Series on the Epistles of Paul (131) - Titus 3:1-15

Well, good evening, brethren. Titus is an epistle that Paul wrote to him when he left him in Crete, and he left him in Crete so that he would set things in order as we read in chapter 1 verse 5. Then in chapter 2 of Titus, Paul basically addressing a number of points or groups of brethren as far as how to be careful to maintain good works. In other words, how, for instance, a elder man and how to older ladies and those that are workers, how to be careful to maintain good works. And so he starts in chapter 2 by Paul by addressing Titus himself, that he needs to make sure that he teaches sound doctrine. In other words, the uncorrupted teaching of Jesus Christ. That's what Paul emphasizes there to Titus. And then in chapter 2, he then talks to the older man. In other words, the congregation leadership, let's call it that. And in the first part of chapter 2 verse 2, he tells about their personal conduct as far as good works from a point of personal conduct by being sober, reverent, and temperate. And then in the second part of verse 2, he focuses good works from the point of view of their spiritual life by being sound in faith, in love, and in patient. Then in chapter 3, he says that, I keep saying chapter 3, I meant verse 3, then in verse 3, he then says to the older woman that they knew that they need to do the same as the older man. But then in verse 4, he encourages them to teach the younger or new woman. Could obviously be new ladies in the church, but the mere fact that that is to older to teach the younger, it implies younger ladies that are newly mothers and those ladies in the church. Then in verses 6, then he talks about to the younger man and then to be sober-minded. And then in verse 7 and 8, he then says to the younger man, and titers himself, because he was a younger man.

For us today, I consider young men people in the 30s, 40s, or even 50 years old. I'll consider them young men. So I think if a person is 50 years old, probably would not think himself as being a young man, but quite often in the church, as we look at our demographics, that is still a young man. But anyway, and he says to titers himself to be very careful with doctrine and with sound speech. We see that in verse 8. He says in sound speech, cannot be condemned, and that one who is an opponent may be ashamed, having nothing evil to say of you. So the the Apostle Paul encourages titers to never compromise with doctrine. That's what he says in verse 7, showing integrity, reverence, and incorruptibility, and to also be careful with how he speaks, so that people may not have anything to accuse him of. Then in verses 9 and 10, he addresses bond servants, or in our context would be laborers and workers, to be obedient, well pleasing, pleasing, and faithful. And then he says that this godly conduct is absolutely necessary. And then in verse 11, because, and then he says 4, in other words, because of God's loving graciousness, because of the grace of God. And then in verse 12, he then says that we all need to live a life that denies ungodliness, that denies worldly lusts. Again, a life in which there is a response in our lives of repentance. And so in verse 12, he emphasizes that we need to live soberly, righteously, and godly, as we can see that towards the latter part of verse 12. Now, the world around today, the world around us today, does not live that way. And therefore, we cannot live according to the standards of this world. And so we always have to maintain a higher standard, but as the standards go down in society around us, recreatably, we see a number of people allowing themselves to allow their standards to be lower, in a sense, to compromise. And in fact, over the last few years, we see more and more of that.

And it's possible that some people might say, oh well, I'm doing quite well when they compare themselves to the world, but the world is really going down in their standards. So we have to maintain a very high standard of good works. So that's why we need to compare ourselves to Jesus Christ. And that's what we see, yeah, looking in verse 13, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.

So we're always going to look for word in hope, and Christ has to be our standard. Verse 14, he is the one that gave himself, as a complete, let's call it, burnt offering. He completely gave himself completely for us, and he gave himself for us so that we could be motivated to purify ourselves, so that we can become a special people, not just anybody, but special.

That's what it says, a special people's zealots for good works. And then in verse 15, which is the last verse of this second chapter, where Paul is talking about that we need to be careful to maintain good works, because in this chapter, he's addressing the church. So in this verse 15, he is saying that we as ministers, ministers of Jesus Christ, and just because he's addressing Titus, he's a minister, and this is a pastoral epistle, so he's addressing ministers. But again, that applies to all those that have opportunities to speak in church.

He says, speak these things, exhort and rebuke all with authority. So therefore, as ministers, we have to speak the truth and rebuke those that go in the wrong way with authority. He says, let no one despise you. In other words, don't allow other people to despise you, Titus, in words, talking to us as ministers, disrespecting the office of the ministry. Now, why would Paul say that? Because surely there was a certain disrespect for people, and particularly, and in this context, God's ministers, by some.

That's why he says in verse 16 of chapter 1 that he's talking about that there are people that profess to know God, but they deny Him by being abominable, disobedient, and disqualified for every good work. And so that is the kind of the vibe of the world around them, therefore the Christians, but it is the vibe of the world around us. So we've got to be careful that that does not affect us, and this lack of disrespect for authority, we've got to be careful that it does not allow, or that we don't allow it to affect us.

So now we move on to chapter 3, which is what we want to complete today, and then that way we'll complete Titus. And let's read verse 1. Remind them to be subject to rulers and authorities, to obey, to be ready for every good work. So Paul is saying, yeah, to Titus, to remind the brethren that we have to address and make sure that our Christian conduct towards those not in the church needs to be the correct one, and particularly remind them to be subject to rulers and authorities. Now again, remind. So remember that this is no new teaching.

They knew that before, and we as Christians quite often need to be reminded, even for instance, in God's Ten Commandments, the fourth commandment says, remember the Sabbath day. So it's not that it was something new, it already existed, but it's a reminder. And so the Cretans had a long history of insurrections, murders, and internal scene wars. Quite an interesting word that, which means they were fighting amongst themselves, or internal fighting within themselves. In other words, wars that in the end are self-destructing. Reminds me of a description that says a kingdom divided against itself will not stand.

So that was a spirit that existed there in Crete, and so they did not respect authorities, those above them. And it said, I'm reminding you, as members in the Church, respect those that have authorities which are not in the Church, but they are, for instance, the authorities in the civic, so the civil world, or the civic leaders. And in fact, we can see that in verse 10 of chapter 1 of Titus says, for there are many insubordinate.

And so there was a lot of insubordination prevalent in that society. And we also remember that Romans 13, Paul in Romans 13 verses 1 through 7 talks about us to submit to the authorities, and he says those authorities exist because they've been appointed by God.

And then continuing here in verse 1, it says to obey and to be ready for every good work. In other words, we are to cooperate with the authorities, and we need to be obedient to those authorities. Now, is there a time when we are instructed not to obey those in authority? Well, in Acts 5 verse 29, let's just look at Acts 5 verse 29. Acts 5 verse 29. Acts 5 verse 29 reads, But Peter and other apostles, and the other apostles, answered and said, we ought to obey God rather than men. And so when the authorities tell us to disobey God's laws, then we got to obey God.

Otherwise, we need to cooperate with those authorities. Now continuing now in verse 2 of Titus 3, Ready for good work to speak evil of no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing all humility to all men.

Now to speak evil of no one, and to be peaceable, gentle, and show all humility to all men. So yeah, we see four descriptions of Christian conduct. Four. Now, the first two, as we read it in our New King James Version, for instance, may not convey exactly how it was written in Greek, because in Greek, those first two are negative statements. In other words, to speak evil of no one. In other words, don't speak evil. And the other one, which is to be peaceable in Greek, is actually don't quarrel. And therefore, be peaceable, compared that, for instance, with the New Living Translation.

In other words, don't be one that always wants to argue. So these first two descriptions of Christian conduct emphasize, have a negative tone, but using a negative expression, but to say we must not do that. So don't speak evil and don't quarrel. Or, in other words, don't speak evil to anyone and be peaceable. So those two have a negative connotation to it. The other two are positive statements, which says gentle. It says gentle and showing all your humility to all men. When we read in 2 Corinthians chapter 10 verse 1, we find the same words about Christ. 2 Corinthians 10 verse 1. And then it says, now I pull myself and pleading with you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ. And so Yah is, as we are to grow in the knowledge of Jesus Christ, we can see that he was humble, meek and gentle. And so we likewise are to be gentle in all our relationships. And we are to treat all men with humility. Our true humility is something that that is very hard for a lot of people. Why? Because it's easy to look down on those that don't have, let's say, the same talents or resources or natural beauty that one may have. For instance, it's easy to look down to those that don't have money. Or it's easy to look down to those that are not maybe as beauty as one may think he is, or things like that. So humility is the ability to respect everyone. In other words, we are to treat everyone the same way. Having great wealth and money is not really the true riches. The true riches are beyond that. And so one can have all the money but lose our eternal life. So what's the good of having money? And therefore, we really are in these descriptions humility to all men. Therefore, as Christians, the Christian behavior in the public life should be, as we read in verse 1, 1 to authorities to be respectful, to be good citizens. And in verse 2, it says to all men, in other words, in verse 2 it says, speak evil of no one, and then it's showing all humility or all weakness to all men. So in verse 2, it's talking to everybody while in verse 1, it's talking to authorities. And so a good Christian behavior in public life should be towards the authorities to be good citizens. That's what dimensions in verse 1. In towards everybody, that's in verse 2, we should be conciliatory, cautious, humble, and gentle.

And it says this is based on true doctrine. Look at verse 3. 4, it was because 4, and now he gives a doctrinal statement beyond this conduct that all good works that is expected. For we ourselves, we are also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. And so Yaa is a doctrinal statement saying we have to have this better conduct because we weren't like those people, but we are Yaa because of God's grace. In 1 Corinthians chapter 6 verse 9 through 10, Paul says, let's just get to it, 1 Corinthians 6 9 through 10, it says, Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God, nor be deceived, nor the fornicators, nor idolatrous, nor adulterous, nor homosexual, nor sonomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortionists, nor the narrative kingdom of God. So there's going to be repentance. But in verse 11, and such were some of you. And so we were washed, we were called, we were changed, we got it, be different. It says we were washed, you were sanctified, made separate, you were justified by what Christ has done for us, and we have repented, we got every repentance in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. And so we, therefore, must show compassion towards others that have not yet overcome. But if, because maybe they have not been called or whatever, we show compassion. And as people are growing in the church, we've got to show them compassion as well. But now I want you to look at something else. Yeah, in this verse 3 of Titus chapter 3, there's a contrast in some of the words. Because look at here in verse 3, Titus 3, says, where also was foolish. And that is a contrast to in verse 1, when it says, be subject, be submissive. If we are not subject, we're not submissive, we are in a sense are foolish. Look, then it says in verse 3, it says, disobedient. But look in verse 1, it says, remind them to obey. And so it says, we were disobedient, we're foolish. You know, we were not subject, we're not submissive. But we got it, we were once foolish, but now we got to be submissive. We were once disobedient, but now we got to obey. And then it says, serving various lasts and pleasures. That's where we were. But look at verse 1, it says, be ready to do good work. In other words, it's not serving lasts and pleasures. Then still in verse 3, says, living in malice and envy. That's where we were once. But in verse 2 says, speak evil of no one and don't quarrel. In other words, that is a contrasting attitude to malice and envy, in a sense. And then lastly says, hateful and hating one another. That, but in verse 2 says, we got to be gentle and showing all humility to all men. So we can see a contrast here from verses 1 and 2 to verse 3. So why have we changed? Because it says, you were also once. Why have we changed? Because God called us. Because God has extended mercy to us. And God has given us His Holy Spirit. Therefore, because God has done that done for us, you and I need to be patient towards other people. Because God will call them one day. And so we need to be patient. That's the doctrinal, in other words, basis for this good conduct that we need to have. Now, verse 4 through 7, it's just one long sentence. And this long sentence is a very cleverly word, very, very clear, let's call it explanation of what salvation is. We're going to read all centers, and then we're going to drill down and look at it in more detail. Verse 4 through 7, that having been justified by His grace, we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

That is quite a sentence, and it's one that we need to unpack, that we need to look at it more carefully. It basically, in this long sentence, there are seven major phrases.

And the center one, because there's three before and three after, the center one, the fourth phrase, is, He saved us. And so we have three sentences before that, and three sentences or phrases are being apparted after He saved us. So let's look at this in more detail. And this is, but when, let's see, verse 4, but when the kindness and the love of God, our Savior, towards man, appeared.

God, our Savior, it's talking about God the Father. We'll compare that as we read that into verse 6, because it says, He will be poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ. So it's talking about the Father. And so God the Father is our Savior, and Jesus Christ is our Savior.

They both are our Savior. Why? Because the Father gave the instruction, gave the command, He orchestrated the plan for us to be saved. And Jesus Christ was the one that executed, that came, that gave His life so that we could be saved. So they both are, in other words, our Savior. But one was the architect, let's call it that, and the other one was the one that executed that plan.

And then we also read in Titus chapter 2 verse 11, and we can see, yeah, Titus, for the grace of God, it brings salvation as appeared to all men. So it's a very similar statement to Yah in verse 4. And the grace of God that has appeared before man, it's accomplished by Jesus Christ's first coming. It's Christ when He appeared, and therefore, Christ, it's the grace of God that He sent His only Beloved Son to us. When He appeared, He brought to us the good news of the kingdom of God. And through that, through what He did when Christ appeared, you and I can be freed from our sins by Christ's redemptive act or act of dying for us. So that's verse 4. That's the first phrase. The second phrase is in verse 5, and it says, not our works of righteousness which we have done. And so Christ didn't come because of any work of righteousness that any one of us has done. No, that's for sure.

The third phrase is, but according to His mercy. So God, in His mercy, He decides to call whom He chooses. In Romans 9, verses 15 through 16, Romans 9 verses 15 through 16.

Romans 9, 15 through 16. It says, for He says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom ever I will have mercy, and of compassion on whom ever I have compassion. So then it's not of Him who wills, nor of Him who runs, but of God who shows mercy. God calls whom He chooses. Now obviously, you will show mercy to everyone, but we are in this process now because of God's mercy towards us now. God calls those now that He chooses to call now. He decides who are the elect. And in verse 4, it says, this the second big part, the next phrase, which is the fourth phrase, it says He saved us.

Now, God starts us on the road to salvation. So He has taken us from the sins of this wall, and the final change comes at Christ's return. Let's look at Luke 19, verses 9 and 10. Luke 19, verse 9 and 10.

And Jesus said to him, today salvation has come to the south because he also is the son of Abraham.

For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which are lost. And so that implies that he saved us, but it's the beginning of this road to salvation because this is a process, because that in fact is endorsed by the very next phrase which says in still in verse 5, which is through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit. And that is a process. So He saved us, and we are in this process of being saved through what? An ongoing washing, continuous, present tense washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit. Now regeneration is that we are becoming, we become children of God when we are begotten again. So that's a whole different subject. I'm not going to cover it now, but we've covered it before. But if you want to study that, we have a study paper about that subject on our website in great detail. But regeneration, that's when you and I receive God's Holy Spirit after baptism by the lay on our hands, and we are begotten again. We are begotten from above. And so that's the regeneration of the Holy Spirit, because it's the Holy Spirit that begets us again when we, you and I, receive the seed from above. And also it says, and renewing also the Holy Spirit, renewing. That is what it's talked about in 1st Peter chapter 1 verse 2, which is the sanctification of the Spirit. Let's just look at 1st Peter chapter 1 verse 2, when it says that we are talking to the elect, according to the knowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit.

Sanctification is the ongoing setting apart of the Holy Spirit, renewing of the Holy Spirit, sanctification of the Holy Spirit for obedience. God's Holy Spirit sets us apart for obedience. We got to, as we are led by God's Holy Spirit, and Romans chapter 8 goes through that in great detail, as we are led by God's Holy Spirit, Romans 8 verse 14, we become the sons of God, because we are changing our minds. There is a transformation of our minds, a metamorphosis, as it says in Revelation 12 verse 1. We got to change our minds, and that is our reasonable service. So, and this is through the renewing of the Holy Spirit. So, let's get back to Titus chapter 3, and now we're going to go on to verse 5. And in verse 5, we have the sixth phrase of this long sentence from verse 4 to verse 7. We've got this sixth phrase that it says, whom or with which the Holy Spirit which he poured out God the Father through Christ, says poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior. So, it is God's Holy Spirit, so it proceeds from the Father, but it's poured out on us by Jesus Christ. In Matthew chapter 3 verse 11, Matthew chapter 3 verse 11, we see that John the Baptist, making a reference to that, Matthew chapter 3 verse 11. And he says, I indeed baptize you with water and repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I'm not worthy to carry. He, that's Christ that comes after John the Baptist, Christ will baptize you. Christ baptizes us with the Holy Spirit. It's Christ that baptizes us with the Holy Spirit. In other words, that we receive God's Holy Spirit by the laying on of hands after the baptism of water. And the laying on of hands when the minister prays and asks God to honor the promise of the Father, his promise, to give us his Holy Spirit so that we may become his children, because that's what God wants us. That's his promise for us to be sons of God. So we are begotten again when we receive God's Holy Spirit, which is poured on us abundantly through Christ our Savior.

And just as in between brackets, yeah, he says he'll baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. That is referring to if we then don't obey, if we don't live God's way, when the day comes of the final decision and judgment, then those unfortunately that have not obeyed would be baptized in the lake of fire, the Gehenna fire, and it's Christ that judges and that administers that. So let's go on, therefore, on to Titus chapter 3 again. We finished reading verse 6, which is the sixth phrase of that long sentence, and now we go to verse 7, which is also the seventh phrase of that long sentence, which says that having been justified by His grace, we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. And so we are justified by God's mercy, by God's grace. It's extended to us. We are justified by the faith of Christ. It's not my great faith or your great faith that makes us right with God. It is what Christ has done for us, and He died for us because of His absolute trust in the Father, and trust that this act of redemption of both the Father giving His Son and the Son giving His life for us, that would lead many to repentance. And so this very act, this act of faith from Christ's side, and this is what justifies us. And this is because of God's grace. We are justified by God's grace, by God's mercy, which is extended to us, and that we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. We are now heirs. We become. The actual warrior become heirs in Greek is more related to present than we are now heirs. We are now heirs, and we'll become ineritors when Christ comes back, when He returns. But now we heirs according to the promise. Look at Galatians 3 verse 16. Galatians 3 verse 16. Galatians 3 verse 16. It says, Now Abram, any seed, to Abram any seed, that's Christ, where the promise is made. It does not say, to seeds as of many, but as of one, and to your seed, who is Christ. And then in verse 29, we read, And if you are Christ, then you are Abram's seed, and heirs according to the promise. You are now heirs. So we have become. Now we are. We are heirs according to the promise.

And so in verse 7, we've been justified by His grace, and we became heirs. We are now heirs. We're not ineritors yet. We'll be, we'll inherit at Christ's return, but we are heirs according to this hope of eternal life. So this long sentence from verse 4 to verse 7 is a very powerful sentence that says, Because Christ has come, that is the kindness and love of God that He sent His beloved Son to us. And He didn't send His Son because we are great people, and we've done great works. No, we've not. He done it because of His mercy. He started a saving process that is executed through the work of God's Holy Spirit of regeneration and renewing and sanctification. And that Holy Spirit is poured on us abundantly through Christ, and that therefore, through that being justified by disgrace, we become heirs according to this great hope. This one long phrase, in a sense, encapsulates the plan of salvation. Right, then we move on to verse 8. This is a faithful saying. Now, if you look in the sequence of 1 and 2 Timothy and then Titus, we can see this is the fifth time that this word, the faithful saying, is mentioned. This is a faithful saying, and those things I want you to affirm constantly that those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works.

So, Paul stresses this constantly in his teaching that you and I must be careful to maintain good works. Why? Because of Christ's mercy, because of the grace has been given to us, and therefore, we have to repent and change and become better people. He constantly stresses that.

And if we look at Titus chapter 1 verse 16 says, they who profess to know God, but in works, they deny Him being abominable, disobedient, and disqualified for every good work.

You see, we have to do good works, because if we don't do good works, we deny Christ in works, and that is an abomination to God. So, we really have to do good works.

Verse 9. And now verse 9 and 10, it's coming towards the conclusion, and now he says, what to avoid? Verse 9, 10 and 11. Paul is saying to Titus what he needs to avoid. He says, avoid foolish disputes. Avoid foolish disputes. Why? Because they take a lot of time. They time wasters, and they don't produce good fruit.

Foolish disputes, genealogies, contentions, and strivings about the law, for they are unprofitable and useless. Now contrast. Yeah, at the end of verse 9, that he says, this is what we're going to avoid, because this is unprofitable. Look at the end of verse 8, when he says that we need to be careful to maintain good works, because these things are good and profitable. So, we see this contrast again. In verse 8, good works, those are profitable.

Foolish disputes, genealogies, contentions, and strivings about the law, they are unprofitable.

So, avoid that, Paul is saying. And then in verse 10, he says, reject a divisive man. One that has factions, that has contentions, that has arguments, who insists on his own self-opinion and view after the first and second admonition. So, yeah, we have people that are divisive. They are contentious. They're not asking a question, but they either either subtly or actively sowing the scored. And so, look at verse 2, when he says, people don't speak evil, speak evil on a one, and to be peaceful, in other words, or not quarreling. It's kind of the same thing. These people are contentious. They're quarreling. They're speaking evil of the law or other things, or of the church, or whatever it is. And then he says, after the first and second admonition, reject them. And so, yeah, there's like two steps. First, give a warning. Sit down, explain. This is not what the church teaches. And if you continue, bang! Then, a second admonition, a second warning. Then, that's it, in a sense. It's very similar to Matthew 18, 15. You know, God talked to him privately, and then bring the church, bring others in, bring two or three witnesses. And then the church, bang! brings a judgment, in a sense. So, it's very similar in that type of approach there. Now, verse 11, it says, knowing that such a person is warped, such a person is warped, it's become perverted. Their minds have become twisted and sinning and sinning, being self-condemned. In other words, he cannot say that people don't tell him this or that. He's self-condemned. In other words, he knows better. Or, put it in their way, he sins woefully against knowledge. Hebrews 10 verse 26 talks about that. Hebrews 10 verse 26.

Hebrews 10 verse 26.

All right, what it says, for if we sin woefully, because we know better, right? It said, after we have received the knowledge of truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins. Self-condemned. So, continue now in Titus chapter 3 verse 12. This is verse 12, I mean, a big part of verse 11. He basically finishes those instructions in chapter 2, and he talked about good, godly conduct in the church. And then chapter 3, conduct, good Christian conduct towards people that are opposing or people in the world. And then now, it says, hey, reject those that are doing that. And now he gives the concluding remarks. Just some concluding remarks says, when I send Artemis to you or Tychicus, be diligent to come to me at Nicopolis, for I have decided to spend the winter there. So, he's saying, as soon as one of these two people come there to replace you, then you come. In other words, his intent was not that Titus would be there all the time, but Titus could not leave, could not walk away from his responsibility as the pastor of a creed until he would send some replacement, one of these two people. So, when I send those two people to you, then come to me, Paul is saying. And then verse 13, it says, send Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their journey with haste, that they may lack nothing. And so, these two, it's likely that Zenas and Apollos brought this letter to Titus, and once they've completed this mission, giving him the letter, send them back in a way that they don't lack anything. So, make sure they're well supplied to continue on their trip. So, and then Zenas the lawyer. Now, the word, this word in Greek has two meanings. One could be a Jewish scribe, but Zenas is a Greek name, so that is probably not the case. And two, a lawyer is what we'd call an attorney, a Roman attorney, and that is more the probability there. So, and then he moves on to verse 14, and let our people also learn to maintain good works. And this is the wrapping up the message is we as Christians have to maintain good works. Our people, that is, those in the church, let our people learn to maintain good works, to be devoted to godly actions. And he described what those good works are in this letter, to meet urgent needs that they may not be unfruitful. And then he concludes, all who are with me greet you, greet those who love us in the faith, grace be with you all. Amen. And this is characteristic of Paul's epistles, saying, grace be with you all. And so, in conclusion, as I conclude this, like Paul said, let us all strive to maintain good works.