-truths, not just error, half-truths. There's people that don't mind being exhorted. but prideful ones don't like refutation. There's some people that they just don't want the boat to be rocked. Look, let's just kind of prefer tolerance and peace over the truth. But no, no, no. Preaching the word and pointing out error are both essential in the church. He's teaching Titus right here, which teaches us that the refutation of error has to come even within the church to the professing believers, to those who are gathered so that those who are contradicting will be silenced. Now, in verse nine, there's a Greek word, refute. Do you see it there? Refute. It's a word that means a strong rebuttal. You could almost look at the way Paul puts it down in verse 13. This testimony is true for this reason, reprove them severely. Look, we're not just having a chat with false teachers about bad doctrine. They need to be rebuked. They need to be reproved. They need to be convicted. The Greek word means even to chastise. Or it just means this. To tell somebody you're wrong. We live in a day where that is so, you just don't go there. You're wrong. You're wrong. What you're believing is a lie. But that's what we're called to do. We have to refute those who contradict. Well, who are we to refute? Those who contradict. The word is to speak against the truth. Acts 13, Paul is preaching the gospel and there were non-believers who then were contradicting the things that Paul was preaching. So, in Acts 13, 45, what did Paul do? He continued to speak out boldly the gospel truth. Or, when they are demeaning error, when they are demeaning the truth and speaking against the truth, They need to be reproved and refuted. And it's hard, but it requires a fear of God that swallows up a fear of man. It requires an ambition to please God that would squeeze out, it would swallow up all of the man-pleasing ambitions. I've got to please God. Let me give you a few examples, just very briefly. Here's the guy, he needs to know what to do and where to go in the Bible when the seeker ministry philosophy man comes his way. And the seeker friendly guy says, we don't reprove, we don't reprove, we don't rebuke, we just accept and welcome everybody. He's got to know what to do when the Arminian comes his way who's man-centered. If I do this, then I will be saved. I've prayed a prayer and I've made this decision. Because of my faith, I'm a believer. And there's this high view of man and this low view of God. He's got to be able to refute that biblically. The social justice warriors who champion for the oppressed with their worldly ideologies from sociology and culture and politics. They need to be refuted from the word of God. The man who comes to the church with worldly psychology and he spreads worldly therapeutic ideologies in the church needs to be refuted. Roman Catholic friends who say they believe in the same Jesus. need to be refuted. The post-Christian millennial who says, well, truth is relative, and he claims that all faiths are the same. He needs to be refuted from the Word of God. Or even the person who comes into the church who is negative, divisive, finding faults anywhere, and he's sharing that publicly with others. That man needs to be reproved and refuted. The one who seeks to entertain and bring in and keep and make the church comfortable for non-believers, that needs to be refuted. The person who's advocating or permitting abortion or transgenderism or same-sex attraction or sexual deviancies, the man of God needs to reprove error with the Word of God. He's got to know the Word. He's got to be able to exhort in good doctrine and he's got to refute those who are contradicting because the glory of Christ and the gospel of grace and the purity of the church and the witness to the lost is at stake. We have to preserve the truth. You know, there's a wonderful quote that I found from another pastor that I want to read just by way of conclusion. I think it's so good because really it's kind of an exhortation. It's an exhortation to every man of God, every man of God in ministry. But as you hear it, you know, may we be reminded this is the high calling that God has for every elder, for every pastor. that he would be a man of the word. Who cares how many degrees he has? Who cares how many books he's written? Who cares how many followers he has on whatever social media platform? Who cares what conferences he speaks at? What matters is, is he holding on to the word? And is he able to exhort in good doctrine? And is he able and willing to refute those who contradict? I read this a while ago, and I've kind of kept it in my computer file, and I pull it out from time to time, usually when I'm preaching sermons like this. I've read it before when I've preached on this topic, and I'll read it again because I think it's so good. And it kind of gives you a little window into the leader's heart and the leader's challenges so you can pray, to pray for your leaders, to pray for them to be faithful. I don't know who wrote it. But here's what he said. Stick with your work, oh man of God, and do not flinch because the lion roars. Do not stop to stone the devil's dogs. Do not fool away your time chasing the devil's rabbits. Do your work. Let liars lie, let sectarians quarrel, let critics malign, let enemies accuse you, let the devil do his worst, but see to it that nothing hinders you from fulfilling the joy that God has given you to study and to preach the word. God has not commanded you to be admired or to be esteemed. God never called you to defend your character. God has not set you at work to contradict falsehood about yourself, which Satan's or God's servants may start to peddle about you. Don't track down every rumor that threatens your reputation. If you do these things, you'll do nothing else because it will swallow all your time and you will be at work for yourself and not for the Lord. So, keep at your work. Let your aim be steady as a star. You may be assaulted, wronged, insulted, slandered, wounded, rejected, misunderstood, or assigned impure motives. You may be abused by foes, forsaken by friends, despised and rejected of men, but see to it with steadfast determination, with unfaltering zeal, that you pursue the great purpose of your life and the object of your being until at last you can say, I have finished the work that you, O God, have given me to do. And that work is Titus 1.9. to hold fast the faithful word, which is in accordance with the teaching so that he will be able to exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict. Pray for us. Pray for your leaders. Pray for more. Pray for the men of the church. Pray for the young men of the church. Pray that we as a church family generally would have these principles describe us. Amen. Lord, thank you for your word and the clarity of it. Lord, we want to be faithful to you. We pray, Lord, even in particular that we would hold on to the faithful word. Every member, every believer, and in particular here in our context, Lord, the leaders. Lord, help us to exhort with sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict for the glory of Jesus Christ. Amen.