this morning. Please turn it to Titus chapter 2. Again, that's Titus 2. We've been working our way through the pastoral epistles for quite some time now, and we're actually towards the very end of it. We only have a few weeks there. We have been working on it off and on, though, so be aware. You know, we didn't just start this this year. We've been working through the pastoral epistles for a while, and we've been taking breaks from it as we've worked on other things. So Anyone who has been at Grace for any amount of time knows that I highly emphasize the need of right or sound doctrine. If I'm ever accused of having a hobby horse, this is going to be it. It's going to be right and sound doctrine. That is, I think, one of the biggest issues that we see in churches today, the lack of sound doctrine. A big part of our push for this is really simple. As Christians, some of us Christians since a very young age, we ought to at least know what we claim to believe according to scripture if we're going to say that we're Christians. However, there are other reasons why I push right and sound doctrine so much. The first is this, the word of God insists on right doctrine. But the second is this, that what this passage emphasizes is that without sound doctrine, no local church can actually be healthy. So that's sort of the mindset that we're going with as we come into Titus chapter 2, that sound doctrine, right, teaching is so vital to the local church because without it, you just can't be a healthy local church. What we'll see as we work through this text is that sound doctrine, right doctrine, whatever you want to call it, teaching or whatever, is the foundation for how the church ought to behave and how it acts and how it thinks. So if the doctrine is incorrect, then the church is going to be incorrect. And so we need to have this emphasis on right teaching. Otherwise the church isn't going to do what it's supposed to do. And that's Titus's, well actually Paul's, that's Paul's whole point in Titus 2. That without the right doctrine, the church can't do what it's actually supposed to do. Let's go ahead and read the chapter. We're going to read the full chapter and then I'll explain how we'll dig into this. This is Titus chapter 2 starting in verse 1. But as for you, teach what accords with sound doctrine. Older men are to be sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, in love, and in steadfastness. Older women, likewise, are to be reverent in behavior and 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. 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 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 salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passion and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope and appearing for the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works. Declare these things, exhort and rebuke with all authority, Let no one disregard you. As we study this passage, we're really going to look at it in three different parts. The first is really just one verse. It's this idea of teach sound doctrine. It is, in and of itself, I'm going to argue, the foundation for this whole passage. It's this idea that he needs to teach right teaching, sound doctrine, that gives us the reasoning for everything else. The second part of this passage is the results of teaching sound doctrine. We see that in 2 through 10. And then the third is how sound doctrine actually trains up believers. What you'll see as we work through the passage is that we absolutely need to be focused on right teaching because right teaching influences the way that we live and it influences how we as a church work together. Or in other words, without right teaching, the church itself can't be right. And if the church itself can't be right, ultimately what happens is that we fail in the mission that God has given us in the first place. And ultimately what today's sermon will focus on is this idea of seeking right teaching for the purpose of being built up as a body of believers, which will result in us being a healthy church. That's the whole goal for today. Keep that in mind. Let's pray for the Holy Spirit to open our eyes and soften our hearts. Let's pray together. Our gracious heavenly father, we're so thankful for you and for all that you've done for us. We are thankful that we have the opportunity to gather together, to dig into your word, to study it and to read it. We're so thankful that your word is readily available to us in our own language, that we can read it as a hard copy, that we can find it on our cell phones, that we can go online and Google your word. And I pray that we never take for granted the accessibility of your Word for us today. Father God, we're so thankful for your Spirit and how your Spirit works within us. Your Spirit seals us to the day of redemption. Your Spirit leads us and directs us. Your Spirit opens our eyes and softens our hearts and open our ears as we seek truth from your Word. So help us this day as we read your Word and study your Word. Show us your truth so that we can not only learn more about you and about your Word, but so that we can apply your Word to our lives in a way that pleases you and honors you. Father God, we love you. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. So our passage starts with a rather simple statement or command from Paul to Titus. And it's this sentence that differentiates what Titus is supposed to be like to the false teachers that Josh mentioned last week. So if you remember with me, the last few weeks we've been dealing with the issues of false teaching, of false teachers on the island of Crete. Paul deals with that in a number of ways, the first of which is by reminding him that he needs to find elders to help him lead that church. And these elders have to meet certain biblical qualifications, otherwise you're going to run into the same problem where you have false teachings everywhere. The second point is to emphasize the fact that false teachers are only teaching false things for their own benefit, for what they want, and so they need to be confronted and they need to be removed. He makes the point that only those who fit the qualifications ought to be leading churches at all. Only those who fit the qualifications ought to be teaching within the body of Christ. He says that only those who are above reproach, not perfect, but above reproach, the husband of one wife, if he's married, with children who are obedient, if they have children. He makes the argument that those are qualifications for eldership. He says that elders are to love good things, that elders are to be self-controlled, they're to be upright, they're to be holy, they are to be disciplined, and they ought to be rejecting things like arrogance and quick-temperedness. They ought not be drunks, they ought not be violent, they shouldn't be greedy for gain. He ends the qualifications for eldership by saying that elders need to know the truth, and they need to know the truth well enough that they can actually confront false teaching. They need to know the truth well enough that they can teach true things and reject false things. He doesn't say it to Titus. But he does say it to Timothy that part of the role of an elder is to teach. So he needs to be able to teach the sound, true doctrines to other people. So within the body of Christ, within the local church, elders serve as a defense against false teaching. So the argument is be sure that your elders actually match what the Bible calls qualifies them. Last week's passage then continued by showing us what false teachers typically look like. That they are vain in their speech. What that means is they say a lot, but they don't really say a lot. They have a lot of words, but they have very little meaning. They deceive. They are in need to be silenced because they're dividing whole families that were once sound. In reality, Paul points out that they claim to know God, but the truth is they actually don't know God. And you can see that by their fruit, that they don't actually believe. So in verse 1 of chapter 2, where we're at today, Paul contrasts what these false teachers are like with what Titus is supposed to be like. Whereas the false teachers are vain and deceitful, they are subversive, they are antithetical to really everything Christianity stands for and what an elder should be in the church, Titus should be like this, what he's about to say. And note how it's all based on one key idea. Titus 2 verse 1, but as for you, teach what accords with sound doctrine. It's really interesting, if you read a lot of Paul's writings, that's a major emphasis for Paul, to teach right doctrine. We see that here, but we also see it in 1 Timothy 1, when Paul tells Timothy that elders need to be able to teach the truth aptly. We see it in chapter 4 of 1 Timothy, when he tells Timothy to contrast himself from false teachers by teaching the truth. We also see that push in 2 Timothy 3, when Paul tells Timothy of the importance of the Word of God itself, which gives us our sound doctrine. And when Paul speaks to other people, he emphasizes this need for truth as well. So when he speaks to the Ephesians, he points out how they had once heard the truth in the Word of God. He says that in chapter 1, verse 13. He also says something similar to that to the Thessalonians in 2 Thessalonians 2, the idea that they believed because they had heard the truth and repented of their sins and followed Jesus Christ. But it isn't just Paul who emphasizes the need of sound doctrine. Paul is not this random person shouting from the sidelines that you need to have sound doctrine. There are other people throughout the Bible that do the same, even Jesus himself. emphasizes the need for sound doctrine when he says that you will know them by their fruit. Do you know what he's referring to? He's talking about the wolves who come into churches and destroy churches with false teaching. He's talking about false teachers. That's Matthew 7. And he makes the statement that false teachers are coming into the church in order to devour the sheep. And that's a pretty significant thing if you think about it. Or even, just think about how the book of Revelation ends. Now, this statement applies particularly to Revelation, but I believe it applies to the whole Bible. In Revelation 22, 18, John says, I want everyone who hears the words of this book, if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book. And if anyone takes away from the words of this book, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book. Again, particular to Revelation, but I think it applies to the whole word of God, that false teaching is taking away from the book itself. And there is punishment for that. The reality is that sound doctrine is of utmost importance within the local church, and it should not be neglected for anything other than that. So an appearance of unity is not a reason to neglect good teaching. Being all about the mission is not a good reason to neglect true teaching. The reality is without sound doctrine, we can't be united anyways. What are we actually unified on? If we don't have sound doctrine, we're not unified to begin with. Without sound doctrine, we can't be on mission together because what are we actually trying to win people to? Are we actually trying to win people to Jesus as described in scripture or the Jesus that we've invented in our minds? Without sound doctrine, we can't do the same things because we're already not united, and so our mission isn't the same. In fact, I would argue that until the doctrine is sound, the local church itself is not healthy, and it will lead people astray, whether they know it or not. In fact, it's clear in Paul's letter to Titus that without right doctrine, the church really can't function the way that it's meant to. Or in other words, the church can't do what God has called it to do if the teaching isn't solid, if the teaching isn't sound. Let's look at verses 2 through 10 again. We'll read it again just to keep it fresh in our minds. This is verse 2. Older men are to be sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith and love, and 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. 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 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." When sound doctrine is taught and applied within the local church, this is what the local church should look like because people change to match what sound doctrine teaches. When sound doctrine is understood and applied within the local church context, the behavior of the people changes. They stop looking at only themselves and they start looking at those around them to care for them. They stop looking at just their nuclear family and they start looking at the family of God within the local context. And because of this, when sound doctrine is taught and people actually apply it, people stop thinking only of themselves and they start looking at how they can build one another up. Paul's examples are based on different groups of people within the body of Christ. He speaks to older men, and he speaks to older women, and young women, and young men, and then he speaks about bondservants. And what he says, though they can seem like commands, I'm arguing aren't actually commands. What he's saying are the fruits of what it means to actually teach sound doctrine within the church. So if you teach well, and people actually apply what is being taught as sound doctrine from scripture, then this is the result. That you will have a church that genuinely cares for one another, that wants to help build each other up. So let's break down these ideas a little bit. When the local church actually learns the truth and applies the truth, this is the result. First, older men are going to be sober-minded. That's the idea of being clear-headed. They will be dignified or they're going to act like they are worthy of honor, not act like as in they're faking it. But they're going to act that way because that's how they are. They will be self-controlled. They will be sound or steadfast in their faith. They will exhibit love. And the implication is that they ought to teach young men to do the same. So I don't know if you've ever heard this before. There was, in an African safari years ago, an issue in which they had taken away all the adult elephants that were men. And the problem was, as soon as they took those elephants out of the area, the younger male elephants started mauling all the other animals. And they couldn't figure out why exactly that was happening until someone suggested that they put the adult elephants that were men back into the area. And what they found was that the adult male elephants were actually teaching the younger male elephants not to do this, but they didn't know that. And it wasn't until they put the adult male elephants back into the wild there that the adult male elephants taught the young male elephants not to do this again. Now think of that in our perspective as human beings. Clearly we're not elephants, but there are things that older men teach younger men. Likewise, there are things that older women teach younger women. That's why in verse three, he points that out. Older women within the church are to be reverent or respectful in their behavior. They're not to be slanderers, or the idea is they shouldn't be gossipers. They should not be slaves to wine, but rather they ought to teach what is good so that they can train younger women within the local church. The idea is younger women should learn from older women, and younger men should learn from older men. In particular, verse four says that older women are to train younger women to love their husbands and their children, to also be self-controlled, to be pure in mind, to be pure in their hearts. The idea of working at home, by the way, does not imply that they can't have careers. It implies that they care for their home, that's all. They are to learn from the older women to be kind, to be submissive to their husbands, though let me clarify that submission does not imply passivity, so just to clarify that, but rather a recognition of God's order within the family. So if you're thinking of these things, these are all things that are taught within the body of Christ. And so if they have to be taught, what that means is that this is not something that happens naturally. This is something that occurs when older men and older women make the effort in teaching younger men and younger women. If it has to be said in this way that we ought to be teaching younger generations this way, it implies that without someone teaching younger generations this, they're not gonna do it. They're not going to act this way. Verses six to eight then shifts the focus to younger men. And we see that younger men are to be trained to be self-controlled, to be a model of good works with integrity and dignity and teaching. Younger men ought to speak in such a way that others cannot condemn them, that their speech is pure enough that when someone tries to hurl accusations at them, they really have nothing to say. It just doesn't work that way. Note that this is specific to Titus, that he should live in a way that he cannot be condemned in that way, but the implication is that really all young men should act and live in this way as well. Lastly, in this section in verses 9 and 10, it deals with the relationship between bondservants and masters. So let me clarify one thing. We don't really have this relationship in the same sense today. No one in this room is necessarily a bondservant to another person unless you look at it from a different lens. If you look at it as anyone who has an employer is technically a servant of that employer, then you can apply this in that manner. Bond servants are to submit to their master. They are to be well-pleasing. They are to not be argumentative, not pilfering, but showing all good faith. Again, we don't quite have this relationship anymore. However, it does teach us a lot. And honestly, I think for many of us, it does convict us a lot of how we act at work. Do we actually act this way? Or are we acting sinfully? The reality is, as long as an employer isn't requiring something that's sinful or maybe ethically incorrect, we should just be thankful that we have a job, that we have somewhere that takes care of us in that way. We should do all of that in good faith. Again, the idea is that when sound doctrine is actually taught within the body of Christ, these are the fruits of that. You'll see that. Now, these are not all the fruits of sound teaching within the local church context, but these are the ones that he emphasizes to the island of Crete. And when you think of it in context, it would make sense that he would emphasize these. After all, in Titus 1, he does point out that even your own people are saying that you're all lazy gluttons who lie all the time. So it makes sense. These are the things that Paul would emphasize about sound teaching within the body of Christ on the island of Crete. The idea is that when sound teaching is taught within the local church, and the people within the local church don't just hear it but actually apply it, the result should look like this. The church should be a church in which everyone works together to build one another up. It should be a body of believers that exemplifies what it looks like to be a group of believers rather than any other earthly group. You've heard me say it before, but one of the biggest issues in the American church is that American churchgoers treat it like a country club instead of a church. It is not a country club, it is a church, and there is a mission for the church. And really what we see in Titus is that the result of right teaching that's actually applied by the people within the congregation are that men and women are going to act like men and women who actually care for the younger generations, that the younger generations are going to learn from the older generations and then so perpetuate godliness in their culture. We see people within this context who are exhibiting the fruits of the Spirit and then teaching that to younger generations. in such a way that they want to see the group grow and to mature and to expand. We see a body of believers in which we're intentionally pouring out our lives for each other in such a way that we're all growing together. And it results in the different ideas that we see in verses two through 10. If the teaching is sound and people are actually taking the teaching to heart, These are some of the fruits from that teaching. Now, if this is the result of sound doctrine, or at least one of them, that we see within the local church, I think you can see how important, then, sound doctrine is. The problem is that many churches have reversed what ought to happen within the local church about sound doctrine. Many churches have decided that unity is more important than sound doctrine, so instead of actually preaching right things, they downplay the gospel, or they change the gospel. And so what happens is they have this false sense of unity, and they're leading all those people to hell. Without sound teaching, without sound doctrine, there's nothing that ought to unify us. Sometimes this is done with the intent of pushing people to get about the mission. Don't worry about all the fine details of doctrine, just get on the mission of making disciples. But again, the reality is if we're all about the mission but we don't know what the truth is, what are we actually winning people to? And the reality is, I don't think I even have to give examples of how this happens within the local church, because if I just ask you right now to think of churches that have lessened the need of pure doctrine, or degraded the idea of doctrine within the church, to focus on unity, love, or even the mission, you already know churches in your mind that do this. And you already know denominations in your mind that do this. I don't have to give examples, you already know what they are. Which one of the churches in your mind is more focused on unity than on the truth? Which one of the churches is more focused on love than sound doctrine? Which one of those churches is more focused on the mission rather than the teaching? The reality is that none of those things are bad. In fact, the Bible calls us to be unified, and the Bible calls us to love one another, and the Bible does call us to be about the mission of making more disciples. However, it never says that you degrade sound doctrine in order to do these things. It's not an either-or situation. We need both. We need the sound doctrine. We need the right teaching. We also need the unity. We also need the love. And we also need the mission, but not in detriment of one or the other. And in each of the instances, if you're being honest, you'll recognize that what they claim is unity actually isn't, because they don't all think the same way, so they can't be unified. What they claim is love actually is the opposite, because instead of confronting issues, they let sin problems slip by. What they claim is mission-mindedness is actually sidetracked, because they don't understand what the mission is in the first place, because they don't know the truth. They don't know right doctrine. True biblical sound teaching, when applied by the congregation, results in people who actually care for one another. And it results in that unity that people are looking for, and the love that people are looking for, because it results in people pouring out themselves in this reason. When the truth is proclaimed and it's taken seriously, God transforms the people within the church, and then unity comes, and then love comes, and then missions comes. But going the opposite direction with all of that is getting the cart in front of the horse. You need the right teaching. Now, if you're watching carefully, you might have noticed that I skipped over two phrases in this section. I did that on purpose. I skipped over two phrases. The first is in verse five, that the word of the Lord may not be reviled, and the second is verse 10, that in everything they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior. The idea behind both of these statements is that when sound doctrine is taught and it's applied within the congregation, God's word is looked on favorably by those outside of the church. that the idea of Christianity is favored in this light. Now, of course, we know that those who are atheistic, those who are utterly opposed to the gospel, they're gonna be opposed to the gospel regardless. So we're not really talking about those folks in this statement. However, the idea is that if the teaching is right and the people are being transformed by the Holy Spirit through the teaching of the word of God, then those who are around us that even oppose us, they're not going to have much to say because we're actually living according to the truth found in sound teaching. And thus God's word won't be reviled and really God himself will get more glory out of our lives. Now, the last five verses gives us an idea of how exactly this works. We see it starting in verse 11. Let's take a look at that verse. or that section. For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passion, and 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 and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works. Well, verse 11 shows us is that becoming what verses 2 through 10 requires the church to be like, that doesn't happen in and of ourselves. We cannot just try to do this. It doesn't work that way. It is part of a process that starts at salvation. That's how this works. Or in other words, just trying to change our outward appearance to be like this isn't going to do any good. It never does. In fact, scripture is very, very clear that it starts with an inward change that results in outward change. So just trying to be a church that resembles this in and of ourselves won't work. Older men will not train younger men. Older women will not train younger women. These things just don't happen in and of itself. Rather, as we are living our Christian walk and we are being sanctified by the Holy Spirit, that's how this process all starts. It is by God's grace in which we were saved in the first place, which is the initial change that's being talked about in verse 12. It is God's grace that teaches us these things, to renounce ungodliness, to renounce worldly passion, to live self-controlled and upright and godly lives in the present age. Or again, we don't do this just by trying harder. It is the Holy Spirit that works within us to change us to live like this. We don't force ourselves to act a certain way, but God's grace, which we experienced initially in salvation, through the Holy Spirit trains us to reject the ungodliness and worldly passion, what we often call sin and degradation. We don't force ourselves to act a certain way, but the grace of God, which we first experienced in salvation and through the Holy Spirit, trains us to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives. Or it is through God's grace that we learn to be the people exemplified in Titus 2, 2 through 10. And as we're being trained like this through God's grace in His Spirit, verses 13 and 14 tells us what the end goal of all this actually is, what the point of all this is, that we are trained as we wait for our blessed hope, as we wait for the appearing of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. that we wait for the one who gave himself for us to be redeemed from all lawlessness and to be purified as his people. Or in other words, this process of training or renouncing ungodliness and worldly passions, this process of becoming self-controlled, of becoming upright and godly, that continues until the day we see our Savior face to face. We actually have a different name for it. It's a biblical name, so it's sanctification. The process of sanctification, where we are being transformed, continues until the day that we see our Savior face to face. We know this because part of the reason that he sacrificed himself on the cross was to redeem us and to buy us away from the lawlessness of sin and for the purpose of purifying us. Part of Jesus's substitutionary atonement on the cross was to set us free from sin and its consequences so that we could actually live in such a way that pleases the Father as we wait for him to return. Now notice the last phrase, that we are to be a people or a possession of Jesus who are zealous for good works. It gives us a clear image that despite modern church culture, It is not enough to visit church, watch everything happen, and then go about your normal business day to day. It is not enough to just come and watch what's happening and then leave. You should be influenced by what you're learning and what you're being taught so that you are zealous for good works. Again, not that good works save. but it is fruit of your salvation. In conjunction with verses two through 10, it seems to imply that part of the good works that we ought to be doing is pouring ourselves out for other people. It seems to very well imply that part of the good works that we're supposed to be zealous for are the building up of our local body of believers. Or in other words, as a body of believers, part of the good works that we're to be zealous for is building one another up. and helping each other grow, and helping each other mature in the faith. And all of that starts with sound doctrine in the local church. As Paul reminds Titus in verse 15, Through the regular proclamation of sound teaching within the body of Christ, unbelievers become believers, young believers start to mature in their faith and their understanding of truth, which results in good works. It results in their action. In this passage, the action is that of working together to build one another up within the body of Jesus Christ. But the idea of sound teaching leading to right behavior is prevalent in the idea of renouncing ungodliness and worldly passion to live self-controlled and upright and godly lives. This implies a putting off of the old man and putting on of the new, another one of Paul's favorite statements. It includes exhibiting the fruits of the Spirit. It includes the growth of the believer to be exactly what God had actually created us to be. But in sin, we've rejected and rebelled against. But again, it starts with the proclamation, the declaration of sound doctrine within the local church. We must get the teaching right or we aren't a biblical church. It is sound doctrine that points us to Jesus. It is sound doctrine that tells us that we need to repent and to believe and to follow him. It is sound doctrine that the Holy Spirit then uses to help us mature in the faith. It is sound doctrine or sound teaching that shows us what we need to do in life to repent from things that God calls sinful and to live in a way that pleases Him through the exhibiting of the fruits of the Spirit and the other spiritual good things that He encourages us and exhorts us to seek after. If we get the teaching wrong, we're going to get everything wrong. And what ends up happening in churches where the teaching is wrong is that you have several people who think that they're okay because they go to church, but they've never been told to repent from their sins. They've never been told to follow Jesus. And they've never been told what it looks like to follow Jesus. And they've never been told what it looks like to grow in their faith and in their salvation. They've never been told or taught how to live in light of the gospel in every area of their lives. And so you end up with people who think that they're Christians, but they don't look anything like a Christian according to scripture. You can see how important right teaching really is. In the last few minutes, let's talk about some specific application that we can apply from this. Despite what many people, even people leading churches and denominations, believe, sound doctrine or right teaching is vitally important for the health of the local church. Again, it is through sound doctrine that we're initially pointed to Jesus Christ. It is through sound doctrine that we recognize our need to repent and to believe. It is through sound doctrine that we learn how to live according to scripture rather than according to our own earthly passions. It's through sound doctrine that we then learn how to build one another up and work together as a body of Christ. When sound doctrine is neglected or rejected, people aren't being pointed to Jesus. They're not encouraged to repent from sin. They're not encouraged to follow him. When sound doctrine is neglected, believers don't actually mature in their faith. When sound doctrine isn't taught, we don't live in the way that God intends for us to live as believers in Jesus Christ, and our church will not thrive the way that it is intended to thrive. As such, there's three applications that I really want us to reflect on. I want you to reflect on them now, take them home, and then apply them. So first, these are the three ideas, and then we'll break it down. First off, Don't settle for anything less than biblical teaching and preaching. Just don't. And we'll talk about that a little bit more. Second, allow the Bible and its teaching to actually train you in godliness. There's a big difference between learning what the Bible says and then actually applying what the Bible says. Third, apply what the Bible teaches within our local church context as well. So let's talk about those ideas. First, Don't settle for anything less than biblical teaching and preaching. If it is through biblical teaching and preaching that people learn of Jesus, that people repent from their sins and follow Jesus, that people are matured in their faith, then settling for anything less than biblical teaching and preaching, I'm not even gonna say that that's a bad idea. I'm gonna say that's a sinful idea. If you settle for anything less than what the Bible actually says and teaches, I'm arguing it's sin. Now often when I hear Christians do this, it's not based on the teachings themselves, but it's based on two different things. The first is this, they'll say something like, yeah, I know he's not exactly right on the gospel, but I've known him forever. And you know, anytime there's a struggle in life, he's right there with me. But if he's not preaching and teaching the gospel, the Bible calls him a false teacher. The Bible says that he either needs to correct his false teaching or you need to reject him completely. Or I'll hear something along the lines of, you know, I can overlook certain things that he says because the rest of it's okay. You know, so I ignore the prosperity gospel on TV because sometimes this guy says something good. So it sounds something like, I know that his teaching isn't solid, but he's always there for me. Or I know that the preaching isn't biblical all the time, but sometimes it is. But again, according to scripture, if we're in a situation where there is false teaching, we need to confront it. And if the person refuses to repent and change their own teaching, we are to remove them. We aren't to keep entertaining their false teaching. And if for whatever reason, we can't get rid of the false teacher, like if it's in a church setting, the next step is to get up and leave, go somewhere else. Or in other words, we ought not settle when the preaching and teaching isn't biblical. Now, you might ask, how do I figure out if the preaching and teaching is biblical or not? The first step to that would be read your Bible and compare everything that person is saying to what Scripture says. I encourage that here. I want you to check everything that Josh and I ever say up here with Scripture. Likewise, of course, that's a little difficult, so what you might want to do instead is, you know, we're a Reformed Baptist Church, we use the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith as our doctrinal statement. Pick up a copy of that, look through it, read through it. If anything contradicts that, it's not biblical. Not saying that the 1689 is inspired text, but saying that it is a very accurate understanding or summary of what the text actually says. So if it contradicts that, it's probably not biblical either. Don't settle for anything less than biblical preaching and teaching. And this text that we're reading in Titus tells us why we can't. It is through right teaching that people believe in Jesus Christ. It is through right teaching that people repent. It is through right teaching that people mature in their faith through the work of the Holy Spirit. So you can only imagine what wrong teaching does. Don't allow emotion or a willingness to overlook falsities because some of what a person might say is true. cause you to settle for something that is less than biblical preaching and teaching. The reality is that bad theology hurts people. Bad ideology hurts people. It might hurt you. Or it might hurt someone else. But it will hurt someone. You need to firmly accept only biblical teaching and preaching. And you need to reject everything else. and that applies to the teacher as well. Second, allow the Bible and its teaching to train you in godliness. You can read the Bible every day. You can listen to it every hour. You can hear good preaching and teaching here and elsewhere, and you can read books on theology, but unless you actually allow the Holy Spirit to work within you to change you, you're just learning information, and it's not gonna do you any good. I've often pointed out that some of the most intellectually knowledgeable people about scripture, like some that are teaching in Ivy League divinity schools, don't believe in Jesus at all, but they know the Word of God really, really well. You don't want to be like that. You actually want the Word of God to influence you and change you and work within you. Likewise, even as a Christian, You need to allow the Spirit to use the words of God to dig into your heart and to change your heart and to change your mind. You can have knowledge but not actually grow. And the reality is that true Christian sanctification or growth works like this. You're taught sound things. Your mind is engaged and transformed. And as your mind is engaged and transformed, the affections of your heart begin to shift. Your desires start to change. And as your desires start to change and you start desiring God more than earthly desires, it results in a change of behavior. You start doing things differently. You start serving other people. So if this isn't the pattern of growth in your life, there's something wrong. Something's not quite right. If you're hearing good teaching, reading good books, studying theology and digging into scripture, but your mind actually isn't being transformed, your affections aren't being changed, your actions aren't zealous for good works, you really need to check your heart. Something's not right. You might not even know Jesus if you're not growing. And if this is your case, you really need to repent, and you need to come to know Jesus. If you are hearing good teaching, reading good books, and you're doing these things, and your mind is being transformed, but your affections aren't changing, something's not right. And you need to check your heart. and you need to repent, and you need to figure out why you're not actually desiring God more. Usually it's because you're desiring sin more than God, but that's a different discussion. If you're hearing good teaching and you are thinking that your mind is transformed and your heart's desires are changing, but it's not resulting in any action, something's not quite right. And you need to check your heart. and you need to repent. You need to allow sound doctrine, true teaching, to train you in godliness through the power of the Holy Spirit. It's not something that you can do in and of yourself. It is something that the Holy Spirit does as you learn true things. Lastly, you need to apply what the Bible teaches within the local church context. Paul's letter to Titus emphasizes that true doctrine, right teaching, will influence the church itself. Or in other words, if you are a Christian and you are growing by applying right teaching in your life, it will result in a church that reflects Titus 2. A church in which we are all working together to all mature together and grow together. It will be a church in which older men are helping younger men, older women are helping younger women, in which we're all serving together to bring about the spread of the gospel, to bring about the mission. It will bring about a church in which we are seeking to grow together. But it's only when you allow the Holy Spirit to work within your hearts and your minds to mature you in your faith through right teaching that this happens at all. And if you're not working in this direction, you really have to check your heart and ask, why not? Why isn't this happening in my life? It could be that you don't know Jesus yet and you need to meet Jesus and you need to repent and you need to believe. It could be that you're holding on to sin in your life and you're refusing to repent from that sin. It could be that you have a faulty view of what the church actually exists for. You might think it's a country club. Let me be abundantly clear. This is not what a country club looks like. because this isn't a country club. And in all these cases, you need to repent. And you need to cry out to Jesus for help. You need to be applying the Bible's teachings within the local church context so that we become a church like what Paul tells Titus the church is supposed to be. I'd like to close with a quote. This is from Scott Swain from Ligonier Ministries. He has this excellent quote. It's a little long, so bear with me. He says this. Doctrine promotes a number of ends. Sound doctrine delivers us from the snare of false teaching, which otherwise threatens to arrest spiritual development and to foster church discord. Doctrine serves God's saving work both inside and outside the church. Above all, doctrine promotes God's glory. Doctrine shines forth as one of the glorious rays of the gospel of God. And by directing our faith and love toward God in Christ, it enables us to walk in his presence and give him the glory he deserves. God loves us and in his goodness he has given us the good gift of doctrine that we might learn of him and of his gospel and that we might please him in our walk. Doctrine is the teaching of our heavenly father revealed in Jesus Christ and transmitted to us by the Holy Spirit and Holy Scripture and it is to be received, confessed, and followed in the church to the glory of God's name. Titus 2 reminds us of the importance of sound doctrine. You shouldn't settle for anything less than what the Bible teaches and preaches because it directly influences whether or not you grow as a Christian. And it directly influences whether or not our church acts biblically or not. Don't settle for anything less from the elders of your church Don't settle for anything less from people you might listen to on the radio or on TV. Don't settle for anything less from any podcasts that you're listening to. Only accept what the Bible actually teaches and preaches. Let's pray together. Our gracious heavenly Father, again, we're thankful for you and for all that you've done for us. We are thankful that we have the opportunity to know you because of your word. And we are so thankful that you've given us everything that accords with sound doctrine in the words recorded to us in scripture. And I pray that we never settle for anything less than what you've given us. We never settle for anything less than what is biblical, anything less than what is truth. Father God, we love you. We pray this in Jesus name. Amen.