Insist on This!

When the Apostle Paul sent leadership instructions to Titus, one of the things he stressed was the importance of teaching only the Gospel. Today on Truth for Life, Alistair Begg explains why the message of the Gospel remains equally reliable and equally urgent today. We're continuing our study in Titus chapter 3.

Alistair is focusing on verse 8. We probably know the old chestnut about an ordained Anglican clergyman, a young curate who had gone to his first charge. He had never preached there before, and he didn't know what to do, so he wrote to his bishop, letting him know this. He sent him a postcard which just contained one simple question, Dear Bishop, what should I preach about?

And the bishop responded in an equally cryptic way by sending a card which simply said, Dear Curate, preach about God and preach about twenty minutes. The reason I mention that is because the Apostle Paul here has not been bashful throughout this letter in telling Titus what it is that he is to preach—for example, at the beginning of chapter 2—but as for you, teach what accords with sound doctrine. You're not just to be saying anything that comes into your head, Titus. You need to make sure that what you're teaching people is in keeping with the doctrine, the apostolic doctrine, that you have received from me.

At the end of chapter 2, again, an exhortation, declare these things. In other words, this is the information that I have given to you, and this is what you are to use as your sermon material. Titus is to be very clear about the fact that his shepherding of the people of God is by means of the crook of God's Word. The way in which the sheep are to be led into pasture is by bringing them to the Bible to understand, in his case primarily and first of all, the Old Testament Scriptures, and then the material that had come to him now by way of the apostle Paul himself. He was fulfilling the role of a pastor and of a shepherd.

And he's going to be told in verse 9 that it is very important that he doesn't get himself embroiled in all kinds of controversies, but instead that, according to our verse this morning, verse 8, he makes sure that he is insisting on the right things. Now, it's good for us from time to time just to remind ourselves about what the Bible says concerning the role of the pastor and the teacher. Paul, when he writes to the Ephesians in Ephesians 4, describes the gift of pastor and teacher as one of the gifts of the ascended Christ to his church, that the response of the Ethiopian eunuch when he is reading the prophecy from Isaiah, and Philip comes alongside him and says to him, Do you understand what it is you're reading?

And you remember the Ethiopian says, How can I unless somebody teaches me? And the role of the shepherd of God in the people of God is to be that of a teacher. This is simply to follow the pattern of Jesus. You remember when Jesus began his earthly ministry, he begins in his local church, as it were, in the synagogue in Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and Luke tells us that when he went there, he was handed the scroll of the prophet Isaiah, and he read from that scroll words with which we became familiar when we studied Luke, The Spirit of the LORD is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor, he sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor. So he reads from the Scriptures, and then he sits down in the position of the teacher, and Luke tells us that all the eyes of the people in the synagogue were fastened on him, waiting to hear what it was that he was going to say by way of exposition. They could hardly have imagined what was about to come out of his mouth as he began to say to them, Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing. And for three years, Jesus had a preoccupation with, had a priority of, proclaiming the good news.

Remember, Mark's Gospel begins, the time is now fulfilled, the kingdom of God is near, repent, and believe the good news. And what Jesus did in his three years of earthly ministry, he then entrusted to the apostles to go out and do—and by the time Paul is right into the church at Rome, he says to him in Romans 10, he says, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. As the Word of God is conveyed, as it is taught, as it is explained by one and by another, as well as from the pulpit, so God uses this to bring men and women to faith in himself, and not only as a means of evangelism but also as a means of equipping the people of God so that they might go on to maturity. And so it is that Paul is telling Titus throughout this letter that he is to take great care in providing this instruction.

He's to do so with conviction. His instruction, as we've seen in our previous studies, is to be marked by integrity, and it is to be marked by dignity. And the way in which people will discover whether he is fulfilling the role of a teacher is when they actually start to learn stuff.

It's very straightforward, isn't it? You know that leadership is taking place when people are following, and you know that teaching is taking place when people are learning. The late archbishop of Canterbury, Donald Cogan, used to speak about the three Ps that are present in the pews when he was teaching other young ministers how to preach and to teach. He told them, You will find in the pews those who are puzzled, who are in need of consistent advice, those who are promising, who are in need of constant encouragement, and those who are perplexed, who are always in need of compassion. And he said, As you address those three Ps in the pew, it is important that you pay attention to the three Cs that need to be present in the pulpit. Those three Cs being, he said, first that the preacher needs to be candid so that there is no concealment of the truth, that he needs to be clear so that there is no obscurity of expression, and that he needs to be confident so that he is able to speak without fear of the consequences. It's all very, very helpful advice, I think.

Now, I want to give us three Rs to help us through verse 8, which is our focus this morning, just this one verse. And the first R is the first letter of the word reliable. Reliable.

Why reliable? Well, it's really a synonym for trustworthy, which is the word that is used there in the opening phrase of verse 8. This saying says Paul to Titus is trustworthy.

The saying is trustworthy. This is actually a routine phrase in the pastoral epistles—that is, 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus—and you will find that there are, I think, five occasions, including this one, where Paul uses this very terminology. In certain cases, it seems directly related to a very pithy statement. In this case, it would seem to be referring to the previous lengthy statement that he has just made, comprising what we have in verses 4–7. Because I think verses 4–7 seem to flow together, don't they? When the goodness and lovingkindness of God our Savior appeared, he starts there with that epiphany.

He saved us, not by works done by us in righteousness, according to his mercy. He tells us how this has come about, and so on. And what he's been doing there between verses 4 and 7 is essentially focusing on the gospel, on the good news. When people ask, What is this good news?

It is the account of what God has done for us in the Lord Jesus Christ to save us from sin and from the devil and from death. And so, having spent verses 4–7 on that, he now comes to verse 8, and essentially he's saying in the opening phrase, This is solid truth. This is solid truth. Or, if you like, you can count on this, Titus.

You can count on this. And it is this trustworthy saying which you are to make your own in your teaching of these congregations there on the island of Crete. Now, I think it's important for us to recognize this and to pause for it just a moment to remind ourselves of three other words with which I think we've become familiar as we speak about Christianity. Because this approach does stand out from so much that is part and parcel of our culture with its renewed interest in spirituality—a spirituality that is often grounded in the subjective experiences of people who may not be able to give any basis whatsoever for why it is they believe what they say they believe or why they affirm what they affirm.

But nevertheless, they're prepared to make much of it. Christianity stands out against the subjectivism of contemporary spiritualities by introducing us to the objective statements that are provided and recorded for us in the Bible. So, when we read what Paul has just said here concerning this trustworthy and reliable material, he is saying, what we're dealing with is, first of all, historical—that these things actually happened. Secondly, he's saying it is rational. It is rational.

In other words, you can read this. It doesn't sound like mythology. It doesn't sound like contrivance. And thirdly, it is empirical. Or, if you like, it is verifiable. It's not a verifiable spirituality that looks inside of ourselves to find that which would encourage us to believe this is actual. But it is the verifiable data that is outside of us that is then confirmed by our embracing of that truth. So, for example, taste and see that the Lord is good.

Trust him. The message of Christianity, this trustworthiness, this reliability, this put-it-to-the-testedness stuff—it's historical, it is rational, and it is verifiable. Indeed, the thing that separates Christianity from all the other religions of the world in one word is grace. Is grace. Every religion in the world has a mechanism whereby we can somehow or another make ourselves acceptable with God.

And people will swallow that stuff. You tell them, Well, have you ever examined the New Testament evidence? Have you ever applied your clinical mind to the gospel records? Have you ever examined the evidence? Have you rejected Christianity because you examined the evidence and you found that it was wanting?

Or is it not true that you've rejected Christianity without ever having examined the evidence? Because when you look at it, you will discover that it is grace that opens our eyes. And until grace opens our eyes, showing us that the story of Christianity is not the story of what we must do, but it is the story of what God has done in Jesus. Religion is saying, Do this, do this, do this, and do this. Christianity is saying, Look at what God has done. And until we understand that our acceptance with God is on account of what God has done, then we will continue, if we're interested in being accepted by God, to try and do it for ourselves. The dreadful tyranny of turning over new leafs, seeking to forsake bad habits, attending Bible studies, saying our prayers, doing everything that anybody suggests to us as a possibility, until suddenly it dawns on us. Why the Holy Spirit?

It is sin that pays wages—those wages being death—but the gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Now, it is this that is so reliable. So reliable. The second word is the word resolute. Resolute.

Notice what he says. I want you to insist on these things. Titus is clearly directive in his teaching. And Paul wants to make sure that Titus, aware of the fact that he has a reliable message, is now committed to being a resolute messenger, that he is prepared to make sure that his people understand that he himself is convinced and that he in turn is committed under God to convincing them.

Verse 15 of chapter 2, declare these things, exhort and rebuke with all authority. What authority? Not the authority of Titus's personality. Not the authority that comes because he's so convinced, convinced, convinced. No, the authority that is found in the reliability of the message, in the reliable nature of that which is trustworthy. Here's your authority, he says to Titus. This is what you have to say, and this is why you have to say it. Teach and exhort, rebuke, and do it with all authority. Remember, the message is reliable.

Come on now. Put your foot down. That's what he's saying. Take a firm stand on these matters. What matters? On the matters of the gospel. See, at the end of the day, when the people who outlived Titus as their pastor, when they were getting together and having a meal, they would never have cause to regret that Titus had insisted on these things. How thankful we are that Titus was committed to these things, that he taught us so that we could understand first principles, and he exhorted us so that we might understand the way in which that which we have understood is to be written into the very fabric of our lives. Goodness, he kept saying the same thing all the time! Why was he doing that?

They would have said to one another, Well, it must be that letter that he got from Paul, because you remember when he read it out that time we were together, Paul had said in verse 8 of chapter 3, Now listen, this is a trustworthy thing, and I want you to insist on these things. I was thinking about it this week, in relationship to teaching and the progression that there should be. There's, first of all, the what. What? The people come and say, What is it that you're on about? Then there is the so what, which is, Does it really matter?

So what? So, first, the pastor's got to tell you what. Then they've got to tell you, So what? So that you can then say, Now what? But if the teacher goes too quickly to the so what without giving you the what, then you've no idea what in the world he's on about. And that's what often happens when people talk about having somebody preach the gospel to them. What they actually mean is that he keeps asking them to do something at the end of the service.

But he's never, ever explained what it is that God has done in order to make significant their response. First the what—what God has done—then the so what of faith, and then the now what. And that brings us to our third word, which is the word result. Result. You'll notice that there is a purpose clause here. This saying is trustworthy, it's reliable.

I want you to insist on these things. Be resolute so that—here's the result—so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works. Notice that it is those who have believed in God, those whom he has described in verse 14, who have been redeemed from all lawlessness, set free from lawlessness, in order to belong entirely to him. Now, Paul has already made it clear in verse 5 that our acceptance with God is not by these good works, but now he makes clear that it is for these good works. The reason this is so important is because at the end of chapter 1 he has identified some individuals to whom he's going to return who, verse 16, profess to know God, but they deny him by their works. They deny him by their works.

You see the progression of thought here? All the way through, he's been showing the outworking of what salvation really means. So, in the reliable statement, he's shown that the need for salvation is on account of our sin. He's shown that the source of salvation is the loving kindness of God. He has then shown that the ground of our salvation is in his mercy, and that the means of our salvation is in the regenerating work of God the Holy Spirit, and that the goal of our salvation is that we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life, and now that the evidence of our salvation is to be seen in our good works. Someone says, I'd rather see a gospel than hear one any day. Isn't that what Jesus said in Matthew 7? He says to them, in a salutary warning, Matthew 7 21, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Verse 16 of chapter 1, here of Titus, he says, there are many who profess to know God, but they deny him by their works. They talk the talk, but there's no evidence. In fact, there is evidence to the contrary.

Now, that's not an outlandish statement. That is in concurrence with what Jesus is saying here. There will be people who say to me, many who say to me, Lord, Lord, didn't we prophesy in your name? Cast out demons in your name?

Do mighty works in your name? And then I will declare to them, I never knew you, depart from me, you workers of lawlessness. Lawlessness? Go back to verse 14 of chapter 2, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness.

From all lawlessness. To set us free from that principle of death and sin in order that we might become slaves of righteousness and in order that by our very deeds we might declare the evidence of our justification. Now, this means a great deal, doesn't it? It means what we've said all along. Namely, that in Christ all of our days and all of our deeds may be good for someone and may be good for something. That we ought not to see our daily routine, our vocation, we ought not to see that as, like, simply a context for engaging in personal evangelism. It is a context for engaging in personal evangelism.

But you know you can operate that digger to the glory of God, don't you? You know you can give an injection in a way that fulfills Titus 2.8. You know that you can respond to an inquiry on the telephone in a way that conveys kindness to the greatest and the least.

Didn't we sing about that? Kindness to the greatest and the least. Titus, listen. You've got a reliable message. Make sure that you are a resolute messenger in order that you might have a responsive congregation—a congregation that hears the call of the kingdom and says, It is to that kingdom that I am committed.

It is to that king that I bow. It is to that agenda that I will give myself, whether it takes me from here to there or wherever it puts me. But don't, for goodness' sake, say to yourself, If I was going to take it really seriously, I would stop being where I am and what I am, and I would become something else.

You may, but for the time being, bloom where you're planted. Be the best schoolteacher you can be. Be the best journalist you can be. Be the best builder you can be. Be the best!

And when people say, What is this? Are you trying to earn your salvation? You say, No!

I could never earn my salvation. In fact, that's all been paid for. It's been paid for.

Who paid it? I got news for you. It's reliable news. It's historical. It's rational. It's verifiable. You see, that's the challenge that's before us. We have a message that's reliable. Our messengers are called to be resolute. And we, as a congregation, are called to be responsive. We are not saved by our good works. We're saved for good works.

That's Alistair Begg. You're listening to Truth for Life. We've been learning why it's so important to preach the gospel rather than simply tell people what they want to hear. And that's our mission at Truth for Life, to teach the Bible and only the Bible every single day. We do this knowing that God will work in the hearts of many who listen and will bring them to know and trust in the Lord Jesus. As Christians, we're often asked why we believe the Bible. Alistair touched on the answer today when he pointed out that the message of Christianity is historical, rational, and verifiable. If you'd like to know more about why you can be confident in the Bible's teaching, the book we're offering will be a tremendous help to you. It's a book titled Know the Truth, and it's written to explain not only what we believe as Christians, but why we're confident about what the Bible says. This is the last day you can request the book Know the Truth, so be sure to ask for your copy when you make a donation at truthforlife.org slash donate.

Or you can call us at 888-588-7884. I'm Bob Lapine. Pastors get asked a lot of questions about the Bible and Christianity, and usually they're happy to answer those questions. But sometimes the wisest response is for them to stay out of the discussion. We'll find out why tomorrow. The Bible teaching of Alistair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life, where the Learning is for Living.