There is no lead-in to this message. My brother Kong is speaking on Titus.
That aged men be temperate, grave, sober-minded, sound in faith, in love, in patience:
that aged women likewise be reverent in demeanor, not slanderers nor enslaved to much wine, teachers of that which is good;
that they may train the young women to love their husbands, to love their children,
to be sober-minded, chaste, workers at home, kind, being in subjection to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.
The younger men likewise exhort to be sober-minded:
in all things showing thyself an ensample of good works; in thy doctrine showing uncorruptness, gravity, sound speech, that cannot be condemned;
that he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of us.
Exhort servants to be in subjection to their own masters, and to be well-pleasing to them in all things; not gainsaying;
not purloining, but showing all good fidelity; that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things.
For the grace of God hath appeared, bringing salvation to all men,
instructing us, to the intent that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live sober-mindedly and righteously and godly in this present world;
looking for the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;
Who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a people for His own possession, zealous of good works.
These things speak and exhort and reprove with all authority. Let no man despise thee.
But when the kindness of God our Saviour, and His love toward man, appeared,
not by works done in righteousness, which we did ourselves, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit,
which He poured out upon us richly, through Jesus Christ our Saviour;
that, being justified by His grace, we might be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
Faithful is the saying, and concerning these things I desire that thou affirm confidently, to the end that they who have believed God may be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men.
We mentioned how God raised up this young man, Titus, to be a troubleshooter in the house of God, because God first built into him such character that he was a ready vessel in the hand of the Master.
We do look to the Lord that He will raise up many Tituses—young men and women with solid Christian character. I think this is the greatest need in our time. With these people, God is able to set His house in order.
In the letter to Titus, we find the apostle Paul instructing his younger fellow worker as to how to set the house of God in order; or, to put it another way, how to build the house of God to the satisfaction of God.
We mentioned that there are four things in this letter that need to be looked into:
For the house of God to be built, there must be spiritual leadership established. For the house of God to be set in order, there must be discipline; otherwise, there will be disorder.
This morning we would like to go into the third and fourth matters: sound teaching and good works.
In Crete, there were serious problems in the matter of teaching. In Titus 1:10-11, we read:
For there are many unruly men, vain talkers and deceivers, specially they of the circumcision,
whose mouths must be stopped; men who overthrow whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucre’s sake.
They had a real problem, because they had many—not just a few, or some, but many—who were disorderly. That is, they would not subject themselves to authority, to the rule of God. They were vain speakers; they spoke vain things. They were deceivers of people’s minds, teaching things that ought not to be taught.
Among them were those Judaizers who loved to go into Jewish fables and the traditions of men instead of the truth of God.
With all these false teachings and false teachers in their midst—and a great number of them—no wonder Paul was deeply concerned. Their mouths must be stopped. They must be rebuked severely so that people would not be led astray from the truth of God.
We find that this is not just a problem with the churches in Crete. Ever since the beginning of church history, this has been, and still is, a serious problem.
In the early days, when God began to form His church on this earth on the day of Pentecost, those who believed were together. They continued steadfastly in the teaching and fellowship of the apostles, in the breaking of bread, and in prayer.
In other words, in the early church the people were nurtured by sound teaching—the teaching of the apostles—and they practiced that teaching in the fellowship of the apostles. There was simplicity there. There was truth there.
Nothing builds up God’s people more than the word of grace. You remember Paul’s last word to the elders in Ephesus. He called them to Miletus, and after he had finished sharing what was on his heart, he said:
And now I commend you to God, and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you the inheritance among all them that are sanctified.
One thing that really builds up the church is sound teaching. Or, to put it the opposite way, nothing destroys the church so easily as false teaching.
Because there were many false teachings and false teachers in Crete, the result was that they tended to divide God’s people. Therefore, in Titus 3, Paul speaks of a heretical man. Actually, it means a person who begins to teach a special teaching or opinion in order to subvert and divide people.
Such a man must be admonished once or twice, and then rejected. It was a real problem.
Throughout church history, you find the same problem. Even in the time of Paul, the Judaizers came to Antioch and tried to confuse the gospel, the truth of the gospel, saying that Gentiles must be circumcised and keep the law of Moses in order to be saved.
Paul and Barnabas went to Jerusalem to settle this matter. But even though it was, in a sense, settled in Jerusalem, it was not really settled, because these Judaizers came from Jerusalem and followed Paul wherever he went. That was a great headache to Paul.
Especially when you read 2 Timothy, 2 Peter, and 1 John—those books written in the later years—you find a real problem with false teachers, false prophets, and false apostles.
There was not only Jewish influence trying to Judaize Christianity, mixing law with grace and adding all those traditions of men and Jewish fables, but Gnostic teachings and so-called philosophy also gradually invaded the church.
In a sense, the church of God has never been able to be completely freed from false teachings. Nowadays, we are no better than the early days—perhaps worse.
We find false teachings not only in so-called cults, but even in evangelical circles. You will find some teachings that are not really based upon the word of God. It is a real problem for the building of the house of God.
How do you combat false teaching that destroys the church? On the one hand, of course, there needs to be discipline. Stop the mouths of those vain speakers. Rebuke them severely. After once or twice admonishing them, have nothing more to do with them. Purify the church from all these false teachers.
But this is only the negative part. As a matter of fact, the best way to fight against false teaching is sound teaching.
That is the reason why, in the letter to Titus, you find the word sound repeated so many times. Even at the very beginning, when Paul introduced his letter, he said:
Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God’s elect, and the knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness.
There is sound teaching. In Titus 1:9, again, he says that one must be able both to exhort in sound doctrine and to convict the gainsayers. Then, in Titus 2:1, we read, “Speak thou the things which befit the sound doctrine.”
In Titus 2:3, the older women are to be teachers of that which is good. In Titus 2:7-8, Paul says:
In all things showing thyself an ensample of good works; in thy doctrine showing uncorruptness, gravity, sound speech, that cannot be condemned.
In teaching, there must be uncorruptness. In other words, what you teach must be uncorrupted—not corrupted with fables, traditions of men, or speculations, but the pure word of God.
The way to preach sound teaching is to be grave. In other words, there should be nothing light about it. Even the speech itself should be sound speech. This whole matter of sound teaching is healthy teaching.
Oh, how we need sound and healthy teaching to build up the house of God.
In this letter, there are two examples of what sound teaching is. The first is found in Titus 2:11-14, and the second is found in Titus 3:5-7.
What is sound teaching? What kind of teaching will really build up the church?
In the first passage, it says:
For the grace of God hath appeared, bringing salvation to all men.
Here you find that the grace of God has appeared. When you read on to Titus 2:13, you find that we are awaiting “the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.”
The grace of God has appeared, and we are waiting for the appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ. There are two appearings: the appearing of the grace of God, which has already taken place, and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ, for which we are waiting.
The grace of God has appeared. Sound teaching is the grace of God.
When the grace of God appears, it carries with it salvation for all men. What is the grace of God? The grace of God gives us salvation through our Lord Jesus.
Through our Lord Jesus, we are saved. We are saved by grace through faith, and this is not of ourselves; it is the gift of God.
So sound teaching is the grace of God—the salvation that comes to man through our Lord Jesus Christ. But that is only the beginning.
Why? Because it continues to say, “teaching us.” The word teaching means training us, disciplining us, instructing us, educating us.
What does the grace of God do to us? Yes, it brings salvation to us. We are saved by grace. But is that all?
Unfortunately, in false teaching the emphasis is not on the grace of God but probably on the work of man. Yet even in so-called correct teaching, perhaps all we hear is that the grace of God has brought salvation to all men. That is it: you are saved. Thank God for that.
But is that all? It seems as if, after you are saved, there is nothing but to wait—wait for death, and then enter into eternal life.
Sound teaching is not only a matter of the past—He has saved us—but it is also a matter of the present. Grace is training us, teaching us, and disciplining us.
Instructing us, to the intent that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live sober-mindedly and righteously and godly in this present world.
After we have received the grace of God in Christ Jesus, that grace works in us. This grace trains us and disciplines us negatively, delivering us from ungodliness and worldly lusts.
It is not enough simply to be saved from your past and to have your sins forgiven. The grace of God does something present for you: it delivers you from ungodliness.
Ungodliness is anything that is not like God in your life—in your daily life. Things that are not God-like are ungodliness, and the grace of God delivers you from such ungodliness.
It also delivers us from worldly lusts: the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life. What a present deliverance we need to experience through the grace of God.
The grace of God has provided not only for the past but also for the present. His grace is sufficient for this day—negatively, to deliver us from anything ungodly, anything not like God, anything that smells of the world, the flesh, or ourselves.
Positively, grace brings us into a life that lives soberly. The word soberly means sound-minded: disciplined, ordered, restrained, controlled, healthy.
So far as we ourselves are concerned, we are to live soberly, healthily, well-balanced, well-ordered, and well-disciplined. That is the kind of life grace produces.
So far as our relationship to the world is concerned, we are to live justly. Our relationship with our neighbors should be just, fair, honest, and with a good testimony.
So far as our life with God is concerned, we are to live piously—that is, godly. That is what sound teaching is. That is what the grace of God can do for us in the present course of things.
Brothers and sisters, sound teaching ought to have its proper effect upon our life today.
What about the future? The grace of God has also touched the future: “awaiting the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ.” It prepares us for the future.
We are waiting for the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ to appear, that we may stand before Him unashamed. This is sound teaching. The grace of God touches the past, the present, and the future.
The Lord Jesus, our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ, gave Himself for us. That is what He has done for us. For what purpose?
Who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a people for His own possession, zealous of good works.
The Lord has redeemed us with a price from all lawlessness. But more than that, He has purified us for Himself, that we may be a peculiar people to Him—a people for His own possession, zealous for good works.
Any teaching that is in that line is sound teaching. Any teaching that lacks any sphere or aspect of this is unbalanced and imperfect.
The church needs sound teaching that will build up the church. Oh, how we look to the Lord that He will raise up many teachers who are able to teach healthily. Then you will have a healthy church.
The second passage is another specimen of what sound teaching is:
But when the kindness of God our Saviour, and His love toward man, appeared,
not by works done in righteousness, which we did ourselves, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit.
Again, you find kindness and the love toward man of our Saviour God appearing. It has to come from God.
What is kindness? Kindness is the practical expression of goodness. God is good, and out of His goodness comes kindness to us.
The word translated “love toward man” is where we get the word philanthropy. It speaks of liberality. The kindness and liberality of God appear to us.
This is in contrast with Titus 3:3, where we were hateful and hating one another. But on God’s side, there is kindness and liberality. It is a contrast with what we were.
This kindness and liberality of our Saviour God appeared, not on the principle of our works. It is not because of our merit, for we have none. It is purely according to His grace and His mercy.
This kindness and liberality of our Saviour, Jesus Christ, comes to us on the basis of mercy. What does He do to us? He saves us.
He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit,
which He poured out upon us richly, through Jesus Christ our Saviour.
The washing of regeneration presents a question. The word regeneration here means new birth, yet this particular word is used only twice in the New Testament: here and in Matthew 19:28.
And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, that ye who have followed Me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit on the throne of His glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
That is the only other place where the same word is used. In Matthew 19, regeneration does not refer to a personal, individual born-again experience. The regeneration there is the regeneration of this world.
One day this world will enter into another phase. It will be regenerated. It will be brought into a new position. Why? Because Christ shall reign. He shall be on the throne, and righteousness shall rule over this earth, which is something we do not have today.
The regeneration there is the regeneration of the world. A new age has come—a transfer from the old position to a new position. That is the new birth of the world: regeneration.
The same word is used here in Titus: “the washing of regeneration.” Washing, of course, has something to do with baptism.
Most commentators and scholars agree that the washing here, if it does not speak directly of baptism, at least has something to do with baptism. Thus people sometimes speak of baptismal regeneration, as if through water you can be regenerated.
But we know that this is not the teaching. The regeneration here is a change of position.
What does baptism do to us? The water does not wash our sins away; it is the blood that washes our sins away. But what does washing do for us? It is an outward act that seals an inward experience.
In other words, for people who are regenerated, baptism seals their new position. They are no longer of the world. They are delivered out of the present evil age and are now in a new position in Christ Jesus.
When it says that He has saved us through the washing of regeneration, it means that He has brought us out of the kingdom of darkness and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of His love. This is our new position in Christ Jesus today, and it is sealed by the act of baptism.
In Acts 2, this is what Peter means when he says, “Repent ye, and be baptized.” By baptism, they are separated from their old relationship and enter into a new position.
The renewing of the Holy Spirit speaks of sanctification. It is not a once-for-all act. After God has changed our position, so that we are out of Adam and into Christ, the Holy Spirit does the work of renewal in our lives day by day.
This continues until we are fully transformed and conformed to the image of Christ. The renewal of the Holy Spirit is a continuous process. The washing of regeneration is a once-for-all thing, but renewal is a continuous process.
For the Holy Spirit to renew us, how we need to yield ourselves to Him day by day. There is the need for obedience. The washing of regeneration is a step of faith, but the renewal of the Holy Spirit is a life of obedience.
This brings us into a new position and into a new life. This has been poured out richly upon us through Jesus Christ. Justified by His grace, we become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
This is sound teaching. Sound teaching not only gives us a new position; it also prepares us with a new condition, that we may live a life worthy to be heirs of eternal life.
By teaching sound teaching, the church will be built up and, at the same time, gainsayers will be refuted. May the Lord really raise up among God’s people such sound teachers as will truly build up the church. We need sound teachers today.
Sound teaching is always connected with good works. False teaching will corrupt our conduct. In Titus 1, it says:
That they may be sound in the faith, not giving heed to Jewish fables, and commandments of men who turn away from the truth.
To the pure all things are pure: but to them that are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure; but both their mind and their conscience are defiled.
If there is false teaching, the result will be that it defiles the conscience and the mind. False teaching defiles our mind because it leads our mind away from Christ. It distorts it and produces a reprobate mind. This affects the conscience.
If a person is carried away by false teaching, you will find that not only is his mind muddled, but even his conscience is defiled. He is no longer sensitive to the voice of the Holy Spirit.
This explains a great deal. Sometimes we wonder how people can do certain things while professing themselves to be Christians, and yet do those things without their conscience being bothered. The reason is that false teaching has already defiled their conscience and their mind.
They profess that they know God; but by their works they deny Him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate.
The word abominable is used only once in the New Testament, and it is here. It means morally, completely corrupted—perverted and disobedient to the word of God—worthless as to every good work.
Now, of course, we need to define what good work is. I believe we all know that we are not saved by good works.
Before we knew the Lord Jesus, everybody thought that he or she could be saved by good works. From the very beginning of human history, when Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, immediately they tried to weave fig leaves to put on themselves as aprons to cover their nakedness. That was good work.
Cain offered the firstfruits of the produce of the field, thinking that somehow this should appease the wrath of God. That was good work. How we depended upon good works! We thought there was merit in good works, that there was worth in good works to appease the anger of God. That is what all religions are.
But thank God, we come to see that all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags in the sight of God. We cannot depend upon them. We depend upon the merit of our Lord Jesus, and we are saved.
But we can go to the other extreme. We are not saved by good works, but according to the word of God, we are saved to do good works.
It is true: we are not saved by good works. But after we are saved, we are supposed to do good works. Ephesians 2:10 says:
For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God afore prepared that we should walk in them.
There is a place for good works. Good works please God, and if there are good works, you will be rewarded by God. You are not saved by good works, but you are saved to do good works.
What, then, is good? Usually, we think of good works as doing something which, in the eyes of men, appears to be good. But, strictly speaking, this is not true.
Only God is good. Therefore, good works are works done according to the will of God. Good works are works done by the power of God. Good works are works done for the glory of God. That is good work.
We are a peculiar people to do good works. In other words, we are here to do the will of God, whatever the will of God may be. Sometimes the will of God may not appear good in your eyes, or it may not be good in the eyes of the world, but it is good work because it is the will of God. It is done according to His will, in His power, and for His glory.
You remember the so-called Sermon on the Mount. Toward the end, the Lord said:
Not every one that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of My Father who is in heaven.
Many will come and say, “Lord, we did this for You in Your name. We cast out demons. We healed the sick. We preached the gospel. We did all kinds of things for You.” Yet the Lord says, “I never knew you: depart from Me, ye that work lawlessness.”
Were they not doing good works? Yet the Lord did not approve of them. Why? Because they were doing these things according to their own desire, by their own power, and for their own glory.
So, brothers and sisters, we who are saved should be taught to do good works. Good work is nothing but doing the will of God. When our Lord Jesus was on earth, He traveled around doing good. Why? Because He did the will of God in all things.
Some people divide the book of Titus in this way. The book of Titus has three chapters, and they divide it into three parts: chapter 1, church life; chapter 2, family life; and chapter 3, social life. Of course, we know that chapter divisions are arbitrary.
Through sound teaching, there will be good works in every area of life. In church life, there should be good works.
What are the good works in church life? Chapter 1 mentions elders. If you remember 1 Timothy 3, you know that he who desires oversight desires a good work. It does not mean that you are ambitious for a good position; it means that you are really desiring a good work.
What is that good work—to be an overseer? If you are clever, you would rather not be an overseer. Why? Because then you can murmur and criticize. But if you become an overseer, you will be criticized.
An overseer is not one who sits above and gives orders while everybody serves him. No. An overseer, according to Scripture, is one who goes underneath everybody and tries to support and supply. He will be stepped on by everybody, murmured against, and misunderstood. It is good work.
Why is it good work? Because if you faithfully do that work, you are used by God to build up His church. That is good work because that is what the Lord wants.
Oftentimes, among us, people shun responsibility. We do not like responsibility. We would rather let other brothers and sisters take responsibility.
Without responsibility, of course, you are free to criticize. If they do well, you get the benefit; if they do not do well, you have the privilege of criticizing.
People do not desire good work in the church today. They are too clever.
Sound teaching should produce people with good works. If we are taught rightly, we will see that every brother and sister has a responsibility in the building of God’s house.
Responsibility is common to every member of the body of Christ. The difference is a difference of degrees, aspects, and areas of responsibility. It does not mean that some brothers and sisters have responsibility in the house of God and that others do not.
We find in many places that people have the concept that the church belongs to the leaders. Those leaders work themselves to death, and the rest take no responsibility whatsoever.
Remember: you are a peculiar people for good works. To take responsibility before the Lord in His house is good work, and sound teaching should produce good work.
Unhealthy teaching allows responsibility to fall to just one or a few, and lets the rest remain laymen. But good works really stir people up into responsibility.
Especially those who aspire to oversight should be desiring a good work. They want to serve.
Good work in the church also implies discipline. Nobody wants discipline. Not only do we not want to receive discipline; we do not like to discipline people, because that puts us in a very difficult position.
You want to be popular. You want to be sweet. You want everybody to love you. No, nobody wants to discipline people.
In one sense, there should not be an urge to discipline people. Some people have that kind of urge, but that is wrong. On the other hand, we may go to the other extreme and not want to discipline at all.
We do not discipline ourselves, and we do not want to discipline people. That is trying to escape from good work.
Good work in the church is related to discipline. Why? Because only discipline brings maturity. Discipline brings order, and discipline builds up God’s house.
Good work is also the matter of function in the church—how each one needs to function in the church according to the grace and gift that God has given to each. That is good work.
What God has given to you—the talent, or the mina, or whatever grace—it is not to be buried. It is supposed to be traded with, to be worked with. It is your working capital.
God has given you a gift, whether it is one talent, two talents, or five talents. The problem is that the five-talented tend to overwork, and the one-talented tend not to work.
But every talent in the church has to be put into circulation. That will bring richness to the church. That is good work.
We are created in Christ Jesus for good works. We are not supposed to bury our talents. Every brother and sister must function in the house of God. That is sound teaching which produces good works.
Then, in the second chapter, we have family life. The teaching is so complete. It deals with older men, older women, younger women, younger men, servants, and masters—in other words, all the various family relationships.
Sound teaching should produce good works in family relationships. Older men are to be sober, self-restrained, grave, sound-minded, sound in faith, in love, and in patience.
Older women are likewise to be reverent in deportment, as becoming those who are devoted to sacred things—teachers of what is right.
One sister, years ago, complained. She said, “For us sisters, there is nothing for us to do but to be in the kitchen.” That is not true. There are lots of good works.
Not only should older women themselves be of such character, but they are teachers of what is right. They may admonish—or train—the younger women. They are to train, teach, instruct, set an example, and admonish young women in the church to love their husbands, love their children, be discreet, chaste, diligent in housework, good, and subject to their own husbands.
There are many good works for older women in the church.
The reason why there need to be good works is that the word of God may not be evil spoken of. You find that it is always related to sound teaching.
You must adorn the teaching with your conduct. Later, concerning servants and masters, it says that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things. Teaching and works must go together.
Young women and young men also have their responsibilities. Timothy, as a young man, was to set an example. Every area of family life is governed by sound teaching.
If the teaching is sound, it will produce such good works. Older men will keep their place. Older women will keep their place. Younger women will have their responsibility, and younger men will have their part to play. Servants and masters—the relationships will all be proper and right.
Then they will adorn the teaching of our Saviour Jesus Christ. What a testimony to this world.
In the third chapter, Titus relates to our social life. Those who have received sound teaching will submit to rulers and authorities and be obedient to rule. This was very important in those days.
The Cretans were naturally very rebellious. With many Jews settling among them, and with the zealots among the Jews never recognizing authority, Paul taught them to submit to authority and to be obedient to rule.
Nowadays, we need that too. We need to know how to submit to the authorities and rulers that God has placed above us.
We are to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, not to be contentious, to be gentle, and to show all meekness toward all men. In other words, we are to have a good testimony toward the world.
These are good works. But remember: these good works are not the result of our own efforts in cultivating or improving our natural life, or in beautifying our flesh. No.
These good works are the result of the grace of God in our lives. When we receive sound teaching, the grace of God works in us, transforms us, and produces character in us.
With Christ’s character in us, our relationships in the church, in the home, and in society will bear witness to Him. That is good work.
Such good works will be rewarded. You may not be rewarded today, but you will be rewarded in the day of Christ.
Shall we pray?
O our Father, how we praise and thank Thee that it is Thy desire to see Thy house built and set in order. We do pray that we may learn from Thy word how to raise up godly leadership in the church.
Lord, we do acknowledge that we are unworthy. We have no ambition to lead. But, Lord, if Thou dost call, we pray that we will not draw back. By Thy grace, may we learn to lead by serving sacrificially.
We pray that Thy church may not be in disorder, but that we may know discipline in our lives, that we may be able to exercise discipline in love, in the spirit and power of the Holy Spirit.
Oh, how we pray that there may be sound teaching in Thy church that will produce good works to the glory of God.
O Lord, we do want to see Thy church built everywhere as lampstands, lifting up Christ—not only in this land, but all over the world—as a testimony to Thy goodness and Thy greatness.
O Lord, this is the prayer of our hearts. We commit one another into Thy hands and to the word of Thy grace, in the name of our Lord Jesus.