Hi friend, this is Phil Johnson and you've tuned in to Grace to You, the Bible teaching ministry of John MacArthur. For more than five decades, John was the pastor-teacher of Grace Community Church in Los Angeles, California, and he was Grace to U's one and only Bible teacher for that entire time. Grace to U continues to be the media ministry of John MacArthur. During his decades of studying, preaching, and teaching the Word of God, some consistent themes in his pulpit ministry have been clearly seen. Call them distinctives of John's ministry, an outworking of his commitment to the clear, authoritative, God-breathed scripture.
John MacArthur recently went to heaven, and the leadership at Grace to U thought it would be only right to bring you a number of messages that highlight some of John's ministry distinctives. It would be impossible in such a short time to cover all the key themes, but we wanted to hit some of the most significant ones. And today's message is a good example.
So follow along now on Grace to You. Here is John MacArthur with a call for authoritative preaching. Titus. In chapter 2 and verse 1, We read this, but as for you, speak the things which are fitting for sound doctrine. Verse 15, these things speak.
and exhort and reprove with all authority. with all authority. Let no one Disregard you. That is very stunning. That is a verse that is inescapable.
If you are going to be a minister of the Word of God, if you're going to be in the responsibility of leading the church, you must. Speak the things fitting for sound doctrine. You must speak, exhort, and reprove. In these things with all authority, allowing no one to disregard you. And of course, the word that jumps at and strikes us is the word authority.
The preacher Based on what we hear in this verse, he is not giving opinions. He is not. Giving insights or ideas that come from his own mind, his own intuition. He is not simply sharing insights. He is not offering some kind of Optional counsel.
There may be elements of that in what he does, but primarily his responsibility is to bind people. To the authority of that which reflects sound doctrine. And by the way, the word authority is worthy of some attention. It is epitage, which is a form of epitaso, which is essentially a military term that means command. And here is an intensified form of that.
In fact, wherever you see Epitage in the New Testament, every other time it is translated. Commandment. or command. In other words, the preacher is in the position of commanding people. We don't use that word very often with regard to any kind of ministry or any kind of teaching of the Word of God.
We're somewhat reluctant to put ourselves in the position of a commander who is commanding people. To respond. by hearing, believing, and acting upon What we say. But that is precisely what the Apostle Paul tells Titus to do.
Now, it is Not a different world in which Titus lives. It is a very unruly world. It doesn't take you very long, if you're wandering through this little epistle, to find out that it is indeed an unruly world. Go down to verse 10 in chapter 1, and you will find that there are many rebellious men. There are many empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision connected with Judaism.
They must be silenced because they're upsetting whole families, teaching things they shouldn't teach for the sake of sordid gain. One of themselves, a prophet of their own, said, Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, and lazy gluttons. This testimony is true.
So you've got a society of people who can be characterized as liars, evil beasts, and lazy gluttons. Not the kind of people who want to bring themselves readily under someone's authority. You have a society or a culture where all kinds of things are being taught that are not true, that are being advocated by men who are rebellious against the truth, who talk but have nothing to say, who are deceivers. You even have further Instruction given to them of the kind of people to reprove in verse 13, reprove these kinds of people severely that they may be sound in the faith, not paying attention to Jewish myths and commandments of men who turn away from the truth. Other people are commanding.
The false teachers are commanding. The circumcision party from Judaism with their work salvation system, system of salvation by the law, they're commanding, they're laying the heavy commands of Scripture on people as a means to salvation. There are others who do this. Others who Verse 16, profess to know God, but in effect are detestable, disobedient, worthless for any good deed.
So it is not an easy world. It is not a world where people instantly roll over when the truth is proclaimed. What is essential is that you speak that which Fits sound teaching, wholesome. Doctrine. And you do so with authority.
with authority. Speak as one who commands.
Now, this is not the only place where this kind of instruction is given. In fact, in 1 Timothy chapter 4. 4, we find a very similar emphasis. 1 Timothy chapter 4, until I come, give attention to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation and teaching. Of course, that defines our ministry.
We are to explain the text and apply the text after having read the text. Back in verse 11, he says, Prescribes the word command, command and teach these things. Here again, you have a very similar instruction given to Timothy as given to Titus, that the one who. Preaches the word of God. Is in the position of one who commands others.
to be obedient. We are put in a position of commanding people. We speak with authority.
Now go back to Titus. 2.15. Let's look a little closer at that verse for a moment. You will see that we are to speak and exhort and reprove. Not with limited authority.
Not with A little authority. Not with a lot of authority, but with all authority. Whenever you speak the word of God, it is authoritative. This authority is Comprehensive. It is Limitless as long as it is the word of God.
Doesn't matter what portion of the Word of God, what part of the Word of God, or what truth of the Word of God, it all comes. with authority. Now, let me give you three elements of this authoritative kind of preaching, which is, by the way, not a common kind today necessarily. But it ought to be. We'll give you three elements of this authoritative preaching.
Number one is the content. If you go back to the beginning of the verse, these things, you will find that again back at the beginning of the chapter. These things. And what are these things? All the things that are fitting for sound doctrine.
All the things that are fitting for sound doctrine. Avoiding The kind of teaching that is indicated in the latter half of chapter one. The kind of teaching that comes from rebellious men, empty talkers, deceivers, the kind of teaching that upsets whole families, the things they should not taught, should not be taught. But are taught for the sake of sordid gain The kind of things that could be classified as Jewish myths and the commandments of men who turn away from the truth. These are the kinds of things to avoid, and the things to teach are all those things that are suitable for sound doctrine.
That would be then all the things that are revealed in Scripture. All these things revealed in Scripture. All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable. Over and over again, the Apostle Paul in his letters to Timothy says, Preach the word, teach the word, be faithful to the word, learn the word, study the word, divide the word. That is the source.
of our Content. Content. These things This brief passage, just these couple of verses out of the second chapter of Titus, confine and conform and set the borders and the boundaries for what we do. It's just so very clear. This brief passage.
Limits the ministry to very narrow boundaries. Very narrow boundaries. Preach what Scripture has revealed as the Word of God, and command people to hear it, to believe it, and to respond. to it. That's pretty simple.
And yet so Often. Avoided. Paul was demanding this as the foundation of all ministry.
So the content. The method. What is the method?
Well You can't miss it either. He says, speak. Speak. The letto. simply means say it so people hear it.
Say it so people hear it. And then he adds, and exhort.
So we say it so that you hear it, which means understanding. This is the first objective: take the word of God. And you're now going to command people to respond to the Word of God, which assumes that they will understand the Word of God. That's speak it so they hear it and understand it. Then it's not just that simple, or I would get up here and read this scripture and then say to you, this means this.
That would be it. No, there is a necessary exhortation. Para kaleo is the very common New Testament word translated exhortation, and it is the The power Of the preacher using all biblical means at his disposal. To bring to bear what the person understands upon their life.
So you're moving to believing and appropriating. I don't want you just to understand In the sense that you get the point, or you get the interpretation, or you get the doctrine that is taught. I want that to press against your soul so that you embrace it with a desire to appropriate it. And then he adds a negative word. and reprove That means create conviction.
In other words, uh There is built into effective preaching an understanding of the Word of God. There is built into effective preaching a compelling. using all the means that are biblical. Illustrations here and there, and even outside of that to illustrate biblical truth. to help you to apply it and then The final impact is to let you know.
That if you do not receive, believe, and apply this. You are in some serious Spiritual Danger. Reproof. Put people under conviction. Make them feel the weight of their own rebellion.
Make them feel the weight of their own resistance. Make them feel the weight of their own. spiritual pride that will not bend the knee.
So we are preaching for clarity of understanding. We are preaching for personal appropriation And we are preaching for conviction, the weight of conviction. on the heart So, as to move the person who has heard and understood and believed in the direction of full submission and full obedience. And so we see the content and the method. And the extent would be the third point.
The extent. The end of verse 15 says this: Let no one disregard you. Let no one disregard you.
Now This looks at the extent in two ways. in a kind of peripheral way. and at a very directed point. Let no one disregard you simply, in the first case, means that there is no one. Who is outside the responsibility of obedience?
There is no one for whom the Word of God. does not apply. There is no one who is outside the responsibility to respond to the word of God. If you are a non-believer, you are still commanded by God to repent. God commands all men everywhere to repent.
Acts 17. No one is outside that circle. Let no one disregard you on the peripheral sense or the outside sense. That includes everyone. But you can also look at Look at it another way.
Let not one person disregard you. Bring it to bear on everyone. Because it does. Apply to everyone. And Press it home with each one.
We are In that sense, Called. To hold everyone. To the truth. The word disregard is quite an interesting word. Perifraneto.
It means to evade. It means to Rationalize. Franeto. Perry Franeto is to think. From which we Get the idea of our thought processes.
Perry is around. Let no one Think. around you. Let no one Imagine that they can evade you by their rationalizations. By their self-justification.
Hold them to the truth. Make sure that no one escapes. their personal responsibility. Before God Two Enact In obedience. To the truth.
Hold them to the truth. The content? everything revealed by God which constitutes sound teaching. The method? Speaking.
So that people can understand, then applying so that they can believe. And embrace, and then. Rebuking so that they feel the weight and the guilt and the conviction. Of an unresponsive, hard Hard. Preaching that doesn't display divine authority, both in its content and its manner.
He is not the substance. But the shadow of the real thing. If you have a preacher who doesn't come to you and bear upon your soul with great weight and clarity and conviction the truth of Scripture, that's a shadow. That's not the substance of a real preacher.
So, the only preaching God desires is authoritative, commanding preaching. Doesn't mean you're abusive, abrasive, harsh. You do it, I trust. You speak the truth in love and with grace and with kindness and with patience and with mercy. But it is nonetheless.
The truth.
Now, this authority must be brought to bear on this. day in which we live. I run into this. All the time. People are stunned when I give a specific answer.
If I'm on a talk show, radio interview. And somebody asks me a question and I say, So and so and so on so and so and so is the answer. Whoa. That's pretty straightforward.
Well, that's what the Bible says. People are kind of stunned by that. People who come here and think That uh maybe I'm Overbearing. Which uh happens. Are not used to Having someone speak to them.
spiritually with real authority. That maybe have been exposed to Christianity in those non-authoritative environments. The mishmash of ideas and spiritual experiences that are. Pawned off on them as if they are legitimate, tend to mitigate against the single clear interpretation of Scripture spoken authoritatively. Why is it so hard for people to accept the authoritative Word of God?
Give you a few reasons. Poor preaching. They're used to poor preaching that lacks power and authority. Low expectations. You know what people expect out of a sermon?
They don't expect an hour. Of Intense. Expression of the Word of God. They have low expectations. They expect to be briefly interested with a few stories and some psychological bumps.
in the upward way, nothing harsh, nothing judgmental. Another thing, people are used to preaching that I would call sort of. mildly spontaneous. Yeah. They don't have a lot of appetite for something that is carefully prepared.
Thought out, systematic. Profound, challenging, rich, insightful, provocative. or in any sense deep. They have Many of them have no theological frame of reference. You can take a passage to come to a church like this, or other churches where the Word of God is taught this way, and you can teach an expository message, and they don't even have a paradigm to put it in.
You know, they're waiting for the next good story. They're waiting for the next joke. They're looking at their watch. What is going on? This guy's been talking for an hour.
Meandering all through this. Where are the good stories? Can't we sing again or something? And in their spiritual world, there is no paradigm for this, so it seems a message harsh and irrelevant and out of touch and isolated. And of course, then you have the general sort of anti-authority mentality that reigns supreme in our society.
People don't want to be under anybody's authority because they're having a consuming love affair with personal freedom. Commanding people to hear, commanding people to respond, commanding people to feel the weight and the conviction of disobedience, that's out of touch with the way people want. to live their lives. But nonetheless We are still called to speak with authority. And we do that.
A final thought. We We have this in credible privilege to preach with authority. But at the same time, we have to exercise Patience. And that's so important. Paul says this, 2 Timothy 4.2.
Preach the word, be ready in season and out of season. Reprove, rebuke, Exhort.
Sounds quite similar to Titus, then this. With Great. Patience. With Great. Patience.
We don't mitigate the authority. We don't apologize for the authority. But we are patient with people's response. If there's anything that you want to uh Define your ministry? It's speaking the truth in love.
Speaking the truth, that's the authority. Love, that's the patience. That's the patience. I would hope and I would pray that in all the years that Grace Church has been ministering. We would be known as a place where there is no equivocation on the truth, where the Word of God is proclaimed as the sole authority, where it is preached with clarity and with conviction.
And at the same time, that this church would be known for its love and its patience in the struggle that we all have to come by the power of the Spirit into conformity to that which is commanded of us. And I know That the true people of God. Do not. Chafe. under this authority.
They embrace it. Because it is an authority designed to bless Right? Obedience brings Blessing. That's why you're here. In many environments, if I said, hey, come tonight.
I'm going to speak on authority. No one. Not here. Why? Because you understand and you love and you eagerly embrace the truth of God.
I've confessed him Lord as Lord. He is the authority in your life. And what he commands is what you desire because you want the fullness of his blessing. And that's as it should be. This kind of authority Doesn't empty the church.
It grows the church. It only grows under the authority of the Lord of the Church and by His Word. Let's pray. Father, we thank you again for your precious word. It's all we have.
That's it. If we don't open the Word of God and unleash its Truth and its power. We have nothing. We have No authority. We have no Truth.
Therefore we have no life. The word is everything. We want to handle the word with clarity. Handle it with accuracy so as to unleash its power on souls by which the Holy Spirit saves, by which the Holy Spirit sanctifies. By which You.
Assemble your redeemed and elect church for your own glory. Father, we thank you for Placing us Under your word. What a joy, what a privilege. Blessing upon blessing upon blessing grips our souls. As we respond, to your commands.
to think. with the mind of Christ. and to walk. as he walked. Be glorified in us, Lord.
Be glorified in us as we remain faithful in your Son's name. Amen. You're listening to Grace to You with John MacArthur. I'm Phil Johnson. In today's special program, we showcased one of the distinctive themes from John's 56 years of Bible teaching ministry.
The title of the lesson, A Call for Authoritative Preaching.
Well, friend, as we remember the life and legacy of John MacArthur, we continue to find comfort and strength in the knowledge that John is now rejoicing in the presence of his Savior, and hopefully you'll be encouraged to know that for however long God sustains grace to you through the support of his people, we will be here unleashing God's truth one verse at a time. And this ministry will always and only feature the Bible teaching ministry of John MacArthur. And speaking of being encouraged, we've been so encouraged by the notes we've been receiving from friends like you. If you have a story about how God has used grace to you in your life, we would love to hear it. It doesn't have to be anything long.
If John's Bible teaching has made a difference in your life, just let us know when you drop us. a note today. You can reach us by email at letters at gty dot org. That address, once more, letters at gty. org.
Or you can use regular mail and write to us at grace to you PO Box four thousand. Panorama City, California, 91412. Or if you prefer, call our special remembrance phone line at 661-295-6288. You can record a message letting us know how John's teaching has strengthened your walk with Christ. You can also express your condolences to the MacArthur family.
If you'd like to leave your message on our remembrance phone line, call us at 661-295-6288. That's 661-295-6288. Again, if you've benefited from John's verse-by-verse Bible teaching, do let us know when you write. And thank you for praying for John's family and for the Congregation of Grace Church, for the team at this radio station, and for the staff of Grace to You. Your prayers are crucial and in fact Taking us before the throne of grace really is the most important way you can support us.
So, thank you for your prayers.
Now, on behalf of the entire Grace to You staff, I'm your host, Phil Johnson, inviting you to join us for another half hour of Unleashing God's Truth, one verse at a time, on the next Grace to You.
