All right. We're in Titus chapter one, verse one today. All right. While you're still turning there, it's been a blessing being back here in Virginia and getting to see every one of you and to worship with you guys on Sunday and Wednesday nights. It's really been good and I'm thankful for the Lord for this time. So let's go ahead in verse one. The Lord says, Paul, a slave of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ for the faith of God's elect and the full knowledge of the truth, which is according to godliness and the hope of eternal life, which the God who cannot lie promised from all eternity, but at the proper time manifested his word in preaching with which I was entrusted according to the commandment of God our Savior, to Titus, my genuine child according to our common faith, grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior. So tonight we'll be looking at God's purposes and his goals for the ministry of the word and the lives of his people. First, we are going to look at furthering the faith in the people of God. Then we will look at bringing the people of God to a full knowledge of Christ that leads to good works. And finally, we will look at the goal of the hope of life everlasting. But before we do, it's important to look at, just briefly look at the context of this book, which is Paul's letter to his partner and fellow worker in the ministry, Titus. So we see Titus is one of the last letters that Paul wrote with the other pastoral epistles of 1 Timothy and 2 Timothy. And this is shortly before his final imprisonment in Rome and before he is executed for the Lord. He is writing so that Titus will set in order the churches in Crete and so that he will appoint elders there in the cities in Crete, and that he will teach sound doctrine, sound doctrine which is being attacked by the heresies that are creeping into the church. So in verse one, we see Paul gives a normal greeting compared with his other letters, identifying himself as the author, Paul, and he states his title as an apostle of Jesus Christ. having been directly commissioned by the Lord, by the risen Christ, to be a preacher to the Gentiles, to kings, and to the sons of Israel. Paul also adds, if you notice, he says, he is a slave of God. Which, while some translate this, a servant of God, the word does truly mean slave. And the title, Slave of God, is a title that describes not only Paul, but all Christians. We have all been bought by God with the price, the price of the Lord Jesus' blood. He owns us exclusively. He is our master and our Lord, and we are subservient to his will and everything. And the way in which Paul, the way in which he specifically, as a slave of God, obeys his master is by being an apostle, by being a messenger of Jesus Christ and laboring in the ministry of the Word of God. So, in verse 1, we see in the next part of the verse that Paul ministers and is a slave of God, an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect. Now, the phrase according to the faith can be translated better with the idea that faith is the object of Paul's apostleship, that faith is the end of the ministry of Paul as a slave of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ. It is not so much that Paul's ministry accords with faith, that it does, but that the goal to which Paul was given his slavery, the goal to which he was given his apostleship, was to bring the elect of God to faith. His ministry is for faith, the faith of all of God's chosen people. If Paul had a mission statement or a vision statement, as many churches today do, this would be a good summary of his in this verse. So what are some ways that we see Paul's ministry can be said to be for the faith of God's elect? Well, the first way is that we understand from this passage, Paul was given his ministry to bring the elect of God to faith through the preaching of the gospel. So in this sense, Paul is commissioned to create converts. He is to awaken and produce faith through preaching the gospel of Christ. We also see that this is for God's elect in which we understand this glorious doctrine of election. God having set his love upon a people before the world began, not because of any good work or willingness on their part, but entirely upon his free mercy and his free grace. And as verse two, in the next verse it later says, in the hope of eternal life which the God who cannot lie promised from all eternity. God, before the world began and eternity passed, promised everlasting life to his elect. And now there are those who have not heard this gospel, but yet are chosen by God and they will hear the gospel at some point in their lives, God will be sure to send them the gospel so that they may be born again and come to faith and repentance through the sovereign will of God. So then we have Paul here, the minister of God, working and laboring in step with God's promise that he will bring his elect sovereignly to faith. We see this as an example. We see this play out in Paul's ministry in Acts 13, if you'd like to turn there for a moment. It's in Acts 13, 46 is where we'll be at. So in verse 46, it says, Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold and said, it was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you, speaking to the Jews. But seeing you put it from you and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles. For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a light to the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for the salvation unto the ends of the earth. So what we have here is Paul and Barnabas have delivered this message of eternal life to the Jews first, before the Gentiles, as was this normal procedure that they would go from city to city, preaching first to the Jews and then to the Gentiles. And while the Jews initially seemed receptive, when the Jews saw that all the Gentiles were coming, the crowds of Gentiles to hear this word of life as well, They become jealous and they start to blaspheme. And here we have the ministry of Paul preaching the words of life and it continues on in verse 48, this key verse, it says, and when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord. And as many as were ordained to eternal life believed. And the word of the Lord was published throughout all the region. So Paul is preaching the words of life, he's preaching the good news of salvation in Christ. And God sovereignly brings those whom he has already chosen before in eternity past, he brings them to faith in him. All those who are ordained to eternal life believe. So this is the first way we see in which Paul's ministry may be said to be for the faith of God's elect. In that it is the instrument by which God brings his elect to faith, to conversion. The second way that we see that the ministry of Paul is said to be for faith is that Paul is sent to nurture the faith of God's elects. He's sent to bring the elect to a full faith, that the people of God may grow, that they may mature in their faith after they have been converted in sanctification. The whole Christian life from start to finish is to be a life of faith, a life defined by believing and trusting in Christ and who He is. It's not that we believe once and that's just fine. You check the box of belief back in the day. You have the date that you wrote down that you raised your hand or you went down the altar and that's good enough. And I believed back then, so that's fine. No, that's not what truth, true faith is a faith that Sticks, it's a faith that is not temporary, but it's a continual faith. The Bible describes true faith as a living faith. It is alive and it continues on. Yes, while it is true and glorious that we are completely justified the first initial moment we believe in Christ, it is also true that faith is here to stay. It is living, it is just like any other living thing, it has to grow. And so that's why Paul, his ministry, is to bring people to conversion, to bring them to faith, and also to not just leave them there, but to grow their faith, to continually preach the good news so that their faith may be stronger, that it may grow from the mustard seed and grow and grow to become a full faith. Just as we see, we see this in 2 Thessalonians 1 3. Paul says, We are always to give thanks God to God for you, brothers, as is only fitting because your faith is growing abundantly. Paul was not satisfied in his labor for the gospel to merely bring people to faith and then leave them there as if he was only commissioned to make converts. Paul would stay years with the churches he planted. And he did not shrink back from telling them the whole counsel of God and admonishing them, toiling night and day, preaching the word to them. And why did he do this? Because God commissioned him as an apostle to grow in faith and to grow the faith of God's elect so that his elect would, as it goes on to say, come to a full knowledge of the truth, which is after godliness. Moving on to the next part, back in Titus, of verse 1. So we see Paul, his apostolic ministry as an ambassador of Christ is to present the sheep, it's to present the flock of God, those whom he has chosen, to give them and present them to the Father, complete and mature in Christ, fully fed and mature. Ephesians 4, 12 and 13 says, to the building up of the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the full knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. Notice that the desire for the body of Christ is that we would attain to the full knowledge, the full knowledge of the Son of God, which is parallel to this passage in Titus 1 where it says the full knowledge of the truth. And we know that Jesus is the truth. He is the way, the truth, and the life. Jesus is truth in person, personified as the word of God, the eternal logos. But God's purpose for the church is to come to this full knowledge of the truth, which is not, it's not merely a knowledge of factual knowledge with certain facts, although it includes that, but it is an experiential knowledge that as we learn more about the truth of God's word, As we hide it in our hearts, as we memorize it, as we pray the Word of God and fill our minds with it, it leads us to knowing knowledge. It leads us to knowing deeper of our Savior Jesus Christ. We think of in Philippians 3 that Paul counts all things as rubbish, as trash, just for knowing Christ, for that true knowledge of who Christ is. And so, back in Titus 1, we see this is a full knowledge of the truth after, what does it say, which is according or after godliness. Godliness here means to live a pious life. It is a life that is pleasing to God and imitating God in all his ways. It is to be godly. So, becoming more like God the Father in our attitudes and actions, as in godliness, it goes hand-in-hand with the full knowledge of the truth. You can't have someone who knows truth fully and not godly at the same time. It goes hand-in-hand. And knowing the truth, having a full knowledge of the truth, leads to further godliness. As we learn more and more about the truths of God's word, we come to know Christ, we come to know who he is, we come to know what he's done, and we come to know these glorious things. And we know that these should not just stay in our minds and our hearts, but then they should go also out into our hands and godly action and godly ways of living. What we know about God should come out of our fingertips. If we know all these things and are accumulating knowledge of the word of God, reading the word, and yet our life is not changed, there's a disconnect somewhere. This is not the way we should live. And so we must repent and ask God to give us a life obedient to him, to please him. This idea of godliness, of godly action and godly works is consistent throughout the whole letter of Titus. Paul over and over again mentions godliness or godly works in connection with doctrine or in connection with knowing God. On the next page in Titus 2 verse 7 he urges Titus in all things to show himself to be a model of good works along with what? Purity in doctrine. Then down in verse 14 we see Paul relays how Jesus Christ, our Savior, He gave Himself up to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify people for Himself, for what end? So that they would be His own possession, but also zealous for good works. And even further in the next chapter, in chapter 3, verse 8, We see that it says, Paul says, I want you to speak confidently so that those who have believed God will be intent to lead in good works. And these things are good and profitable for men. So Paul not only desires in his ministry to bring to those in faith, but he also labors so that they will grow in the full knowledge of Christ so that they may live godly lives pleasing to Christ. This aligns with the whole mission of God. God's mission is, we see this in the Great Commission, that Christ tells his apostles to disciple the nations. He tells them to baptize, but also, what does he say? He says, to teach them all that I have commanded you. There are too many ministries, churches, and even missions, especially missions, that focus only or focus too much just on conversion and exclude the hard work and the long process it takes to obey all Christ that commanded. Think about all that Christ commanded, was it not? A lot, there's a lot that Christ has commanded for us. Not so that we may earn or merit anything, but that out of joy and obedience to him we may walk in the way he has designed for us. But it takes a lot to teach people to obey all that Christ has commanded. But yet we must emphasize both bringing people to faith and having them come to a full knowledge that leads to obedience and for them to obey Christ in every area of their life so that they would be mature This is what God desires. It is not as if God, right after we come to faith in Christ, he zaps us to heaven. We're still here on earth. We still have a mission to play here on earth, and that is to be the salt and light, to then go out and multiply and make other disciples, but also it's to sanctify ourselves, to come to a full knowledge of the truth, and to have good works, to be zealous, to continue to press on, to please Christ in everything. And then we see the last point of this passage, we see in verse 2 it says, and the hope of eternal life. Paul, as an instrument of the ministry of God and reconciling the world to himself, a ministry that's on behalf of Christ, this is a ministry that acts, performs, and rests in the hope of eternal life. First, for this point, we must see what does hope mean in the New Testament? What does hope mean in Paul's letters? The way we use the word hope in normal conversation most of the time does not line up with what the New Testament intends to convey by this word. Often when we use the word hope, we use it in a way that shows a lack of certainty or we don't know for sure whether this will happen. It might happen, it might not. I wish it would happen. But we desire something to go some way, but we don't really have a basis, a sure basis for that desire. But the hope that we see in the New Testament, the hope in this passage, is a hope that has confident expectation in God, assurance. It is rooted and grounded and assured in God. Colossians 1.5 speaks of the hope, speaks of the hope that is laid up for us in heaven. We have an inheritance waiting for us in heaven. which we hope for, but it's not a hope that we, well, it might be there, it might not, maybe someday I'll see. It's a hope that we are assured, we are confident that when we get to heaven, that we will receive this inheritance. And it is a hope, as we see in the next part of verse two, he roots this hope in who? In the God who cannot lie. The God who cannot lie has promised eternal life to us. So our hope is not in anything we can do, our hope is only in God. The God who cannot lie, the God who is unchanging, the God who when he promises, he accomplishes. When his word says something, you will be sure that he will perform it. Our God is completely trustworthy and what he has promised will indeed come to pass. Now, next, it is important that we have this hope of eternal life, because if we did not, then all ministry, any work for the Lord we do would be in vain. If there was no hope of eternal life, then all of Paul's labor for the faith of God's elect and the full knowledge of the truth, according to godliness, would be all for nothing. As 1 Corinthians 15, 19 says, If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied. But since Christ has been raised, since he has ascended to heaven, never to die again, death no longer has hold of him, has no claim on him, we can have full assurance of this hope. Which then, this full assurance gives intense purpose, it gives intense meaning to everything we do here on earth. It makes our labor now for the kingdom purposeful and meaningful. The rewards of heaven and life everlasting should motivate us all the more to seek to know Christ and to seek to be more zealous for good works. We all know the saying that goes like, don't be so heavenly minded that you're of no earthly good. And now there is a way, there is a manner in which This can be true. I mean, you have people in church history, some monks who would live on a pillar. They would live there for the rest of their lives, separated from society, thinking that they focused on heaven, this is what focused on heaven meant, to live, to be secluded from society, to beat their body into submission. But in large, the way this quote is used is the exact opposite of what we see in the New Testament. Having our minds set on eternity is what, and heaven, is what motivates us now to do earthly good. Look how often Paul is mindful of the life to come and how that drives him to work all the harder. We see in Philippians 3.13, Paul says, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. And in the next verse, forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Paul knew what came in the life to come. He knew that there was the prize of eternal life with Christ waiting for him. And this made him to urge This urged him forward to press on, to press on in ministry, and to continue to obey Christ as an apostle in preaching the word. Also we see in 1 Corinthians 9, 24 through 27, he says, do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win. Now everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They then do it to receive a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible. Therefore, I run in such a way as not without aim. I box in such a way as not beating the air, but I discipline my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to many, I myself will not be disqualified. Paul knew that he had a race to run, and he knew that there was a crown waiting for him at the end. And this caused him all the more to live a holy life, to make sure that he was not disqualified in any way, but that he could be the workman that God had made him to be, that he could be the minister that God made him to be, to bring people to faith, bring people to faith in Christ and to nurture that faith so that they would come to a full knowledge of the truth and be zealous for good works. Paul was motivated by this hope, this hope of eternal life. And so we, in the same way, should look to the eternal life to come, and we should run, we should labor, and we should follow in the footsteps of Paul. And now before we close here today, there's a couple more applications of this passage that I would like to give. The first one is to be encouraged, for God is for you and he is for your faith. We have looked at how Paul's ministry, it was for growing the faith of God's people, but Paul was acting in a larger ministry, in the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is for us. He is for our sanctification. Christ is for our maturing in knowledge and for the growth of our faith. how comforting and encouraging that is to know that Christ is the one growing our faith and sustains us despite our weaknesses and sins. I mean, if you turn to 1 Peter, we see in 1 Peter 1, See here, 1 Peter 1, 5, it says, we are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. So we see that it is Christ, it is the Lord Jesus Christ, who through his power is sustaining us and holding our faith. Our faith is in Christ and he is the one who is protecting us through our faith. And how comforting and encouraging it is that he does that despite the weaknesses and sins that we have. Have you, Christian, thought upon this great truth that Christ is for, he's for your faith? Your faith is not something that must be conjured up within your own strength as if we could, but it rests in the strength that Christ supplies for you each and every day. And finally, for the final application, I would like to exhort the parents here in bringing up children in the fear of God and the instruction of the Lord. To each of the parents here today, God has given you a ministry. He has called each of you as slaves of God and as his messengers to minister to your children. to preach the gospel, to proclaim the word of God to your kids. This is your highest calling. This involves encouraging and nurturing faith in your children and not encouraging doubt in them. We are to encourage faith. God has given you the means of grace, so instruct them in the knowledge of the truth of God's word so that they would produce good works and be zealous for God. And finally, Do not raise uninstructed children in fear, but in hope, in the confident hope of eternal life, with which our Savior Jesus invites the thirsty to come and drink the water of life without cost. So I pray that Emmanuel Baptist Church would be rooted in the word of God, and that we would see that the Lord is for us, and he's for the growth of our faith, and that for the knowledge of the truth, and let us pursue good works as well in the hope of eternal life. So let us pray.