Well take your Bibles please and turn to the book of Titus. Turn to the book of Titus. We choose a passage each year in the fall. At the end of the summer, in August, we choose a passage. And those of us that are at camp for the year round spend time working through that passage, memorizing it. We do some study and some devotion from it. And then as we come to the summer, we, the staff that's preparing to come for the summer, studies that same passage, and then does some memorization, does some Bible studies that we deliver to them, and then we work through that passage through the summer. So the staff is working through that passage, and the devotions that are written for the The counselors to work through with the campers are from that passage. And then in the teen camps, the morning chapels are also from that passage. So you can imagine if you were a summer staff member, especially a counselor, you've spent, and that passage is Titus for this year. And so by the time you get to the end of the summer, you have spent time memorizing and studying in the weeks before you got there. And then when you got there, you hear about it. that passage from us, from the staff. And then you've heard messages every four or five weeks of the summer. You've heard them every morning from that passage. And so you spend a great deal of time there. And sometimes it's not a whole book. Sometimes it's a couple of chapters or one Psalm. But we are in Titus this summer, and so I thought it appropriate then that we come there. I think you're normally in Matthew, maybe, right? That's where you've been. And so I thought, let's spend some time here. I thought it would be interesting for you to see what we are working on with the staff as we work through the summer. I'm thrilled to be here. I don't know why I was doing this, but I saw recently on a video of the last time that I preached, and I think I said basically the same thing, but I want you to know that I really mean it. I think that we say, sometimes we say things because we need to say them and we need to be polite. I mean, I don't think we're lying, right? We're not lying necessarily, but we can't follow mom's rule of not saying anything. So, you know, if you don't have anything good to say, don't say anything at all. Sometimes we can't say that. And so it's just polite. And so we say things, but I want you to know that when I walk in, I mean, This is how it happened here. I got out of the car, and immediately there are people there that we know. Hey, Aaron, how are you? A handshake and a hug, and immediately, I mean, I saw Jeff Woosley first of all, and we didn't even get to greet, we just launched into conversation. And then I walk in the door, and there's Dave Scott, and we're immediately talking. Of course, we're talking about, you know, what are we gonna do in this service here? How's it gonna go? But then I walk in, and then everywhere we turned, just people that know us and love us, and it's thrilling, all right? What a fun place to come, okay? Just look forward to coming and seeing you all and certainly delivering the word of God. So I want you to know I wasn't just saying that, but I sincerely mean it. but I'm also thrilled to come to this passage. And so I want to take the time to read beginning in Titus chapter one and we'll start in verse nine. Let me And I'm gonna read really all the way through chapter two. I heard someone say recently that the preacher should read the scripture as much as he could in the sermon and the service because, I mean, at least then we know we're right, okay? That's the time that we know we're right. And so, but I have always asked, I think, it's been my practice to read maybe a little more than we're used to, but again, I think you'll make it through. Let's just for a moment understand where we are. Paul has is given this instruction to Titus. Titus is on this island. And Titus is one that we hear about throughout the New Testament. He's been in ministry, he's worked with Paul. And now here we have this island with barbarians, liars, evil beasts, slow bellies, all right? That's what Paul calls them. One of their own, the Cretans. We use that word, Cretan, right? This is what we mean. The gospel is on this island. There are people of faith there. There are people who believe in the truths of the gospel and are followers of Christ. But this is in no way a Christian nation. And so Paul is instructing Titus now. He's given them the commission you find earlier in chapter one to establish pastors in every town on the island. There needs to be a church delivering the truth of the gospel in every city. So, Titus, that's your commission. Your commission is to preach the word and make sure that others are doing the same thing. But we have here a majority of people, a population that The best, notice the verse, we'll read it in a moment, but he says, one of themselves, even a prophet, that's verse 12, says of their own said, the Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, and slow bellies. And Paul says in verse 13, he's right. He's right. And so Paul is interested then that Titus would rebuke them, that he would take to them the Word of God, that even those that are unsaved would become sound in the faith. And so let's begin reading then. In verse nine, we're here really at the end of the description of those bishops, those pastors, and he says in verse nine, that they should be holding fast the faithful word as hath been taught, that he, the bishop, may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers. For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, especially they of the circumcision whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things that they ought not for filthy lucre's sake. One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said, the Cretans are liars, evil beasts, slow bellies. This witness is true. Wherefore, rebuke them sharply that they may be sound in the faith, not giving heed to Jewish fables and commandments of men that turn from the truth. Under the pure, all things are pure, but under them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure, but even their mind and conscience is defiled. They profess that they know God, but in works they deny him being abominable and disobedient, even unto every good work reprobate. But speak thou the things which become sound doctrine. that the aged men be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, and in patience. The aged women, likewise, that they be in behavior as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things, that they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed. Young men, likewise, exhort to be sober-minded. In all things, showing thyself a pattern of good works and doctrines showing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity, sound speech that cannot be condemned, that he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of you. Exhort servants to be obedient unto their own masters, to please them well in all things, not answering again, not purloining, but showing all good fidelity. that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things. For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world, looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. These things speak and exhort and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise thee. Father, we ask you that you would use your word and your spirit in our hearts in these moments. Change us through your word, we ask. May we understand the impact the gospel has on our lives, and may we respond rightly. In Jesus' name, amen. So Paul's writing to Titus then, and he, you need to establish pastors. The goal here is that we reach those who are not believing. There are those who are not just not believing, but they stand against the word of God. And he says we wanna win those people. We're not just gonna tolerate them, we're not just going to endure them, but we're actually going, our goal is that they would become sound in the faith. And then he comes to this chapter two and he lays out for him a wonderful plan of ministry. That the aged, by the way, If you might describe yourself as old, don't you rather like that word, aged? I like it, right? Because aged to me indicates a level of gravity, a level of maturity, right? You aren't just old. All right, you are aged, you're venerable, okay? I like that, it makes it easy for a preacher who wants to maybe be in the second category. Aged, these aged men and women are, and he lays out for them these things that they're to do, and then the young women. And I wonder, the young women are given a long list and the young men are given one thing. Always the case. I think maybe it's because the women can handle a lot, they can do much more, and if the men could just get this one thing down, right? Maybe that's what it is. But in every case, in every case you see that the one thing that is common among all four of these groups is that they be sober, that they be thinking. that they be right-minded. The idea of being sober is that you have a plan and you follow it. You're aware of what you're doing. Notice the consequences. What I really want us to do is come down now just to these three verses. The juxtaposition of these three verses is interesting. By the way, Titus has in it verses that you've heard before. But then you read Titus and you see them and you go, oh, that's where that verse is. That's what I discovered when I started to study, right? Because this beautiful phrase that we find at the end of verse 10, that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things. For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. We know that verse. And then this verse, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world. But I want you to see this, that God is serious about his truth. and he's serious about the good news of Jesus Christ. Notice what he says there in the end of verse five. Listen, Titus, teach the age of men and women to do these things and then they should be teaching the younger generation to this end that the word of God be not blasphemed. And by whom would it be blasphemed? By the Cretans. by those that are living here on this island, those that we're trying to reach, make sure, he says, that you live out these things so that my truth is not blasphemed. God is serious about his truth. And then notice this phrase, and this is really the capstone that I want us to walk away thinking about tonight, that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things. The doctrine of God our Savior is the teaching of Jesus Christ. It is the good news of Jesus Christ. And we are to adorn the good news of Jesus Christ in everything. So what does adorn mean? Well, we'll come to that in a moment. Whatever adorning means, We are to be doing that with the gospel of Jesus Christ in all things. Everything that we're doing must adorn the gospel of Jesus Christ. And he's talked here to the aged men, the aged women, the young men, the young women, and slaves. And in every case, in the end, we should adorn the doctrine of Jesus Christ, of God our Savior, he says. So adorn, adorn means lots of things. It could mean, there's a sense in which it means that we should be wearing that. That kind of makes sense. We actually are given that picture in other places. Think of the picture that we find in Colossians chapter three that says that the peace of God should rule our hearts. I think as you study out that idea, the concept is there. That the gospel should rule our minds. That in everything that we're doing, actually that word rule there means to umpire. That in everything that we're doing, the truths of the gospel should direct our minds. And we find that concept here with his emphasis on being sober. But the other ways in which we find that word used in the New Testament, we find it to be the bride is adorned for her husband. She is decorated is another word that we might use. It's also used when it talks about trimming a lamp. Trimming a lamp would be to adorn. Okay, I've played with lamps, right? The lamp I play with, you have the fuel on the bottom, and you have that little crank, and you turn the wick up, and you can, if you play with that, I'm encouraging you to play with fire. Do this under adult supervision, right? But if you turn that just the right way, you can get it to get really smoky, or you can get it to be really nice and bright, or you can get it to where it almost is snuffed out. And it's interesting that the work of the lamp trimmer, he trimmed the wick of the lamp so that it would burn brightly and clearly. And you see sometimes when it's wrong, it'll burn and all of a sudden you'll see this puff of smoke and it's black and it doesn't burn smoothly. But the idea is to trim it in such a way that it burns bright and clear. That's what we're to be doing with the gospel. It is to be, we are to, the gospel is to affect our lives and we're to respond to the work of the gospel in our lives so that to other people it shines bright and clear. Paul says to the Philippians that Christ would be magnified in my body. whether it be by life or by death. I want Jesus Christ to be seen more clearly. And that would be even a picture that we could use here in adorning the focus as we focus a camera, if we've ever played with one of these overhead, what do we call those now? That's not an overhead projector, it's a... You know what I mean, right? The thing that's hanging there and shines there. You can mess with the focus and it's out and then you turn the lens and bam, we can see it. It's clear. That's what he's going for here. That when you do these things, they'll see Christ. Now what is interesting to me, again, is this first look now at verse nine. Exhort servants. I don't know what word, what picture you have in your mind when you read the word servant. But let me say this. Already the language there has classed it up. The people who are sitting here and who are being addressed, who are being talked about here, servants is a classy word. Now, we never had servants when I was growing up, you know, but when I think of a servant, I think of maybe a guy in a black jacket and a white shirt who had a fairly comfortable life, maybe he answered the door and told us when it was time to eat. That's not what we're talking about here. First of all, we ought to be using the word slave. When we hear the word slave, now we think about somebody who is doing stuff, the things that they do are not on their own accord. They don't follow their own will. A slave follows the will of someone else. That's starting to get to the idea. We can turn over to Mark chapter 12. Mark chapter 12 we have here a parable that Christ gives. Our point in coming to this parable is not to understand the parable. Our point in coming to this is he describes slaves. And what I want you to see, I want us to understand what was the expectation for a slave here in the New Testament. And so Christ, as he often did when he gave us a parable, he gave something that was common. Right? The parable of the seed and the sower. Right? Everybody knew what he was talking about, and so he used it. He did this over and over and over and over again as he dealt with people. And so now he comes here to something that is common. Everyone understood what he was saying. And so now begin reading. I'll read here in chapter 12, verse 1. Speaking of Jesus, he said to them, a certain man planted a vineyard and set a hedge about it and digged a place for the wine fat and built a tower and let it out to a husbandman and went into a far country. So this guy with money, he built a vineyard that's gonna start producing and now he finds someone to take care of it and he goes off. And at the season he sent to the husbandman a servant That's what I want you to focus on. This slave, that he might receive from the husband the fruit of the vineyard, and they caught him. Those are the people working the vineyard. They caught the servant. And notice what they did. They beat him and sent him away empty. And again he sent unto them another servant. And at him they cast stones and wounded him in the head and sent him away shamefully handled. All right, now I want you to get my point. Here's, I just wanna come up here, I don't know why, but I just wanna get up here. Okay, so here's the husbandman up here, and he says, I need to get my stuff. I need to get my profit, so the fruit of the vineyard, so you, slave, go. And so off he goes. And what do they do when he gets him there? They beat him up, and they send him back. So here he comes back, and he's beat up. Now there's more servants over here in the master's house, or this rich guy's house, and they know, they see him come back, and what happens? He says, well, it's your turn, you go. And so now the next guy goes, and what do they do to him? They treat him even worse, right? They stone him, and I love this, wounded him in the head. So now he's gone back, he has a concussion, he's probably bleeding, and somehow he makes it back. And what does the rich guy say? Send another one. Now, if you're servant number three, what are you thinking? I'm not going. But what does he do? He goes. Why? Because you're a slave, it's what you do. You don't have any choice, you go. And again, he sent another, and him they killed, and many others he sent, beating some and killing some. So if you're down the line here of servants, and he says to you, master says to you, you go, And not everybody that's sent ever came back. But you know what? You're a slave and so you go. And so the master gets the idea, he says, you know what, I'm gonna send my son, surely they'll treat him better. What does that tell us? It tells us that when you were a slave, it wasn't just that you had to be, you had to do whatever the master told you, but you were shamefully treated by everybody. You were looked down upon by everybody. Oh, it won't matter. We don't have to listen. That's a slave in the New Testament. So now go back, will you, now to Titus? Paul says to Titus, when you talk to the slaves who live that kind of life, here's what I want you to tell them. Tell them to be obedient to their own masters. Why? Because their masters are good? No, no, no, no. Why? Because the Word of God need not be blasphemed. And because when you are a Christian, when you are a believer in Jesus Christ, when the gospel is at work in your heart, everything is different. But you don't understand my situation. You don't understand the things I'm going through. You don't understand what's going on in my family, or the way that I've been mistreated, or I'm down on my luck, or all these other, you don't understand what's going on in my life. And he says, tell these slaves, tell them to be obedient. Also, tell them to please them well in all things. and not to answer again, not to say, right, this guy over here says, hey, buddy, you're going. No, no, I'm not going. We've only seen pieces of some of those guys come back, I'm not going. He says, no. No, you go. And you go, why? You go because I'm serious about my word. and I'm serious about the change that I've made in your heart." And so he says then that they don't purloin. Okay, great word. Anybody know what that means? It means to steal, right? I don't have much time. Oh, well, I remember in college, I worked in a camp and they had like sports camps and other camps there in the summer. And every camper that came got a t-shirt. And they're all kinds of different colors. And there was this big room with tables with hundreds of these shirts. Yea, verily, I love to say that phrase. You only get to say that when you're standing up here. Yea, verily, thousands of these shirts. And there was a guy that I worked, we all as staff members wore one every day. And there was a guy that I worked with, he would go, he would put one on in the morning and he would get hot and sweaty in it by afternoon and he would walk in after lunch and he would get another one and put it on. And the next day he would do the same thing, he'd get another one and he'd put it on. And you know what his excuse was? He would say, well, you know what? I've paid a lot of money to come to this school. They owe me. That's purloining. All right? He's stealing. He's going, ah, you know, they'll never miss it. You know what? They never did miss it. They never did. Some of these servants might not have clothes to put on their backs. But you know what he says to them? Don't steal. But showing all good fidelity, showing faithfulness. Why? that they may make the doctrine of Jesus Christ shine clear and bright to the evil sinners around them. But notice this, what's the next verse? For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, even to you slaves, God's grace enables holiness. Think about that for a moment. God's grace should not enable lasciviousness. Paul teaches that in the book of Romans and in other places. Somehow we think, sometimes we look at grace and we go, okay, that means now that God is somehow not so worried about my sin. Ah, come on. I mean, it's not really a big deal. I mean, there's grace. I mean... And yet, the way Paul describes it here, it's for exactly the opposite reason. I know you're in a tough situation. I know you're a slave. I know you are among the dregs of the earth, but I still want you to act righteously. And let me remind you that you can do that because the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. The grace of God in your life becomes an enabling power that says, even though you have a terrible life, even though everything is against you, even though everything is bad here, you can still serve me. You can still respond rightly. Because you know where you are without Christ? Unable to respond rightly. For the carnal mind is enmity against God, Paul tells the Romans. It's not subject to God, neither indeed can be. And so them that are of the flesh cannot please God. That's why he mentions the grace of God. Because he says, listen, I know what I'm telling you is incredibly difficult, and you're not gonna do it on your own. But you know how you will do it? The grace of God that brings salvation. And because that grace is so powerful, don't allow others to blaspheme it. Because that grace is so powerful and it makes these great changes in your life, then let's not be sloppy with the way we live. Let's not realize that God is serious about his word. Let's allow that work in our hearts and let's respond rightly. Let's do the right thing because God's holiness matters. That's why Peter had the gall in A.D. 69 when he wrote his epistle to quote the Old Testament and say, be ye holy for I am holy. You know there were people sitting there in the pew going, come on, this is the 60s. And yet he says, be holy. Remember the grace that enables you. Because listen, it should be obvious. Thinking of the world that these people lived in, it's not the world we live in, but we're getting there. I don't know what postmodern Christian nation really means to everybody who says it, but I know that there are things that are different. Things aren't the same they were 30 years ago. I can't expect the policeman to back up my moral standards that I might have. I can't expect the teacher, don't get me wrong, I love policemen. I just mean, I don't know, that guy is not necessarily a believer. And the teacher isn't. And the government official isn't. It's just not the same. Paul tells the Philippians that you are to stand up as lights in the world among a perverse and crooked nation, holding forth the word of truth. Why? Because God's holiness matters. You know, there's so much to being saved, so much more to being saved than just being comforted in death or knowing that we won't go to hell. There is work to be done, and the work to be done, as described here, is that we should protect the holiness of God, the truth of God, and the truth of the gospel. There is real work to salvation. Saying that a person who gets saved to avoid hell is like someone who joins the army to see the world. Right? I mean, isn't that a recruiting slogan, right? Join the Army or the Navy, right? And see the world. If you join the Army, will you see the world? Maybe. Okay. I mean, depending on what's going on, it's likely you're going to see another part of the world. If you are saved, Will you go to hell? No. No. So in those ways, it's the same. But can you imagine the recruit who's thinking, I'm joining the army. I'm going to see the world. So he shows up on the bus. Right, the bus picks him up wherever it picks him up, and it brings him over here, over here to Fort Bragg, and he gets off the bus, right? He's got his flip-flops on and his long, flowery shorts, right? And he's got his sunglasses and his backpack, and he's got maybe even the old thick, white, you know, application of sun, the screen right here. What are you doing? I'm here to see the world. How's that gonna go for him? I mean, does he have 60 seconds? He doesn't, right? I mean, not even 60 seconds, right? Don't you think, won't he be wearing sunscreen on his nose now for how many, I mean, all the way through basic, right? Right, you're gonna, you thought you were gonna, yeah, you'll wear this every day now. Right? That's not how it goes. Neither is salvation. Salvation, certainly we have comfort, but our purpose here is to contend for the faith. It is to encourage one another in the faith. It is to deliver the gospel to those around us. And it is to adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things. When you follow your own way and you choose your own stuff and you do what you think is best, you don't allow the gospel to shine brightly. But when you have been given the worst end of the situation and you allow the grace of God which brings salvation to work in your heart and you respond in a way that shows Christ, he shines brightly. You may get no benefit, but you know what? That's not why we're here. We're here to adorn the doctrine, the gospel of Jesus Christ. Father, we thank you that you love us. We thank you that your long-suffering and patient We thank you that even though we're slow learners, you continue to teach us and grow us. May this be a body, Lord, that continues to contend for the faith. And may we realize the power of your grace. And as we leave here, may we have opportunities, Lord, to shine the gospel brightly. Father, it's in your son's name we ask these things. Amen.