We're reading from 1 Timothy chapter 3. 1 Timothy chapter 3, that should come as no surprise to you as we continue to make our way to the important decision of elders within the congregation. And so we're taking really the month of September to deal with this. And there'll be a couple more messages to be preached. And so we're turning to 1 Timothy chapter 3. It is a short reading, and we're reading from the opening verse of this chapter. 1 Timothy chapter 3, verse number 1. This is a true saying. If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work. A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behavior, given to hospitality apt to teach, not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy liquor, but patient, not a brawler, not covetous, one that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity. For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God? not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride, he fall into the condemnation of the devil. Moreover, he must have a good report of them which are without, lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil. We end our reading at just the end of verse 7. Let's keep the Bible open. We need to see the Word of God before us open that we're preaching biblically here today. And so we encourage you to keep the Word. Let's pray and pray for God just to minister through His Word to our hearts. Our loving Father, We come again to handle Thy Word. We want to handle it properly. We want to handle it by the help of Thy Holy Spirit. We want to, O God, not only to preach in the Spirit, we want to hear in the Spirit. We need, O God, Thy Spirit to bring illumination to our hearts, take away, O God, maybe some false misconception that we may have. O God, bring us into line with the rule the rule, the only rule of faith and practice, the word of the living God. So come and meet with our souls, we pray. Assist us to proclaim. Send thy spirit, we pray. Give us an alertness, we ask. And grant, O God, all drowsiness and sleepiness to be removed. and help our hearts to be fully engaged, even in this part of the service, for we pray this, our prayer, in and through Jesus' precious and worthy name. Amen, and amen. Well, having already laid the biblical foundation over the last two weeks, when it comes to the office of eldership in both the Old and the New Testaments, we now come to consider the biblical requirements Those requirements set forth in God's Word with respect to the individual, the man who is to be placed in the important office of eldership within Christ's church by the membership of the local church. When the apostle Paul wrote to both Timothy and Titus, young men whom he had saw come to faith in Christ, young men who then saw them mature in their faith and then brought into the pastoral ministry, Paul gives them instruction concerning the kind of man that was best suited to occupy the office of eldership. This Paul does in 1 Timothy chapter number 3 and also Titus and the chapter number 1. Passages of scripture that I have already commended to your prayerful consideration in the lead up to the Communicant membership meeting to be held on the 11th of October in the will of God. Now before we get in to the meat of the message, we want to say something about the introductory remark that the Apostle Paul makes here to Timothy in 1 Timothy chapter 3 and the verse number 1. I want you to notice that Paul says that this is a true saying. This is something to be accepted as the truth. If a man desired the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work. Now I've already mentioned, I'm not going to rehearse it again, this term bishop. is synonymous with the term elder we have already noticed that we've seen it biblically we drew you back to Acts chapter 20 the verse number 28 the same word Bishop is overseer overseer is mentioned in Acts 20 verse 28 Paul is addressing the elders who are the overseer so we believe that this term Bishop is a synonymous term a term that's just the same as as elder, and Paul is speaking here, and he's speaking to the teaching elder and to the ruling elder. We thought about that last Lord's Day, the division within the eldership. There is a teaching elder and there is the ruling elder, but this is to both teaching and to the ruling elder. Now there are a number of things that I want you to notice from this introductory remark, and we'll mention them briefly. I want you to notice first of all that the inspired pen, man, is very clear. He's very clear concerning the gender of an elder. He is to be male. Paul speaks of a man in the verse number one. And then to emphasize or to reemphasize that an elder is to be a man, in case some people think that he is not to be a man, or the elder is not to be a man, Paul uses then the personal pronoun he, again in the verse number one. If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work. Now how some churches have woman elders and woman preachers is beyond me in light of this very clear statement that we have in 1 Timothy and the chapter number 3. We believe that an individual, the man who is to occupy both the pulpit and a position within a church session is to be of a male gender, born a male. Born a meal. We have to say that nowadays in our Government and Morals Committee. We're drawing up an ethical code with respect to our denomination. And we literally have to now place that within our code with respect to an individual that is born a meal. Because we now have this movement, this transgender movement, and we certainly don't want to leave ourselves exposed when it comes to maybe legal things, an individual that comes into a church and they have changed from being a female into a male. We believe that an individual that is born male is to occupy the office of eldership. And so those churches that have women elders and women preachers are not biblical. They are not following biblical principles. And that's clear. Clear from the teaching of Scripture. The individual is to be a meal. And so if you belong to such a place and to such a church, get out. Get out and be separate. Belong to a church that, by the grace of God, attempts to align their government and the offices of the church with those of whom they are supposed to occupy the offices of the church with. The second thing that I want you to notice is that Paul speaks about eldership as being a good work, a good work. If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work. It is work. Eldership involves work. And since it does involve work, this office is not then to be filled by an individual who has not proven themselves to be a worker in the church of Jesus Christ. It is not to be filled by someone who just wants to be seen. It's not to be filled by someone who craves the limelight or who desires just to be called an elder within the church of Jesus Christ. There is work that is involved in being an elder, and can I say that it is a difficult work at times? I want to also say that it is a stressful work at times. Can I also say that it is an important work at all times? It is a thankless work many times, but it is a most rewarding work. But it is a work. The third thing I want you to notice from Paul's word is that although Paul does not describe the work of an elder as an easy work or as a hassle-free work, he does call it a good work, a good work. You know, you would think that that is not the case by how some Christians speak about eldership. Oh, I don't want to be an elder. I would want to be in that position within the church of Jesus Christ. All the hassle and all the things that goes with it, that may be the case, but the inspired writer said, this is a good work. Can I say that it is a work of greatest importance and it is designed for the greatest of good within the church? In the eyes of God, the office of an elder is an honorable office for any man to hold. Because it is such an honorable office to hold, Paul goes then on to speak about the man who is to be placed in such an honorable position within the church of Jesus Christ. It is a good work. a good work. Now today we want to confine our study simply to 1 Timothy chapter 3 and what we have before us want to look at or commence by looking at the characteristics, what God, what God expects, what God expects of a man who is to be made an overseer of the flock of God. Now, there is a threefold division of the verses that we have just read together. Verse number one, we can set that aside. It is an introductory remark. Paul is leading us into this this thought, this office of eldership, this office of a bishop, but then he subdivides the requirements into three. Notice the verse 2, 3, and 6. Paul deals with the personal character of the man. And then in verse number 4 and 5, Paul, as it were, he casts the net out a little further, and he then speaks about a man's home life. and how he operates within the confines of his home. And then he casts out Lynette a little further, and he speaks about a man's testimony within the community at large in the verse number seven. So he begins with the man, he goes a little further into the home, and then he eventually goes out into the community at large. There is a threefold division. Now we're only going to get to look at the first division, and we're not even going to get the first division finished today, so don't be panicking. about these different verses. We'll get there eventually in the will of God. I trust next week it'll bring that to a conclusion, and then I want to bring a concluding message with respect to the role of the elder, but that's as the Lord leads at this time. And so we want to begin today by looking at the elder's personal character. As I stated last Lord's Day, and I want to emphasize it, the office of eldership rises and falls on the character of those men who occupy that office. The eldership within a church is only as good as the men who hold the office. And that's why we were emphasizing on Wednesday night, we need men who believe in the old paths because there are times when men get into office and they desire to go another way. and they cause turmoil within the church of Jesus Christ. They have their own thinking, they have their own plans, but it's certainly not biblically based. And so that's why we're emphasizing that this office is only as good as the men that you, as a congregation, will elect into the church of Jesus Christ. Now listed, as we have said, in the verses 2, 3, and 6 are a number of qualities that a man is to possess. And we want to just look at these as they come to us within the Word of God. Notice, first of all, that the man is to be blameless. Verse 2, a bishop then must be Blameless. This term blameless might suggest in your mind that the potential elder is to be sinless or to be perfect. Now, if that were the case, there would be no man, preacher included, that would be eligible to stand for election. There was only ever one perfectly sinless man who lived on this earth, and that was the Lord Jesus Christ. And so it obviously cannot mean that a man is sinlessly perfect. This thought, blameless, or this term blameless, this term blameless means one who is above reproach. One who is above reproach. Now as a metaphor, it is taken from the wrestling or from the boxing ring. And if you might be interested in wrestling or boxing, I don't know. But it really refers to the individual that leaves no part of his body exposed to the attack of the adversary. We would say it's someone who has always his guard up. keeps the guard up. That's the metaphor that we have in this word blameless. An individual who leaves no part of the body exposed to the attack of the enemy. An individual who has his guard up. I suppose that looks a little daunting, me going like this here. No one take a photograph of me doing like that in the pulpit or I could get into trouble. But that's the sense of it. That's the picture that Paul has here, inspired by the Holy Spirit. It's a man who's above reproach, who's kept the guard up. with respect to sin, with respect to the inroads of worldliness into his home and into his life and into his family. This is the thought, an individual who's always on the guard, as it were. Now the tense of the word here, blameless, is the present tense. So that means that the individual, he must be in a present state of blamelessness. Doesn't mean that the man has never committed a sin in his life. Of course he has. Before we came to Christ, we were sinners. Things that we did that we, well, we regret. We have remorse over. Doesn't mean that there was something in the past that the man hasn't done wrong, but what it means is that he is presently blameless, a man who is above reproach. You see, the man who desires to be elected into the eldership of the church must be a man against whom no charge of immorality or the holding of false doctrine is alleged. He should be a man of irreproachable character, an honest man, a truthful man, a man of chastity, a man of uprightness, We would say a man whose life is becoming the gospel of God, one who is not carnal, one who is not worldly minded, but one who is spiritual, deeply spiritual. He is to be a man to whom no scandal is to be attached to, whether that is public scandal or whether that is private scandal. Now over the period of time I'm going to throw in little snippets to you with respect to the rulings of Presbytery. And this is one ruling of Presbytery. Such is the seriousness of this matter of scandal. And if a serving elder, a man who enters the office and then scandal is attached to that individual, if they are involved in such scandal or a charge of serious criminal or moral accusation is brought against that individual, presbytery has ruled that the elder is suspended from his privileges and from the exercise of his office until the case has been ruled upon, until of the disposition of the case. An individual that is involved in scandal, and this includes the preacher, if there is scandal attached, that individual must step down until the matter is resolved. Such is the seriousness of scandal. I believe this qualification, due to its inspired positioning both within 1 Timothy 3 and Titus chapter 1, you'll find it on both occasions. It is this characteristic, this quality of blamelessness, it stands at the head of the very least, and I believe therefore that the Spirit of God is teaching us something here. This is the key quality that is required. Everything is subsistent to it. Everything else is supportive of this. But a man initially must be blameless. An elder is a man who cannot be accused of immorality. He must be above reproach. in his personal life, in his marital life, in his social life, in his family life, in his business life, and in his spiritual life. And the reason why is because such a man will mean that the testimony of Christ and his church will be preserved within this community and within the nation. But elect a man who is not blameless, elect a man who has a question mark over his character, over his conduct, then the testimony of Christ and his church will be tarnished and will be damaged by such a man within its eldership. Therefore, it is necessary, it is necessary that a blameless man, a man that is above reproach, is elected to serve the Lord in the days ahead. Now the question is, are you such a man? And if you're not, Repent. Come back to Christ. Return, if you're not such a man. Do you by the grace of God try to live a life that is above reproach? Now, you do not claim to be sinlessly perfect, but have you, like the Apostle Paul, have you a conscience void of offense, first of all, toward God? Because that's where our relationships begin and end. a relationship with God, but also toward men, toward our fellow men. You see, notice what it says here, verse number two, a bishop then must. This is not optional. This is an absolute necessity. You need to be a man that's blameless, above reproach, because not to be such a man is to bring shame and disgrace upon the testimony of Jesus Christ. And so he is to be blameless. Notice the second requirement, the man who desires the office of an elder, they must be the husband of one wife. Now here it is again. By inference, we see this thought again about the gender of the elder. We have it in the background, this thought, the husband of one wife. We find this thought, this elder, he must be a man. It does not say that the elder is to be the wife of one husband, but the other way, he is to be the husband of one wife. Now that, I do not believe, I do not believe that this requirement means or implies that a single man cannot serve as an elder, but I do believe it implies that if a man is married, then he is to be a one-woman man. He is to be a one-woman man. An elder is to be a man who is utterly and single-mindedly attached and affiliated with his own wife and only his wife. The elder is to be a one-woman man. Now this statement, the husband of one wife, has been debated and discussed down through church history. Reverend Alfred Plumard said concerning the statement that it will probably never cease to be discussed, and that is most certainly the case. But as a phrase, it does at least two things. First of all, it excludes the practice of polygamy. What is polygamy? Well, polygamy is the practice of being married to more than one individual at the same time. During the days when Paul wrote this letter to Timothy, it was not uncommon for an individual to be married to more than one wife, a man to be married to more than one wife. And therefore, this would have been naturally understood by those who would have read Paul's epistles to both Timothy and to Titus. And can I say, brethren and sisters, this is what makes it difficult whenever our missionaries go to places like Africa and to Uganda. They're men and they're married to more than one wife. But, brethren, sisters, this is universal. This declaration, it isn't that, well, if it's culturally acceptable that the man is to be the husband of one wife, but, well, if it's practiced, if this culture is practiced, well, we just try and get around it in some certain way. No, not so. And so we pray for the millers, we pray that there will be men raised up who will have devotion to one wife and to one wife only, thereby they are then able to be made deacons and elders, because this is the same qualification for a deacon. They are to be the husband of one wife. And so we can pray for them as we consider these things. But elders, if they are to be married, as I've said, are to be married to only one woman. But it also not only excludes the practice of polygamy, it encourages the practice of fidelity. An elder is to be a man that is faithful to his wife. In other words, he is not to be a womanizer. He's not to be an adulterer. Dr. Alan Cairns, he said this, there must be absolutely no breath of moral sexual scandal against the character of a man in public office. And if there is, then let him go. He is not to be elected to that office. Any man who has a question mark over him morally must never be elected to the offices of the church. Dr. John Gill, I believe Spurgeon's predecessor, remarked, this rule excludes all such persons from being elders or pastors or overseers of churches that were polygamous, who had more wives than one at a time, or had divorced their wives, and not for adultery, and had married others. of one life. That's what the scripture says. Now, brethren and sisters, if you think about that, I see Christ's likeness in this. You may say, well, where do you see Christ's likeness, preacher? Well, Christ loved his church. We're told that in Ephesians chapter 5 verse 25, his church is also termed his bride. And he loves his bride exclusively. Having loved his own, he loved them on to the end. That's what scripture says. There is an exclusive love, a covenant love that God has with his church. And therefore, if the head of the church, Christ being the head of the bride, Christ being the head of the body, if Christ exclusively loves his church, then I believe those who care for the bride, for the church of Christ, is to be also an individual who exclusively loves his earthly bride. Because if a man does not exclusively love his earthly bride, how is he going then to love the bride of Christ and to rule the bride of Christ. No, there is this thought of fidelity within a marriage that is essential for a man to hold the office of an elder. And so if you're married, are you faithful to your wife? Are you faithful to your wife? Or are you communicating with another who is not your wife? God searches the heart. God tries the reign. You see, you vowed before God to forsake all others. And have you been earnestly endeavoring to keep that vow? You promised to forsake all others and to be faithful to your wife. And you said that you would do that as long as you both shall live. And you took those vows before God. No, the individual who is to be an elder is to be the husband of one wife. In the third place, the man who desires the office of an elder must be vigilant. Notice it there, the husband, the blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant. The word translates to mean temperate, circumspect, watchful. This quality highlights for us that an elder should exercise, first of all, a watchful care over his own life. He exercises care over his conduct and his conversation within the church and also outside the church. Therefore, he is to be a man who is on his guard against the encroachment of sin and worldliness in all of its subtle forms. Yes, the sin of pride, the sin of covetousness, the sin of hatred, bitterness. The man's to be vigilant, to be on the guards. Not only is he to be vigilant with respect to his own life, but then he is to be vigilant when it comes to the watching of the souls of men and women. He's to be watchful within the church. He's to watch whenever people start to stray. He's to be watchful whenever the seat that they once occupied isn't occupied as regularly as it was. He's to be watchful when standards begin to slip. He's to be watchful when heresy tries to find its way into the preaching ministry of the pastor. He's to watch for that. is to be watched when the spiritual state of church members becomes concerning. He is to be ever watchful. He is to be ever on the lookout, and such watchfulness requires and requires an alertness on the part of the elder. He is to be a man of unclouded unimpaired judgment. He is to be a man that is marked by temperance, temperance in everything that would hinder his judgment on critical matters. Now, this vigilance, this watchfulness is essential when you think about the words that we read in the book of Hebrews. Turn in the book of Hebrews, just one verse. We're coming back again, Hebrews chapter 13 and the verse 17. You need to see it. You need to look it up. In your Bible, trust you have a Bible with you, Hebrews 13 verse 17, there we read about the elders, we read about their ruling over the house of God. Verse 17, Paul, believed to be the writer here, writing to the Hebrew Christians, he says, obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves for they, what's the next word, they watch. They watch for your souls. They're not watching how well you're doing in business. They're not watching what kind of house you're building. They're not watching what kind of car you drive. They're watching for your soul. They're watching for your soul. Because the soul is the most important thing. And they're watching for their soul, why? As they that must give account. Who to? Not to the presbytery. Although sometimes that is the case. But to God Almighty, we're coming to think of that. The role that an elder will play, the great burden that it is, they must give an account that they may do it. How do they want to do it? How does this preacher want to speak about you on the day of judgment? How does he want to speak about you? Does he want to barrel you down? No, he wants to do it with joy. He wants to do it with joy and not with grief, for that is unprofitable for you. You see, the one who rules over the house of God, the overseers, they are to watch for the souls of the saints. And if you're to watch, therefore, you're going to have to be watchful. It's only logical, you're going to have to be vigilant. And so, brethren and sisters, whenever I drive up to your home, Whenever I drive up to your home to speak to you about your absenteeism in God's house, whenever I drive up to your home to speak to you about your non-attendance at the Lord's Supper, whenever I pick up the telephone and ask, is everything okay with you spiritually speaking? I'm only doing what God has entrusted me with. Now, you may come off the telephone and you may shut the door after my visit, and you may say, preacher, or you may say to yourself, I wish Reverend Stewart would mind his own business. Brethren and sisters, that's what I'm doing. I'm minding my business. You know, the challenge has come to me in recent days, Ezekiel chapter 34. It speaks about the shepherds in Israel. And those shepherds in Israel, do you know what they let the sheep do? They let them go. And they never searched for them, never went after them. Do you think it's easy to come into your home and speak about such things? Do you think it's easy? I go in fear and trepidation every time, but I'm watching for your soul. I'm watching for your soul. And can I say, and as I speak from this pulpit, I want to say to people in this meeting, there's been a slippage. There's been a slippage in your Christian life. And really, the end product is your non-attendance at the house of God. That's only an end product. That's just the end result. Much further down the road, there's been slippage. And I would encourage you to come back in tenderness, as much as the tenderness that God gives me, to return, because I'm watching for your soul. I'm watching for your soul. And if an elder speaks to you, they're only doing what God has given them to do. They're watching it for you. He is to be sober. The word in the original means to be of a sound mind, sane in one's senses. It can also mean to curb one's desire and impulses, to be self-controlled, to be temperate, to be moderate as to passion. An elder is then to be a man who is of a sound mind, has his desire, his passions well regulated. How do we regulate? How are our passions and our desires? How are they regulated? By the infilling of the Spirit of God. That's how they're ruled. And so an elder is not to be a man who flies off the handle. An elder is not to be a man who storms out of meetings because he disagrees with another brother's opinion. He's not an individual who stands in a session meeting or in a committee meeting and shouts down other people. But he's one who's to be under self-control. He's to have his emotions, his passions brought under subjection. One ancient writer said, the man who is sober does not have the reputation of a clown. Doesn't have the reputation of a clown. He's a serious man. A serious man. That does not mean that a man is to have no humor. Believe me, you'll need humor when you work with me and you work in the church of Jesus Christ, but it does mean that there is to be a seriousness, a seriousness of how he lives in this world. Now, I've been speaking to men here, but brethren, sisters, you're not running for office. Some of you are too young, some of you are ladies, Some of you don't believe that that's what the Lord would have you to do. But regardless, we are to be blameless. We are to be vigilant. We are to be sober. These are to be evident within the believer's life. Whether or not they stand for office, this is what God would have us to be. Notice in the fifth place, he must be of good behavior. That will be the case when a man is sober-minded, his life will be marked by good behavior. Whereas the word sober refers to the inward life, this thought, good behavior, it speaks of the outward life. Now, the phrase good behavior is one word in the original Greek. It is the word kosmos, translates literally to mean orderly, orderly. There is to be an order, order in the sense that a man's affairs within his own life and within his own home is conducted in an orderly, methodical, well-arranged way, just the same way as God made the cosmos, the universe, that's the same word, the original root word, the same way as God arranged, the same order that we find in the universe is to be within the life of the believer. Now, we have read that already. Remember my introductory remarks, very first message brought from there in 1 Corinthians chapter 40, 14 verse 40, that all things within the church, how are they to be done? They're to be done decently and in order. God is not the author of confusion. Remember I showed you what that word confusion is, disorder. God is not the author confusion, everything within the church is to be done orderly, well that's only possible if the officers of the church are orderly within their personal lives and so frankly eldership is no place for the man whose life is in a continual confusion of unaccomplished plans and unorganized activities. Does your life have any order to it? Someone who is orderly, someone who orders your affairs, your finances, all of these things come into play, or are you a disorderly person? Are you an individual that says, everything will be all right? It'll not be. Order is required. How will you ever order the affairs of Christ's church if you can't order your own affairs? This phrase, good behavior, it also translates to mean modest. Let me quote Dr. Gill and quickly move on. Dr. Gill said, the elder is to be neat and decent in his apparel, modest in his whole deportment and conduct, and affable, that means friendly and courteous to all, beautiful in his life and conversation, being adorned with everything that is graceful and comely. Dr. Gill believed that even the appearance of a man and how he dresses, establishes whether there's order or not in that individual's life. In the sixth place, the man who desires the office of an elder must be given to hospitality. The word is fond of guests. That's how it's translated. It really means to love strangers. The thought is not that the man is to be hospitable to his friends. Sure, we're all friendly to our friends. That's not the thought here, but it is to be hospitable to those who are not friends, those who are strangers. You see, persecution and poverty due to disinheritance and orphans and widows. and traveling Christians made it necessary for those within the leadership of the New Testament church to be people who were hospitable within the past. Again, there is Christ-likeness. We were strangers. We were strangers to God and to grace. We were outside the commonwealth of Israel, and yet the God of heaven was given to hospitality. He loves strangers. We experienced his love, his provision, and because we have, we can say with Ruth. As she said to Boaz, remember a Gentile coming into the Jewish race. Ruth 2, verse 12, why have I found grace in thine eyes? Thou shouldest take knowledge of me, seeing I am a stranger. I was a stranger, and God in his love had love towards me, the stranger. And so when a man is an elder and he shows hospitality to a stranger within a congregation, he is showing Christlikeness. Christlikeness. His heart and his home is to be an open door to the stranger. He's apt to teach, number seven. Number seven, apt to teach. Oh, that means he needs to be a preacher. No, doesn't mean that. Doesn't mean that he has to be a preacher. You know, there are two ways that we can teach a person. You parents know this to be the case. You can teach a child by exhortation, by what you say, or you teach a child by way of example. Or we could say we teach a person by our lips, or we can teach a person by our lies. There are various ways by which we are apt to teach. What did Paul say to Timothy? Be thou an example. Teach the older believers. be an example. That's a way that whereby you can teach them. But all that I've said, there is a sense that an elder must be able to instruct those within the church. Such may happen from time to time, but more often it happens within the homes of the congregation. Conversations are had. The elder then is to be a man who knows the gospel, a man who knows the doctrines of the word of God. He's able to defend them against error when it arises inside and outside the church. This ability to teach is highlighted in Paul's word to the Ephesian elders there in Acts chapter 20, verse 28. What were they to do? They were to feed the church of God. And what do we feed them with? The word of God. manna, heavenly manna, the bread of life, the word of God. Let me ask you then, are you a man who reads and studies the scriptures? Let's bring it down practically. Would you be able to go into a home where a widow has just been bereft of her husband? And would you be able to go into that home and take down the scriptures and to point that dear lady to some portion of God's word that would comfort her? Would you be able to do that? Or would you be an individual, would you be able to go into a home that's in the midst of turmoil, and would you be able to take down your Bible and point them to a promise that will act as an anchor for their soul in the storm of life? Would you be a man that would be able to do that? Would you be a man that's able to sit beside a young person who's looking for direction in their lives, And would you be able to point them to principles within the Bible that will help them to make the right decision? You see, that's the kind of man he must be apt to teach in some manner within the church of Jesus Christ. So by the way you live, are you an example? He's not given to wine. I believe that total abstinence is the only safe approach when it comes to the consumption of alcohol today. Our presbytery has ruled that a man is not eligible to be elected as a ruling elder who does not practice total abstinence from the recreational, social, or non-medicinal use of drugs, and from the consumption of beverage and alcohol, both in public and in private. That's a very clear ruling. Wine is a mocker. Strong drink is raging. and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise. Is not wise. How can a man, look back, how can a man be sober? How can a man be of good behavior if he's under the influence of intoxicating wine? It doesn't stand up to sense. Would a man's judgment not be impaired when he comes to rule on matters of faith and practice within the body of Christ, if he's sitting within a session meeting, stinking of drink? And, brothers and sisters, it happens. It happens. It is a man not given to wine. As plain, as simple as I can be, and you may say, well, you've been plain and simple already throughout this message, but I say to you that you, you, you disqualify yourself from eldership if you are given to wine. You disqualify yourself. The ninth and final, a striker. He is not to be a striker. Not that he is to be a striker. He is not to be a striker. No striker, it says. Verse number three. He is to be a peaceable man, meek, gentle, just like Jesus Christ. Not someone who's going to come to blows with those whom God has put into their care. The idea here is the man is not to be quick-tempered. He's not a man that is to resort to physical violence. He is to be a man of a cool head. A cool head. But this word not only refers to physical violence, it also speaks about the tongue. The tongue. An elder's tongue is not to be a tongue that lashes out at his brethren. An elder's tongue and an elder's speech is to be always with grace. Always with grace. And if you're a man that cannot rule your own passion, if you're a man that cannot rule your own spirit, how are you going to rule the body of Christ? If you're rash with your words, if you're one whose temper rises quickly, over which you have no control, brethren or brother, it would do well for you just to withdraw from the election process. No striker, no striker. Time's away, and here we must end. But in the will of God, we'll return to this passage We'll then look at Titus, because Titus gives to us some other personal characteristics that are not found here. Many of them that we have thought about are found in Titus 1, but we'll be overlapping that, and then we'll move in, I trust, to the family, and then into his testimony at large. This is a large, large subject matter. I know that some men take only a couple of weeks to speak on this, but I'm not going to do that. I want to look at it systematically. I want to be faithful to what the scriptures teach, and I trust that God will challenge all of our hearts, and God will help us to be such people, because you may say, well, preacher, I don't come up to the standard. Well, then, brother, get to the standard. Get to the standard. That's a problem on your part. And on my part, we need to get to the standard. Instead of just saying, well, I don't have these things in my life, then there's something wrong. So may God help us, by his grace, in some degree, to have all of these things in our lives. And most of all, the preacher. Most of all, the preacher. how challenging this has been to my own heart. May God help us in the days ahead. Let's bow in prayer. We are beyond our time. I appreciate it. There is much to be said. May God challenge our hearts, our loving Father. We leave these matters in thy good hand. How far short we all feel. Lord, bring us to the standard. Help us to be so Christ-like in our dealings. Help us to be that individual that whenever there is one that goes astray, help us to treat that individual as we would want to be treated. Help us, Lord, not to go in gums blazing. Help us to be gentle and meek and loving Because as we read even this morning, with respect to counsel, it is always to be the minister and the elder's desire to bring the one back into the way, that they might walk with God and walk in fellowship with him. So help us, we pray, challenge our hearts, guide us by thy spirit. And O God, we pray that thou wilt give to thy church men to serve thee in this manner. For we pray these, our prayers, in and through Jesus' precious name. Amen and amen. Thank you.