The New Testament book of Titus is a short book, but it is one that is packed with biblical truth. And today on Truth for Life Weekend, Alastair Begg focuses on the opening verses of the Apostle Paul's letter to Titus. To help us understand his concern for the church, his position of authority. and his purpose in writing. Paul has left Titus in Crete to shepherd and teach the church.
Crete is not a very nice place. I'm not saying today it was not a very nice place. One of the historians at the time said it was almost impossible to find personal conduct more treacherous or public policy more unjust than in Crete. Paul's concern for the church there, we could summarize in three words. He was concerned that it would be tidy.
Tidy in the sense of verse 5. I left you there so that you might put what remained into order and appoint elders in every church. Not the kind of tidiness that some of us are capable of, where we pile things into a closet and manage just to make the door close, hoping that no one will ever have occasion to open it. Because then they will see just how untidy our attempt at tidiness has been. But rather the tidiness that comes about as a result of doing things God's way.
And particularly, ensuring that the leadership of the church is put together according to God's plan. To that, we'll come later. tidy and secondly healthy. that the church there would be healthy. If you look at verse thirteen of this opening chapter, Now you will see that the People who are teaching falsehoods are to be rebuked sharply with the purpose that they may be sound in the faith.
That word there, sound, might equally be translated healthy. In other words, spiritually healthy. And you find it coming immediately at the beginning of chapter 2. As for you, teach what accords with sound doctrine, healthy. tidy, healthy and lovely.
Lovely. He says of the slaves that they shouldn't be argumentative, they shouldn't be stealing stuff. But they should live in such a way that they adorn the gospel of grace. In other words, that they make the story of the gospel attractive by the loveliness of their lives. And of course, that word extends beyond the Boundaries of Crete.
and comes to us with relevance this morning. And when this is true of a local congregation, then it will stand as an attractive contrast. To some who profess to know God, but who deny Him by their actions. They are referenced at the end of chapter 1, verse 16. These individuals who were religious, they had much to say about God.
But there was a dissonance, there was a gap between their creed and their conduct. Between the way that they profess their faith and the way that their faith functions. And so Paul says You should know that these individuals are detestable, they're disobedient, and they're actually disqualified. They're unfit. For any good work, there's no point in giving them a job in the church because they'll just be a complete menace to you.
So He then proceeds to Provide us with one long sentence by way of introducing his letter. And these four verses are tightly packed with truth. And in an endeavor to save us from getting bogged down in this sentence. or alternatively skimming superficially over the top of it, I want us to consider the opening four verses. from the perspective first of Paul's position.
Then Paul's purpose Then Paul's preaching. and then Paul's partner.
So, first of all, then, let us look at what we're told about Paul's position. He describes himself, first of all, as a servant of God. A servant of God.
Now, that may not seem like very much of an introduction in these days of blogging and self-aggrandisment, where people post online totally irrelevant information that none of us should have any real concern to pay attention to, and often just. The exaltation of the self runs rampant. No such individuals would be thoroughly disappointed with an introduction like this, Paul a servant of God. But it actually was a title which Barclay says mingled humility and legitimate pride. The pride lay in actually being described as a servant of God.
being called this of all things. It wasn't a task for which he had applied. and which he had Received an appointment to on the basis of his giftedness. But it rather was a task to which he had been appointed by God's grace. And the wonder of it was that he now shared the same designation as is reserved throughout the Bible for some of the choicest saints of God.
The prophets were described as servants of God, as the ones who were the recipients of the secrets of God.
Now keep in mind that Paul wasn't missing any credentials. It wasn't that when he thought about introducing himself, he had nothing that he could have written. No qualifications, no significant background, no fine education. No, he had all of that. But he introduces himself.
Because he has been arrested and amazed by the same grace that he is now about to remind the readers of. He would have been happy to concur with the psalmist. That the job of a doorkeeper in the house of the Lord would be far more significant than pitching his tent in the realm of wickedness. It is actually a striking thing that he introduces himself in such a simple, humble, wonderful fashion. What is your position, Paul?
A servant of God.
A servant of God.
Secondly, an apostle of Jesus Christ, an apostle of Jesus Christ.
So he's a servant of God and he's been sent by Jesus. He is part of a unique and unrepeatable group. who had the privilege of witnessing the ministry of the Lord Jesus. and the resurrection of Jesus. And you will recall, if you know your Bible, that in Acts, Luke.
Tells us of the occasion when Paul, Saul of Tarsus, discovers that Jesus Christ is actually Lord. He responds by saying, Who are you, Lord? And in the ensuing moments, Ananias is given the responsibility of nurturing and caring for this soul of Tarsus because, says God, he is my chosen instrument to bear my name before the Gentiles. And it is because he was set apart as an apostle of God. that his words carried the authority that they carry.
He was given as an apostle an insight into the secrets of God. And to the apostles has been given this insight in order that they in turn may both speak the word of God and write the word of God.
Now the reason this is important to understand is because the apostles are long gone. They are all dead and buried.
So where then do we have apostolic authority? It doesn't lie in bishops. It doesn't lie in a line that comes from the Sea of Rome. Apostolic succession does not run down a line of those appointed in that way. No, the authority of the apostles is left to us in the authority of Scripture.
God has breathed out. The apostles have written them down. They now are removed from us and we obey their word. Why? Because it is the Word of God.
Bruce Milne, in his most helpful book, Know the Truth. which if you don't have a copy of You should buy one and refer to it frequently. He makes this wonderful statement. He says: the apostles stand between Jesus. and subsequent generations of Christians.
Okay?
So you have Christ, he's now ascended into heaven. He pours out his spirit upon his people. And he gives to his apostles the responsibility. To proclaim the word of God. and in turn to have it written.
We reach Him That is Jesus. only by way of the Apostles. And their testimony incorporated in the New Testament. We reach Jesus By way of the apostolic truth. Which is given to us, recorded for us, left to us in our New Testaments.
Now, you see the significance of this. People are going around wearing bracelets, saying, What would Jesus do? They've kind of died out now, and I'm fairly glad they have. It had seemed very pious at the time. But the fact is half the time we wouldn't know what Jesus would do.
So it was a kind of a silly question. The real question should be, what does God's Word say? Because the only way that we can find out what Jesus did, or would do, or has done is in the Bible. Not in our heads, not in our imaginations, not in ex-cathedral statements made by those who are religious professionals, but in the scriptures.
So Paul says to Titus, Here I am, Titus, and realize this is both a private letter, but it's also a public letter. Why would he be telling Titus that he was a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ? Titus would have said, I know that. Because the the letter would get a public reading. And so the people who are hearing it are reminded of the fact.
That here is Paul. Here is Paul. And this is where his authority lies, and this is the basis. Of his Humility. That's the first thing.
His position As a servant, and has sent one. Secondly, his purpose. Why is he a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ?
Well, he tells us. For the sake of the faith. of God's elect. Who are God's elect? The people of God.
Those upon whom God has set His love. Let's pause in here for just a moment, because this is a little phrase that sometimes unsettles people, and we ought not to be unsettled at all. The storyline of the Bible Is the storyline of God taking the initiative? in seeking out a people who are his very own. Completely out of the blue, as it were, from a human perspective, he calls Abraham out of Ur of the Chaldees.
He calls Abraham to himself. And he entrusts to Abraham the privileges that will flow from him and tells him that through his seed all the nations of the earth will be blessed. By the time you get to the book of Deuteronomy, you have the record of what God is doing. And why God has acted as He's acted. And let me just read to you uh Deuteronomy 7.
And uh verse Six. God says, For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasure possession. Out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth, It wasn't because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set His love on you and chose you. For the you were the fewest of all peoples.
But it is because the Lord loves you. And is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh the king of Egypt. Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love, and so on, for a thousand generations and so on. When you get to the New Testament, You find that the apostles I I pick up this terminology. and use it To describe all who have been embraced by the Lord Jesus Christ.
So that the elect of God comprises those who in every age have been redeemed On the basis Of the work of Jesus on the cross.
So that the Old Testament believers have been redeemed, put right with God. on the strength of a sacrifice that was prospective to them. The New Testament believers and all subsequently are redeemed on the strength of a sacrifice that is retrospective to us. But all who are included in the family of God are there as a result of grace through faith. And so you have this amazing juxtaposition.
Of the people of God of the Old Testament being married into those who are added in the New Testament. The one who is a child of Abraham is not, says Paul, the one who has been circumcised or comes from a certain lineage, but it is the one who shares the faith of Abraham and the one who, like Abraham, has been declared righteous in God's sight, who has been justified.
Now there's tremendous mystery in that. But there is no dilemma in it when you realize that it sits on the very surface of the scriptures.
So here we are. with the reality. of the doctrine of election. Three things concerning it. Number one, it is a biblical doctrine.
It is a biblical doctrine. It is impossible to read your Bible without being confronted by it. It is revealed in Scripture, and therefore it is to be believed. Secondly, it therefore follows that it is an essential doctrine. It's essential.
There's nothing there that is irrelevant to us. The fact that it has been and is the occasion of debate and disagreement is to be regretted because of its essential nature. And thirdly, it is practical. In this sense, that in the face of all that threatens to unhinge us and to undo us, The children of God are able to rest in the security of the initiative of God. We saw that, didn't we, when we studied Romans chapter 8?
What shall we say then? in response to all of this. If God be for us, who can be against us? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies.
Who is to condemn, and so on?
So when we find ourselves confronted by all these onslaughts, When we are made aware of our own propensity to wander and to stray. Our security lies in the fact That we've been loved before the dawn of time. But immediately that you address these issues, somebody says, Well, if that is the case, that God has chosen uh his people before time ever began. then surely it follows that there is nothing for us to do. There is no point in us going out to tell anybody about Christ.
If he's already made up his mind who are his own.
Well, that would seem to be legitimate concern, wouldn't it? Until we recognize the fact. That Jesus didn't operate that way. And I have a very simple rule. You may think it's strange after my comments about your favorite bracelets.
But I have a very simple rule, and that is that when I come to some area of doctrine, I say to myself, if it doesn't work for Jesus, it doesn't work for me. Or if it's not a problem for Jesus, it's not a problem for me. And this is no problem for Jesus, otherwise, why would he say, Come to me? All you who who are weary and heavy laden. And I will give you rest.
He doesn't say, come to me, all those that God has chosen. He doesn't initially a call to the elect of God to waken up and come to him. He issues a universal call to all and any to come to him. Jesus says, Whosoever comes to me I will never turn away. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him, should not perish, but have everlasting life.
So that the free offer of the gospel is exactly that, the free offer of the gospel. To say to people, God commands you. to repent and to trust in Christ. And someone says, yeah, well, what about the other part? Professor John Murray has helped me greatly with this, and in his volume one of his writings, page 82, he makes this statement: It is on the wave of divine sovereignty.
that the unrestricted summons comes to the weary and the heavy laden. Any inhibition or reserve. In presenting the overtures of grace, Or presenting the gospel, any inhibition or reserve in presenting the overtures of grace should no more characterize our proclamation than it characterized the Lord's witness. We should be no more inhibited. Than was Jesus.
Now, you see, what you have in the Bible is you have the fact of God's sovereignty in election. And you have the fact of man's responsibility both to proclaim this gospel and to believe this gospel.
So, for example, when the Philippine jailer said, What must I do to be saved? Paul did not say, well, we can talk about that later, but it's going to depend on whether you're part of the elect. No, he said believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. Infight you and your household along with you. They believe they'll be saved too.
So the temptation is to either Air on one side or the other. championing the cause of man's freedom and sovere and his his own personal sovereignty, as it were, freedom of his will and responsibility, or championing the fact of God's sovereign purpose from all of eternity. Or attempting to collapse them into one another in some strange amalgam. Which usually goes along the lines of, well, it has to do with God's foreknowledge. He knew who was going to believe because he knew who was going to believe, then he elected them once he knew who was going to believe, which denudes it of any significance at all.
It's really a pretty worthless argument. No, the answer doesn't lie in one extreme or the other. It doesn't lie in collapsing them into each other, but it lies in believing both of them simultaneously and believing both of them entirely. Absolutely and entirely. That God purposed from all of eternity to have a people who are His very own, that He has ordained men and women to salvation.
But he has also ordained the means whereby men and women come to salvation. Otherwise, there was no reason for him to say, Go out into all the world and preach the gospel. There would be no reason to do so were it not for the fact that it was by the preaching of the gospel that men and women would come to understand the truth, and when they understood God's truth, then they believed. You know the reason that many people bulker this? is not actually intellectual.
Because there is no way for us in our human intellect to reconcile this antinomy. Two self-existent truths that sit side by side that cannot be reconciled within the fabric, within the framework of our own human intellect. But I don't think intellect is the problem in most cases. Pride is the problem. Pride is the problem.
Because we want to be able to contribute something to our salvation. We want it to be like getting into a country club. or achieving a postgraduate status.
So that we can then say, you know, and this is what I did, and this is what I did, and I was rewarded for this, and I was rewarded for that. But a true believer never operates that way because we know. This is entirely gratuitous. Even my response to God's offer. has only made been made possible.
By his grace. Even my response. is only possible by his grace. You see, Jesus Christ is not a life coach. He helps us in our lives.
The invitation that he gives is an invitation to come and die. To die to myself To die to my own agendas, my own initiatives, to die to my own little kingdom that I'm seeking to erect. And to believe that he has come. to be lord and king. And he calls us to that.
The hymn writer says, I heard the voice of Jesus say, Come unto me and rest. And I came. Yeah. I heard the voice of Jesus say, Come unto me and drink. The living water.
Thirsty one. Stoop down and drink. and live. And I came to Jesus and I drank of that life-giving stream. Is that your testimony?
Can you sing salvation song? You see, when we go on in this, what we're going to discover is. That the whole message of salvation is about God who does for us what we cannot do for ourselves. He regenerates us. He makes us new from the inside out.
We do not make ourselves new from the outside in.
So the position he has Was as a servant. and as an apostle. And the purpose that he had was for the faith of God's elect which when understood will be revealed. In holiness. and will be revealed in a genuine desire.
to see others. brought into the realm of God's mercy. and his goodness. You're listening to Bible teacher Alastair Begg. on Truth for Life weekend.
Part of our mission at Truth for Life is to help you build. Confidence in the reliability of Scripture. Even when it comes to difficult concepts like today's teaching on the doctrine of election. And along with the teaching you hear on this program, we put great care into selecting books we can recommend to you to help you understand and apply God's Word. and today our recommended book is called Distinct Communion, The Believer's Relations with Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
This is a book that encourages a deeper relationship with God by honoring His triune nature. It will help improve your prayer life and devotional time by explaining how to engage uniquely with God as Father, God as Son, and God as Holy Spirit. For more information about the book Distinct Communion, visit our website at truthforlife.org. Thanks for studying the Bible with us today.
Next weekend, we'll learn why the Christian faith involves both the heart and the mind. The Bible teaching of Alastair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life. Where the Learning is for Living.
