I want to start this morning by doing something
I almost never do, but it actually makes sense
for today's message. I'm going to recommend a
book to you guys. And not just any book, but
a book that's written by one of the great men
of the faith and not all that long ago. Every
once in a while, you'll hear me quote or cite
this man, J .C. Ryle. And sometimes I forget
that not everybody in the body is as much of
a church history nerd as I am. So sometimes I
just quote guys and expect you to know. But let
me take just a moment this morning to introduce
him to you and to introduce to you one of the
great books that he has written that's still
in print today. J .C. Ryle was a brilliant scholar
at Oxford in 19th century England. He originally
thought about studying law and going into politics.
In fact, at one time in his life, he intended
to run for parliament, but financial problems
forced him to take another path into the ministry,
and he was ordained in the Church of England
as a minister and preacher of the gospel. Over
a career of almost 60 years in the pulpit, 60
years, he pastored churches in Winchester, Suffolk,
and Liverpool. He wrote more than 200 books and
gospel tracks during his life that had a circulation
of millions in both the UK and America. He married
three times and was widowed three times. So you
can imagine the amount of suffering that he endured
in his life. marriage relationships. And as for
his final days, Ryle finally retired from his
pulpit at the age of 82 and died less than two
years later at the very turn of the century in
the year 1900. Now, as you might have guessed,
he and Spurgeon were contemporaries and they
were friends. And even though Spurgeon was a
Baptist and Spurgeon jokingly chided him for
remaining in the Church of England, They spoke
highly of each other. In fact, Spurgeon called
Ryle an evangelical champion and one of the bravest
and best of men. And Ryle wrote that he admired
Spurgeon's sermons so much that he often studied
them during the week for their clarity and effectiveness.
And in the year 1865, when he was approaching
the age of 50, about to become an older man,
Ryle stopped and wrote a book titled Thoughts
for Young Men. Thoughts for Young Men. And this
is the book I would highly recommend to anybody
here this morning who is a young man in our congregation.
It's not a long book. It's less than 100 pages
long, but incredibly insightful and very, very
practical. So I thought as a lead -in to our
time in Titus this morning, I'd share just a
few of his, I think, brilliant general insights
for young men. I'll give you just three of them.
Number one, he says that death and judgment are
not far away. and that young men seem not to
be aware of this. I think that's true. And he
writes that to combat the common idea that when
you're young, you can just go out and live with
abandon with no repercussions whatsoever. But
that is far from true, and an older man can tell
you that that is true. No matter how strong and
healthy you feel in this stage of life, you are
not invincible, nor are you impervious. to the
possibility of dying and he cites ecclesiastes
chapter 11 verse 9 that says this rejoice young
man while you're young and let your heart be
glad during the days of young manhood follow
the impulses of your heart and the desire of
your eyes yet yet know that god will bring you
to judgment for all of these things like all
men even when you're young your days are a mist
that comes Therefore, Ryle says, don't wait until
later in life to get serious about spiritual
matters. That's good advice. Second thing, what
young men will be depends on what they are now.
And they seem to forget this, Ryle says. Youth
is the planting time of full age, he says. Think
about that. This is the planting time of your
older age. Both good and bad have deep roots.
And you're developing them right now, young men.
And once sin is allowed to settle in your heart,
change becomes more and more difficult. Here's
a great quote from the book. He says, custom
becomes second nature and its chains are not
easily broken. Habits are like stones rolling
downhill. The further they roll, the faster and
more ungovernable is their course. So he says
today, young men, today is the day to put off
sin. Just a third thing. The devil uses special
diligence to destroy the souls of young men and
they don't seem to know it. Satan knows all too
well who exactly is going to make up the next
generation of Christ worshipers and therefore
he employs every trick in his book to cause you
to stumble. So don't be ignorant of his schemes.
Again, quoting Ryle, young men, you are those
on whom he puts his choicest temptations. He
spreads his net with the most watchful carefulness
to entangle your hearts. He baits his trap with
the sweetest morsels to bring you under his power.
He displays his wares in order to make you buy
his sugared poison. So what the devil does is
he dresses up sin, but he never tells you anything
about the sting that comes later. He promises
everything but delivers only pain, sorrow, and
regret. So just as a closing to our intro this
morning, Ryle writes this, young men, young men,
I wish you could know the comfort of having a
conscience that is not burdened with a long list
of youthful sins. Be merciful to yourselves.
Seek the Lord early so that you will be spared
many a bitter tear. Let's dive in. Grab your
Bibles. We're going to Titus chapter 2. Titus
chapter 2. So we're in our fourth and final message
in this little series within a series addressing
God's expectations for four different categories
of people in the church. We have talked about,
first of all, older men, and then we addressed
older women, and then last Sunday, younger women,
and today it's the young guys that are up to
bat. By the way, when we arrived in chapter two
a number of weeks ago, of the four messages,
this is the one I was most looking forward to
preaching, primarily because it's so badly needed
in the church today, but also a moment of transparency.
I'm convinced that God has used much of my own
foolishness as a young man to sort of put me
in this moment here today. And this is one of
the things that age teaches you. You look back
and you look at all of your foolish mistakes,
and by the grace of God, you've survived. But
regret happens often. And so it gives me a chance
to stand up here and equip me to sort of warn
you guys and also encourage you in the Lord.
So I'm grateful that he's given me a platform
to do this. All right, let's back up to verse
1. Let's read this whole section, verses 1 through
8, which, by the way, the theme has been all
along. How can we develop into a healthy body
and a beautiful bride? one that displays the
splendor of Christ to a watching world. All four
categories of believers in this section have
a responsibility to be a part of that great vision.
Verse 1 says, Older men are to be temperate,
dignified, sensible, sound in faith, in love,
in perseverance. Older women. Okay, man, you
know, that was the moment. The woo -hoos are
so, you guys are the loudest group in the church.
Come on now. Let me say it again. Older women.
Likewise are to be reverent in their behavior.
Was that reverent? Yeah, that was reverent. That's
okay, that's good. Reverent in their behavior,
not malicious gossips nor enslaved to much wine,
teaching what is good so that they may encourage
the young women. Give them time. Give them years.
They'll get better at that. Encourage the young
women to love their husbands, to love their children,
to be sensible, pure, workers at home, kind,
being subject to their own husbands so that the
word of God will not be dishonored. And now our
text for this morning, verse 6. Likewise, and
again, that's an important word, right? Paul's
saying, look, in the same way that older men
and older women and younger women are called
to the standard of godliness, likewise, Titus,
now urge the young men to be sensible in all
things. Show yourself to be an example of good
deeds with purity and doctrine, dignified, sound
in speech, which is beyond reproach. so that
the opponent will be put to shame, having nothing
bad to say about us. Okay, once again, let's
ask the question, what age are we talking about
when Paul speaks of young men? And again, he
doesn't give us a number. But I think it's best
to think about the age here in relation to Titus
himself. Now, I think I mentioned this in the
very first sermon in the series, that most scholars
believe that at this point Paul is in his early
60s and that Titus is in his early to mid 30s.
So if you want a picture of this, this is like
me and Ken. Okay? You didn't know that was coming,
but that's what we're talking about. So early
to mid -30s at the time that this letter is being
written to him. So he's a young man himself.
This is his peer group that Paul is now addressing,
so it's very personal for him. By the way, just
as a teaser, if you just want to take a peek
at what comes next, verses 9 and 10, look what
comes next. Paul addresses slaves in the church.
And this has become an incredibly divisive and
controversial topic online these days. So the
next time we're together to talk about this,
what I want to do is address the controversy
and hopefully provide you guys with a strong
apologetic for what the Bible actually says and
teaches about slavery. So don't miss that. Okay,
two things I want to do before we break down
these three verses in detail. First, I want to
talk about the challenges that men face. in our
culture today. And then I want to specifically
talk about the challenges that younger men have
to face in this age. So we'll do that, and then
we'll get to the verses, I promise. Now, last
Sunday, I said, young women don't have it easy
today. And I really did mean that. Because this
culture is constantly bombarding young women,
trying to tell them, first of all, who they are,
and second, what they should become. And those
voices come at women from both the secular left
and the traditional right. And it can be confusing
to navigate through all of those opinions and
all of those expectations. And yes, the same
is true for young men today. All these cultural
voices out there attempting to define manhood
and then to fit you and I into one box or another.
And sadly, I don't think the church has done
a great job at helping this. In fact, shallow
evangelicalism has tended to send men in one
of two opposite directions. On the one hand,
telling some men, well, you need to tamp down
your masculinity and sort of lean into that more
emotional side, that more feminine side of who
you are. And on the other extreme, I've seen
movements within the church that look more like
a beer commercial. than they do for biblical
masculinity, right? Where it's all about, it's
just glorifying things like, you know, toughness
and guns and combat sports and the like. So last
week I put up this picture, these pictures, and
got a bit of a laugh talking about the voices
coming at women, right? On the one side, you've
got the killer businesswoman. On the other side,
you've got the trad wife. And you ladies are
trying to figure out, well, where do I fit on
that spectrum? Well, the same thing is true for
guys. On the one side, you got the emo guy. On
the other side, you got the camo guy. And we're
trying to figure out where we fit on this spectrum.
Don't stare at that too long. But there's an
identity crisis out there for young men, even
in the church, where, guys, we have the perfect
masculine image in Jesus. Here's a man who walked
the earth as both a spiritual warrior who was
strong and unbending on the truth, but also the
good shepherd, meek and gentle in his love and
care for others. And so that's what the church
needs to fight for and teach, true biblical manhood,
not one extreme or the other. We need to exhort
men to faithfulness as leaders and as husbands
and as fathers to have both strength and the
heart of a servant, one that cares. And if we
don't balance that well, the church is going
to suffer. And we've seen a lot of churches suffering
because we've gotten manhood all out of whack.
We've seen churches where men now sit back and
they just passively relinquish the authority
that God has called them to. And then we see
in other churches where ungodly men, seeing that
vacuum of power, step in and grab it and then
abuse that power. Recently, we've seen too many
churches where women have also noticed that vacuum
of power and have stepped in taking control of
leadership. So the church needs to get this right,
and we at Oak Hill need to make sure that we're
actually teaching and promoting true biblical
manhood. I find it interesting if you look at
the first century church in Corinth, it's a prime
example of what happens when a church of men
don't understand who they are or what role they're
supposed to play. And if you read 1 Corinthians,
you know that that church was mired in all kinds
of sins, doctrinal error and sexual immorality,
divorce, dissension, and so many more things.
And I think the best way to explain it is there
were a lot of males in the church in Corinth,
but not enough men. And there's a difference.
A lot of males, but not enough men. And Paul
chastised them for their immaturity. He writes,
for example, and I, brothers, could not speak
to you as spiritual men. Guys, I cannot even
speak to you as spiritual men. But as the men
of flesh, men driven by fleshly desires, infants
in Christ, I gave you milk to drink, not solid
food, for you were not yet able to receive it.
Indeed, even now. You are not able. They're going
through like this protracted adolescence. They're
not growing up. They're not able to receive solid
food. He goes on later to say in chapter 13,
when I was a child, guys, I used to speak like
a child, think like a child, reason like a child.
When I became a man, I did away with childish
things. He writes, some of you have become arrogant
as though I were not coming to you. Uh -oh, dad's
coming home. He says, what do you desire? Shall
I come to you with a rod, like a father spanking
his kids, or with love and a spirit of gentleness?
And as he wraps up this first letter to this
immature church, he urges them with these very
famous words. He says, be on alert, stand firm
in the faith, act like men. Not like males, but
men. Be strong. Let all that you do be done in
love. In other words, guys, look around, grow
up, and be sober -minded. You have a defined
role of leadership and authority and protection
that is essential to the life of the church,
and if you fail, there will be spiritual disaster.
And I know that's a heavy burden for men to carry,
but it's what God has given us. In my experience,
I have found that men... relish the idea of a
grand vision for their lives, one marked by leadership
and service and devotion to something far greater
than themselves. And we have that in the kingdom
of God. We have that in the mission of the church.
We just need men to step in and embrace that
and say, I want to become what God has called
me to be. So let's talk a little bit about particular
dangers then that come to young men. What are
the stumbling blocks that sometimes get in the
way of us? meeting this call to action that young
men have. By the way, to some extent, some of
what I'm about to share does apply to women as
well, so ladies, don't check out on me. Let's
talk about youth. First of all, let me say this
clearly. If you are in your 20s, 30s, enjoy this
time in your life. It's wonderful. You should
enjoy this time in your life. I don't want to
be one of those crabby old men that's like, ew.
Right? Get off my lawn. Not going to be that
guy. You should enjoy this time of life. It is
an amazing thing to be in your 20s and 30s. I
would say for me and for Tanya, our 40s was actually
our favorite decade. So you are in a good place
right now. Enjoy it while you have it. And most
importantly, give thanks to God for all that
you have at this stage of your life. Thank him
for your health. Thank him for your energy level.
Thank him for what you're building in life, your
careers, your families, all of these things.
Thank him for what still lies ahead in the time
that you're given. And then do this old man a
favor. Don't take all the things that you have
for granted. Because it can go away fast. And
time moves faster than you think it does. Don't
take it for granted. Enjoy the season you are
in right now. Don't always, I did this. This
is one of those little bits of wisdom that I
wish I knew back then that, man, if I could go
back, I would change it. Don't always be looking
forward to speed up into the next season. Enjoy
the one you're in right now and be thankful to
God for all of it. Know that one day, Lord willing,
you too will be an older person and you are going
to want to look back and have fond memories of
this time, not regrets, because of things you
got entangled up with. So think carefully about
these things. And to that end, let me share with
you a few warnings that could trip you up. Some
of this comes from Ryle's book. Some of it is
just my personal thoughts about my memory of
being a young man. And let me just start with,
can I start with the oldest sin in the book?
It's pride. Pride. Men, beware of how easy it
is to become prideful, especially as a young
man. Now, we're all born proud, but as J .C.
Ryle says, Pride never reigns anywhere so powerfully
as in the heart of a young man. I remember this
well. So often young men don't seek out or even
if they do seek it out, don't listen to wise
counsel. Don't listen to older men. Because even
at their young age, they're convinced that they
know everything they need to know. In fact, it
almost makes them angry to be told otherwise.
I have literally sat down with young men. And
they've looked me square in the eyes and said,
Jeff, thanks for the advice, but I know everything
I need to know. I've got this figured out. Okay.
You know, sometimes we just have to learn the
hard way. But don't let pride get in the way.
Ray Abom was an amazing example of this, wasn't
he? Do you remember the story? A young man who
despised the counsel of the older, experienced
men who had served his father Solomon. What did
he do instead? He turned to all his buddies and
he said, young guys, give me some advice. How'd
that work out for him? He lived long enough to
reap the consequences of his foolishness. The
prodigal son is another example. This young man
who insisted, I've got to have my share of the
inheritance right now because I have a lifestyle
I want to get to. I want to be my own boss. And
he ran from his father's counsel, but he too
quickly discovered the sting of his own folly.
Pride, young men. Pride will take you down. Second
warning. Young men today have too much freedom,
too many choices, and not enough self -discipline.
It's true. Look, I know this might be a little
painful. It's okay. I was with you. I was there
once. I know. I lacked discipline in my early
20s. Some have never been taught the value of
hard work. Others have been indulged too much,
had everything done for them. And when young
men are left to do as they please with all this
freedom and all these choices, they will often
choose self -destructive things, things that
will come back to haunt them. Things that will
hurt them in the present. It's a dangerous time
to be young if you have not developed the skill
of self -discipline. That's number two. Third
thing to be aware of. Young men, you live in
a culture that is more sexualized than any before
you. Don't take it lightly. There are so many
pernicious things that you can fall into these
days. And when you're young, a combination of
factors makes this very hazardous for your soul.
Number one, you're in the strongest and healthiest
time in your life. But number two, your lusts
and passions are at their height. Number three,
you don't recognize how vulnerable you are because
you really think you're invincible and you can't
be touched. And number four, you don't yet realize
just how empty and unsatisfying all those things
of the flesh will turn out to be. Until you get
older and you look back and go, none of it satisfied.
What was I thinking? Fourth thing, stumbling
block for you, the fear of man, the fear of man's
opinion. It is strongest when you are young to
fear the opinion of men. Proverbs 29, 25 says
the fear of man is a snare. It will trap you,
it will make you a slave. Most men are like sheep,
they just follow the flock. Why? Because they
want to be liked, they want to be admired, they
want to be with the crowd. So if the crowd says
this is right, then I say that's right. When
the crowd says this is wrong, then that's wrong.
I'm not willing to be that fish who swims upstream
because of the fear of man. I was afraid of the
people, so I gave in to them, said Saul to Samuel.
I was afraid what the people would think, so
I gave in as he disobeyed the Lord. Friends,
the fear of man is a form of slavery. J .C. Rowell
puts it this way. Be courageous, young men. Do
not worry what the world says or thinks, for
you will not always be with the world. That's
good advice. Finally, one last warning for young
men. And this is a strange one, thoughtlessness.
Thoughtlessness. Now, maybe this sounds strange,
but realize when you're young, you have a tendency
not to take stock of where your life is at. Young
men often don't look back to acknowledge the
mistakes that they've made. They often don't
look around to see what trouble they're in right
now in the present, and they often don't look
forward to see where they're trying to go. They
just live in the moment. Everything is about
the here and now, nothing else. Think of Esau.
Think of Esau, a thoughtless man who just had
to have his brother's stew in that moment because
of a desire of the flesh. I'm super hungry. Give
me that stew. I'll give up my entire birthright
for it, not realizing later on how much he wished
he had it. Don't think, just hurry, whispers
Satan. Just hurry. What's the reason to slow
down, right? Young man, be careful. Don't be
impulsive. Don't be thoughtless. I could go on
and on with such things. That's just a small
sampler, guys, that issues that you're facing
today and you need to be aware of them. You need
to be aware. So what I want to do now is go back
to the text because Paul has a few things to
say about this as well. So let's look back at
verses six through eight. and we'll see what
the divine counsel is for young men. Now, as
you do that, look at verse 6. You're going to
notice this word that keeps coming up in each
of these messages. In verse 6, he says, Likewise,
urge the young men to be sensible. In the New
American Standard, sensible. But before we get
into that, do you see the phrase, in all things,
at the beginning of verse 7? Grammatically, that...
That verse number, I think, is not in the right
place. Grammatically, that phrase, in all things,
should be attached not to the beginning of verse
7, but to the end of verse 6. So I'll put this
on the screen. I think, in my opinion, this is
actually the way it should read. Likewise, urge
the young men to be sensible in all things. Show
yourself to be an example of good deeds. I think
that's right. That's the point Paul is making.
Be sensible in every area of your life, men.
Be sensible. Now, the Greek word for urge there
is the perfect descriptor. I love this. This
is when sometimes the Greek language, and by
the way, let me apologize. I know we've probably
done more Greek in the last four weeks than in
the previous entire year, but these definitions
are so important in the original languages, so
thanks for bearing with me. But Paul uses parakaleo
here, and in its most literal form, it means
to call to one side. Like a father might do a
son. Son, come here. Let's talk. That's what
this means. And it's often used in the Bible
when somebody is imploring somebody or pleading
with them in some way. So the best way to think
of this is Paul says, Titus, I want you to call
the young men of Crete to your side. Come alongside
them and plead with them to be sensible in every
area of their life. And so we're back to the
Greek verb sophroneo, which means to be sensible.
And Paul has used it in every section. Remember
in chapter 1, he said elders need to be sensible.
Then in chapter 2, he said older men need to
be sensible. And that older women should focus
on bringing younger women back to their senses
so that they'll be sensible. So this is a hugely
important theme. Guys, it's still true today.
That was not just first century Crete. Still
true today. God would have all of us live sensibly.
regardless of the category we're in, young, old,
male, or female, it doesn't matter, we glorify
God and we make the body of Christ beautiful
when we act sensibly. Now, once again, what does
that word mean? Primarily, it means to be self
-controlled, to be self -controlled, to have
your desires and your passions under control,
to show sound judgment in your choices and decisions.
So in just this single word, Paul captures the
main quality that young men need to have if they
want to live godly lives. Men, do you hear that?
Paul says, if there's just one word I can use,
it'd be this one, be self -controlled, be sensible
in the way you live. And it's a big challenge
for men in our younger years. Again, I can testify
to this. It's that stage of life when we are
impulsive and we are prideful and we are ambitious.
And at the same time, we're lacking wisdom and
experience. Can you see what a recipe for disaster
that is? If it's not under control, this is how
we get ourselves in trouble. Unrestrained desires
combined with foolishness and impatience. So
young men need to learn to have self -control
so that they don't fall into all the snares and
traps that are out there. Just waiting for the
next victim to step in the loop. As an illustration
of this, back in 2001, a researcher went out
and wrote a book called Over the Edge. And this
researcher documented all the deaths that have
taken place at the Grand Canyon. About 900 people
have died since they started keeping track of
it. And on average, 11 people die each year through
accidents and falls and drowning. People get
lost and then die of exposure, things like that.
And guess what? 82 % of the ones who died were
young men. And we all could have predicted that,
right? Men who set out in weird ways to prove
their manhood, but end up making foolish choices
that cost them their lives and devastate entire
families. These were young men who were not sensible,
according to Paul's definition. And again, I
was once there, putting myself in harm's way
out of some misplaced need to prove myself as
a man. It is only by the grace of God that I
am alive today. And I mean that in all seriousness.
Multiple near -death experiences because of my
own foolishness in my late teens and early 20s.
The grace of God. So younger men, follow the
example of Paul here. Paul uses himself as a
great example here. In 1 Corinthians 9, he says
this. I do not run like one who runs aimlessly
or box like one beating the air. Instead, I discipline
my body and bring it under control. That's so
important. And this is a godly older man who
has real life experience. And he's telling you,
look, learn to discipline yourself. Learn to
control your passions. Walk with consistency
rather than just bursting out your front door
every morning and running around aimlessly. which
is what young men tend to do. What a great example.
Discipline your body and bring it under control.
All right, let's look at verse seven. Now there's
a shift in language at verse seven. Notice Paul
was sort of speaking generally about young men,
about being sensible, but now he says, show yourself,
meaning he's now talking to somebody in particular,
who's of course Titus, who he's writing to. He's
like, Titus, show yourself as an example to all
those young guys on Crete. Okay? And what is
he exhorting him to do? To be an example to these
other men. Show them what it looks like to live
sensibly, to live with self -control. The word
example there is tupos. It's where we get our
word type from. We're typology. So Paul is saying
to Titus, I want you to get out there with the
guys, and I want you to establish a type of life,
a pattern of living. that other young men can
see and go, oh, that's what I'm supposed to be
doing and imitate it. And that idea of imitation,
this is foundational, you guys. I know we talked
a lot about spiritual mothering with the ladies,
but this is so foundational for men, this idea
of example and imitation. It's all over the Bible.
Paul says to the Corinthians, he says, I exhort
you, be imitators of me. And then later in chapter
11, he adds this important disclaimer, just as
I imitate Christ. And we need mature men to do
this, to be examples to the younger men and say,
imitate me as I imitate Christ. Don't just do
what I do, do it because I follow Christ, right?
That's important. In Philippians 3, Paul writes
again, brothers, join in following my example
and observe those who walk according to the pattern
you have in us as apostles. Walk in that pattern.
Okay? You know what this means, young guys? You've
got to get to know some older guys. You've got
to observe. You've got to pay attention. Ask
questions. Do you know how much older guys like
getting questions? And then we start into our
stories. Well, when I was young, I had to walk
to school in the snow. But we love it. Come ask
us questions. Oh, we've got stuff to share. And
then we also find Paul writing in his other pastoral
letter to another young man, Timothy. He says
this, let no one look down on your youthfulness,
Timothy. And that's important too. Because sometimes
young men feel judged. No, don't let people look
down on you. But if you want to be respected,
do this. In speech, conduct, love, faith, and
purity, show yourself an example to those who
believe. What a great list that is, right? In
the way you speak, in your lifestyle, in your
love, in your faithfulness, in your sexual purity,
in all those areas of life, Timothy, you be a
pattern for others to look at and imitate. And
listen, this is a pattern of life in the church
that we need to live out, even today, right?
Those who are mature in the faith, setting the
example. Young men slowing down long enough to
look. Right? Because I know you're impulsive.
You're ambitious. I got things to do, places
to be. Slow down long enough to see the example
of older, wiser men. But then let me also challenge
you with this. You too are an example. I don't
want you to step away from this going, oh, well,
my only responsibility is to look and imitate.
No, you're an example too. You can be an example
to your peers, by the way. If you're growing
in maturity, be an example to your peers. But
secondly, if you're in your, and you may say,
look, I'm in my late 20s, my early 30s. I'm too
young to be an example. Guys, there's already
a generation coming behind you. There are youth.
There are 17, 18 -year -olds. There are college
students who are looking to you. If you're in
that upper 20s, early 30s, they're looking at
you because you're the next step ahead of them.
So know that your life is on display. This is
a responsibility for everybody in the body to
know that our lives are on display for others
to see and to imitate. I'll give you a quote
from Dr. MacArthur who always sort of summarizes
things so well. He says, to convince a man that
God can save, I need to show him a man he saved.
To convince a man that God can give hope, I need
to show him a man with hope. To convince a man
that God can give complete and total and utter
satisfaction, I need to show him a satisfied
man. We demonstrate the beauty of a saving God
by showing saved lives. Sinners have to see the
transforming power of Christ's presence, not
in some clever technique, but in someone's life.
That's brilliant. So the example matters. The
example matters, the observing matters, the imitation
matters. This is the life of the church. So now
let's ask the question, in what ways is Paul
telling Titus to set an example? Well, there's
four things here in verses 7 and 8. And let's
start with the foundational one. Show the young
men, Titus, what it means to have purity of doctrine.
This is what it's built on, purity of doctrine.
Now, two definitions here. First, the word for
doctrine, didaskalia, really just means teaching
or instruction. To be a godly man, listen now.
To be a godly young man, you must build your
life on teaching that is consistent with the
scriptures. You must build your life on teaching
that is consistent with the scriptures. Paul
adds that qualifier, pure teaching, right? In
the Greek word there for pure means uncorrupted.
Doctrine, teaching that is not tainted by falsehood,
not stained by false teachers. teaching that
is truly divine, as perfect as God himself is.
That's what we seek out, to build as a foundation,
young men, for godly living, scripture. There's
no substitute for this, by the way, for knowing
truth and then living it out with integrity.
There's no magical pill you can take to just
go, oh, there's no AI that you can, you know.
conjure up to put it in your brain and have it
lived out in your life. Sorry, you've got to
study the word. You've got to know the word.
You've got to live the word if you want to be
that godly young man. So that's the foundation
for sensible living. Pure doctrine, fundamental
teaching, uncorrupted truth. Make sense? Don't
skip that part. Then second, Titus, show the
young man. The young man, what it looks like
to be dignified. Now, this is kind of a strange
one. This is the Greek word semnades, meaning
something that's worthy of reverence, worthy
of respect. And the way this sentence is constructed
in the Greek grammatically, it's a little bit
strange. I think Paul is connecting the sense
of dignity to the way that pure doctrine should
be communicated. In the way you communicate your
teaching, be dignified. Do it with all seriousness,
Titus. If you're gonna proclaim sound doctrine,
do it with all seriousness. Teach doctrine in
a way that commands respect for the word and
submission to its authority. So Titus, be sober
-minded about this when it comes to teaching
the word. Be dignified. Now does that mean we
can't have a sense of humor and laugh? We've
already done that this morning, right? That too
is a gift from God. So it's not that we have
to be humorless. But it does mean in living life
together, we take truth seriously. We give the
teaching of God's word its place as a time of
sacred sharing in the sense of reverence as we
listen to his word preached. And that's important.
So dignify. Third thing, Titus, be an example
of good deeds for young men. Be an example of
good deeds. Now, here, Paul has a specific point.
He's not saying teach, teach sound doctrine.
He's saying, I want you to live sound doctrine,
okay? I want you to live this out. His point
is practical. You believe in sound doctrine,
good. You proclaim sound doctrine, great. Now
walk in sound doctrine. Let your deeds be evidence
of all. Let your actions be consistent with what
you believe and what you say. How important is
this in our world we live in today as a witness?
We profess Christ. We put ourselves out there.
But do we walk in the things that we believe?
Do we walk in the things that we say? The world
is watching. We talked about that last Sunday.
And they smell hypocrisy, don't they? So walk
in your doctrine. Engage in good deeds for the
glory of God and for the good of your neighbor,
for the good of your fellow believer. Titus,
your life should be full of this visible good
works that all the young men in Crete can see
and imitate. I think what Paul is doing here
is he's sort of drawing a contrast. Remember
in chapter one, he addressed the false teachers
and he said, they profess to know Christ, but
by their deeds, they what? They deny him, being
disobedient. So he's saying, look, Titus, make
the contrast obvious because the men in Crete
are watching. Make it obvious. Let the young
men see the disobedience of those wolves, but
then let them see the genuine Christian love
and service in you. And that's important for
us as well. And listen, friends, we should, you
know, we often make fun of all other belief systems
about good works, but we should understand that
the command to excel in good deeds matters. Don't
fall into the trap of easy believism. Trusting
in Christ and doing good deeds go hand in hand.
They do. We're not saved by our good deeds, but
we're saved for good deeds. And the best way
to understand this, we have this amazing chapter.
When someone says, why do you believe that we
can be saved by grace alone through faith alone?
We almost immediately jump to Ephesians 2, right?
And we should. What does it say? By grace you've
been saved through faith and that not of yourselves.
It's the gift of God, not as a result of work,
so that no one may boast. And we say, amen, that's
wonderful. What's the next verse say? How often
do we forget this? What does it say? For we are
his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for
good works. It's all right there in just three
verses. We're saved by grace through faith alone,
but we're saved for good works. So don't be surprised
when you see a verse in Titus 2 like this. Listen,
we are going to keep preaching the Reformation
doctrine of justification by faith alone, but
we dare not promote a dead orthodoxy. Where belief
doesn't translate into practical work for God's
glory, right? Amen? Make sure we get that balanced
well. Last thing. Fourth thing, Titus. Show the
young men how to be sound in speech. The type
of speech that's beyond reproach, that cannot
be condemned by the world because of its virtue.
Now, the word used here for speech is not actual
formal teaching. Paul uses the very well -known
Greek word logos here, which is just the simple
Greek word for words. So what he's talking about
here is everyday speech, everyday conversations.
In all of your conversations, make sure that
it's sound. What does sound mean in Titus? Healthy.
Same, right? Remember we talked about the Greek
word is the same word we have for hygiene. Sound
speech is healthy speech. Remember what Paul
said to the Ephesian church? Let no unwholesome
word or foul language proceed from your mouth,
but only, only what is good for building up someone
in need so that it gives grace to those who hear.
That should mark our speech together. Again,
does that mean we can't joke around? Of course
not. Does that mean we can't tell lighthearted
stories or have lighthearted conversations? Of
course not. It just means that in all of our
communication, we honor God as we talk. And we
acknowledge that we have this shared relationship
in him, that it matters. This is what Paul means
by sound. Our words should be health -giving.
Even when we tell stories, even when we tell
jokes, even when we talk about the Dodgers. Especially.
It should be health -giving. Let your speech
be wholesome. Even if it's for fun, let it be
wholesome. Right? Let it be edifying. Let it
not be crass or useless. Let it be beyond reproach.
So that if anybody in the world hears you talking
to a believer, they're gonna say, oh, that's
interesting, that's different. Or they say, man,
aren't those guys Christians? I thought they
were supposed to be different. You guys sound
just like me and my friends. We need to be distinct
in that. Sound in speech. And then that brings
us to what I would call the purpose statement
of this whole section about young men. Look at
the end of verse eight. If young men are sensible
and self -controlled, if they're engaged in good
deeds that come out of pure doctrine, if they're
acting with dignity and soundness in the way
they speak to each other, then Paul says anyone
who's hostile to the faith, any opponent is going
to be put to shame because they don't have anything
bad to say about you. Now, Paul's point here
isn't that, well, look, if you do everything
really well, that your opponents are going to
go away. Or they're going to stop persecuting
you. That's not what he's saying. In fact, it
may get worse, right? They may persecute you
even more. His point is, if we're handling our
business spiritually as a church, our enemies
are going to be at a loss when they try to criticize
us. They're going to go, I don't have any ammunition
to shoot at these Christians because we haven't
handed them any ammunition. And we tend to do
that far too often. In fact, in order to come
after us, they'd have to make stuff up if we
were this pure. They'd have to lie about us,
and then when their lies get exposed, they're
put to shame in their untruths. That's the point
that Paul is making here. And the thing to realize
about this, and we all felt this before, we either
rise or fall together on this because the hypocrisy
of one Christian affects all of us. We've all
felt that before. You're like, oh, really, that
guy fell? You know, I'm witnessing to my friend
at work, and now there's this scandal, right?
It affects all of us, so we're all responsible
for this. All of that hypocrisy casts a shadow
over the church, and it gives unbelievers an
excuse in their heart to reject Jesus, and we
don't want to give them that excuse. We don't
want to give them that ammunition to shoot at
us. So this responsibility falls on all of us,
and let me just say, because I think Paul's hinting
at this, it falls on young men in particular.
because of where you're at in the stage of your
life. So guys, don't let our enemies speak evil
against us. Don't give them that ammunition.
Okay, I don't know. I forgot my watch this morning.
Wow, I know I'm running out of time. I can't
see well, but Grant's like, yes. Okay, so let
me wrap this up. All right, let me say, first
of all, I said to my wife this morning, this
message is hard on the young guys. So, sorry,
not sorry. There's been a lot of warnings and
challenges here, but I honestly, from the bottom
of my heart, as an older guy, I urge you to heed
them and to not think of yourself as wise and
invincible right now. or unable to learn things
anymore or to think that you've got it all figured
out. Take the dangers seriously. Take the challenges
seriously. If you won't take them from me, will
you take them from J .C. Ryle? A far greater
man than I. But let me also share with you before
we go this encouragement. Young men, you guys
have some incredible opportunities in front of
you. This is such a sweet and rich season for
you. Honestly, I wish as I was writing this,
I was like, I wish I could go back. With the
knowledge I have now and go back and redo, Lord,
can I get a redo? It doesn't work that way, but
I wish. Young man, your ministry in the church
is so important right now. Your leadership in
the home is so desperately needed today. And
this is why I want you to avoid all these traps
and snares. because you're desperately needed.
If you will seek to put the Lord first in your
life in these coming years, which are so formational,
you can build healthy marriages and you can lead
families that will flourish under God's gracious
hand. You'll have a chance to make a huge impact
on the lives of the people around you, a chance
to step into important roles and minister to
so many other people. Young men, please do not
sit out there and go, well, look, we've got these
older guys, and the calling is for them. No,
the calling is for you. And the preparation starts
today. And I'll close with this, and this may
shock you. The church is counting on you. Young
men, the church is counting on you. The rest
of us in this church are counting on you. You
know why? Because I won't be here forever. I
won't. And some of our other elders who I know
you love and I know you admire and you count
on, they're aging too and they won't be here
forever. So what then? We're counting on a younger
generation of men. Who will look at the scriptures
and take these commands and these exhortations
to heart. We're looking for a generation of men
who will answer the call that God has on their
life to step into roles that are needed to advance
the kingdom of God in this place. So I'm looking
at you young men. We need you. We're counting
on you. Because I'm getting old. And we're praying
for you. Us older guys are praying for you that
God would raise up this next generation of faithful
men. So let's bow our heads and we'll pray for
them now. Lord, what a privilege it is to look
into the text of your word and to see these generational
concepts come to the top and to... And to trust,
Lord, as we always do, that you're sovereign
and that you are building your church and you
will not let it fail and that you're raising
up men to answer that call and to step into these
important roles of leadership. And, Lord, as
an older man and with my fellow older men here,
Lord, we're thankful for the leadership you've
brought to Oak Hill. Even in a church of our
size, you've given us some godly men. We're grateful
for that, Lord. And now we pray for all the guys
that are out here in this congregation in their
late 20s, early 30s, that, Lord, they would not
take this message, these exhortations lightly,
but they would begin to pray and ask you to give
them a vision for what roles you have for them
in the church, that they might be shaken from
any lethargy they might have about the importance
of this role for men in the church. Lord, that
you would do a great work. We pray for these
young guys. We pray, Lord, and ask that you would
raise up the right men who can lead this church
into the future. So thank you for doing that,
Lord. Again, as I say, we always trust that you
are sovereign at work in us. We just know that
sometimes we don't have because we don't ask,
so we ask. And we thank you, Lord, that you hear
our prayers. To you be all glory for this time
that we have together this morning. In Jesus'
name we pray. Amen.