Welcome back this evening. What a joyous time of worship. What beautiful hymns, wonderful scripture readings, heartfelt prayers. What a blessing it is to be with God's people and to participate in the things that He has told us will be a blessing to us and the things that we should do to worship Him. So thank you for letting me share this time with you on this day. We look forward to the conference this week and we also pray that it will be a blessing to all who come, that we will all be strengthened in ministry encouraged not to despair that the truth of God is indeed powerful and the truth of God is that which He has given us by which He glorifies Himself and saves His people. It's in pursuit of that that I want you to turn with me to the book of Titus, Titus chapter 1. We're looking at the introduction that Paul gives to this letter he wrote this letter to one of the men that traveled with him in several different places from whom Paul found great comfort. And he sent him to this very rough society of Crete in order to fulfill in the church what still needed to be done. So let's look at Titus chapter 1, verses 1 through 3. Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of God's elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness, in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began, and at the proper time manifested in his word through the preaching with which I have been entrusted by the command of God our Savior." My, what a rich, full passage this is. Let's ask the Lord to open our minds and our hearts to receive it. Father, we thank you for your great love to us in sending your Son. We thank you for your great wisdom in the contrivance of salvation and in revealing all the different aspects of this wonderful work of redemption. We thank you that indeed it is a doctrine according to godliness, that not only would we be rescued from the condemnation of sin, but it's savage captivity its corrupting effects in our lives, its destructive tendencies would be put on hold and we would begin to escape from its clutches and to embrace more and more your truth and your holiness and that we would live more in righteousness and find the joy there is in your goodness. We pray that you would help us tonight to make advancement in that as we pay attention to your word. We pray that Christ would be glorified, that your gospel would be seen as powerful and marvelous truth, and that we would learn to rejoice in the manner by which you have set it forth in this world. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Now the Apostle Paul was writing to Titus, who was one of the men that had accompanied him on several of his trips, his missionary trips. He found great comfort in the the company of Titus and he had great confidence in Titus as a minister. And so he sends him to this island of Crete where a church had been established. It was a pretty rough place and there were still some elements of the culture that were hanging on to the people in the church. Paul had great confidence that these things eventually would be turned away from the way of the world into holiness, but he knew the way it would be done would be through admonition and through the preaching of the truth. These are the means that God uses. And so he wrote to Titus to make sure that those who were teaching untruths would not be given leverage within the church, that he would have the courage to correct them, he would have the courage to point out what the truth was, and he would not allow those who were ungodly and were teaching ungodliness to have an influence there. And that this was a particular problem, he points out in verse 12 of chapter 1, where he says, one of the Cretans, a prophet of their own, said, Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, and lazy gluttons. This testimony is true. Therefore, rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith. Now, sometimes we would think that if the gospel indeed is the power of God and the salvation, and if indeed it is the thing that works by its own power and by its truth, and it is a gift of the Holy Spirit to work within us, that these kinds of admonitions toward godliness and these kinds of warnings would not need to be given. But that is simply not the way God works. He always works His salvation. He works the way in which He saves men, redeems men, and sanctifies men and women, all those that He calls as through His Word. And so it is through the rebuke that Titus was admonished to give them. It was through the preaching. It was through understanding their character. It was through knowing specific sins that they had tendencies to commit that would be the means by which God would sanctify them. If we could say that it is merely the aspect of the sovereignty of God that exists within His will by which He does everything and no means are needed, then we would never have had the Incarnation. If God decrees to elect a people, then He must elect and save this people in light of the things that are consistent with His own character. And so, this meant that one had to become man. He had to become like us. He had to take our nature. He had to live a righteous life. One had to be punished. He had to bear the wrath of God for us. And all of that demanded, as we talked about this morning, an incarnation and a righteous life and Christ being put on the cross. Men's hearts are to be changed and He must send the Holy Spirit to change those hearts. If He changes them through the truth, then thus be a means by which the truth itself is proclaimed. And so, all of the things that God does in a sovereign manner, He does through means that He Himself has ordained. So it should come as no surprise to us at all that when God saves ungodly people, that He redeems them and He removes condemnation from them, but then He also uses the means of His truth and admonitions to holiness and descriptions of holiness and the discipline of the church to work that sanctification within them. And that is the task that Titus has. And so in these opening verses, Paul wants to remind him of these means. He wants to remind them of the certainty with which God will work. But he also wants to remind him that the message he preaches, a part of the content of it indeed is godliness. So first of all, Paul identifies himself to Titus, but more than to Titus, he identifies himself to the people of Crete. He wanted them to know that Titus was receiving these instructions from one who was given authority by Jesus Christ. Titus has not come there simply on his own. He has not come simply out of his own surmise that perhaps I'm a talented guy and perhaps I can come down here and help straighten these people out. Perhaps there are some things in my resume that will resound with them and they will respond to me. They would look at him and they would pass him off as someone who was perhaps a fraud. And so it is not that he needs to identify his credentials with Titus himself. He does not need to establish his authority with Titus. But he needs to give Titus this letter with this identification in order that they will know that Paul himself has sent Titus to do this and that he speaks under the authority of Paul. And so he identifies himself as a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ. He was the one that was lording it over Christian people. He was the one who did not see himself at all as a servant of God, as an apostle of Christ, but as a servant of God through the killing of Christians. And it was the great alteration that came in his life as a result of Christ Jesus himself speaking to him, showing him his glory. that he became a servant of God in a true way. Not a servant of God thinking that he did God's service in killing Christians, but a servant of God now in that he proclaims the faith that he once hated. A person that calls himself a servant of God and yet does not serve God in the gospel, does not believe that the gospel is the manner in which God is to be glorified, may call himself a servant of God, but he is not a servant of God. It is very important that Paul identifies himself as a servant of God within this context because there is only one God. This is the triune God. It is the God who is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and who this God in the essence of the one who is Father embraces within himself all three persons so that there are three persons in one God. And Paul considers himself a servant of this God in the Gospel. And that's the reason he immediately says, and an apostle of Jesus Christ. The word and can sometimes be translated by the word even. That means there's an intensification or there's a specific identification of the sphere within which the first phrase is used. And so it would make sense if we said Paul, a servant of God, even an apostle of Jesus Christ, in order to set forth the reality that Paul is trying to emphasize here. He is a servant of God specifically in the context of being an apostle of Jesus Christ. And so when Titus is able to make this letter known to the people, then they will know that he speaks to them on the basis of this apostolic authority. He speaks to them on the basis of one who has seen the Lord Jesus Christ, who has been commissioned by the Lord Jesus Christ, who himself has died to redeem his church, and it is in light of that that Titus speaks to them. And so we see, first of all, the identification of Paul and how this arms Titus with the kind of confidence that he himself needs and the kind of authority that the people in Crete should recognize that he has. So the second thing that we need to see about this is that he identifies himself as an apostle of Jesus Christ for the sake of the faith of God's elect and their knowledge of the truth which accords with godliness. Now that's a heavy load. There's a lot of material in that and it is the thing that is needed by a church that is on the edge of capitulating to the society in its immorality, of capitulating to the false teachers who have come teaching things different from what was the message that converted them. Paul's identifying these specific aspects of the message early in this letter opens up for him the opportunity to continue to expound the implications of these things. He identifies himself as an apostle of Jesus Christ for the sake of the faith of God's elect. We are put face to face with the reality that there is a group of people called the elect of God. These are those upon whom God has placed His favor beforehand. These are those that He is determined to save. He views them as in need of grace. He views them in a fallen condition. He views them as dead in trespasses and sins. He views them as by nature children of wrath. But in that condition, as He knows them even in eternity, He places His love upon them. He places His favor upon them. He calls them His elect. In the book of Romans chapter 8 it says we have been chosen or elect according to the foreknowledge or Peter says we are elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth. Paul says in Ephesians that He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to be adopted as His sons. And so Paul sees himself as serving an eternal purpose of God. Now the fact that there is an elect should not discourage anyone either in evangelism or in seeking Christ. The fact that he uses means in order to accomplish this electing purpose is something in fact that should encourage us all. The fact that God does have an elect and it is certain that he is going to save people. If you are here without Christ tonight, this should encourage you. This should not dissuade you from seeking to find Christ because this says God is determined. He will save people. And if you are hearing the Gospel and if there is something in your soul that says, I would like to know this God who has such power and who has such holiness and who has such wonderfully loving plans for a fallen people, if you would like to know Him, then you are being drawn. You can place your faith in Christ and you can know that I am one of those that God has elected. I am one of those that God has chosen. if you're an evangelist and you are tempted to say, well, God is going to save His elect anyway. It's very discouraging to speak to people who are not elect because they are never going to respond anyway. You should think of it that there are some that are going to respond. There are some that God is going to change. If He changed the Apostle Paul and brought him to saving faith, even Paul himself testifies that that is one of the uses that can be made of his own conversion. When he says in 1 Timothy chapter 1, this saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am the foremost. But I receive mercy for this reason that in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life. Paul pointed to his own example, his own salvation as an encouragement to anyone that might hear the gospel that if God would save the Apostle Paul, then perhaps he will save me. He says, then in 1 Timothy chapter 2, he says, excuse me, in 2 Timothy chapter 2 As he is talking about the reality of the encouragement that he gets from the doctrine of election, he says, remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, offspring of David, as preached in my gospel, for which I am suffering, bound with chains as a criminal. But the Word of God is not bound. Therefore, I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory." So Paul was all about the means that God would use to call the elect. And so he sees himself as an apostle of Jesus Christ, and in this context, The first thing he says, the first thing that is encouraging to him and that should be encouraging to Titus in that terrible place that he's preaching is that it is for the sake, for the faith of God's elect and their knowledge of the truth. God will save those he has elected. He will save them through the truth. And so the faith of God's elect means on the one hand that they will be brought to trust in Christ. The faith is that internal desire they have to know Christ, the internal desire they have to be forgiven of sins, the knowledge they have that Christ is the only one that can forgive sins. that this certainly can be true because God has raised Him from the dead. And when they see this and they sense this and they taste that the Lord is good, they put their trust in Him. It is this preaching of the gospel that brings them to faith. And then in order that we might not think that it is only the subjective aspect of faith, the faith of God's elect that he's talking about, he mentions that it is also the content and their knowledge of the truth. their knowledge of the truth. The world is filled with error. The world is filled with lies. The world tries to set forth the purpose of humanity and all kinds of contrivances and explanations that have nothing to do with God. that have nothing to do with our being created in the image of God, that have nothing to do with the fact that we're fallen creatures, that have nothing to do with the glory of God that seeks to explain all of life and the existence of the world and everything around us in naturalistic terms, in terms that have nothing to do with the reality of this powerful, all holy, all wise, all intelligent God who has brought things into existence and has made a way for fallen creatures who live in a constant course of evil to be redeemed, to be saved, and to be put on a path toward holiness and goodness and righteousness. The world does not believe that. And the Gospel comes to us as a revelation of truth. It is not only the faith of God's elect, but this faith includes content also, their knowledge of the truth. You cannot have faith unless you have a knowledge of the truth. You cannot have faith in Christ if you don't know that Christ exists. You cannot trust in the death of Christ unless you know that Christ has died a substitution death for sinners. You cannot have the hope of eternal life unless you know that Christ has been risen from the dead as the first fruits of those that sleep. You cannot have the hope of eternal life, that is, being like Christ and living before Him in heaven and seeing His glory, unless you know that He has ascended into heaven and He is there interceding for us and He shall come again to receive us to Himself. All of these things are transforming truths. These are things that inform our mind. These are things that put us on a different path from the path the world would set forth. It sets before us a completely different purpose, the way we want to live our lives, what we want to say, how we want to act, how we even face death. You've had prayers for one of your church members today and you've prayed for his healing, but you've prayed for comfort and you've prayed for the joy that he has that he will see Christ. He will be among the spirits of just men made perfect. That transforms life. It transforms the way you look at everything. Think of what it is like to come to death and not have that reality that death is a separation of our consciousness and our spirit, our intellect and all of those things that are connected with this body. And as we wait the glorification of our bodies, which will be the final thing that God wants to do for us, because we function better in that way, but nevertheless, if we die before Christ comes, and this mortal does not put on immortality, and this corruption does not simply put on incorruption, if it happens, like the Apostle Paul said, he had a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better He said that he would be absent from the body and present with the Lord. We will be among those that Hebrews describes as the spirits of just men made perfect in the company of angels, in the company with Jesus. What a great hope! Who has that when they come to death? But if we have heard the Gospel, if we have been trained in understanding how it is that God has created things, who we are, what is the reason for sickness, what is the reason for evil, what is the escape from evil, all of these things that are in Scripture, things that philosophers have worried about and talked about and can come to no conclusion on, even the greatest time of human philosophy, In Greece, when you had Socrates, and you had Plato, and you had Aristotle, and all of the confusion that they had, and all of the lack of any kind of certainty about these things. And then you take the Bible and you read the Bible through, one time, two times, you come to the conclusion, oh, the world exists because God created it. Evil exists because man is fallen. Sin can be forgiven because Christ has come. We will live forever because this idea that we have deep within us that somehow our spirits cannot simply come to nothing. We simply cannot be annihilated. How is it that we come to the end of life and we are mature and we know more things than we ever knew and we feel ourselves to be useful more than we ever could be and then we die? How could that be possible? How could that even be fair? We live in an unjust world, we would say. It's all vanity. Vanity of vanities. All is vanity. But you read the Bible and the Bible says that we are brought to a place of sanctification, we are brought to a place of maturity and then God takes us home and we live in the presence of Him to increase this kind of knowledge and to increase this fellowship and to increase this joy forever and ever. Who would not think that that is the truth? This is one of the things where we talk about the thing that is true is the thing that you can think about that is absolutely the best. If you can think about that which is the best and it not be true, then it is a cruel thing that we live in a world. Well, the Bible has given us the revelation of the things that we can think about that are the best things. This is what is true. Is it true that we are simply animals and we die and we have no more consciousness? Or is it true that we are made in the image of God and that's the reason we think and interact and communicate now and then when we die this does not perish but it is actually enhanced in the presence of God. Which of these is better? If it's possible to think of this one because it comes to us from divine revelation, then that carries with it the burden of veracity and it must be true. This is what the Bible is telling us, their knowledge of the truth. It transforms your life to know the truth. It transforms your purpose. It transforms every perception you have. And so Paul sees this as the task we have. It's for the sake of the faith of God's elect and their knowledge of the truth. The truth is the means by which all of these things take place. Now, he's not through. He says, the truth which accords with godliness. It is equally a part of the confession we must have as we confess the truth of doctrine. that this doctrine accords with godliness. It is not mere cerebral fascination that we have with all of the systematic theology and the way it all ties together and the logic of it. It is fascinating. It's wonderful to bathe yourself in the reality of the beauty of the thought patterns of Scripture and how they can be systematized. It really is such a refreshing and wonderful experience. But if we leave out of that the reality that the reason God has done all of this is that there might be increasing expressions and revelations of His holiness in the plan of redemption and in the people He saves, then we're missing actually the most beautiful part of the entire system of thought. And so Paul is careful to put this in, the knowledge of the truth which accords with godliness. Notice it in chapter two. He says, but as for you, telling Titus, teach what accords with sound doctrine. And then he goes into instructions as to the different levels of society, how they're to live in such a way as they express good works. This is what is in accord with sound doctrine. Notice what he says in the 11th verse. For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, that is, or it has appeared to all people, bringing salvation, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions. That's what the grace of God does. It trains us. to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, to live self-controlled, upright, and 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 for us to redeem us from all lawlessness, not only the condemnation that comes from our lawlessness, but to redeem us from the slave block upon which we have been held. He buys us out of that lawlessness so our lifestyle no longer has to be characterized by iniquity and lawlessness. And to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works. that is bound up in the very reason of Christ's redemptive work. Note what he says in chapter 3, beginning with verse 8. He introduces this with a statement that has to do with he's introducing a commonly received confession, a commonly received theological conclusion that they were dealing with. He says, the saying is trustworthy. He uses that several times in the pastoral epistles. And he always has a little confessional statement that is connected with it. So he says, the saying is trustworthy. And notice the instruction to Titus, and I want you to insist on these things. It has to be pretty rough with these cretins there. I want you to insist on these things that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works. These things are excellent and profitable for people. And so here in his introduction, He puts this phrase in to let us know that this is not just a sidelight, this is not just some sort of implication that you can take or leave, that will come perhaps subsequently if you really want it to happen. No, what he's saying is this is part and parcel of the gospel. This is embedded within the very substance of the gospel, that he is going to redeem for himself not people simply from condemnation, but he's going to redeem for himself a people who love holiness and are zealous for good works. And so, the faith of God's elect and their knowledge of the truth is that which accords with godliness. and it is in the hope of eternal life. John says in 1 John 3, he says, it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when He appears, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And then he says, and everyone who has this hope in Him, purifies himself even as he himself is pure. The hope of eternal life is that we will live within the realm of the eternal. It's not just unending life. Some people look at that and they say, man, I don't know if I can take unending life. What are we going to do all this time? How many golf courses can there be? How many country singers can there be that I can go and hear? Are all my friends going to be around in these places? You know, you hear people talking about he's in a better place now. He's up there laughing with his friends. The Rat Pack is up there all singing again in a bar somewhere. That's not the way it is. This is the hope of eternal life, is that hope that we will live in the realm of the eternal, which is the realm of the blessed God who lives in unapproachable light into which no man has seen or can see. And it has a continued transforming effect, an expanding effect on us as we're there. This is the hope that we have. When Christ comes again in His glory, When he was here, he was humiliated. When he was here, he was despised and rejected. When he was here, he was nailed to a cross. And even after his resurrection, with the wonderful things that he could do and the appearance that he had, he still did not manifest the full distinction of his glory at that time, but he was received up into heaven. But when he comes again, we'll marvel at him. When He comes again, the glory that He has will be a transforming glory. We shall see Him as He is and therefore we shall be like Him. And being like Him, this means that we will share in the eternal joy of the triune God. We will be united there. Not in essence, but in participation in the love relationship that exists there with the expansiveness that is holy. That is the hope of eternal life. And so this idea of the truth accords with godliness, the hope of eternal life carries within it this reality that we are moving toward a time of holiness. Then he tells us this hope of eternal life, which is unending life in the presence of the Eternal One in all of His glory. He gives us the assurance that this has been revealed by God, has been established by God. These events are things that have been established by God himself. This is absolutely incredible. Well, no, it's not incredible. Anything the Bible says is credible, but how do we use the word incredible? Sometimes it means it's beyond the normal level at which we believe things. It's credible because the Bible says it, but it is amazing which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began. Now this word never lies. It's a word that actually sets forth an attribute. It's God who is the unlying one. God the unlying. We can say God the holy one. God the omnipotent one. God the omniscient one. God the glorious one. God the unlying one. It's impossible for God to lie. Because everything happens according to His decree. His decree happens according to His infinite wisdom. And all that happens, happens according to His own knowledge of it. We've been predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things after the counsel of His own will. And it cannot be changed. And also, not only has He decreed it, but it would be impossible for Him to lie because His holiness simply has no possibility of representing something as true that is not true. His entire immutability disallows the possibility of His presenting something that is false that does not exist as if it really did exist. So He is the unlying One. And so he says that in order to give assurance that these things that he's talking about will certainly come true. It's the hope of eternal life which God, who never lies, the unlying God, promised before the ages began. Now, promised to whom? Who was there for the promise? Our representative. the Son of God. Here he is talking about the covenant, the eternal covenant. Sometimes we think, well, the eternal covenant, this is so speculative, this is something that's just way out there, we shouldn't talk about things like this because it merely confuses us, you know, the secret things belong to God and that's one of the secret things and the things that are revealed belong to us and our children. Well, Spurgeon said one time, and someone was quoting that to him, he said, well, you can be sure that if it's a secret thing and God wants it to be secret, then you will never know it, but everything He has revealed is for us and our children. And this is one of those things that is revealed. Perplexing though it may be, nevertheless, it is for us and for our children, and He says this was promised before the ages began, before the beginning of chronological time. This was promised. It was promised. The only persons with whom a promise could be made was within the Godhead Himself. This is a covenant, an immutable covenant that He makes. that is contained in the very things that God has been saying right here, that Paul has been saying. There is an elect, they will come to the knowledge of the truth, it accords with godliness and they will have eternal life and this eternal life gives them such a hope that they will love the holiness that it promises them. All of those is contained in this covenant that was promised before the ages began. The promise has to do with all of the different aspects of the covenant of redemption, but I think specifically, if he is talking about it in relationship to us, the promise is made to the Son that the ones for whom He died will certainly be brought to redemption and to holiness. The God who never lies, it has it in the context of the hope of eternal life, which God who never lies promised before the ages began. And so this reality of all that we have in eternal life was promised to Christ. Christ came to die to obtain it. He obtained it in such a way as it can never, no, never be taken away. He is the one who has gained it. It will be given to Him. As Paul is talking about this in Romans 8, he said, He who spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not also along with him freely give us all things? Everything that is contained in this covenant which Christ has bought will be given to us. God has promised it. He has promised it to His Son. He is the unlying God, but if He were a lying God, would He promise something to His Son and not carry through on it? No way. So Paul is giving us every kind of assurance that the things that are involved in the Gospel will take place. They will have their power in our lives. And the means is through this proclamation of the truth, knowledge of the truth. So right after he talks about, this was promised before the ages began. This great promise. Notice what he says there. And at the proper time manifested in His Word. Manifested in His Word. This has been revealed, these things of eternity. Eternity past, promised before the ages began. Eternity future, the hope of eternal life. Eternity now, the gospel according to godliness, which is the penetration of this wicked world with the reality of God's eternal holiness. All of these things have been promised and they are revealed. Notice almost if someone didn't really believe what the Apostle Paul said and did not know the dynamic by which he was called as an apostle when he says that this was manifested in his word through the preaching with which I have been entrusted. What would you think of the Apostle Paul? What an arrogant person this is. He thinks that what he says is something that was happening before time began, that he knows what was in the mind of God from eternity. He knows what is going to happen in the future. He knows what is important in the present. Oh, what an arrogant person who thinks he has such comprehensive knowledge! What an absurdity! And notice the confidence in the simplicity with which Paul affirms this. And at the proper time, in due time, when God decided it was the right time, was manifested in his word. Notice he calls this A word, which means a proposition, the setting forth of truth in understandable sentences, which can be contemplated and memorized, in which we can see substantial meaning behind them. The mind can be trained by these words that God gives us. Our hearts can be framed by these truths that are set forth in words. I mean, preaching would be an absurdity if this were not true. Exposition of Scripture would be absolutely useless if this were not true. Trying to integrate all kinds of doctrines to build an understanding of the various things that the Bible talks about would be absurd unless we knew that it is manifest in His Word. in the way that spiritual truth and spiritual things are placed into the mind. This is what Paul was saying in 1 Corinthians 2 when he talks about how that in this revelation we compare spiritual with spiritual. And what he's saying there is that there are spiritual words that are sufficient to carry the burden of the spiritual realities about which they speak, comparing spiritual with spiritual. That's what happens in inspiration. And so Paul is claiming here that his preaching was at the level of inspired utterance. I'm going to talk about this some tomorrow night, because that is the goal that we should have in our preaching. That when we preach, we must make sure that it is harmonious with that which is revealed. Paul preached, and when he preached, it was revelation at the same time. And so his Word, he manifested in his Word through the preaching with which I have been entrusted. Paul, as an apostle, was entrusted with this revelatory truth. He was inspired by the Spirit of God when he spoke It was revealed truth when he wrote. It was revealed truth. All of these things from eternity past to eternity future that he spoke about were the word that had come from the unlying God and was manifest to people in the form of the preaching of the apostles and then the writing of the apostles. He was entrusted with this. And again, in order to give security to it, he was entrusted with this, not as a happenstance, not just because he happened to be the guy standing around when God wanted to say something, but he's been entrusted with this by the command of God, our Savior. God commanded Paul. to be this person. God commanded Paul to be the one who would suffer great things for his namesake. God commanded Paul to be the one who would suffer all things for the sake of the elect that they too may obtain salvation and with it eternal glory. And armed with a sweeping, comprehensive look of what God is doing in the world, Titus has a letter from the Apostle Paul that will speak about redemption by the Lord Jesus Christ that will speak about the blessed hope and that will speak about purity of life and good works as being bound up in the reality of this gospel that has been revealed. Well, what a great introduction. Introducing us to these lively, comprehensive thoughts that can capture our minds, can charm our contemplations, can renew our spirits, can give us great confidence that what God is about here in this church He will accomplish. What God is about in the world for His glory, He will accomplish. That what God has said to us in His Word can be trusted. He is the unlying God who has manifested His Word through the preaching with which Paul and the Apostles were entrusted. Let's bow for prayer. Father, we thank You for this great assurance for the great clarity, for the power of this language and these words, for the sweeping way in which you have set before us that you are present in the past, you are present in eternity, you are present in our lives, you are present in our church, you are present in your word, you will be present in the future, you will be present in death, you will be present in eternal life, and we will live eternally in your presence. Encourage us with that thought. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.