House Rules, Hearty Grace

the same sophisticated outlook, if you don't have the right degrees, if you're not kind of in the inner ring, it's just so frustrating. It talks down to everybody. It's kind of ruined his books for me. And in Titus II, Paul takes aim at a similar kind of related issue to that. He's just finished in Chapter 1 sketching out a portrait really of false teachers and use some of the harshest language that he uses in the entire, really in any of his writings anywhere. Titus 1, 10 through 16, is probably one of the harshest sections on false teachers. And then he begins chapter 2 with these words. He says, as for you, Titus, teach what accords with sound doctrine. So importantly, you don't read that too quick, because he doesn't say, teach sound doctrine. He's already said that. He says, teach what accords with sound doctrine. Meaning that there is a possibility of being a person or a church who has sound doctrine, but does not have teaching or living that accords with sound doctrine, that's in harmony with sound doctrine. And so what Paul is going to do for, us in Titus 2, is that he's going to teach us what the household of God should look like as it resonates in harmony with the sound doctrine that it is to proclaim and believe and build upon. It's going to say, this is what you should believe, but then this is what that belief should

as it resonates in harmony with the sound doctrine that it is to proclaim and believe and build upon. It's going to say, this is what you should believe, but then this is what that belief should produce in the church. You find as you read the scriptures that the Christian life is not just a matter of stopping, but of returning. It's not just a matter of stopping from something. It's not just a matter of stopping from sin or stopping from believing false things, but it's a matter of returning. It's not just a matter if you're the prodigal son out in the far off country of stop going, you know, ceasing from your going to prostitutes, but it's returning to the house of the father, reconciling with the father, moving back into the house of the father, learning how to live with the father in his house again. So we haven't really been gospel-centered until we've taught prodigals not just how to return, but also how to live in the house. of the father. And Paul's answer to bad doctrine in Titus 2 is not going to be just good doctrine, but instruction on what that good doctrine actually looks like is it lives in the father's house. Okay, that's Titus 2. One of my favorite pastor theologians says all the time that your real doctrine comes out of your fingertips. And that's this kind of passage. So this chapter has three basic parts, as we'll see over the next two weeks. At first in verses 1 through 10, Paul gives us a healthy vision for God's house.

has three basic parts, as we'll see over the next two weeks. At first in verses 1 through 10, Paul gives us a healthy vision for God's house. This is specific, practical, pointed instruction for six different types of people who live in the father's house. Then he gives us in verses 11 through 14, the foundational hearty grace for God's people. The grace that fills the house, returns the prodigals, and then teaches them how to live in it. And then number three in verse 15, he gives heavenly authority for God's undershepherds, the authority for pastors to tell people the rules of the house. Because there are some house rules posted on the fridge in Titus 2, 1 through 10, and he's telling Titus to teach people to obey them. And so he ends by giving Titus authority to teach these things, rebuke, instruct with all authority from the Lord. So this morning, we're really only in earnest going to be able to get into that first part, along with the little taste of those second and third parts. But God willing, we'll take those up next week. So this whole chapter is kind of indivisible. You really can't understand one part of it without getting the hole in front of you. So we're going to read the whole text of chapter 2 first, and then pray for the Lord's help and get going.

You really can't understand one part of it without getting the hole in front of you. So we're going to read the whole text of chapter 2 first, and then pray for the Lord's help and get going. So in verse 1, Paul writes, but as for you, talking to Titus, as for you, teach what accords with sound doctrine. Older men are to be sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, in love, in steadfastness. Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled. Likewise, urge the younger men to be self-controlled. Verse 7, show yourself, in all respects to be a model. of good works, and in your teaching, show integrity, dignity, and sound speech that cannot be condemned so that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us. Bond servants, or slaves, are to be submissive to their own masters in everything. They are to be well-pleasing, not argumentative, not pilfering, but showing all good faith so that in everything they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior. For the grace of God has appeared, bringing

To love the truth, to live out the truth, to lean into the truth. Lord, we pray this morning that these, the foundation of grace would be what is under our feet. And that that foundation of grace would not be left bare at refuge church, but that you would build on it, the household of God. And we thank you for Christ who redeems us from all lawlessness, and we pray that you make us a people zealous for good works, for your glory and our joy. We pray, in Jesus' name. Amen. All right. I've got 10 verses to exposit, 14 pages of notes, and 3,654 words in those notes. So I'm going to talk fast. From verses 1 through 10, Paul gives us pointed instruction, like I said, a healthy vision for God's house, and he gives it in the form of instruction to six different groups of people that you probably know. as we went through, he said, older men, younger men, younger women, bond servants, all of these different groups of people, leaders. And you notice as we read that this is moral instruction. This is not just doctrinal instruction. This is moral instruction. This is the kind of life that Paul would have them live that would accord with the sound doctrine that he tells Titus to hold fast to, to preach, and to proclaim.

This is moral instruction. This is the kind of life that Paul would have them live that would accord with the sound doctrine that he tells Titus to hold fast to, to preach, and to proclaim. And so we're going to take up each of these six groups of people because all of them, for the most part, except for probably one category, I would hope, are present in our midst. And the first is older men. Paul addresses older men and teaches them how to carry themselves in the household of God. If you look at verse two, Paul says, older men, and you might be wondering, who are older men? Who are older men? If you're wondering if you are, you probably are. Okay. Older men are to be sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, in love, and instead fastness. There's two parts to that instruction. Two parts to that instruction. The first part of that instruction is actually nearly identical to the ideal of the older man that you will find outside of the church. He says, what, there to be sober-minded, dignified, and self-controlled. Even if you were to go outside of the church, most cultures in history have agreed on this kind of thing. This is what shows up in movies, to some extent, where older men are the main characters. When the filmmaker wants you to like an older man, cheer for an older man,

This is what shows up in movies, to some extent, where older men are the main characters. When the filmmaker wants you to like an older man, cheer for an older man, show you this is the good older man, they give that older man a kind of dignity born of self-mastery that kind of translates to a Clint Eastwoodian sort of vibe, to where the guy has a little bit of like a keenness to his eyes, right? and he doesn't slouch, his shoulders are kind of, they're back a little bit. And he carries himself with a kind of self-control and a kind of dignity. So there's a way that you could read those first three instructions that you'd be like, that's not really peculiarly Christian in any way. But you can't stop there. The second part is that Paul instructs men to be sound in three things, in faith, love, and steadfastness. You'll notice this as you read Paul's letters, when you get to the moral instruction, side of things, which is typically the second half of his letters. Ephesians 1, 2, and 3, gospel realities, Ephesians 4, 5, and 6, how to live. How those gospel realities translate into life. Okay, when Paul gets to moral instruction, he usually, T tends to teach into the weaknesses of the groups he's addressing. So Ephesians 5, husbands and wives. He tells the husbands to do what they are not prone to do. Love their wives, die to themselves. He tells the wives to do what they are not prone in sin to do, which is responsible. their husbands and submit to them.

Love their wives, die to themselves. He tells the wives to do what they are not prone in sin to do, which is responsible. their husbands and submit to them. He teaches into our weaknesses, usually, and we see this in the second part of Paul's instruction to older men. There to be sound in faith, love, and steadfastness. Why these things? Well, because these are things that are easy to lose grip on the reins on as you get older into life, as you get up in age as a man. You could take the first and the last thing, faith and steadfastness. It's easy when you grow older. and more mature, it's easy to drift into a kind of contented sort of spiritual rhythm where you kind of think, faith, I know, I know my doctrine. I've been reading my Bible for 40 years now. I've been reading my Bible for 20 years now. I'm spiritually mature. Spiritually mature. And the reality is that we should all be asking until the moment that we die, am I, though? Am I spiritually mature? Am I still killing my soul? sin? Because you could be 85. You still have a dwelling sin in you. And if you're not killing it, it's growing. It's like weeds in the garden. You can't weed your garden for 30 years and then stop and be like, I did it for 30 years. There's no more weeds. It's not how sin works. It's not how sin works until we're perfected. Have you, if you're an older man, have you set a watch

Maybe you don't have a Facebook, but if you do, I've tended to notice that a love lot of older men tend to drift into using their Facebook as a kind of soapbox to rail against those millennials. I don't know if you've noticed this. This happens. If generally what comes out of your mouth and what's characterized by your instruction isn't a gentle, loving, meekness that's for the young, but a critical complaining attitude towards the young, Paul would say older men, be sound in love. These elder statesmen in the house of the Lord. should be dignified, loving, not in a crotchety Clint Eastwoodian sort of way. Okay? So this is not turning inward with age, but turning outward. This is a dignified masculinity that's transfigured by the gospel, taking this skewed image of masculinity that has part truths in it, and it's transfiguring it through the grace of the gospel, into a rounded, loving, gentle, patient, kind of firm, strong, dignified, self-controlled masculinity. To older women, second group. If you look at verse three, Paul says older women, and this one's a little touchier, but if you are wondering, this is probably to you. Older likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach

and this one's a little touchier, but if you are wondering, this is probably to you. Older likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive. to their own husbands that the word of God may not be reviled. That drifts into some of the younger women category, but just focusing in here on what Paul would say to the older women in our midst, to the older women. They are to be reverent. I want you to look at, look at that word. They are to be reverent. This word is translated a couple different ways in different translations, but the idea is essentially it's kind of a catch-all idea, reverence, which is kind of like living before the awe of God. They are to be devoting themselves to continually being in awe of God's glory. Older women, be in awe of God's glory. Carry yourself as if that is the controlling focus of your heart, captivated by God's goodness and beauty. And again, you might think, how might this lean into the weaknesses of older women. How might this be correcting the course on something that maybe

weaknesses of older women. How might this be correcting the course on something that maybe Paul sees as a temptation for older women? I think a temptation for an older woman might be rather than fixing your eyes and focus and attention and living before the glory of God, captivation of God. Older women might be lured into the trap of being captivated by things that are totally trivial that could be characterized not by God's awesome glory, but by just triviality. Because the reality is, at this stage of life, often what it looks like is that much of the hard labor of life that season could be ending of children moving out of the house and growing into adulthood, and even grandchildren growing up and being older. Of the work of keeping the home, you kind of settled into a rhythm in that, and it gets easier. spending time not focusing on and being captivated by the glory of God, but being captivated by just the comfortable rhythms of retirement, of leisure time, of vacation lifestyles. If you want to know what the lures are for a group of people, look at what marketers advertised for that group of people. What do they advertise for older women and older men? Vacations. Cruises. Cruises would go out of business tomorrow if not for people in their retirement years. And I don't say that.

Vacations. Cruises. Cruises would go out of business tomorrow if not for people in their retirement years. And I don't say that. to say never go on a cruise. But there's a possibility of living your life and being as if you're totally uncaptivated by the glory of God and just totally captivated by things like comfort and rest rather than continuing to lean into the last quarter of life and the last stage of life to run the race to finish well. And so Paul would say older women should be reverent. Don't be captivated by worthless things. Be captivated by the glory of God. And he says, as well, don't be slanderers or slaves to much wine. So don't be addicted to any substance, mastered by any substance. And this is like, I don't know if there were a lot of drunk older ladies on Crete. Because Paul doesn't say this to older women necessarily in a lot of other places. Like, maybe this was a particular issue. If that's you, don't do that, repent. But not be slanderers. Not be slanderers. And this might be a temptation. for older women to find themselves talking with their friends about other people and that Janet and how she won't stop talking the way she does, doing the way. Can you believe what she did? Can you believe what she said to her husband? Can you believe what's going on in her house? Or even your grown children. Can you believe what our son did and how stupid he's being?

hidden in Christ that have been uniquely given to them for the instruction of younger women. The next generation, reaching backward and bringing them up, and specifically, Paul says they are essentially to be training younger women, to be lovers of their husbands and of their children. So how do they do that? How do you obey Paul's commandment here? Older women. I think the first and most essential way to train up younger women is to be with younger women. because it's really hard to train them remotely. It's really hard to train them remotely. You have to be with them. You have to be in their midst. It have to go to the places they are. Because a lot of the time, what happens is younger women are in this zero to 60 kind of life with young children. They're not out of the house after 7 p.m. When they go out of the house, it's a two-hour endeavor full of lots of preparation and usually imprecatory prayers at some point. And so what does this require? Well, older women, we need you to. come to the places where they are. And what that means here is older women, we need you in our house churches where the younger women are gathered. It means we need you in our backyards. It means we need you at our dinner tables. It means we need you in availability, inviting us in and being invited in, being available and willing to help. And then to use that proximity to show and to teach.

we need you at our dinner tables. It means we need you in availability, inviting us in and being invited in, being available and willing to help. And then to use that proximity to show and to teach. So to display and proclaim what it looks like to be a lover of your husband and of children, which is what he specifically says that this training is first to be in. So I remember at one point a couple years ago, we'd first met an older couple in the church, Dick and Sharon, and they're here so they can, I'm sorry if this is awkward for you, but I just remember the way that Sharon, Dick wasn't there at the time, and she was talking about him because we hadn't met him yet, and Lexi and I were there, and I just remember that the way that Sharon was talking about her husband, it made a deep imprint on me. I don't know, I didn't ask Lexi, I forgot to, but it made a deep imprint on me the way that her words conveyed an abiding respect for him. And what it did for me, I can't speak for my wife, is it made me want to be a respectable man for my wife. I was thinking, not like, I wish my wife would talk like this, but honestly, the first thing that came to mind was, I hope to be a man that my wife could talk like this about me. And so that was this passing conversation. It wasn't a Bible study. It's one of the most deeply impactful things that I've learned in this sort of interaction. I think this is one of the things Paul is talking about.

It's one of the most deeply impactful things that I've learned in this sort of interaction. I think this is one of the things Paul is talking about. There's a one another ministry in the household of God where we're living in a household. And as we're living in a household, we rub shoulders, we eat together, we learn from each other, and that that doesn't happen if we isolate ourselves. So then we'll turn to younger women. Third group, in verse five. We saw that older women are to be teaching younger women, but in the course of that, he tells us what his vision is for younger women in the household of God. Older women are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, so that the word of God may not be reviled. To love their husbands and children, self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind and submissive, to the word of God. The general picture that Paul gives for younger women in the household of God is a kind of homeward orientation. You notice he orders what he says around a place, and it's the home. It's the home, working at home, submissive to their own husbands, love their husbands and their children. These kinds of is a homeward picture, okay? So here we go.

love their husbands and their children. These kinds of is a homeward picture, okay? So here we go. Welcome to Refuge. We actually believe that. to be true. We actually believe that to be true. We actually believe that men and women are not interchangeable units of organic stuff. That they're not just human unit one, human unit two, human unit three, and that you can just interchange them in this kind of tasteless mush. No, that maleness is distinct, that femalness is distinct, and it's creationally so. That it is, this is an intent of God that will abide as long as there is such thing. as men and is such thing as women. So a lot of people hear that, many people who write books about the Bible specifically hear that, and they say things like, here Paul is addressing the Cretan culture and the first century culture specifically. So this doesn't actually capture Paul's vision per se for women today, young women. That homeward portion of it, that's just culturally conditioned. I like that. what Doug Wilson, Douglas Wilson says about that. He says, many like to think that Paul is simply reflecting the culture of his day here, as opposed to reflecting God's standards on the matter. The problem is that Paul does not make this distinction. Also, why are we asked to believe that

of Proverbs in the fall, God willing, is that those who hate wisdom love death. This is the principle that's just shot through the book of Proverbs. You're going to get sick of hearing me saying, those who hate wisdom, love death, and see how it works here with money, work, sex, family, men, women, children, education, all kinds of things. You're going to be totally sick of hearing this by the end of the book of Proverbs. But those who hate wisdom love death, and this is what happened when people hate God's wisdom for femininity and masculinity as they relate to one another, live out in the home and in the church and in the world and in the culture. That if you, contrary to wisdom, pretend that men and women are interchangeable units of organic matter with no distinctive elements of masculinity that should be ideal, that's not just is, but actually is something to aim for, and the same with femininity, then you can't have a flourishing living, gloriously free society of homes full of flourishing children raised in the fear and understanding of the Lord. That if God, if those in the household of the Lord, say, I will link arms with what our cultural madness is saying about these issues rather than stand on the Word of God. What will happen is that you will embrace death. You will embrace death. You'll find barrenness, death, suffering. We'll find our children being raised by other people rather than by

on the Word of God. What will happen is that you will embrace death. You will embrace death. You'll find barrenness, death, suffering. We'll find our children being raised by other people rather than by their parents. And typically those other people will be radical haters of God, non-Christians. And we'll find ourselves there because men refuse to submit themselves to the world. of God and so go work to provide for their home. And wives refuse to submit themselves to the Word of God and bend their orientation homeward to be trained to be lovers of husband and lovers of children. And I know that this is radically offensive to our culture. And that what I just said, if you sound clipped it and you put it on Facebook and enough people saw it, people would literally be picketing the outside of our church. In Utah. In Utah. In Utah. In Utah. I mean, I know that we're a red state, but trust me, it would happen. If enough, the only thing protecting us right now is that we're obscure nobody's and no one has any idea what we're doing in here. Okay, so praise the Lord for that so far. The reason that I'm being so blunt on this is because Paul in verse 15 tells me to. What does Paul say in verse 15? He says Titus, declare these things. What things? Young women, be workers at home. Declare these things.

Paul in verse 15 tells me to. What does Paul say in verse 15? He says Titus, declare these things. What things? Young women, be workers at home. Declare these things. things. Exort and rebuke. So are people going to agree with you every time with all of the words that I've just given you? No. These are words you're going to have to exhort them. In other words, they're going to be standing still not wanting to do these things. So exhort them to do this. And rebuke when they say, I hate what you just said and I think that you were backwoods, Tennessee, country, Hick, who believes in that kind of fundamentalist nonsense. Rebuk with all authority, let no one disregard you. So I'm, I would rather have people, I'm going to go on record. I would rather have people leave the church over this. kind of plain proclamation of what Paul says, than to have more people at refuge church who are having their radically death-loving cultural ideologies affirmed because we refuse to proclaim the Word of God. Okay? So I would rather have that kind of church. That's a sidebar. What's interesting is that Paul assumes that this type of young woman is a type of young women that will only be produced through teaching. That this needs to be taught. That's the context. Remember, the older women are to be teaching younger women to do this and to be this. So mothering and marriage is not instinctual.

teaching younger women to do this and to be this. So mothering and marriage is not instinctual. Mothering and marriage is not instinctual. It's hard. It's an art. It is extraordinarily difficult. The narrative of the barefoot housewife who is too dumb to go to college is the dumbest take I've ever heard in my life. Because it's a take from someone who has never attempted it for a week. This is hard. This is an art. It's learned. What Paul is saying is that if you throw yourself into this young women, if you throw yourself into excellently serving your people, that you will be a nurturer of civilizations. That's what this calling is. This is a nurturer of civilizations, a crafter of gospel-forged culture that Paul is saying, young women, build this in the household of God. And this won't happen. unless you build this with the grace of God. It won't be. This is gospel-forged, nurturing of civilization. So much more to say, but moving on. In verse 6, you find an instruction that after all of the words said to these other groups, sounds kind of pitiful. And you may be like, why is he telling me all these other things? And he just goes and he says to the young men, be self-controlled. Likewise, urge the younger men to be self-controlled.

You might hear that and be like, well, that is rather inadequate. Because I want my husband to stop doing this and stop doing this, stuff doing this, think about it. If your husband is marked by self-control, what kind of man will he be? Well, he'll be a wise man who reflects the image of his creator, who walks after Jesus. Self-control is the issue for young men. So young men, and this is me too. This is me too. Young men, let us, let us be controlled by the Spirit of God. Let us not be controlled by the wilderness chaos of our own fleshly passions and lusts. Okay? If the Spirit of God is, controlling, when Paul says self-control, he doesn't mean autonomous self-control. He means a man mastered by the spirit of God rather than mastered by the flesh and the spirit of the age. Okay? If we are mastered by the spirit, then worlds flourish. Okay? Much of what I've just said to young women is 195 times harder because of the shamefulness of our sin. And I'm talking young men. Much of what Paul has just instructed young women to do is 10 times, 100 times, a thousand times harder for them to obey because of the shamefulness of our sin. Paul is teaching

a thousand times harder for them to obey because of the shamefulness of our sin. Paul is teaching into our weakness here. He's pressing his finger into the open wounds of our souls in many ways. And the reality is that the reason this is such a simple instruction is because unself-controlled men, feckless men, faithless men are how families are destroyed. It's how cities are destroyed. It's how nations are destroyed. It's how cultures are destroyed. It's how whole worlds are destroyed. This is not speculation or sociology. This is history. It's how this happens. So we need listen to Romans 8, verse 12 through 17. This is what Paul says. Brothers, we are, we are deaders, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to to the flesh. Read, if you are not self-controlled, you will die. But if by the spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the spirit are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the spirit of adoption as sons by whom we cry, Abba Father, the spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. And if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we also may be glorified with him. So do we hear

Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we also may be glorified with him. So do we hear that? When Paul says, young men, be self-control. Titus urge young men to be self-control. He's not saying, young men, go grab a hold of your own dead heart, make it be born again, and then conform it to the image of Christ. He's saying, go into the church, go into the household of God, where you will find young men who are what? who are heirs, who are those who have received the spirit of adoption as sons, who are those who have been given a spirit, not of slavery, to fall back into fear, but who have received the spirit of adoption as sons. Fellow heirs with Christ, those who will be glorified with Christ, you're saying, go into that household and tell those men to be self-controlled, to be submitters to the spirit, repenters of sin, confessors of sin, to be responsibility takers for themselves, and so able to take responsibility for wives and children and church and world, saying, go into that group and tell them Christ has come, and he's come to claim you and make you sons, and he's come to give you a new spirit, and he's come to teach you to slay your sin, and so therefore, this is how all of Paul's letters work, therefore,

to claim you and make you sons, and he's come to give you a new spirit, and he's come to teach you to slay your sin, and so therefore, this is how all of Paul's letters work, therefore, young men, put away, put away foolish, childish, childish ways. Don't call yourself gospel. Don't call yourself gospel-centered just because you want to refuse to repent and call what you're doing grace. Don't do that. You have this, you are this, you've been made this, therefore, put off pornography, put on fidelity, put off laziness, put on steadfastness, put off excuses for foolishness, put on the wisdom of Christ and you. Because if you won't, if you won't take that step to do as did and say, I will, even these elder statesman apostle, I will beat my body into submission to make it obey the law of Christ so that I who have proclaimed the gospel, am not disqualified from it before the end. If you won't do that, what you're saying is that the gospel is a weak thing. The gospel is a weak thing. The gospel is not a weak thing. The gospel is a hearty thing. It is a strong thing. It is a durable thing. The grace of the gospel is more. has more steel to it than the flesh that has already been dealt mortal wound.

This is repentance. Turn from that sin. Tear off the hand that causes you to sin. That's it. This is the gospel. This is the gospel formula for young men learning self-control. It's confession and repentance. In repeat. Confess, repent, repeat. Confess, repent, repeat. Confess, repent, repeat. Confest, repent, repeat. This is why older men still need to be steadfast in faith and love. Why? Because they're still doing this. Confess, repent, repeat. As God digs deeper into your heart and you find deeper sin in your heart, confess, repent, repeat. It is so simple. It's so simple. Even our children do it. Even our children can be taught to do it under the Lordship of Christ. Confess, repent, repeat. Turn to the Lord in that humble need and ask for grace. Why? Because he has infinite storehouses of grace. This new song that the Grey Havens came out called storehouses in the chorus is, I'll go to the storehouse of mercy, to the storehouse of mercy, I'll go. And he's quoting the Psalms when over and over David would write about the storehouse of God's mercy. The storehouse of God's mercy. God doesn't teach us repentance, young man, by crushing us and shaming us. He teaches us repentance by pointing us to the infinite storehouse of grace and saying, why won't you come and confess and repent? Don't you see what's here? don't you see that you could walk out clean today? That you could be cleansed from all of the things that mark you in your lack of self-control.

That you could be cleansed from all of the things that mark you in your lack of self-control. You could be cleansed from those things, have them totally removed, washed away from you. So that even if you return to them in your war against sin, you can continue to go back and wear the pathway to the storehouse of mercy deeply, deeply into your soul, and you'll find that it's never empty. You never reduce the level of the thing. You don't, you don't like, remove and then find that there's a little less in it. You find that it's an infinite storehouse of mercy. Young men, be self-controlled. And then to leaders, and we won't spend as much time here, not because I don't like feeling uncomfortable and hypocritical, but because we've spent so much time in chapter one talking about this. But Paul says in verse 7, show yourself, I believe he's talking to Titus, show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works. And in your teaching, show integrity, dignity, and sound speech that cannot be condemned. so that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us. And this is a very obvious principle that we've already talked about. It's the obvious principle that you can't go around declaring these things, exhorting and rebuking with all authority, letting no one disregard you while your life is a big steaming pile of hypocrisy. Without opening the door for people to slander the gospel. The basic point is, Paul would say, Titus, ministers of the gospel can discredit the message of the gospel by means of their hypocrisy.

Without opening the door for people to slander the gospel. The basic point is, Paul would say, Titus, ministers of the gospel can discredit the message of the gospel by means of their hypocrisy. So see the qualifications for an elder, see the grace of the gospel again. And then the last group that he addresses is to slaves. Versus nine to ten, he says, bond servants, and this is again from chapter one, the word doulos always means slave. It never doesn't mean slave. Slaves are to be submissive to their own masters in everything. They are to be well-pleasing, not argumentative, not pilfering, but shilling all good faith. so in everything they may adorn the doctrine of God, our Savior. There's much that will be left unsaid about slavery in the gospel this morning, but what I don't want to do is what is often done with this text and make it sound like it's about you and your boss at work. Okay, that's not what this text is about. Your boss, unless your boss owns you and would actually pass you on in his will to his offspring, then that's not who Paul is talking to. Paul is talking to an institution that existed in the time that he has, that it has existed for most of human history, in most places and cultures, and it's slavery. And we noted in chapter one, Paul opens by saying, Paul, a slave of God, slave of Christ. That's how Paul identifies himself. We noted that fully one in five people in Roman this time were probably slaves, 10 to 15 million people.

And we noted in chapter one, Paul opens by saying, Paul, a slave of God, slave of Christ. That's how Paul identifies himself. We noted that fully one in five people in Roman this time were probably slaves, 10 to 15 million people. So this was not a small demographic of Paul's congregations or the congregations that Titus would be preaching to, or that the elders Titus appointed would be preaching to. And into that, Paul tells slaves, many of whom were being converted to Christ by the proclamation of the gospel, that they were to be submissive to their masters. There's a needle to be threaded here, okay? Submishes to their masters to the people who owned them and considered them property. So what we need to see here is that the gospel of Christ rules and governs all of human life, including human institutions that find their root in human sin. The gospel does not only rule, rule those institutions that were originally intended by God, it also rules over those institutions that man will later create in his sin, like slavery. What's happening is that Paul is stepping into this institution that finds its roots in sin with the gospel in hand, and he's saying, the gospel has authority here too. The gospel changes things here, too. The gospel has instruction for this, too. How?

and see the New Jerusalem descending from heaven like a bride adorned for her husband. But what you would see is that Jesus had stepped in covenantally and said, I will be the head of a new humanity, just as Adam was the head of a new humanity, and they became like Adam. I'll be the head of a new humanity, and they'll be like me. They'll be marked by my headship. My righteousness will be given to them and then worked out through them, and that as this new humanity Christian, the church, goes out in evangelism, it's going to actually do things to the lump of dough called the world the same way that yeast does things to the world like dough. And so what happens is that a rag-tag team of apostles are saved and given the righteousness of Christ, and then 120 in the upper room, and then thousands at Pentecost, and then they send missionaries out from this Jerusalem church, and they begin to proclaim the gospel in Ephesus, and all these different places. And then by the time Paul writes, Colossians, probably in the 50s, he can say, the gospel is bearing fruit increasing throughout the whole world under heaven, all creation under heaven. It's going out, and it's bearing fruit in the whole world. It's not just saving people. It's saving people, connecting them to the vine of Jesus. We're then going to bear much fruit in evangelism and in righteousness. And what that's going to do, you say, what does that have to do with slavery? What that's going to do is that it's going to actually change human institutions.

We're then going to bear much fruit in evangelism and in righteousness. And what that's going to do, you say, what does that have to do with slavery? What that's going to do is that it's going to actually change human institutions. Okay, the gospel didn't show up, Paul didn't show up day one and say, I'm here to abolish slavery today. I'm here to end slavery today. Paul didn't even call for slavery to end in his letters, even though it pretty obviously violates some of the foundational realities of what people are and what sin is. But what Paul knew is that the principles of the kingdom that are built into the seed of the gospel would work their way through culture, through evangelism, and begin to change things. that evangelism was Paul's means for actually transforming culture, evangelism and discipleship. And so the goal for us should be not to just see wicked institutions ended, but to see them become unthinkable because people become Christians. So that it's not like we just want abortion to end and everybody to have their hands tied by the police and say you can't do abortions anymore, but for people to actually love Jesus and for people to actually, not just illegal, it's unthinkable. now. I would never kill my children. They're made in the image of God. This is how the gospel changes thing. And so Paul tells the person owned by another person in the institution of slavery, you are going to be an institution of change, but not in the way that the world would be. You're not

changes thing. And so Paul tells the person owned by another person in the institution of slavery, you are going to be an institution of change, but not in the way that the world would be. You're not going to take up revolutionary violent arms and start murdering your masters, but rather you're to lay your life down like Jesus did. Think of the irony of Paul's instruction. Even as you are called a possession by your masters, you are not to be pilfering their possession. Only the gospel could do that in someone. Only the gospel could make someone who's being wronged, turn around, and lay their life down, and then not wrong in return, but turn the other cheek, and love, and say, not only will I not undermine you, master who claims ownership over me, I will love you. This is Paul's instruction for slaves. So there's a lot more to be saying, but it's kind of at this exact moment that some of you may be complaining about the way God is ordering his house. you might be like, it seems like slaves are getting kind of a raw deal here, or maybe young women. You're like, young women are getting kind of a raw deal here. Like, I don't like the way that God is ordering his house. I don't like my position in the house. I don't like it. I'm worth more than that, Paul. Think if you were a slave. Paul, I'm a child of God. I'm an heir with Christ. How could you tell me as I walk out this thing in the household of God

I don't like it. I'm worth more than that, Paul. Think if you were a slave. Paul, I'm a child of God. I'm an heir with Christ. How could you tell me as I walk out this thing in the household of God that I am supposed to submit to these masters, many of them who don't even bend the need of Jesus, many of them who are evil. How can I go so low? How could you give me such a position? And you have to remember if you think your instruction is beneath you that each group is given an instruction, but the instruction comes from a person, and the person is a person named Jesus who has submitted himself lower than he asks anybody else on this list to submit themselves. Jesus was sober-minded, steadfast in love and faith, even as he tells older men to do. Jesus walked in reverent behavior abhorred slander. He wasn't of slave to wine, even as he instructs older women to do. Jesus humbly submitted himself to love and obey, walking in lowliness in the household of his father, even as younger women are instructed to do. Jesus was self-controlled like young men are urged to do. Jesus was a model of good works, giving no opportunity for the enemy to accuse him of wrongdoing rightfully, even as leaders are instructed. to be. Jesus lowered himself to the position of a slave. Jesus washed feet. Jesus became a doulos of sinful man, humbled himself in submission. He submitted himself to sinful men

of this. Work to be all of this. Take hold of this. Look like this. For the grace of God has appeared. Bringing salvation for all people. Training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled, upright in godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself, gave himself for us to redeem us. That's to buy us, to redeem us, to redeem us, to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works. Who are zealous for good works. May we not divorce what God has married. May we not make enemies what God says are friends. May we not divorce robust, go therefore and do from Jesus has done. May we not divorce those two things as a people, but lean into the one in order to see the other grow and be produced. So let's pray. Father, we thank you for sending Christ your son as a doulos to humble himself. Father, we thank you. Father, we thank you for sending Christ, your son, your son, thank you that that you are our father because you are the father of a murdered son

thank you that that you are our father because you are the father of a murdered son in our place for our sin. Lord, I pray that in everybody in the hearing of this sermon, that you would give them such a gospel hope that they would not hear any of the things that have just been said as impossible, but that they would hear them as grace and as gift and as help and as life and as water. Lord, I pray that we, as we come to your table of communion and eat and remember your body broken and your bloodshed, that we would do it as your people purchased by that blood, purchased by that broken body, to be your family, your household, your adopted children. And we pray that by your grace that you would, even today, even today, press us more deeply into the beholding of Jesus. in his glory to become like him in his image. For your glory in our joy, we pray. Amen. Amen.

in his glory to become like him in his image. For your glory in our joy, we pray. Amen. Amen.