Introduction
Well, we've observed before that sometimes when we come to a study of the scriptures, very often we can learn much from the smallest places of scriptural texts, whether it's a doxology, a benediction. And in this case here for this morning and this evening, even in the greeting of an epistle, even in the opening words of an epistle, we can learn much. Now this book comes to us and it brings to us many glorious words and truths that should ring true to our Christian hearts. We have in this particular book those wonderful words that were saved not by works of righteousness done by us, but according to his mercy he saved us through the washing of regeneration and the Holy Spirit.
We have the glorious truths given to us, such as in verse 11 of chapter 2, for the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for himself his own special people, zealous for good works. We have wonderful theology throughout the book, but it is even in this greeting by Paul to Titus that we have wonderful things to open up, hopefully to appreciate and to understand. Simply in the identification of the author, Paul, we have much that we can glean from. It's not something that we analyze and we confine to antiquity when we read Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ. a bondservant of God, an apostle of Jesus Christ, but hopefully something that from which we can extend to our present day and see the application to the ministry of the church, the place of the pulpit and the preacher in the ministering of the gospel.
The Apostle
We're going to have a look at two things this morning. First, the apostle, and second, the apostolic task. Again, not trying to confine ourselves to antiquity, though understanding what's going on with regards to Paul and his apostleship, but hopefully gleaning from it glorious things for our own age and for our own life here at Free Grace Baptist Church. So we're going to look first off at the apostle and secondly the apostolic task.
First off, notice very simply the apostle in verse 1. Paul, a bondservant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ according to the faith of God's elect. We're going to look simply at three things under the apostle. We're going to look at Paul, a bondservant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ.
Sometimes our points as preachers can be more wordy and more and longer. But today, this morning, it's going to be quite simple. First off, under the apostle, we want to look at Paul.
Paul: A Trophy of Free Grace
Sometimes in the ministry of a church, you have preachers who can, in a wholesome way, spend an entire sermon on the word Paul. and then next week come back and preach an entire sermon on a bondservant, and then the next servant what it means to be a bondservant of God, and that sort of a thing. We're not going to do that, but we do want to spend some time on Paul. Never skip an opportunity to glory in the grace of God seen in the fact that Paul wrote Christian epistles. Remember that our reading and our understanding of the scriptures is enriched when we consider the writers of Holy Scripture.
You've been reminded of this before a consideration of Psalm 32. How much more glorious is it to read Psalm 32? Blessed is the one whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the one to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity.
How glorious is it to read those words and understand that it is King David who wrote those. Who committed sin with Bathsheba. Who compounded that sin against God by sending Bathsheba's husband Uriah to the forefront of the hottest battle. Effectively murdering the husband of Bathsheba.
Knowing the grace of God that followed after his repentance and forgiveness. The grace of God that was poured out upon him, he can write those words. Blessed is the one to whom his transgressions are not imputed. Blessed is the one whose sins are covered.
An examination, for example, of the Apostle Peter, if we consider the narrative in the book of Acts, Acts chapter 2. Remember, enriching our reading of the scriptures, when we read in Acts 2.22, Peter standing up before Israel and saying, men and brethren, let me speak to you concerning this Jesus of Nazareth. We think with our minds back to this Peter, and we remember that only at 40 days previously, he was renouncing Christ before a servant girl, saying, I do not know this Jesus of Nazareth. and yet he's restored unto his gospel ministering task by a gracious Christ, and he proclaims on the day of Pentecost, men and brethren, this Jesus of Nazareth, whom you murdered by lawless hands, God has raised up, and he is king, and he is glorious. We come to the text here, and we read the words Paul, and hopefully our minds just don't skip off to the next number of words, the next handful of words, and continue on with the discourse. without understanding and without glorying in the fact that this man, perhaps 30 years ago, would have opened up a letter to his fellow Pharisees saying, Paul or Saul of the tribe of Benjamin, a Pharisee with zeal persecuting the church.
But now he opens up an epistle writing to Christians, writing to Titus, and generally to Christians, and even more generally to us today, Paul, a bondservant of God and apostle of Jesus Christ. This is one who was once the bondservant of the devil, bringing upon the church violence and the most vehement persecution. Remember his own rehearsal of his own pre-Christian life. He dragged men and women from their homes off to prison.
He sat approvingly at the stoning of Stephen, giving consent to his murderous death. And yet now, by the grace of God, Solian alone, he can bring pen to parchment and write, Paul a bondservant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ. It is absolutely glorious. That we can read Paul, a bondservant of God, is a testament to the amazing grace of God.
A kid's testament simply means something that witnesses to something, something that testifies to the truth of something. When we read, Paul, a bondservant of God, that means it testifies to the grace of God visited upon this one who once brought such violence against the Church of Christ.
Bondservant of God
Notice, secondly, a bondservant of God. Paul, a bond servant of God. Now, Paul certainly was a bond servant of God, generally with respect to the fact that he was a Christian man. Remember, we are bondservants, insofar as we're Christians, we are bondservants of God.
The Bible speaks of the fact that there are two types of servitude in this lower world, and unbelievers pay close attention to these two, because there is no third option. You are either a slave of Christ, or you are a slave of the devil. We are either slaves unto righteousness, or we are slaves of sin. And so Paul is a bondservant of God just like we all are bondservants of God at this very point that God has saved us by his grace that we might be slaves and servants of the Most High bringing joyful servitude in the kingdom of Christ.
Yet these words here have a peculiar attachment to Paul's bond servitude, if you will, his slavery in the apostolate, in his ministry as an apostle of God, as an apostle, as the text says, of Jesus Christ. The highest ministers, Henry writes, in the church are but servants. And he notes that James, Peter, and Jude use this same language in introducing their epistles. They are bond servants of God and apostles. of the Lord Jesus Christ.
So this has, while it generally applies to his slavery unto Christ as being one saved by amazing grace, it has peculiar attention unto the fact that he was immediately called by Christ to be a servant of God in the spreading of the gospel. Paul was certainly a bondservant of God, generally speaking, as a Christian man, but his designation as bondservant concerns his ministering of the gospel. And notice here what we have as well, an apostle of Jesus Christ. an apostle of Jesus Christ.
Apostle of Jesus Christ
He was a sent one. Perhaps you've done a word study before, maybe you haven't. What does apostle mean? We have this a lot in our Bibles, kids, don't we?
We read apostle, apostle, apostle. What does that mean? Well, it means a sent one, an emissary, an ambassador. Paul was an apostle, a sent one. an emissary, a herald commissioned by the King Jesus Christ to come and to bring the message of the gospel to a needy world.
This is not something that is a general term here applied to Paul. There are many apostles out there in the world back then throughout the ages of the church and today. There is not an apostolic ministry today, if we consider that in the sense of the capital A apostles in the New Testament scriptures. But that does apply to Paul here.
He saw the Lord. He had those requisites of one who was an apostle. He saw the Lord. He was immediately called by the grace of God into his apostleship, and as well, he received from the risen Christ the doctrine that he himself propagated.
Remember, he writes in his other epistles, he says, I deliver to you that which the Lord delivered to me, first of all. When he comes and he brings the language of the Lord's Supper, he doesn't say that he learned of this doctrine from other apostles, but rather the Lord delivered to me that which I also now deliver to you, that on the night he was betrayed he took bread, broke it, etc. So the Apostle Paul is an apostle of Jesus Christ. And let's just stop for a moment and engage in I think what is not vain imagining.
You see, the Apostle Paul was not an epistle machine, just getting up in the morning, getting to his parchment, hammering out, okay, I gotta identify myself, I gotta greet the church, write a little bit of a body of the epistle, sign off maybe with a doxology and a benediction, and then get back to doing whatever I do. Paul had the heart of a man called by God to bring to bear upon the world the glories, the riches, the excellencies of Christ Jesus the Lord. And he no doubt would have done what every Christian saved by grace does. They rehearse the glory of salvation being given to them by such an amazing God.
Imagine Paul writing this. Paul, a bondservant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ. himself. He's sitting there wherever he was writing it. I don't think it was written during an imprisonment.
It was probably written between his first and second imprisonment. He's sitting there at whatever sort of desks they had in the first century, bringing his first century pen to his first century parchment. Knowing that he was once this vile enemy of the church. Knowing that he once as a young man stood as his countrymen and his compatriots picked up large stones to crush the head of godly Stephen.
Knowing that he was once the one who dragged men and women out of their houses to bring them to persecution and some no doubt ultimately unto death. As Henry noted in his commentary on Acts 8, remember what's going on in the book of Acts here. We have the life of the early church, the work, if you will, of the ascended Christ Jesus through the Spirit to the church, growing Christianity throughout that first century region. in the fulfillment of his promise of Matthew 16, 18, I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. What we probably have is Paul giving to Luke the words to write concerning the narrative of the early church.
And Matthew Henry notes that Acts chapter 8, verse 1, where it says, and Saul was persecuting the church. You've heard this before. and Saul was persecuting the church. Henry says we have reason to, well first he says Paul fed his eyes upon the bloody spectacle of Stephen's martyrdom in the hopes that that would put an end to Christianity. That was the mind of Paul prior to his conversion and his apostleship.
Looking upon this bloody execution, this bloody murder of Stephen saying I hope that puts an end to this way of the Nazarene. He fed his eyes on that bloody spectacle in the hopes that it would put an end to Christianity, but post-conversion, Henry notes, we have reason to believe Paul ordered Luke to insert that, and Saul was persecuting the church, for shame to himself and glory to free grace. So Paul brings pen to parchment, and he writes, Paul, a bondservant of God, an apostle of Jesus Christ. And what's he doing?
He's not pounding his chest while he's writing that and saying, aren't I great? You see, I saw the errors of my pharisaical ways, and according to my own strength, I owned Jesus and commissioned myself into the apostleship. No, for shame to himself and glory to free grace. God came upon the wings of amazing and victorious grace and pulled Paul from out of the darkness of pharisaical idolatry, planted him into the commissioning, the propagation of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Paul, a bondservant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ. What an amazing contrast. And look at the grace of our...
Reading of Acts 22:6–21
Turn to Acts 22 for a moment. Acts 22. Remember, throughout the book of Acts, we have much to bring us to an appreciation for the conversion of Paul, and really directing us, of course, to the grace of God in the conversion of Paul. Notice what we have in Acts 22.
Look at verse 6. Now, it happened as I journeyed. This is Paul recounting his conversion. Now, it happened as I journeyed and came near Damascus at about noon.
Suddenly around me, suddenly a great light from heaven shone around me. And I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? So I answered, who are you, Lord? And he said to me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting." Imagine the Apostle Paul reflecting back upon the condescending kindness of the Savior. coming to him and bringing not some sort of Greco-Roman pagan God conception of juridical rage, but coming the mercy, the triune God.
Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting. Notice we read a line here, and those who were with me indeed saw the light and were afraid, but they did not hear the voice of him who spoke to me. So I said, what shall I do, Lord?
And the Lord said to me, Arise, and go into Damascus, and there you will be told all things which are appointed for you to do. And since I could not see for the glory of that light being led by the hand of those who were with me, I came into Damascus." Now before we read on, a moment here in the section beginning in verse 17. This is the commissioning of Paul and his apostleship. And notice the Lord Jesus Christ.
Remember the account of Stephen. When Stephen, just before he commits his spirit to the Lord, he says, Lord, do not count these sins against them. He prays to Christ, and he says, Lord Christ, do not count these sins against them. Well, that prayer of Stephen was efficacious, wasn't it?
Because the Lord Christ comes to Paul, the one who was there, the one who would have been a subject of that prayer. that Stephen rendered. And Paul, the Lord Christ, does not charge Paul with the sin, but rather saves him by amazing grace and commissions him into his apostleship. Notice further the condescending kindness of Christ in bringing Paul into his apostleship. Verse 17, Now it happened when I returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, that I was in a trance and saw him saying to me, Make haste and get out of Jerusalem quickly, for they will not receive your testimony concerning me.
So I said, Lord, they know that in every synagogue I imprisoned and beat those who believe on you. And when the blood of your martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing by clothes of those who were killing him. Then he said to me, Depart, for I will send you far from here to the Gentiles. I think we can wholesomely read into that the fact that Paul your sins are forgiven you.
Your sins are forgiven you. Do not dwell upon Do not dwell upon inordinately sins that have now been washed in my precious blood, but rather depart, for I will send you far from here to the Gentiles." He sends them to proclaim the riches and the excellencies of the one that Stephen proclaimed before that audience, that he sat by murderously. And yet after conversion, Paul no longer is that one who is, if you will, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Pharisee persecuting the church, but rather Paul, a bondservant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ.
The Apostolic Task
Now notice the apostolic task as we find our way back to Titus. Had a brief look at the apostle. Let's now have a look at the apostolic task. Because after Paul identifies himself here in verse 1, He goes on to speak with regards to what his apostolic task is, what it was.
Notice, just beginning again, Paul, a bondservant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect and the acknowledgement of the truth, which accords with godliness. Now, some may read this language where we read, according to the faith of God's elect. And they might take that to mean that Paul's apostleship was no new thing in the history of God's revelation. In other words, it is the same faith of Moses.
It is the same faith of David. It is the same faith of Solomon, of Isaiah, of the prophets, etc., according to the faith of God's elect. In fact, Paul himself notes in Acts 26, that he witnessed to both small and great, saying no other things than those which the prophets and Moses said would come, that the Christ would suffer. that he would be the first to rise from the dead and would proclaim light to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles, according to the faith of God's elect. He is preaching to both great and small, no new thing, but rather those same things that Moses and the prophets proclaimed, though in dark sayings and in types and in shadows.
Here we have not that, being intended by the Apostle Paul when he writes according to the faith of God's elect. Some may read according to the faith of God's elect and take it to mean the manner by which he became an apostle. He is an apostle of Jesus Christ according to the faith of God's elect and acknowledgement of the truth. In other words, God had chosen him to be an apostle and had brought him into belief, into faith, in Christ and into this operation, this office, as an apostle of Jesus Christ.
That is not Paul's intent either. Most likely what Paul's intent is, is that he is referring to the fact that he was a tool in the hand of God to bring the elect to saving faith. So when we read, according to the faith of God's elect, we may read Paul a bondservant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the end of the faith of God's elect. In other words, his apostleship was first unto the end that the elect might believe, have faith in Jesus Christ, the Lord and Savior.
You turn to Acts 26 for a moment, because here we have that reality brought out in the narrative of the early church. Again, Paul now answering Agrippa and speaking concerning his commissioning. And notice what we have in Acts 26, beginning in verse 12. What does it mean according to the faith of God's elect?
Well, here it means what Jesus is getting at in the divine commission of Paul's apostleship. Notice Acts 26, beginning in verse 12. While thus occupied, as I journeyed to Damascus with authority and commission, from the chief priest. At midday, O King, along the road I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining around me and those who journeyed with me.
And when we all had fallen to the ground, I heard a voice speaking to me and saying in the Hebrew language, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads. so I said who are you Lord and he said I am Jesus whom you are persecuting but rise and stand on your feet for I have appeared to you for this purpose and here it comes Paul's apostleship what is it unto what is it according to what is it for to make you a minister and a witness both of the things which you have seen and of the things which I will yet reveal to you. I will deliver you from the Jewish people, as well as from the Gentiles, to whom I now send you, to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me." Now, remember what we said when we opened up this morning. What does a study, an analysis of the goings-on of the early church have to do with me?
Well, hopefully you can glory in past events of the amazing grace of God, where He comes and He saves men like Paul, where He saves Jews and Gentiles by the proclamation of the Gospel. But hopefully you can think this way with me, that we have and we owe our present ownership of the Gospel to Paul. a bondservant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ. Hopefully you can have and share with me this affinity with what went on 2,000 years ago. For Christians here this morning, hopefully your eyes aren't wandering and your mind is wandering to lunch later and to other things However, the preacher, right now, fallibly and perhaps sometimes with a measure of boring speech, brings the Word of God to you.
You can connect with the text back to the Apostle Paul's time and see that when Jesus commissioned Paul to bring the Gospel to the Gentiles, that we owe our present ownership of the Gospel to the commissioning of Christ, of the Apostle Paul. Can you not see that connection? We trace our gospel genealogy, if you will, back to that fateful day in Damascus, when Christ commissioned this Paul to go about the preaching of Christ and Him crucified. Hopefully you can see that, and hopefully you can glory in that, and hopefully when you read the pages of the book of Acts, you don't confine your mind to antiquity and say, well, that was great. but you bring it back to the present in glory in the fact that you can trace your ownership of the gospel back to that glorious day when Christ came in amazing light and an amazing grace knocking Saul to the ground calling him to come back to his feet and saying I'm sending you to open the eyes of the Gentiles.
We being Gentiles are the blessed beneficiaries of this apostolic work. Remember that connection. So
Apostleship unto the Elect Believing
what we see first under the apostolic task, if it isn't obvious already, is the fact that his apostleship was unto the end of the elect believing. How is it that God brings his chosen ones to belief in the Lord Jesus Christ? Well, initially it was by apostles commissioned by Christ to bring the words of Christ to bear upon the souls of the elect, that they might be brought, that they would certainly be brought. from the darkness of sin. to light and life in Christ Jesus the Lord. Christianity is advanced by the faithful proclamation of truth, trusting in the saving power of God to make dead sinners alive in Christ.
When Paul is writing to Titus, when he says that he is an apostle of Jesus Christ for the faith, or according to the faith of God's elect, this is what he has in the fore of his mind. that his apostleship was unto this blessed end, that people, that the elect, that sinners, would believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and that in him find their all in all. You see, this is why it was here in the book of Titus and in other books, why it was so vital that the apostles would bring pen to paper to write their names and their apostolic authority in the introduction, and then to write concerning the truth and right concerning the rejection of error. Because what is at stake is the faithful proclamation of the truth unto the end that sinners would be brought from the deadness of sin to life in Christ Jesus. And again, we rejoice, two thousand years removed, that we have, if you will, apostolic successors Not in the way of the Church of Rome, bishops with big hats, but in the way of Protestant Christianity, apostolic doctrine.
We trace our lineage, our apostolicity back to Paul, and from there throughout history, faithful proclaimers of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Because this is the case, that Christianity is advanced, not by the edge of a sharp sword, Christianity is not advanced by vests of C4. With crazy men or women, and even boys, running into coffee shops strapped with explosives and detonating them for the advancement of such a blasphemous and idolatrous religion. Christianity is advanced not by the sword and vests of C4, but by the faithful proclamation of truth.
Because we know that it is God who is behind the accurate proclamation of truth. The Word doesn't come, and the Word isn't efficacious in and of itself. The Word is most necessarily, but it gains its efficacy from being joined with power from on high, making sinners alive in Christ Jesus. His apostleship was unto the end of the elect believing.
And notice that it is the faith of the elect in contrast, of course, to any other faith. You see, no general or generic faith will do. We do not allow for any sort of religious pluralism in God's universe because God is peculiar, particular, and precise. There is no other name given under heaven among men by which you might be saved but by the name of Jesus Christ the Lord.
Christ Jesus himself, what does he say in the Gospel of John? He says, I am the way, I am the truth, I am the life. There's only one path, there's only one verity, there is only one vitality, and it is Christ Jesus the Lord. And so, according to the faith of God's elect, it is only the faith of the elect in contrast to any other sort of faith, whether the faith of devils. whether the faith of heretics, whether the faith of the reprobate, whether the faith of hypocrites.
That is not the faith of the elect, but rather the faith of the elect is really seen in what follows, the acknowledgment of the truth which accords with godliness. God gives the grace of faith to his elect, and by that grace of faith, we lay hold with two clenched fists, God's revealed truth, and we glory in it, and we seek to glory in it, to rejoice in it, to propagate it. That simply means, kids, to spread it so that others might know. As a church, that's what we are to do.
As Christians, that's what we are to do, to propagate, to scatter the seeds of gospel verity, gospel truth, so that the elect might know, so the elect might rejoice, so that sinners might be saved and sing the praises of their Christ. So his apostleship was unto the end of the elect believing. Now
Apostleship unto Owning the Gospel
notice, secondly, under the apostolic task, notice as well, his apostleship was unto the end of the people's owning of the gospel. So we read, an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith, or for the faith of God's elect, and the acknowledgement of the truth. It is the case that the Apostle Paul's task was unto the end that the elect would own publicly the gospel of Jesus Christ and profess it with great joy. Whenever we read this, we can draw an equal sign between two things.
Whenever we read the truth, we can draw an equal sign between that and the gospel. At least here we can, and in other places where the Apostles use that language. The acknowledgement of the truth. What is the truth but the Gospel?
I delivered to you... And actually, turn to 1 Corinthians for a moment, because often we might think the language means something other than it actually means. 1 Corinthians 15. Speaking about the acknowledgement of the truth. We come to... 1st Corinthians 15 in verse 3.
We'll get there in a moment because we want to read in verse 1 concerning the gospel, the necessity, the importance of it, the fact that it was the task of the Apostle Paul to make the elect own it with great joy. Notice 1st Corinthians 15 beginning in verse 1. Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, and in which you stand, by which you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain." Now notice verse 3, for I delivered to you first of all, We can take that to mean and take that to be understood as, for I delivered to you of first importance that which I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures and that he was buried and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures. You see, if we are to find the gem in the center of our Christian religion in anything else, save for the person and the work of Christ, we're looking in the wrong treasure box.
We see here what is the truth that we are to acknowledge and own. What is the truth that we are to acknowledge and lay hold of that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures and that he was buried and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures. Truth of truths and gospel of gospels. There's no better word that you're going to hear kids.
The preacher can ramble on up here and hopefully it's not in vain, but we can talk a lot and it's for good reasons because we seek to bring to bear the truth. And kids, the gospel is of the utmost importance because you know that you will take your memories with you to hell if you are not this day found safely in Christ Jesus. You'll remember with tears mounting upon tears, an absolute loss upon absolute loss, that preacher after preacher came to you, parent after parent, friend after friend, family member after family member, and said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. And you see that glorious banner and that glorious truth, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.
In hell it's a different banner that flies. It's a different banner. There is no reprieve. There is no escape.
The banner that flies is, you're damned for all eternity. Why do you dangle and wait and tarry? Tomorrow I'll perhaps consider this Christ. Today I'm going to pursue the lusts of my own flesh, the perversions of my own mind.
I'm going to grip on to self-gratification. You know what? This young lady or this young man catches my eye. Tomorrow I'll follow after Christ.
You know what? I want the here and the now satisfied, the lusts of my flesh, the allure of this world. Perhaps in a week or in a month or in a year I'll follow after this Christ. I mean, I'm only such and such an age.
I'm only 8. I'm only 10. I'm only 13. I'm only 17.
I'm only 21. Tomorrow is for Christ. Today is for me. Tragedy comes.
Death comes, or that tomorrow, that next week, that next month turns into next decade, next 40 years. Tragedy comes, death comes. You enter into everlasting life, but it's not for you the bliss of everlasting life as it is for Christians, but it is everlasting damnation. The banner that flies is damned for all eternity. with your memories.
You weep in terror. The preacher told me. The preacher brought to bear the reality of the gospel. Acknowledgement of the truth.
Acknowledgement of the gospel. You would know the folly at some level. The folly following after your own lusts and rejecting this Christ. You dwell on that for all eternity.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. And we find the gem of our profession given here, for I deliver to you of first importance..." You see, the Corinthians were not the first recipients of the gospel. I deliver to you, first of all, to the Jews first, and then to the Greeks. It's, I deliver to you of first importance that which I also received from the risen Christ. and he proceeds to give the gospel.
Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and he was buried, and he rose again the third day according to the scriptures. Good news, good news. His apostleship was unto the end of people's owning the gospel.
Reading of Romans 1:1–6
Turn to Romans for a moment as we We'll close with our next point in a couple of minutes, but in the book of Romans, we see this clearly, that his apostleship was unto the fact that all nations bend a knee to the King of Kings and to the Lord of Lords. Notice Romans 1, beginning in verse 1. Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God, which he promised before through his prophets in the holy scriptures. concerning his son Jesus Christ our Lord who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh and declared to be the son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead through him we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for his name, among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ. You see there the apostleship, verse 5, through him we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for his name.
That means that their apostleship was unto the end that people from every tribe and tongue and people and nation would own this Christ, would own this Savior, would believe upon Him and find all spiritual blessings in the heavenly places in that selfsame Christ. His apostleship was unto the end of people's owning of the gospel. And we see the importance of this. Another place Kids, everyone, when you come to the Scriptures and you read Galatians 1, you can turn there.
When we read this, remember, the Bible as a whole is not an antiquated tome of outdated truths of the ancients that has no further bearing upon us in our present age. But rather, what does the Scriptures say concerning itself? The flower fades and the grass withers, but the Word of God lives and abides forever. When we read of Paul, when we read of the church in Galatia, departing from, wandering away from the truth, again, we don't land our minds on antiquity and say, that's a cool historical truth, and then, you know, move on, but rather we should see the importance of acknowledging the truth.
We come to faith in Christ Jesus by the grace of God, we acknowledge the truth, and we need to hold on to that truth. We need to grip onto that because it is the stuff of our daily endurance. You see, tonight we'll get to the part of Titus where it talks about the hope of God, the hope of everlasting life. In this lower world, we don't find our real and true and abiding hope in anything else, save for that which is to come, everlasting life, rooted in that which we now own, the justification, regeneration, and the saving blessings of Christ.
But our hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. And so when we come to the pages of the Scriptures, we see Paul with great pains, making sure that his people grip onto the truth, that having acknowledged it, they lay hold of it. Notice verse 3. Grace to you, this is Galatians 1 verse 3, grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil age according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be glory forever and ever.
Amen. I marvel that you are turning away so soon from him who called you in the grace of Christ to a different gospel, which is not another. But there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. You see the importance of gripping on to truth?
We don't grip on to feelings and grip on to the ethereal dropping of effervescent petals from on high. We grip on to the truth as revealed in the Holy Scriptures. Words are worth a thousand pictures. Words are worth so much.
And the Apostle Paul knew that. In propositional truth, in things written concerning the truth of God, hinged the strength and the life of the Church. They were delivered a certain truth, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He rose again according to the Scriptures, that all those who believe in Him have everlasting life, that it's not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us through the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit. And so these were following after another gospel.
They weren't acknowledging the truth, which accords with godliness, but were rather following after error that accords with ungodliness. And so hopefully today, 2,000 years removed from the Galatian episode, you understand its abiding importance that we acknowledge the truth. And that we don't just do it with some sort of bare intellectual recognition, but that with warmth of soul we rehearse the saving excellencies of Christ Jesus the Lord. Is there a greater joy than to raise your head in the morning and to know that you have the forgiveness of sins in Christ Jesus the Lord?
Hopefully your joy of joys isn't found in your obedience to the law, because you're going to have loss of loss daily if you actually have a right mind. If for some reason your rejoicing is found, your hope is found in nothing less than your own good works and deeds, horror of horrors on the day of days, when Christ says, depart from me into the lake of fire reserved for the devil and his angels. Rather, we rejoice in the fact that we have, by God, been made to know the truth. And that truth is this, that Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and rose again the third day, according to the Scriptures, a blessed thing.
Apostleship unto Adorning the Gospel
His apostleship, lastly, was unto the end of ensuring the gospel was adorned by godly conduct. What does Titus write here? Titus writes, Paul, a bondservant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect and the acknowledgement of the truth, which accords with godliness. There is a doctrine. that accords with godliness.
There is a doctrine that naturally leads to godly conduct on the part of those who have the truth. And that doctrine is the faith of God's elect. That doctrine is Christianity. That doctrine, that truth, is the gospel.
And it is one who is professing vainly, who says they believe, and then goes off to do all manner of multitudinous evils. What is an evidence of the fact that one has been born again, but the fact that they acknowledge the truth and seek to joyfully obey the God of truth, knowing that their good works do not save them, but rather having been saved first and last, midst and throughout by the triune God, they work by renewed power and renewed lives unto the glory of God. Notice quickly here what Titus writes concerning good works just in this epistle. Notice in verse 6 of chapter 1, negatively, verse 6 of chapter 1, if a man is blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children, not accused of dissipation or insubordination, for a bishop must be blameless as a steward of God, not self-willed, not quick-tempered, not given to wine, not violent nor greedy for money, but hospitable, a lover of what is good, sober-minded, just, holy, self-controlled, holding fast the faithful word, as he has been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and convict those who contradict.
Why? Because there are many insubordinate, both idle talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision whose mouths must be stopped." You see, going on at this day were errors and doctrines that weren't leading to good works because they never really do. but rather errors and false doctrines that were leading unto ungodliness. They profess to know God, verse 16, but in works they deny him being abominable, disobedient and disqualified for every good work. But as for you, chapter two continues and notice what we find at verse five. that these young women are to love their husbands and their children, notice verse five, to be chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed.
You see what good works do, they ensure that the word of God isn't blasphemed. Oh, you Christians, that book of yours, I don't give any credence to that at all because look at the way you guys conduct yourselves. Heaven forbid that anyone could ever look at our lives and blaspheme the word of God because we're engaged in all manner of wickedness. Thankfully, and again, we're not saved by our doing of the law, but having been saved, we are to joyfully obey the law in order that the word of God might not be blasphemed.
And notice verse 9 as well. Verse 9 of chapter 2, exhort bond servants to be obedient to their own masters. to be well-pleasing in all things, not answering back, not pilfering, but showing all good fidelity that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things." You see, the efficacy and the perfection of Christ's work needs nothing added to it, yet In our good works in this lower world, walking in a manner worthy of the gospel, it is as if we bedeck the gospel of Christ with ornaments, showing the splendor of Christ's saving work. That He can take a Saul who breathes murders against the church and put him into commission as one of the greatest propagators of Christianity in the history of that same church. We do good works in order that we might adorn the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Well,
Application
we're going to close in a minute and 37 seconds by just considering four quick things that we need to gain from this passage, and then we'll pray. Read your Bibles such to know the person's writing or being written of. Now, bear with me. We're going to get out of here soon.
But we need to read our Bibles in this kind of a way, don't we? Read our Bibles in such a way to know the person's writing and the person's being writing of, because it enriches our understanding of the Bible. Again, reading Psalm 32, devoid of David's biography, we can gain much from that. Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven.
But when we know the historical story attached and behind the penning of those words, does it not pour more blessings into your heart as you contemplate the grace of God? Read your Bibles to know the person's writing, the Apostle Paul. When he writes Paul, a bondservant of God, an apostle of Jesus Christ, remember, he's not an epistle machine, just waking up, picking up his pen, and pumping out epistles. He's a man filled with the heart of a minister of the gospel.
And no doubt, rehearsing as he's writing that, God saved me from such a place. I was rejoicing in the murder of godly Stephen, but now by the grace of God, I like a Stephen in proclaiming the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. Appreciate God's way of saving and strengthening the elect. You see, when a preacher comes up into the pulpit, It is not, in the churches of God, in God's true churches, it is not to come up and preach himself.
In fact, Paul writes that, we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus the Lord and ourselves, your bondservants, for Jesus' sake. You see, when the preacher comes up into this pulpit, we need to appreciate, not in some self-serving way, I'm not saying you need to appreciate me, you need to appreciate Jim, you do. But insofar as we are cracked pots, in whom are hid the treasures of gospel wisdom, not the same way Christ was, but God has deemed it such that his earthenware vessel pastors come into the pulpits, hopefully in order to open up the glories and the riches of Christ, in a small measure, Because we're fallible, we're human, we can never open it up to the glory of the eschaton when the veil will be pulled away and we'll see, not with eyes of faith, but with eyes of sight. But nevertheless, appreciate God's way of saving and strengthening the elect.
It's by the simple exercise of the preaching of the word. You're never going to see in this church, and so you can just rest your minds now, you're never going to see in the church Jim or I rappelling from the ceiling while some sort of contemporary music is playing and landing on the floor of the church like some heroes and running up to the pulpit. You're never going to see that. And some of you, or hopefully all of you are saying, thankfully, we're never going to see that.
When the church workday comes, you might see me rappelling from the ceiling, maybe washing the roof or something like that. But you're never going to see all these mad tactics of a world who seems to take the supernatural reality out of ecclesiology, out of the doctrine of the church, that God has deemed it such to simply save the elect and strengthen them by the proclamation of the gospel. No, you see, that hasn't really worked. We need to bring in ponies and puppets and clowns and laser shows and dry ice.
That's what we need. No, Paul says, that's not what we need. What do we need? We need ministers of the gospel who are for the faith of God's elect and the acknowledgement of the truth which accords with godliness, who are commissioned by the commandment of God our Savior to bring the words of peace, of hope, of everlasting life. appreciate the truth and seek to grow in it.
We need to acknowledge the truth. We need to own that truth. We need to defend it. We need to grow in it.
We don't stop in our Christianity at some certain level of knowledge where we've now arrived and, you know what, let's just bask in something else now. The life of Christianity is a steady march in the knowledge and in the acquisition of truth. so that we might daily grow in the grace and in the knowledge of Christ, and bring praise to the high name of our King. And lastly, in appreciation of the Gospel, seek to adorn it with godly conduct. Our doctrine of justification by faith alone is such that it does not lead to the doing of evil deeds, but rather to the doing of good deeds, knowing that we've been saved by grace through faith, not by works lest anyone should boast.
For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works that he prepared beforehand that we might walk in them. Walk in them, adorn the gospel, bring glory to our God. Do not bring blasphemy upon the word of God, but rather in our lower world conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. And if you don't know this Christ, don't leave.
Don't leave saying tomorrow, saying next week. Don't leave resting upon, or don't leave with this idea that I'm going to, for the now, seek after the lusts of my own flesh and the pleasures of my own wicked heart, but rather now close with Christ. Believe on Him and you shall be saved. The grace of God comes abundantly upon the sinner to bring him from deadness to life.
And then you'll know this Christ that Paul preached. You'll rejoice in this Christ that commissioned Paul. And with us you'll sing, hallelujah, what a Savior.
Closing Prayer
Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this morning of worship. We rejoice in the fact that we can gather together to sing the praises of our Christ. We rejoice in our God.
We thank you for this short examination of the Apostle Paul and his apostleship. We rejoice in what we find in the scriptures concerning him, concerning his conversion. concerning his work and concerning how God, so many years removed from the work of the Apostle Paul, we find an affinity with his proclamation, with his truth, and we can trace our gospel genealogy back to that one who proclaimed faithfully the things of Christ. And we do pray that you'd help us, Lord God, to appreciate the truth, to rejoice in it, to sing the praises of our Christ, and to go out into this lower world in this upcoming week, to conduct ourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, that your word, your gospel, may be adorned and not blasphemed. We pray in Christ's name.
Amen.