The epistle of Titus

… Could we turn to the Epistle to Titus tonight? The Epistle to Titus, chapter 1, from verse 1. Paul, a servant of God and an Apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness, in hope of eternal life which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began, but hath in due times manifested his word through preaching, which is committed unto me according to the commandment of God our Saviour, to Titus, my own son, after the common faith, grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour. Verse 12, One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said, The Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, low bellies. This witness is true. Therefore, rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith. And from chapter 2, verse 1, But speak thou the things which become sound doctrine. That the aged men be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, in patience. The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given too much wine, teachers of good things. That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed. Young men likewise, exhort to be sober-minded, in all things showing thyself a pattern of good works, in doctrine showing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity, sound speech that cannot be condemned, that he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of you. Exhort servants to be obedient unto their own masters, and to please them well in all things, not answering again, not purloining, but showing all good fidelity, that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things. So far the word of God for tonight. The epistle to Titus is one of these so-called pastoral epistles Paul had written to his fellow workers Timothy and Titus. Sometimes I get the impression that the epistle to Titus is a bit in the shadow of the other two. We all know the epistles to Timothy well. We often study them in Bible readings or hear addresses about them, and rightly so, because they have some very important instructions for us, particularly in our days. But the epistle to Titus, a very short one, also contains some important instructions for the path of faith, and I have it on my heart on these two evenings to deal a little bit with this epistle to Titus. Paul is the writer of this epistle. He calls himself a servant of God, or a bondman of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ. He was a servant of God. He served the living God, and he was an apostle, which means a sent one, of his Lord Jesus Christ. And then he starts in this epistle with something which he does in nearly every chapter of this epistle, using some phrases in which he connects past, present, and future. He says that he is a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect. If we speak about election, our thoughts, our minds are drawn back to the past, before the foundation of the world, when our God and Father has elected us, those that are saved. And secondly, he says, the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness is the present, to acknowledge the truth that is after godliness. And thirdly, he speaks in hope of eternal life. This draws our thoughts to the future, our hope, the hope of eternal life. And eternal life will be completely and fully revealed in our lives in a future time. The truth which is after godliness. This phrase could be put as a kind of headline above the old epistle of Titus. That's what Titus is writing about, the truth which is after godliness. He wants to show us that the truth of the Word of God must find its expression in a life of practical godliness or piety. And these things, they always go together. If somebody is not bringing the truth, is not bringing the doctrine of Christ, we can be sure, sooner or later, we will realize that he is not living a life that is after godliness or piety, because he does not have the truth. And if somebody in his life is not showing such a life of godliness, we can be sure he doesn't hold the truth. Both things go together, the truth which is after godliness. And that is what Paul is putting before the mind of Titus in this epistle. Titus, we don't know too much about this man to whom this epistle is written, to Titus, my own son, after the common faith. Titus was, as Timothy and others, one of those that had got saved through the instrumentality of the apostle Paul. He calls him his own son or his own child, according to their common faith. There are some things between Timothy and Titus in which they are similar. Both were, in relation to Paul, relatively younger servants and fellow workers together with the apostle, whom he sent to different places in the work of the Lord, which he could do as an apostle. But there are also differences between these two men. Timothy, as we know, had a mother who was Jewish, and therefore Paul circumcised him to take away every stumbling block that there might have been in his ministry among the Jews. Nobody told him that he must do that, but he did it because of his background. But Titus was a pure Gentile from both sides, and the situation was completely different. Paul says something about this in Galatians, in chapter 2. In Galatians, chapter 2, Paul writes in verse 1, Then fourteen years after, I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, and took Titus with me also. And I went up by revelation, and communicated unto them that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but privately to them which were of reputation, lest by any means I should run or had run in vain. But neither Titus who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised, and that because of false brethren, unawares brought in, who came in privately to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage, to whom we gave place by subjection. No, not for an hour, that the truth of the gospel might continue with you. Titus was not asked that he had to be circumcised because he was a Gentile, and Paul by revelation had taken Titus with him to that place to make sure that as a Gentile he was not to be brought under the bondage of the law, which were some false teachers trying to do. Another difference between these two men, Timothy and Titus, seems to be that Timothy, which we can get out of the letters Paul writes to him, was a man of a more timid character. Paul writes to the Corinthians that when Timothy comes to them, he should be among them without fear. Titus seems to be just the opposite, because when Titus came to Corinth, the Corinthians were in fear of his arrival. He seems to have been a man with some authority, a different character from Timothy. What we know about him, we do not know about the book of Acts, where he does not appear, but only from Paul's epistles, and he writes quite a good deal about this young man in his second epistle to the Corinthians, and I would like to turn to these passages. In 2 Corinthians 2, we find the first one, 2 Corinthians 2, verse 13, ìI had no rest in my spirit, because I found not Titus my brother.î ìBecause I found not Titus my brother.î A wonderful expression he has for this man, ìTitus my brother.î He had sent him to Corinth, and he was waiting for him to get a report, how things were going on there. He had no rest in the place where he was, ìBecause I found not Titus my brother.î In chapter 7 of 2 Corinthians, he mentions him again in verse 6, ìNevertheless, God that comforteth those that are cast down, comforted us by the coming of Titus.î Paul was really in a situation, if you read the whole chapter, he was in a situation where he was cast down, but he says, ìThere is a God that comforteth those that are cast down.î He thought about him, and he sent him Titus, and the arrival of Titus, the coming of Titus, was a comfort to the apostle Paul. There we see how much he valued this fellow worker. When Titus arrived, it was a comfort for the apostle in his difficult situations. How wonderful it would be if we, particularly the younger ones, would be a comfort for the older ones when we come to them in some difficult situation, and they feel to be comforted, because just we come to them, ìTitus came, and Paul was comforted.î In the same chapter, it says in verse 13, 2 Corinthians 7 verse 13, ìTherefore, we were comforted in your comfort year, and exceedingly, the more joyed we for the joy of Titus, because his spirit was refreshed by you all.î Titus was a man that really had joy in his heart when he saw that the people of God were going in the right way. He had been among the Corinthians, he had seen some fruit of his labor, of the correction Paul had written to them in his first epistle, and so it was joy in Titus, and this joy he could give over to Paul, who also took some of his joy, he was refreshed in his spirit through this report Titus brought to him. And in the same chapter, it says in verse 15, ìAnd his inward affection is more abundant toward you.î His inward affection. Donít we see a bit of the Lord Jesus in this man Titus, of whom we read that he had compassion for the multitudes. He was moved with compassion, ìTitus had inward affections for the saints toward you.î And we find him again mentioned in chapter 8, in verse 6, ìInasmuch that we desired Titus as he had begun, so he would also finish in you the same grace also.î Titus had begun a work among the Corinthians, in this context it was a work of gathering money for the poor in Jerusalem, and he also wanted to finish this work. Titus was a man who really with patience worked among the saints. He did not only begin something and then thatís it. How often do we find Christians just beginning some kind of work but never finishing it. He wanted to finish the work he had begun. Verse 16, ìBut thanks be to God which put the same earnest care into the heart of Titus for you.î He was a man that had earnest care for the saints. He really had a shepherd heart and doing kind of shepherd service among the saints. And in verse 23, ìWhether any do inquire of Titus, he is my partner and fellow helper concerning you.î Paul calls Titus his partner and fellow helper, his companion and fellow laborer. What a wonderful expression that Paul could call Titus this way, his partner and fellow laborer. A man with whom he could work together. That is a feature of the New Testament by the way. You will not find very often that the workers are simply called workers. Only one verse I know about. Normally itís a negative word, there is evil workers and so on. But the term you usually find in the New Testament is fellow worker because they are working together in the work of the Lord. Not everybody doing his own kind of thing but working together as Titus worked with Paul. And the last mention in this 2 Corinthians is chapter 12, verse 18, ìI desired Titus and with him I sent a brother. Did Titus make a gain of you? Walked we not in the same spirit? Walked we not in the same steps?î He could give Titus the testimony that he and Titus and this other brother, whose name we do not know, they were walking in the same steps, in the same spirit, they were of one mind. That is the man to whom Paul is writing this epistle. And it seems that Paul sent Titus particularly to places where there were problems. He sent him to Corinth, we know how problematic the case was in Corinth. He sent him to, or left him here in Crete, very problematic place. Letís speak something about the faithfulness of this man. Typically when things are getting difficult in situations, and the question is who is going there to talk and to look into the matter, there will not be very many people volunteering for such kind of job. But Titus was there when Paul wanted to send him and he went with the same mind as Paul. He went to this place of Crete. And we have read these two verses in verse 12 and 13, which one of their own writers, whom Paul calls a prophet, had written. Epimenides had written this passage in which he calls his own countrymen always liars, evil beasts, slow bellies, and Paul says the witness is true. There are certain national characteristics in every country. This may be neutral as long as we put them under the guidance of the Spirit. But there may be some, as here, which are absolutely ungodly. And then of course, Paul says, he had to rebuke the sins that there may be sound in the face that these things might not be found among them. If somebody is saved, there is a complete change of his life. He couldn't say, well, I'm one of these Christians and we are those people. I have to lie, I have to go on lying because that's how we are. No, Paul says, you got a new nature, you got saved, your life has changed. These people were characterized as liars. There is a Greek word, kretizo, which is derived from Christian and it means to lie, to speak as the Christians do, to lie. That's what they did, evil beasts, wild beasts, speaks of their wild nature and slow bellies that speaks of their self-indulgence by which they were characterized. And it's interesting that these three features are also found among the evil teachers, among them which were mentioned before in verse 10 and 11. If it says that they were liars, it says of these people, they were vain talkers and deceivers. They lied, telling not the truth. If it says that the people were evil beasts, it speaks of these teachers, they were unruly, were subverting whole houses. There we see the wild nature of these people. And if they were slow bellies, then it says about these men that they were doing their work for filthy lucre's sake, self-indulgence. The false teachers were characterized by these things, but Paul says, not you Christians, you should be different. And therefore, he tells him now in this difficult situation in which he was in, how he should behave. But speak thou the things which become sound doctrine. The word sound appears more than once in this chapter. He speaks about sound doctrine. In verse 2 he speaks about sound in faith, in charity, in patience. In verse 8, sound in speech. So it seems obviously to be an important word, sound. The Greek word that is translated sound is a word from which in our languages words like hygiene or hygienic are derived. It means literally healthful, healthy. Sound doctrine, that which is right and healthy, not mixed with anything of error, with anything wrong. It is sound. Sound doctrine means also balanced, the whole doctrine of the Word of God. We may, for example, take one truth of the Word of God, emphasize it and forget all the rest of it. It may be true what we say, but it's not sound doctrine. Sound doctrine is the whole of the Word of God, not taking only one thing and forgetting the rest of it. But everything that God says in its place, as he put it, that is sound doctrine, from which we should not deviate, but speak thou the things which become sound doctrine. And now he deals with all the different classes that were in the assembly there. And if truth is after godliness, then everything is at its place. And so it's quite interesting if you note the details and fine points in this chapter. It does not say that Titus should exhort the aged man. He should exhort the young ones, that's told to him later, his own age group, so to say. He should simply say what was sound doctrine. He should teach sound doctrine. And then the aged man would know what the Word of God was saying to them. He was not going to exhort them. It would be unbecoming for him as a younger one to exhort aged men. If there may be the exceptional case where it has to be, then Paul says to Timothy he should do it as a father, as if he were speaking to his own father. But here to Titus he only says, teach these things. He was not going. The same is said about the aged woman. The young women should be taught, but not by Titus, but by the older women, and the young man, that was his own job. We will see this. And so he said that the aged men be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity and patience. They should be sober. This word literally translated means not drunk, but it has a general application of freedom from any form of excitability, not getting excited, but to be sober, grave, temperate. Here we see this situation of the sacred dignity that characterizes these older men in the assembly. They had an authority, an influence over the others, not because they were appointed for some place of authority, but because they had this moral authority in their lives, which was seen in their lives, this dignity and gravity. They were sound in faith, in love, in patience, in these three things of the Christian way, faith, love, and hope. They had to be sound in these things. They were realizing, perhaps, their limitations with coming age, but nevertheless, there should be this dignity, which everybody could see and which had an influence on others. How grateful, how thankful we should be to the Lord when in the different local places where we are, God still has left some of those older brothers with these characteristics who have an influence on the younger ones, showing them the way they should go with their own example. Of course, these things have to develop. You could not say, well, I'm young, I'm not old, I can wait. When I get old, then I will try to exemplify these things in my life. It doesn't work like that. You have to develop them in your own life. Time flies quite quickly, as you know. When I started ministering among the saints, I considered myself a younger brother, which I was, and time flies, and sometime when you are approaching 50, you realize you are not anymore one of the younger brothers. There are others on whom you have an influence, this way or the other, and then the Lord takes home those among the company, the old ones, and the responsibility on your shoulders is growing, and you realize what the Lord wants you to do. And so the question is, have these things developed in our lives when we are growing up? Do we desire that these things may be found among us, that when the Lord does not come and we get into this age group, these characteristics of dignity may be found in our life? We will see in a minute that the younger brothers had also to be characterized by certain of these features. Then Titus should teach also the sound doctrine that the aged women likewise, that they be in behavior as becometh holiness. There is also a kind of behavior in everything, in conduct, in speech, in dress, in whatever it might be, a behavior that becometh holiness. They should realize that they are holy women and that should be seen in their lives. They should behave themselves in such a dignified manner. This would be an influence on the younger ones as well, not for the accusers. The Greek word that's used here is the word diabolos, which is translated about 34 times in the New Testament with devil or Satan. False accuser is the work of the devil. We shouldn't help him in that kind of work, accusing others with negative things. This should not be the character of the older sisters in the meeting that they were false accusers, not given too much wine, any outward excitement, but instead of that, they should be teachers of good things. Of course, this does not mean that they should teach publicly in the meetings. We know from other things that Paul says that he does not allow a woman to teach, but the word that is used here is also in the Greek a different word from the other word for teach. It means instruct in a practical way, because everything that follows is not doctrine, but very practical things, and they should instruct and help and teach the younger sisters how they should behave in a way that would be right and good for them, so that the Lord might be glorified in their lives, that they may teach the young women to be sober. This word is similar to the word sound found nearly in all groups mentioned here. This freedom of excitement, which is from the flesh, it's nothing spiritual. There should be this soberness among them, to love their husbands, the only place in the New Testament where women are exhorted to love their husbands. The other way around, we find this exhortation more often. Men are exhorted several times to love their wives, because obviously that's what we need to be taught, but there's only this one place where women are taught to love their husbands, and it's particularly young women, to love their husbands, to love their children. I think that what Paul wants to say is also that the order in which he puts it is the spiritual order of things. The first place in the life of a wife is the husband, even if there are children. She should love her husband, love the children, of course, something which in the world is losing. Even natural love, says Paul to Timothy, will be gone in the last days, but what these older sisters should teach the younger ones, that the place of affection in their hearts should be their husbands and their children. They should love them, they should be discreet, chaste, or pure in the widest sense, in everything, and keepers at home, or as it says, diligent in home work, they should be occupied with the keeping of the home, things that have no great place and value in this world anymore. When my daughters came home from school, there was not much time for me to say anything, because they just started talking and talking about everything that had happened over the day, and it's all right, it's good that they could talk about these things, you could help them, you could exchange their experiences. But in our neighborhood, there was a boy, when he came home, he sat on the doorsteps because nobody was at home, he didn't talk to anybody because there was nobody to talk to, and surely, sometime he will not talk anymore, and suddenly the parents will realize that developments have taken place they never had taken notice of, because he never spoke to them about anything. So we see here is the place of the woman in the home, making the house a home, a place for husband and children to retire to, and to be the place of rest and peace, in a world where they all have different forms of opposition and difficulties to deal with, there's the Christian home where these young sisters are taught to be keepers at home, to be diligent with housework, homework, they should be good, goodness is also a feature that characterizes a Christian woman, good works, we will come across this term in our epistle, if the Lord will, tomorrow, but to be good, to do good works is something that in the Word of God is particularly connected with, not exclusively, but particularly connected with what the sisters do. The term good works in the New Testament has two different meanings, depending on what good means, there are two Greek words for good, and one means good works because they are good in the eyes of God, even if nobody else has any benefit of it, and there is another word, good, that means good in the sense that they are beneficial for other people, and both words are used in expression with a sister, Mary of Bethany, the Lord said she has done a good work, what had she done? She had anointed him, and all the other disciples thought what a waste that was, nobody has anything of that, she should have sold it and given it to the poor, yes, the Lord said you can do this, the poor are always with you, but what she did was a good work, it was good in the eyes of God, worship is a good work, it's something that is precious in the eyes of the Lord, even if the world, perhaps believers will not understand what you are doing, but there was another woman in the book of Acts, Dorcas, she was full of good works that she did, and these were works that were beneficial for others, she made clothes for the poor, for the widows, good works, a characteristic of a Christian woman in her service, to do good works, to be good, obedient to their own husbands, to take the place God had given her in Scripture, that the word of God be not blasphemed, not spoken evil of. The truth which is according to godliness, whatever we do in our practical life will have an influence on the word of God. If these young sisters were not doing what Titus was taught that he should teach, and what the older sisters should bring before them, the word of God would be blasphemed, they would speak evil of the word of God. What we do, our practical behavior is very important, because it depends on that what other people think about God and his word. They should do these things, they should live in this way, that the word of God be not blasphemed, that people do not speak evil of this word of God. In our western societies, people are reading, fewer people are reading the Bible, if any. The only Bible they read is your and my life, the life of the Christian. And the question is, is that something that brings them to read the Bible, or is it something that makes them to blaspheme the word of God? Because our behavior is in a way that the word of God is not recommended by what we do. Of course, there will always be in our life opposition, there will always be those that speak evil of Christians, there will always be opposition, but the question is, what is the reason for that? Are they criticizing us, or rebuking us because they want to reproach Christ, or because they can justly say, look at their lives and compare this with the word of God? This is nothing. If that is Christianity, I don't want to have anything to do with that. How poor that would be. And therefore the sisters were taught that they should, in their lives, live in a way that the word of God be not blasphemed. Young men likewise exhort to be sober-minded. Now he is speaking to the young men, and now Titus should be the one who was directly approaching them. Young men likewise exhort to be sober-minded, to have this spiritual self-control. As younger people, as younger men, they were always in danger in acting impulsively in some kind of things, and were not sober-minded, the self-control was missing. I remember when I was younger, I knew everything, how it ought to be. When you get older, you get a bit more patient with the failures of your brothers, and once in the meeting where I was at that time, they had a habit which I thought was unscriptural, when the money was collected after the morning meeting, at the end, some sisters starting to taking off their head coverings and putting away their hymn books and so on, and I was quite angry about that, I said it's absolutely unscriptural what they are doing, and the next time, when this happened in a meeting, after this was done, I gave out a hymn. There was great confusion, everything had to be picked out again, but it didn't take long for me to realize that this was not the way to do these things, to help setting things right in such a way, and this was not sober-minded, this was some kind of youthful lust maybe to do something to get things right in my way, but this was not the thing how it ought to be done. They should be sober-minded, they should have a self-control about their emotions, about what they were doing. In all things, showing thyself a pattern of good works. When Titus was talking to the young man, Paul says, you should set yourself as a pattern of good works, show them how they should do it. Paul could say, in Acts chapter 20, when he was taking, was saying his last words to the elders of Ephesus, he said to them, I have shown you. He had not only taught them something, but he had shown them how they should behave, and so he says, Titus, if you exhort these young men to sober-mindedness, then youself are the pattern, set thyself as a pattern of good works. In doctrine, showing uncorruptedness, uncorruptedness should they be in his teaching, in his doctrine. Something which Paul mentions in 2 Corinthians 4 may show what he means, 2 Corinthians 4 verse 2, Paul said, but have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. No craftiness or deceit, anything, but no corruption in the way he was bringing the doctrine before the company. Gravity, sincerity, it's always a danger when you are younger dealing with the word of God to do it in a light-hearted way, not in accordance with the seriousness of the scriptures. I'm not saying that we should talk in a way that nobody understands us, but we should be clear, but not in a way that is not in accordance with the fact that we are talking, that we are speaking about the word of God, not about some human kind of writings. There should be gravity and sincerity in what he did. Sound speech that cannot be condemned, sound speech. Again, this healthy speech, this balanced speech he should have. The Lord Jesus, Paul said to the Colossians that their speech should be in grace, seasoned with salt. He wanted to show them the right way to speak, sound speech, in grace, opening the heart, but also seasoned with salt to reach the conscience. But to reach the conscience of somebody you must before open his heart by grace, otherwise he would not listen to you anyway, and so in the right manner, a sound speech. That cannot be condemned. The contrary part, it is called here, the unbelievers may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of you. They should speak in a way, he and the young man, should speak in a way that the world was ashamed, having no evil thing to say of you. They couldn't say anything against him, against the way he spoke and what he said. It's a bit like Daniel, when the enemies were trying to find something, and they said we cannot find anything in him. To accuse him, in all he does, in all what he says, in his job, in everything, it's alright. We must find something in his law, in his faith. If he can find something there, that's forbidden for him to do, and so they came to this idea of making a decree not to ask anything of any God, because they knew Daniel would not do this. But his life was so that they were ashamed, they couldn't say anything against it. And this is also in connection with the last verse of this chapter. We have not read this, but I would like to comment on it in this connection. In chapter 2, he says in the last sentence to Titus, let no man despise thee. A similar sentence he uses to Timothy, let no man despise thee because of thy youth. When I was younger, I wondered why he was writing this to Titus of Timothy. He should have said this to the others, I thought, do not despise Titus or Timothy. What could he do if others were despising him or not? But that's exactly what he's saying. He says to them, Titus or Timothy, live in a way, act in a way that nobody can justly put anything against thee or despise thee. Of course, every servant of the Lord will find that there is criticism and opposition, but that's not what he's talking about. He says, as far as you are concerned, live in a way, do thy service in a way that nobody can justly say, well, look at his life. It would be better if he shut his mouth. That's what Paul lays on the heart of Titus, to live in a way that was an example to others. And then he closes his exhortation with speaking to the servants, exhort servants to be obedient unto their own masters, to please them well in all things, not answering again, not purloining, but showing all good fidelity. These servants he's speaking about were slaves, those in the most difficult situation you could think about. And he says, well, they should be obedient to their own masters. They should not speak against them, not robbing their masters. Just think of a slave who was a rebellious character and who was even taking his things away from his master. Now he got saved and his life has changed. He's no more speaking against, he's obedient, he's doing what he's told, and so on. What a testimony that would be for the Lord to see such a change in the life of those. And we know that among the early Christians, a lot of slaves were Christians. And there was a testimony going out from them, and some masters were obviously saved because of what they saw in the life of these slaves. But even if we are not slaves, most of us are in a kind of position where we have others above us and where we have to do things because that's what we are employed for. And so we should be obedient unto the masters, please them, not robbing their masters. Well, it means, of course, that they were taking away material things, but we can rob our masters of anything, time, for example. Normally we are paid for that we work and not that we sit around and kill time. So as Christians, we should be doing that. When I was teaching in my job, of course, the students didn't like to do too many lessons. And so they said, well, can we not do something talking around and not doing the lesson today? I said, what shall I write down then in the book? Oh, they said, write down anything you like. That's what the others do. Oh, I said, maybe, but I'm a Christian. I said, what has that got to do with it? I said, well, I'm paid for teaching you something and not for sitting around and talking and writing lies in the book. So we just go on with what I had in mind to do today. And, well, we had some interesting conversation afterwards about Christianity and about the faith, but robbing their masters, we can do this, even if we are not taking away anything from them. We should, as in our jobs, also live a life according to the word of God. And now, closing, Paul uses the opposite expression he had used by the women where he said the word of God be not blasphemed, here now he says it positively, that they may adorn the doctrine of God, our Savior, in all things. Doing that, they would adorn the doctrine of God, our Savior. Those slaves who maybe thought, what can we do for the Lord? We can do nothing because we are slaves. We must do what our master tells us to do. We have no freedom to do anything. Paul says, if you live a Christian life, a life of testimony for your God, then you adorn the doctrine of God, our Savior, in all things, the truth which is according to godliness. That's what Paul wants to tell us through Titus, that our life, our daily things, our behavior as brothers or sisters, old or young, in our daily tasks has an influence on how the truth is accepted in the world, if it is blasphemed or if we may adorn the doctrine of God, our Savior, in all things. May the Lord help us that we all, in the different situations in which we are, may be a testimony for him and so adorn the teaching of our God and Savior. …

… Could we once again tonight turn to the Epistle to Titus, Chapter 2. Titus, Chapter 2, verse 11 For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously and godly in this present world, looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto himself a peculiar people jealous of good works. These things speak and exalt and rebuke with all authority, let no man despise thee, put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work, to speak evil of no man, to be no brawlers, but gentle, showing all meekness unto all men. For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving diverse lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour to all men appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost, which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour. And then from verse 12, When I shall send Artemis unto thee, or Tychicus, be diligent to come unto me to Nicopolis, for I have determined there to winter. Bring Zenos the lawyer and Apollos on their journey diligently, let nothing be wanting unto them, and let ours also learn to maintain good works for necessary uses, that they be not unfruitful. All that are with me, salute thee, greet them that love is in the face, grace be to you all. So far the word of God tonight. We have yesterday started to occupy us a little bit with this epistle to Titus. We have seen who this man was, Titus, to whom Paul writes, one of his fellow workers, a faithful man, a relatively younger man whom Paul used on several occasions in the work of the Lord. He sent him to different places and we have seen that obviously Titus was a man who was very capable in dealing with difficult matters because when Paul sent him somewhere, it was nearly always to places where there were difficulties. He was the one that was sent to Corinth on some former time in here. He left him on the island of Crete. We have seen yesterday that these people of this island were very difficult people. They were always liars, evil beasts, low bellies, and even the saints were in danger that these natural tendencies of their nation might be seen among them and so Titus had to exhort them sharply that this may not be so, that there might be seen a change in their lives. And then we have seen that Titus got the task to speak unto them things which become sound doctrine. He had to address the different groups in the assembly, the aged men, the older women, the younger women and the young men. We have seen that the Holy Spirit puts everything in its place. He was not taught to exhort the old men because he was a younger man. He was just set to teach what became them and the same with the aged women. As far as the young women were concerned, the older ones had the task of instructing them, but as soon as he speaks about the young men, he himself should exhort them because he was of the same age and he should be a pattern, an example to them in all that he said. And he also had something to say about the servants. We have also seen yesterday that the subject of this epistle may be called, as Paul says in the first verse, the truth which is after godliness, that the truth always has to be seen in the practical everyday life we lead. And Paul, in the passages we dealt with, shows them that our behaviour will influence how people think about the word of God, negatively or positively. And so he said, if the young sisters do not behave as they ought to do, the word of God may be blasphemous. On the other hand, if the slaves, the servants, did what they were told to do, be obedient and doing what they were told to do in their job, they would adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things. Those group which were the least, we would expect that they could do anything for the Lord because they were slaves. They had no liberty to do anything. And so Paul says, well, if you live your daily life as an example of a Christian, you will, in what you do, adorn the doctrine of God your Saviour in all things. And now with verse 11, he comes to the great thing of this epistle, the heart of it, so to say. He says, for the grace of God that bringeth salvation has appeared to all men. This verse 11 is a complete contrast to the law. It first says that the grace of God appeared. The law did not appear. It was given by Moses through the instrumentality of angels, but the grace of God appeared. Appearing is something that normally a person does. It appears somewhere. And so the grace of God appeared in the person of the Son. When the Lord Jesus came on this earth, the grace of God appeared. He was there illustrating, showing what the grace of God is, and the grace of God that bringeth salvation. The law brought nothing. It brought, if at all, it brought condemnation to men. It demanded something of them. But here, the grace of God that bringeth salvation. And it brought this salvation to all men. The law was only given for one people, the people of Israel. It was not for all men. But the grace of God appeared to all men, not only to Jews, but also to those barbarians on the island of Crete. They also were recipients of this salvation, the grace of God. But the grace of God that appeared in the person of the Lord Jesus has not only appeared to bring salvation to all men, it does something more. It says this grace teaches us. It does not say it teaches all men. It teaches us, the believer. The gospel is for all men. But as soon as somebody got saved, there is the same grace that teaches him how he should live as a Christian. God does not save us and then we are left to our own to find out what we have to do. But the grace of God teaches us. But this teaching, in connection to the sinner and in connection to the believer, there is an interesting verse in the Old Testament, in the Psalms, in Psalm 25, where we find the same difference we have here in Titus. In Psalm 25, it says first, in verse 8, Good and upright is the Lord, therefore will he teach sinners in the way. He teaches sinners in the way. There's only one teaching God has for a sinner, to repent and be saved. That's the only thing God has to say to the sinner. A sinner is not able to understand the Bible and God is not intending to teach him the Bible and all his truth. He's only teaching him the way, the only way that is there for a sinner, to come to the Lord Jesus and repent. But in the next verse, in Psalm 25, it says, in verse 9, The meek, which is the term for the believer, will he guide in judgment, and the meek will he teach his way. That's the difference. It's not the way that he teaches the sinner, but his way, which means all the counsels of God, all that he had in mind, is what he teaches to his own. He has a teaching for the sinner, and that has to do with salvation. But as far as the believer is concerned, the grace of God is there to teach us. And again, we find what we already have seen in the first chapter, that Paul now, in this verse, deals with present, past, and future. It says, Denying ungodliness and worldly lusts. The New Translation has it a bit more correctly, having denied impiety and worldly lusts. That is the past. That is something that we principally did when we got converted. We denied ungodliness and worldly lusts. To deny, well, that means we learn from Peter. He denied the Lord. That means he said, I do not know this man. And so, when we got converted, we denied that the life of ungodliness, a life without God, and a life after the worldly lusts, John tells us what that is in his epistle, the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life. We said, no longer we want to have anything to do with that. Of course, we have daily to make this two in our lives, that this is still two. But that is what the grace of God teaches us, to remind us what we practically said when we got converted, that we said, the life without God, a life in ungodliness, and a life according to the worldly lusts, that is nothing with which we want to have anything to do. As young people, we used to sing a song in Germany where it says that we have broken all the bridges after us that would bring us back to the world. And that is the idea that we have here. As soon as you get saved, you break all the bridges that might lead you back into the world which you have just left. Deny these things, and the grace of God will ever remind us of these things, what we confessed when we were baptized, that we were taking the side of the Lord Jesus, and deny these things. But then, the same grace teaches us that we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present day world. It's the present now. It teaches us how we should live soberly. That has to do with ourselves. How we, as persons, live soberly, we had this word yesterday, sometime, without this fleshly excitement in a soberly way, in a kind of dignity to go our way as Christians, righteously. That has to do with our relationship to our fellow men, that we act in a righteous manner. Righteousness, that means to give everybody that what he deserves, and what he has a right on, to live righteously and godly, or piously. That has to do with our relationship to God, that we live a way on which God can look and say, well, I'm pleased with the way you are doing, you are going your way. So the grace of God teaches us, in all relationships in which we are, in connection with our own person, in connection with all the men with which we have to do, believers or not, and in our relationship to God, how we should live in this present world. The Lord Jesus, in his prayer to the Father in John 17, he uses two expressions which describe the position of the Christian. He says in John 17, first he says in verse 11, and now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world. That is the position of the Christian. We are still in this world. He has left the world, gone back to the Father, but we are still in the world. But then he says in the same prayer in verse 14, I have given them thy word, and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world. We are still in this world, but we are not of the world. We do not belong to this system of the world that is governed by Satan anymore. We are here as strangers, or as ambassadors for our Lord, but we are still in the world. And Paul says in Galatians chapter 1, the same thing, where he says about the Lord Jesus, Galatians 1 verse 4, who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world. That is the one side. He has delivered us from this present evil world. We are no longer a part of it, and then in Titus Paul says we should live in this present world in a special way as it is right for a Christian to do. Those are the two sides. We have nothing to do with it here, but we are living here, and we should live in the right way in this present world. We had a gospel meeting in our town, and it was shortly before the last elections were taking place in Germany, and one who came to that meeting said, well, oh, I suppose you are all going to vote for this Christian party then. I said, no, we are not going to vote. Oh, he said, why not? Well, he said, you know, we are here in this world, and our Lord has said my kingdom is not of this world, and we are here as his ambassadors. And if I, for example, as the German ambassador would be living in England, I would not interfere in the politics of that country. I'm just here to represent my country, and so we are here in this world to represent our Lord, not to interfere in the affairs of this world, but just to live in this present world as those that have no part in it, but to live there as Christians and be a testimony witness to our Lord. And then he says, looking for that blessed hope in the glorious appearing of the great God and Savior Jesus Christ. That's the future now. He said, well, while you are going through this world, while you are living as Christians down here in a godly way, you look for that blessed hope in the glorious appearing of the great God and Savior Jesus Christ. In this one verse, Paul puts things together very closely that are separated by a long period of time. He speaks first of the blessed hope. Well, what is the blessed hope of the Christian? That is the rapture, that is the moment when we wait that our Lord is coming to take us to himself out of these worlds. But he also speaks in the same words of that glorious appearing. And the appearing of the Lord in glory is something that takes place later when we will appear with him. And we have to distinguish these things, but we shouldn't separate them, they belong together. The one follows as a consequence out of the other. Paul said to the Thessalonians that the Lord was appearing, was coming back, and his saints would be coming with him. And he says, well, if they are coming with him of necessity, they have first to be taken to him. And so he connects these two truths, and that's how they should be connected in our minds. We are often more occupied with the blessed hope because that affects us. We say, oh, we are waiting for our Lord to come, Lord Jesus come, and it's right and good that we be occupied with that, but we should also think about the appearing, that he is coming again. That has not so much to do with us, but with him, that he gets his right in this world where his cross stood. And when we will appear with him, it will only be to his glory, and that he might be glorified in this place. Paul had written in verse 11 about the appearing of grace, and now he speaks about the appearing of glory, which will come, and we are waiting for that glorious appearing of the great God and Savior Jesus Christ. The Authorized Version has the hour before Savior, but it should really be before great. Our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, because it's only one person he's talking about here. It is the Lord Jesus. Our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. This is one verse of a few in the Bible which speak about this great mystery of his person, that he is God and man in one person. He is our great God, that's what he is, the Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior. He is the great God. But on the other hand, he is our Savior, and as our Savior, he had to be man. He is not our Savior as God, but as man. He became man to die on the cross of Calvary and to be our Savior. But he is God and man in one person. It is and will always be a mystery which we believe, but which we could not understand in all its depths. God, in his words, says so, that he is the great God and Savior Jesus Christ. And if Paul is writing about him, he cannot but start to speak of that which he has done, the Savior, who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity. Who gave himself for us. You could study the Word of God, and you will find in the New Testament several times the expression that the Lord gave himself for us, and you could study why he did so, several reasons are given. In our passage it says, he gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity. Paul had spoken about salvation, now he speaks about redemption. He brought us, so to say, out from this life of iniquity or lawlessness, unrighteousness, and to purify unto himself. He gave himself for us because he wanted us for himself. To purify himself, a peculiar people. The Lord wanted a peculiar people, a people for a possession, that's what it means. He wanted to have a people for himself. Of course he died for us because we needed that, because there was no other way for us to be saved, but he did it also for himself, because we wanted to have a people for himself. It is interesting to follow this through the Bible, to find out about this idea that God wanted to have a special people for his possession. Perhaps we might look at a few verses, one in the book of Genesis, chapter 6. Genesis 6, before the flood, it says in verse 1, And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth. Before the flood there were only men living on earth. There were no nations, there were no English or German or whatever, no Israel, there were only men on the earth. After the flood, chapter 10, it says, in the last verse of chapter 10, verse 32, These are the families of the sons of Noah after their generations in their nations, and by these were the nations divided in the earth after the flood. After the flood, God divided men into different nations that spread over the earth, different nations. And then it says in Deuteronomy, for example, there are more verses than that, but I just read this one of Deuteronomy 7, Deuteronomy 7, verse 6. For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God. The Lord thy God has chosen thee to be a special people unto himself above all people that are on the face of the earth, a people for a possession. Then God chose one people, Israel, out of all these nations, to be a special nation, a special people for him, a people for a possession, the same term we have found in Titus. And if we then go over to the New Testament in the book of Acts, chapter 15, we find the great difference. Acts chapter 15, Acts 15, verse 14, Simeon has declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles to take out of them a people for his name. In the New Testament, God has not one nation as his chosen people as in the Old Testament. Well nearly all nations of the earth have thought they were chosen nations, but God worked differently. He has taken out of every nation a people for his name. The people of God in the New Testament are the believers, the church, they are taken out of every nation. God said to Paul, I've taken you out of thy people and all the nations to whom I sent you. And so we find, as it is said in 1 Corinthians, that there on these earths are Jew, Gentile and the church of God. These three groups do we find today, Jew, Gentile and the church of God. Today of course there is something more, there is Christianity, which is neither the one nor the other, but if we go back then to the end of time, if we go to the last pictures of the Bible, Revelation 21, we find in verse 3, Genesis 21 verse 3, And I heard a great voice out of heaven, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, they shall be his people, God himself shall be with them, be their God. This speaks of the new earth, and on the new earth there will again only be men. No nations on the new earth, there is no more any people of Israel on the new earth, there is only men, but there is still the tabernacle of God with men, and this tabernacle of God, that is the church, the assembly, the assembly will always, in all eternity, have a special place in the councils of God. It's the means by which God is living with the man on the new earth. Israel was chosen from the beginning of the earth, and so all the promises of Israel end with the first creation, and when God has a new creation there will be men on that earth, but there still will be a special place for the assembly, the bride of Christ. It will in all eternity have a special place, because it was chosen before the beginning of this creation, and it will last into all eternity. That are those which we find here called this peculiar people, he has purified for himself, he wanted to have for himself, jealous of good works. It's interesting that the word of God is quite clear that good works that we have done, as it said in chapter 3, are no way to get saved, no way to be righteous in the eyes of God because of any works we have done. That's the great error and mistake of all religions, Christian religion or any other religion that they think if you could do something you will get to heaven. Martin Luther was thinking that when he was going up the stairs in Rome on his knees, he was thinking he would get somewhere to God by doing something good, but then he suddenly realized that the just shall live by faith and not by works. But as soon as we are saved, God has a good deal to say in the New Testament about good works, particularly the epistles of Timothy and Titus, we very often find the subject of good works. So, he says, God has purified himself of people, jealous of good works. They should be energetic in doing good works. Yesterday we have seen that there are different kinds of good works, but he wants those that are saved to do good works as an answer of their heart to what they got through faith alone. So, he says, Titus, these things you should speak with all authority or let no man despise thee. We spoke about this verse already yesterday, that it means that Titus should live and serve in a way that nobody could justly put anything to his charge and despise him. And then he says, put them, these believers on the island of Crete and all the other Christians as well, put them in mind, and then he tells them seven things that they should be doing. We are not going to deal with all the details. He tells them that they should be subject to the government and other things above them, other authorities, to be ready to every good work. I would like to say one more thing to this, to be ready to every good work. No believer can do every good work, but it simply says here we should be ready to do this. We should be ready that the Lord can use us for whatever good he wants to do. We should be walking in those things the Lord has prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. We don't have to try to look at what shall we do. The Lord is clearly telling us, but there has to be this readiness in our hearts. I would like to show you three steps we should take, and this is the first one, that is to be ready for every good work. And this comes at the end, after Paul had spoken about what the Lord has done for us on the cross. This readiness is an answer of our hearts, that we say, Lord, you've done so much for me. I would give an answer in my life. I would like to, as Romans 12 says, to put myself as a sacrifice to thy hand, that you could use me. Show me which good work you want me to do, to be ready for every good work. Well, that's only the first step. The second one you find in 2 Timothy chapter 2. In 2 Timothy chapter 2, it says in verse 20, But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth, and some to honour and some to dishonour. If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work. The first was ready for every good work, the second step is to be prepared unto every good work. And it is necessary for that, that we lead a life in an ecclesiastical position that is right before God, that we are separated from vessels of dishonour, that the Lord can use us for every good work. If we were still in associations which are not right according to the mind of God, he may have to say to us, well, I would have liked to use you for the purpose of bringing the truth of Christ in his assembly, which is so precious before people, but I couldn't do that because you were in situations where I couldn't use you for that. So if a believer takes this step, he is made for the master's use, and he is prepared unto every good work. And the third step is in 2 Timothy as well, chapter 3, at the end, verse 16, All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works, fully fitted to do every good work. So what we also need is the daily self-correction with the Word of God. Let the Word of God teach us, reprove us, correct us, instruct us in righteousness. Then we will be fully fitted to every good work, and then the Lord can use us for whatever work he wants to use us. In Titus chapter 3, verse 3, the Apostle now mentions again seven things that characterised us before we were saved. He says, for we ourselves also were sometimes, and he mentions all these things. The last is hateful and hating one another. It's not difficult if we see around us today in the world, in society, that this is the situation, hateful and hating one another. Violence and all these things, they come because people are hateful and they are hating one another. But he says, after the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared. Again he speaks about something that appeared. It is the kindness and the love of man of our Saviour God. Of course again it appeared in the person of the Son when he was here. His kindness, his love to man. The word literally is philanthropy, a word which people use in society when they speak about the love of man to man. They call it love of man, philanthropy, but it's really here God's love to man. One thing I learned as a youngster from older brothers when they helped me to start systematic Bible study, they said, if you go, you want to study a subject, try to find out where this subject is first mentioned in the Bible. You will not get all the features in this first verse, but you will get very important things to know, and I've tried it several times and it's really so. One subject you could, for example, study is the theme of love, something which in society is very often used in all novels and films and whatever, but if you really want to find out what God has to say about it, you must go to the Bible. Where does the Bible first of all speak of love? It's in Genesis 22. Take thy son, thine only one, whom thou lovest, Isaac, and offer him as a burnt offering. So if God speaks of love, he first of all speaks of the love of the Father to the Son. And the second time love is mentioned is two chapters later, Genesis 24, when it speaks that Isaac loved his wife Rebekah. The second time when God speaks of love, it is the love of the Son for his bride. So if you want to learn something of love, it is the love of the Father to the Son and the love of the Son to his bride. And here we read of God's love to men that appeared in the person of the Son, the love to men. Some time ago in Germany there went something in the press because there was a couple and they were deeply involved in the occult and in Satanism and they had killed some of their acquaintance and they said Satan had ordered them to kill him as an offering. When they were brought to the court to a trial to be sentenced, a lot of reporters were there taking pictures and so, and the reporter said that the man said to the woman, why are there all these attention here? It was only a man. It was only a man. That is what Satan, the value Satan puts on man. He has no value whatsoever. He is only there to destroy him. But God loves man and therefore he gave the Lord Jesus. Satan only destroys. After this attempt in Germany, I wrote an article on Satanism and the occult in the Young People's magazine and it was also in the internet. So I got a phone call one day from a young girl. She said, are you the author of that article? I said yes. I want to talk with you and she spoke with me on the phone for over an hour and she said it's absolutely correct what you say. I'm involved in all these things and I couldn't get free of this. I couldn't get out of the grip of Satan. He's got me and it was terrible, she said. I don't know how to get free of that. I said you will never get free alone. You have to go to the Savior. You have to find him and you have absolutely to break with everything that you're doing. Burn the things, throw them out, whatever you have. There's no other way. And I got to know a person, unfortunately to say it was a daughter of believers. She was involved in these things and her brother said to her, the only thing you have to do is what we must do. Write a paper and write down that you say you will nothing have to do with that. You will give away every of these things and deny Satan and everything and then you write your name under it. And she said to him, when I wanted to write my name, I couldn't do it because Satan wanted to handle that. Something like what happened when the Lord drove out the demons, that there was a last struggle of Satan to keep what he couldn't hold, of course, because the Lord Jesus is stronger. But there is a real danger of these things. They are getting more and more in our societies on its, we must make it quite plain that people have to take away from that, stay away from this. Satan is only there to destroy. The only one that helps people is the Lord Jesus, it's God, the love of man that appeared in the Lord Jesus, our God and Savior. He has really love for man. Satan has no love. Even among men there is no real love. Paul says in the second epistle to Timothy that particularly in the end of days there will be no love, no real love. The normal natural love between husband and wife, between parents and children will be no longer there. We know about this, how many children are aborted or mistreated or whatever it is. There's no natural love anymore. I remember when I was working as a young teacher, I worked at a girl's school and there sometime during the lessons of the girl, 16 years, she was called out and she came back later and afterwards I heard that they had told her that her mother was found dead. So I went back to her and said, well, I want to express my sympathy about that and there was no reaction first and then she said to me, well, you will despise me I suppose but I have no feelings, I have no mother, she said, at home. We were only getting in to eat and sleep and then everybody did what he wanted and her mother was always away at night and I said, I'm not despising you anyway, I pity you because you have never learned what it means to have the love of a mother. But that's what happens among men, that even these natural things are no longer there. But real love is only to be found in the Saviour, God our Saviour. Nobody here on this earth can say there's nobody that loves me because God loves everybody and this love to man appeared here on earth in the person of the Lord Jesus and this love and kindness saved us, not by works of righteousness which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us. There was nothing in us but it was his mercy that saved us, by the washing of regeneration, the newing of the Holy Ghost, the new birth, the complete new nature for everyone who had come to the Lord Jesus as Saviour. And he says about this Holy Spirit which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Lord. This is what we find in Acts chapter 2 because there on the day of Pentecost in Acts chapter 2 it says in verse 33, Therefore, being by the right hand of God exalted, the Lord Jesus, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he has shed forth this which ye now see and hear. This verse does not, verse 6, does not mean as some charismatic might one teaches there some shedding of the Spirit, a second blessing or something, but it simply means what was happening at Pentecost that he shed the Holy Spirit abundantly. Every believer that gets saved and believes in the gospel of salvation has the Holy Spirit in himself as a godly divine person to guide and lead him in his life. And so Paul comes to the close of this epistle in which he once again expresses his special attitude to Titus, his fellow worker. He wishes, he desires that he should come to him, be diligent to come unto him because he wanted to winter at this particular place. He wanted Titus to be there. We have the same expression in Timothy's epistle that he desires Timothy to come and be with him when he was in prison. And then we see that what the grace of God that appeared can make out of man. He tells Titus to bring Zenos the lawyer and Nepalis on their journey diligently that nothing be wanting unto them. We cannot say with certainty who this first man was. There are two possibilities, but taking the one possibility that the lawyer means that he was a Jew, a scribe, an expert in Jewish law, and then got converted of course, then the difference between Zenos and Nepalis couldn't be greater. The one was one of these coming of a background of the strict rabbinical schools of the experts of the law, and Nepalis was a Hellenistic Jew, completely different. They were not brought up in Jerusalem with all these things, they were brought up in some Greek town, complete different backgrounds, but here we find them working together, going on a journey together for serving the Lord, and Titus should help them. The gospel of God, the love of God, can take people of completely different backgrounds, put them together in ministry, in unity, acting together, working for the Lord, as different as they may be as far as their background is concerned. They have the same Lord, and they can help each other doing the same ministry. And then he says, and let ours, ours, who's that, well the saints, the believers of course, Paul calls them here ours, quite an interesting term, expressing the relationship that existed between all the Christians, let ours also learn to maintain good works for necessary uses that they be not unfruitful. Again the subject of good works in this verse, and what is the sense, why should they be doing good works, that they be not unfruitful. God wants to have a fruit in our lives, we should not be unfruitful, what a poor life that would be if we were saved, and nothing else is to be seen in our lives, no fruit for him, he wants to have fruit in the life of his own, that we may not be fruitful, unfruitful, but really have some fruit for him in our lives. All that are with me, salute thee, greet them that love us in the faith. Over and over again in the epistles of Paul we find the expression of this unity of the assembly, there is this mutual greetings from one to the other, even if they do not know each other personally, they know there are saints in that place, where Paul is going to write or to go, and they send greetings, and he asks to greet the others, those that love us in the faith. First we heard about the love of God to man, the love that saved us, and obviously there is the same love now among the saints, that love us in the faith. The basis for this love is the new nature, the faith we have, the common faith, we don't love each other because we are all so easy and sympathetic and whatever it might be, but we love the brothers and sisters because they have the same common faith, the same new nature, and therefore he greets all of them that love us in the faith, and he wishes him grace be with you all, the grace that saved us, the grace that taught us, is the grace that will also keep us on the way till we are coming to our aim there where our Lord is waiting for us, coming to bring us back to him, but as long as we are still here, may it be so that we live a life of godliness, that we live as Paul told it to Titus, so there may be in our lives fruit for him, a testimony for him in this world, that other men might learn what it means that the grace and kindness and love of God has appeared. …