Titus 1. I'll read verses 1 through 4, although we'll just be talking about verses 1 and 2 today. But I'll map out the way we'll deal with the first four verses in a moment. So Paul writes, a slave of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ for the faith of God's elect and the full knowledge of the truth, which is according to godliness, in the hope of eternal life, which the God who cannot lie promised from all eternity. but at the proper time manifested his word in preaching with which I was entrusted according to the commandment of God our Savior to Titus, a genuine child according to our common faith. Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior. And as you can tell, this is one long sentence. So I'm going to, I'm titling this study today, our introductory study in verses one and two, we'll call this Paul's Part, because he identifies who he is and what he's all about as he writes to Titus. So this is Paul's Part today. And then next week, God willing, in verse three, which I've given the title Perfectly Timed, and that comes from the words, at the proper time manifested. So that's gonna be perfectly timed. And then the third sermon is going to be from verse four to Titus, and we'll talk about Titus and who he is, and all of the rest. So that's to Titus. And then when you get to verse five, that's church work. That's the title of the first sermon there. Jumps right in, doesn't he? 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. So that's the plan, Lord willing, of the first part of Titus. And may the Lord bless us as we proceed. So Paul writes to Titus, who is a pastor, whom he calls his genuine child in the faith. And he calls it a common faith, verse four. Common faith. In the book, In Paul's Shadow, a very valuable book by D. Edmund Hebert, who has written many great commentaries on the New Testament. But he has that unique book entitled In Paul's Shadow, The Greater and Lesser Lights of the Apostle Paul. Hebert lists Titus as one of the prominent personalities in Paul's life. You might be wondering, who are all of the prominent personalities in Paul's life? Well, Hebert lists eight of them, and Titus is one of them. You might ask, who are the others? And the others, according to Hebert, are Apollos, Aquila and Priscilla, Barnabas, Luke, Mark, Silas or Silvanus, and Timothy, eight prominent personalities in Paul's life and ministry. He also lists 17 others whom he calls lesser lights, and I won't give you the list of all 17 of them, although it's pretty interesting. I'll just tell you about a few of them. Aristarchus is one of the lesser lights. Epaphras, Epaphroditus, Tychicus, and there are 13 others. So Titus is one of the more important in the life of the Apostle Paul. He's one of the greater lights, prominent personalities in Paul's life. And Paul, as you know, could never have done the work that he did alone. And God appointed for him many, many people to surround him over the years in his work, which is the way it should be and needs to be always in the church. Now the introduction of the letter to Titus is longer than most other introductions in Paul's letters. Scholars have noted that it's very similar to the introduction in Romans, which is also four verses. And just like Romans 1 verses 1 through 4, it's a big, bountiful sentence that you have no other choice but to break up into its component parts and look at it. And that's what I'm doing here as we enter Titus' world. by looking at verses 1 and 2. I think the verses go together, so there would be no way, I think rightly, to divide 1 and 2 into like more sermons. And the purpose here is not to make as many sermons as can be made in the Book of Titus, but just to dwell on it and give each line or verse its appropriate place. And so, therefore, I think that verses 1 and 2 describe Paul's part. I mean, he could have just said, well, I'm a slave of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, and that's my part. But he says a lot more than that. You notice he is a bond slave of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ for, for, there's that word for the faith of God's elect and the full knowledge of the truth, which is according to godliness. So that goes all together. For, all of that. In, and that's the next transitional little word there, in, the hope of eternal life, which the God who cannot lie promised from all eternity, and then at the proper time manifested. I think that's where you can break it up then into a separate topic, which I will, in talking about the concept or the idea of perfectly timed. So Paul's ministry is perfectly timed in the plan of God. So in the first two verses, then Paul is describing his part in the matters of which, about which he writes to Titus. Like Paul, what are you doing in this work? You know, what brings you here? Why are you here involved with us? So Paul's part, the letter is personal and yet it's official. It is warm. personal means war right if you want to be personal with someone you have to be warm and winsome right not abrasive so warm it's warm and yet it is an agenda of things that churches on the island of crete need help with so it's official and you probably always thought of paul's letters to titus and timothy as official letters uh... and that they are because they deal first timothy and titus that is deal with church matters and I have no problem with, and I've stated before, concerning those two letters, First Timothy and Titus, Second Timothy's very different. First Timothy and Titus, that, yeah, it actually talks to us about a church polity, how the church should function in this world. And you can see in verse five that this has to do with that little island of Crete in your Bible maps, okay? And if you like the idea of islands, and there's something about that that's really special. You're a missionary to this island, or even the United Kingdom is considered as an island. Amazingly, with all the great things that the United Kingdom has done, in history. It's still an island, right? Basically. And so Paul is talking about Titus working on this island of Crete. I left you in Crete. And Timothy is more associated with Ephesus, the great city, whereas Titus is associated with Crete. So I will divide this sermon into these three parts. First, His calling described, secondly, their election supported and God's promise remembered. The description of his calling, let's put it that way, the description of his calling, and then the support of the election of the saints, their faith, their election, and remembering God's promise. Let's talk about this first point now. His calling described. So Paul is a doulos. If we go back to the Greek word and put aside the English translations, because they're probably different in your Bible, you'll see servant, slave, bond, slave. But it is the Greek word for doulos and identifies himself as a slave of Jesus Christ. In Romans chapter one and verse one, also the same thing, doulos. Doulos is a word frequently used in the New Testament. And despite all the negative connotations of slavery in our world, God's word does use this word with reference to our relationships to, number one, to sin and also to God. So despite all of the baggage that comes along with it. and all the bad feeling, it's still a word that is used in the Bible, and we need to, of course, deal with that. The New Legacy Standard Bible, which I've been using now for a little while, is an NASB update, more recent than the 2020 update, and explains in the translation principles why they translated the word doulos consistently in this Bible as slave. And it says there in the translation, principles of, you know, every Bible version, any Bible version that you use, it's good to go back to the beginning, the introduction and read. Usually they tell you what their translation principles were, how they derived that particular translation, whether it's a formal, literal translation or a more dynamic equivalent, like the NIV is a more dynamic equivalent. or more literal, or some versions advertise themselves as kind of in the middle. So it's helpful to be aware of those things. But anyway, it says at the beginning of this Legacy Standard Bible, which is an NASB update, that the NASB already translated the Greek term doulos frequently as slave in the New Testament. So they already did it. The Legacy Standard Bible made this consistent across the New Testament. That means that any time the word doulos is used, they always translated slave. This upholds the dictionary definition of the term due loss, and it's consistent translation. In other words, why not translate the word the same way in every case? And also, this is a good point, it also underscores the distinction from other terms that denote a servant. In other words, there are terms that denote a servant as opposed to a slave. Such consistency, they say, also highlights a biblical theological truth that Christians were slaves of sin, but now are slaves of Christ. Biblical writers did not shy away from this term because it condemned a wicked form of slavery, that is, to sin, Satan, and death. highlighted the power of redemption and affirmed one's total submission to the lordship of Christ. God's people, they said in the introduction there, emphasize their total subjection to their loving God by calling themselves his slave, even as he uses them uniquely as his servants in his plan. And that's the end quote. So that's a helpful description of the translation principle or policy that in this version translates Dulos consistently as slave. You and I have known believers who sign their communications, you know, their emails and their communications as the slave of Christ. Have you ever seen one of those? We've had people in our church who do that, you know, the bond slave of Christ, the slave of Christ. I've seen it. Well, Paul is the slave of God. Now, James also identified himself as the doulos of God and Christ Jesus in James 1 and verse 1. And John in the book of Revelation did the same, Revelation 1 and verse 1. Now, I'm really not trying to convince you of anything. I'm just trying to share with you the fact of this translation thing. But I will say that if you turn to Romans chapter 6, you will see that the slavery connection is clearest in Romans chapter 6 and presents the best case for thinking in that way. Of course, if you have difficulty with that, it's fine. You can think of yourself as a servant of God. That's okay. This is not really an issue that we have to decide on or work at, but you would see in Romans chapter six that, um, that the issue of slavery and it's all of its negative connotation with respect to sin, not respect to social conditions. is applied directly to our relationship to God. So notice Romans 6.16, just notice the phrase, you are slaves of the one whom you obey. That's the general principle. That's the general principle. You are a slave to the person you obey. Naturally, it's a master-slave or obedience relationship. Now in verse 17, he uses the expression, you were slaves of sin. And that's where you have the idea of a real serious bondage, where you have a real problem. Your master is sin. He's kind of like the pharaoh. He's never satisfied. He'll make you make bricks, and then to make it even harder for you, he'll take away the straw. So you have to make the bricks without the straw, and you have to do it all in the same amount of time. So that's the way sin is. Sin is a cruel master. And we were slaves of sin. But in verse 18, then, following right on that, he says, you became slaves of righteousness. So you're slaves to the one whom you obey. That's the general principle. You were slaves of sin. There's no principle about that. We were slaves of sin. And now we have, our allegiance has changed. The slavery idea is still there, but it's changed in its direction. Slaves of sin to slaves of righteousness. Then he explains it further in verses 20 through 26, 22. For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. Therefore, what benefit or fruit were you then having from the things which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now, having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you have your benefit or fruit, literally, leading to sanctification and the end eternal life. And I'll stop there. So when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. That doesn't mean that God granted you a special dispensation, that righteousness had no claim on your life. No, it just meant that that was your attitude. That was your attitude, that I'm a slave of sin. I have nothing to do with righteousness. That doesn't interest me. You think that that doesn't matter for you? given a special case. You've been given some kind of exemption. That's the idea. You think you have some kind of exemption. That's all the second part of verse 20 means. When you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. You might say you were carefree about righteousness. You didn't care a hoot about righteousness. Never crossed your mind, naturally. You're just a slave to sin. But now, Verse 22, that you have been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you have your benefit leading to sanctification and the end eternal life. So whatever the word slavery connotes in our minds, and it actually connotes things, but that are not good and pleasant, just try to put all that out of your mind. And because the biblical description of God's people as slaves of God is all good. It's all good. I was thinking that I actually like the translation bond slave better, thinking that maybe I could view the bond part of the bond slave as like a special bond, right? That would be nice. Instead of saying slave, translating Duloss as slave, you just translate it bond slave, because you say there's a special bond between me and my master. It's very attractive. But unfortunately, when you look at Webster's dictionary, that is not the official meaning of bond slave. There's no way to make bond slave a nice concept. I mean, in terms of stressing a warm filial bond. Now the warm filial bond is there, that's the whole idea. To say you're a slave of God is all good. And it means that He saved you, he delivered you, he bestowed promises on you, he just lavished you. He just lavished you with an old blessing in the heavenly places and in this world. He just lavished you with all that. And your response to that is just to serve him. So servant is still a good translation because that's what, in this case, our slavery to God means. But it does miss the idea of obedience. And so therefore, you do want to retain the idea of being a slave of God in the sense of the slave, the general principle is you're slaves of the one whom you obey. You follow what I'm saying? If you just bring it down a notch to servant, because that just sounds better, that's okay, but it's not telling the whole story. It's missing something there. So back to our text in Titus. In the context of salvation and apostleship, the service being a slave of God for Paul meant to be complete submission to his will with devoted service. I'll put it this way for you. The hand of the slave fits the glove of the apostle so that Paul is a slave of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ. The heart of the slave of God is to do the work of the Lord. And an apostle is a delegate, that is literally one cent, so a delegate, an emissary. one sent, a messenger sent with orders from above, in a solemn calling, and Jesus conferred that responsibility on the official apostles, a group of 12 men to whom Paul was added, as one, how does he say, untimely born, but Paul was an apostle. That's the official term for apostles. So we say that the apostleship has ceased. We mean the official apostles have ceased. But apostle is still used in the Bible as a general term. Anyone who is sent is an apostle. So when Jesus said that he sends us into the world, in that sense, we are sent ones, we are apostles. And there are many others in the New Testament who are actually called apostles, but just in that general sense of being sent, not official apostles. But in the case of Paul or James or John and Peter, it meant that they were taking orders from Christ to implement Christ's will in their lives and in the ministries of the churches they served. So this explains why Paul is saying this at the beginning, because he's going to talk to Titus as a messenger, as a pastor. of a church in Crete and some association with other churches in Crete. Notice they are mentioned in verse five, that you would set in order what remains and appoint elders in every city as I directed you. So again, the hand of the slave fits the glove of the apostle. Paul was called to this office, Romans 1 in verse 1. He said he was called to this office In Galatians, he says that he didn't take this office upon himself. He mentions not by the will of man. In the book of Galatians, he was saved, even, that he would serve in this office. Galatians 1, verses 15 and 16. It's for that reason that God set his affection on him before he was even born. It was the will of God. It was not by man's appointment. He stresses this. In 2 Corinthians 1.1, 2 Timothy 1.1, Ephesians 1.1, and Galatians 1.1, in those four places he says, I didn't appoint myself to this office, and no other man, no body, body of men appointed me to this office. He says God appointed me to this office because in 1 Timothy 1.1, this is God's command regarding Paul. So when he comes to name the addressee, that's what we call the person to whom he's writing with the church, is the addressee, right, the address. her the address, the addressee to Titus. Titus will understand that this is an official letter from one of the Lord's messengers and the message of the letter will be the will of the master because Paul is the slave of the master and he writes as an apostle with a message for Timothy who is to obey what is found in this letter. But it's not just that, as I said, I started by saying, it's not just official, it's warm, it's personal. Paul's involvement and Paul's heart and concern ooze out of this letter, as they do with the other pastoral letters. Second Timothy is the last thing that Paul wrote. It's his, he's about to die, and he's charging Timothy on his deathbed, and so it's very different. But Paul's involvement and Paul's heart and concerns ooze out of the letter. But the matters about which Paul writes to him are serious matters, which Titus will need to take to his heart and put in his hands. In the same way that Titus is to communicate to the people as he works with them, that the people need to understand that, hey, these are serious matters. So Paul was called to do this and we also have an obligation to follow the directions that apply to us as a church or to God's people in this generation in which we live and in this place where we are in service to the Lord. So even though it is a letter written to a pastor, it is about the Lord's work and we all have a part in the Lord's work. So let's talk about the second matter then, which I've called their election supported or the support of their election. The second part of verse one, Paul, a slave of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ for the faith of God's elect. And so that they are, they are the subject. Okay. They are the subject God's elect so that Paul has been appointed a slave of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ to support the people of God, that is God's elect. And although he's writing to Titus, it is so that both he and Titus can work together for the benefit of Christ's people. So God's people, you are the real addressees here, you are the real subjects of all of this. God gives ministers to help and support the people of God. The ministry is through the man, naturally. You need a man to do it, but it's for the people. The minister gains much from ministry. I could testify to that over all these years. The Lord's been good to me. allowing the ministry to help me in many ways, but the word ministry is not inward looking, it's outward looking. It's for the people. And that's what he's saying there, for the faith of God's elect and the full knowledge of the truth, which is according to godliness. So let's just talk about that word, full knowledge. Some versions that you may be reading from just say knowledge. And the reason why a couple of the versions, including this one, say full knowledge is because of the Greek word that it is translating, which is the word epignosis. So in the Bible, gnosis is knowledge. You probably know that. Gnosis is knowledge. So when you put the little preposition on it, epi means above. So because of that epi gnosis, they've translated it as full knowledge. because of that little preposition, which kind of suggests a heightened or a higher knowledge, but not a Gnostic knowledge, in that it's not talking about something secret, something for an elite class of people. It's higher. In what sense is it higher? Well, it's better to think about it as not so much higher, but fuller. And that's why the translation full knowledge is actually quite good. It's not a higher knowledge, That is, it's not like a secret to which people are introduced on a higher level. It's not for an elite class of people. It's a fuller knowledge. And Paul says that he's been called as a slave of God and apostle of Jesus Christ for the faith and the full knowledge of the truth, which is according to godliness. See, he qualifies that a lot. He says it's for the truth and the full knowledge of the faith in the full knowledge of the truth, which is according to godliness, that is, of God's elect. Now obviously if God chose the people, he's gonna care for the people. If God chose the people, which is what election is all about, then they exercise faith in response to the call, that's part of their choosing is that they will respond, effectual calling, and then they have faith. But if God chose them, then he must care for them. So he sends, in this case, Paul and Titus for the faith of God's elect and the full knowledge of the truth, which is according to godliness. I was looking for a word that might help us to appreciate the little word for. I thought of the word orient, being oriented. So I'll put it this way. Look, Paul, a slave of God and apostle of Jesus Christ, who is oriented to the faith of God's elect and the full knowledge of the truth, which is according to godliness. So then, as I so often do, I I take about my, I go over to my rolling Webster's dictionary and start looking up the word orient and oriented and orientation. I love doing that kind of thing. And I was reminded in that little study this week that the Orient is part of the horizon where the sun appears in the morning, the sunrise, that is the dawn. And that's where you get in the East. That's where you get the orientation that in the East, because the sun rises in the east, in the east. The map orientation is not toward the north, like our maps are toward the north. I have maps of Israel that are oriented toward the east, because the east is where the sun rises, and that's where you get the word orient. In church history, you have the, the struggle between the East and the West. So the East is the Greek world, right? And the West is the Latin world, where you have Rome over to the West, the West, right? So you have East and West in church history. You have the Greek church and the Latin church. And in 1054, the church split, of all things, over the procession of the Holy Spirit. So you have the Greek Orthodox, and you have the Roman Catholic, or universal church, right? So all of that just to underscore that the basis of this is that Orient is literally pointing toward the East. But when you turn Orient into a verb, it means to point yourself to the light. And that's what Paul is saying in verse one. Paul is saying that I am a slave of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, and my focus is pointed to the light of the faith in God's elect. and the light that God has brought about in their lives by bringing them to the truth, and now I want to help them to have a full knowledge of the truth, so that light will shine more brightly. Paul is saying that he is to focus on that light of their faith and knowledge and support that light, which I don't think anyone in the Christian ministry would really deny, but unfortunately, as the church has developed, the church at large, Christian ministries focus on a lot of other things, and sometimes Christian ministries focus on individuals and upon their ministries and their gifts and all of that, which is not really the way it should be. Ministries should always focus on the light in the hearts of God's people. and be oriented toward that. Because they are God's elect. They are his chosen. They are his special people, the people for his own possession. They are his inheritance. And because they are chosen, they are cherished. And because they are cherished, they must be cared for. They must be fed. They must be nourished. They must be guided. They must be guarded. And they must be protected. Paul says about them in Colossians 3 and verse 12, chosen of God, holy and beloved. And Paul feels the weight of that always in all of his letters. that he communicates to Titus, and then he's communicating it so that Titus, and same with Timothy, to select men, faithful men among you, and train them up so that they can carry on, and that many men can take care of the people of God. And Titus is to carry that weight. It's a weight with the Apostle Paul, and it's really a weight with any minister, and I can say it's been a weight with me. that the care of God's people is something to which we have all been appointed, verse one, and should be oriented. Two, what is supported here? He says the faith of God's elect and the full knowledge of the truth, which is according to godliness. So just a few points here to open this up a little bit. Their faith has been placed in Christ, obviously. Their faith is in Christ. And their faith is based on the truth. the full knowledge of the truth. And the only truth that God gives in salvation is truth which accords with godliness. And that's a very important phrase. And you see it in other places in the New Testament, that it's the truth which is according to godliness. There's truth in the world all around us. There's mathematical truth. There's scientific truth. Physics. When you study physics, you're uncovering laws of physics. These are things that are true. Although, in these days, people try to redefine some of those simple things in life. It just won't work. It's not sustainable. And it's also quite ridiculous and something they should be ashamed of. But the truth that he's talking about here is not just general truth. It's truth which is according to godliness, which means that it's the truth about how to be saved, how to be sanctified, how to live as one who's been chosen of God, and how to live as one who's been set free from the bondage of sin and enslaved to God in the language of Romans chapter 6. So that the truth which is according to godliness is a life that reflects God in a person's everyday thoughts, words, actions, his lifestyle, his pursuits, his responses, his aspirations, just everything, absolutely everything. is included in this, the truth which is according to godliness. It just shows truth as a great funnel and the truth being poured into this funnel. And you're at the other end of the funnel and this truth is just pouring into your life and it's going the other way now, in reverse. It's permeating your life. It's filling the jar. It's filling every part of your life. And that's a subject of itself which probably we'll come to. down the road. So then thirdly and finally, and with this I'll close in our study of verses one and two, is verse two God's promise remembered simply in the hope of eternal life which the God who cannot lie promised from eternity. So I sum it up by just saying here that Paul's part as a slave of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ is to support their faith, their election in Christ by orienting himself toward their faith, always looking at the light in the believers. And some believers, given their present state at any given time, that light may be very dim, it may be going down to a flicker, and then the minister is there to try to revive it. In others, the light is shining more brightly, they're more mature, they're more seasoned than all the rest, but he's always looking at the light. It's similar to the expression, you know, take care of the flock, shepherd the flock, same idea. So, but he's doing this in, in the theater, if you will, of God's promises. He views the world as having been filled with God's promises, and that's the theater, that's the arena that he works in, that he lives in, in the hope of eternal life. He's saying, I do all of this, what I've just described, in the hope of eternal life, which the God who cannot lie promised from all eternity. And this God, who has filled our lives with his promises, is the God who cannot lie. He is the God who makes promises, who keeps his promises. The promises are described as coming from eternity, so they're not whims. They're not something he just invented or thought up along the way to solve a problem as it arose. No, God is sovereign. He's in control of everything, even before the world was created, even before it starts its existence. He's already made a decree about it. And the biggest part of that decree is, of course, the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world. He's the God who cannot lie. He's the God who promises. He's the God who exists from eternity. He's the God who shares his eternity with his elect. That's the most beautiful thing, I think. And we've been studying the Lord's Prayer right in John 17, and it keeps coming up. That they may be with me where I am. He shares his eternity with his elect. That's a promise that He made to you. And that's the hope that we have. And as you know, hope in the Bible does not stress uncertainty, like you hope for a better job or you hope for a bigger house. No, it's nothing like that. It's just completely the opposite. It's absolute certainty. Hope in the Bible is assurance and certainty that God will keep His promise. Which makes sense, doesn't it? The hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised from all eternity, and which we know from all the gospel appeals that if we come to Christ, we will have eternal life. John, in his letters, 1 John, 2 John, 3 John, he stressed this, that God has promised us eternal life, that if you have Christ, you have eternal life. And this is the assurance and confidence that if you have Christ, What do you have? If you have Christ, you have eternal life. Two go together. If you have Christ, you have eternal life. Because the God who cannot lie promised this from all eternity. We think about his election. Where does that root from? Eternity, before the foundation of the world. Where does the work of Christ root from? It's rooted in eternity. Everything comes from eternity, as does this promise, this promise of eternal life. And so Paul says, this is the thing. And so nothing could stop Paul. That's what kept him going. That's what kept him from being discouraged. And that's what keeps all ministers from just keep going, not be discouraged, because it's all about what God does in the life of his elect people. Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you, Lord, for this wonderful portion of your word. We look forward with anticipation, O Lord, to studying it. in the weeks ahead. And now, Father, strengthen us and guide us, Lord, we pray, and receive our thanks for this great salvation. And God, if there be anyone here who's teeter-tottering, who's just on the fence, as we say, which is really a dangerous place to be, I pray that they'll just hear the promise and heed it and come to Christ, nothing hindering them, even today. May it be the day of salvation for anyone, someone who doesn't know you. We ask all of this in Christ's name. Amen.