Hello and welcome to our broadcast. We're going to be looking in Titus chapter 2. If you could have your Bible ready, it would be a good thing. Well, Titus chapter 2 starts out with a little three-letter word, but, but speak thou the things which become sound doctrine. He sums it up in verse 15, these things speak and exhort and rebuke with all authority. Now, you've got to do some speaking here, but that word introduces something that is strikingly in contrast with something that has been mentioned just before it. Now, the dictionary says something that is striking is something that is attracting attention by reason of being very unusual. To have something in striking contrast is to have something that is very different. And so, He says here in Titus 1, speak thou the things which become sound doctrine. Now to speak is to say something in order to express some information. So he says thou, he's talking to the pastor here, keep the context, he's talking to the pastor. And so he says to the pastor, you have got to do some speaking It will be strikingly in contrast, it'll be very different, it'll seem unusual with what has simply been recorded in the last chapter. And he says, Titus, pastor, you have to do this. It'll be a great day for us all. when we learn what our responsibilities are and take them, and learn what our responsibilities are not, and don't take those. For example, we read in the letters to the seven pastors in the book of Revelation that the pastor at Ephesus, God had something against him, the Lord did, because that pastor had left his first love. It doesn't say the church left its first love. The letter was addressed to the pastor. He left it. He didn't lose it, as it's often quoted. He left it. That's a choice. You could lose something, and that might be acceptable to lose something, but to leave it is just an obvious choice. The pastor left his first love. So what is our first love? Well, as a Christian, our first love ought to be to the Lord. As a husband, First love ought to be to your wife, as a wife to her husband, as children to the parents, as parents to the children, even grandparents and relatives. We need to know what our responsibilities are. Well, then if you look in the church, you've got other names and titles that we have. In the world, in the home especially, we have husband, wife, children, and parents, and grandparents, and relatives. In the church, we have pastors, and deacons, and we have teachers, and church members, and nursery workers, and custodians, and ushers. And what we need to know is what our first responsibilities are in line with those titles. So as the pastor, His first love needs to be his people. Now, obviously, as a Christian, his first love will be the Lord. As a husband, his first love will be his wife, etc. And so, Titus, he says, Pastor, you need to know your responsibilities. Now, one of the main responsibilities that Titus was given by this aged apostle Paul was to speak the things which become sound doctrine. Now, he says, speak them. Ephesians 4 verse 15 says we are to be speaking the truth in love. Speaking the truth. And if you're not going to speak the truth, it's because you don't love somebody enough to tell them the truth. So he says, but. But, thou. Now, in contrast with that, You go back to the last chapter, and it says in verse 15, for instance, but unto the pure all things are pure, and unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure. Verse 16 says they profess that they know God, but in works they deny him, being abominable and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate. So we have the command here for the pastor in verse number 1 of chapter 2. He says, thou speak thou the things which become sound doctrine. Because in contrast to that, it says back here in chapter 1 and verse number 16, they profess that they know God. They're saying something. It says in verse 10, they're vain talkers. They're teaching things, that's what you do when you speak, verse 11. And they're teaching fables in verse number 14. And so he says here to the pastor, speak thou. They're speaking, you better speak up. Speak the things which become sound doctrine. He says you need to speak these things, verse 15, exhort, rebuke if you need to, with all authority, let no man despise thee. Do your job, pastor. So, in verse 16, we have chapter 1, we have they, and in chapter 2 and verse 1, we have thou, speak, speak. We have something that is a striking contrast, and that contrast is sound doctrine, sound doctrine. And so, to speak, we said again, is to say something in order to convey information. What information do we need to put out there? Sound doctrine. Ephesians 6 and 20, Paul said, I am an ambassador that I may speak boldly as I ought to speak. In Acts 18 and 26, we read of Apollos, and it says he began to speak boldly in the synagogue. In Ephesians 6 and 14, we have Paul again. He says that I may open my mouth boldly. Acts 13 46, Paul and Barnabas waxed bold. Philippians 1 and 14, we're talking about some Christians here who were bold to speak the word. In 1 Thessalonians 2 and 2, Paul says that Philippi, we were bold. Acts 4 and 13, it says, when those hypocrites saw the boldness of Peter and John, they took knowledge that they'd been with the Lord. Acts 4 and 29, speaking about Christians, they're praying, and it says, grant unto thy servants that with all boldness they may speak. the word. Acts 4 and 31, how'd that turn out? They spake the word of God with boldness. 2 Corinthians 7, 4, it says, Great is my boldness of speech toward you, Paul said. Who's he talking to here? He's talking to Christians. Listen to some of the sermons that Paul preached to Christians. We'd soon empty our churches if we preached that way, and that's why we don't do it anymore. We're more concerned about keeping the people sitting out there paying the bills than we are in preaching the truth. So Paul, who knew all about speaking boldly, is talking to this young pastor. His name is Titus, and he says, but speak thou the things which become sound doctrine. Now, Our whole area here in 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus, the context that we have here is to do with the local church. And so we're dealing with the area of doctrine. If you study that word in 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus, you'll see how extremely important it is. And so he says to Titus in verse number one, but speaking in striking contrast concerning doctrine. boldly, boldly preach the doctrine. It says in 1 Timothy 1-3 that they teach no other doctrine. 1 Timothy 4-6, they were teaching contrary to sound doctrine. In 2 Timothy 4-2, it says they will not endure sound doctrine. And so what he's got to do here is pretty plain. Speak the things which become sound doctrine. Titus Do your job as a pastor. Well, today things are not much different. Our issues are a little bit different than what his issues were, but it boils down to doctrine and whether we're going to teach sound doctrine or not. It's sad to see today that our pulpits are strangely silent. 1 Timothy 1 and 3 talks about other doctrine. 1 Timothy 4 and 6 talks about things that are contrary to sound doctrine. It says, Titus, you need to speak up because they're going to subvert whole houses. Now, we're going to talk in our next program about the doctrine of salvation. Now, some doctrines, you know, you can look in there and see what the Bible teaches about music. It might be very confusing to understand that. But the plan of salvation is a no-brainer for everybody. And yet, in recent years, Jack Hiles and Curtis Hudson came out with a damnable heresy that you don't need to repent in order to be saved. And listen, that is a damnable heresy. If you believe it, you're going to hell. and our pulpits are strangely silent about that. Well, we'll look at this some more in our next broadcast. Be sure and tune in.