[0:00] This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfred, Georgia. It is our prayer that you will be blessed by the preaching of God's Word. Is it good now? Okay. You can take your Bibles and turn to Titus chapter number 2.
[0:12] Titus chapter number 2. I'm thankful for my wife. God is very gracious for us men. I'm sure you're a lot better husband than I am, and you started off real well too.
[0:23] But, man, I was really dumb about girls, women, feelings, all that stuff when I got married. And, man, I was a real jerk.
[0:35] And I can remember when I first got married, and I think it was the first time I got to preach at my home church. I got back, and my wife had, you know, expressed her feelings to me in different things or maybe difficulties she was having or something like that.
[0:53] And my phrase to her was, you have a nail in your head. In different terms, I said, it's in your head. I would tell her that. And I told the church that, and some sweet ladies from our church.
[1:05] We have some awesome senior saints at our church, and they walked up to my wife after the service and just told her, Honey, if you ever need anybody to talk to, here's my phone number. So God has since given me some counsel, and I'm not as hard, pretty bad, but not as hard anymore.
[1:24] So I'm thankful for my wife, thankful for Vision Baptist Church, how good you guys have been to us over the years, the friends that we have here, and look forward to working with the Coffees.
[1:35] We've known them for a long time. Mark's my cousin. And so I look forward to that. Mark's got a lot of talents and abilities, and Amy's, she's a better preacher than Mark, just like my wife's better than me.
[1:47] So we'll probably have a phenomenal women's and children's ministry over there. So we look forward to that. I really appreciated Trent's testimony about the Sturwaltz and Ms. Sturwaltz and how all those Sunday school kids grew up to be pastors.
[2:02] So there's a lot of pressure on my wife and Amy for future labors. Anyways, Titus chapter number two. We're leaving out on Tuesday, and we'll appreciate your prayers.
[2:14] Appreciate your prayers. I will tell you this. I'll share one little testimony with you if I can. Something I sent Brother Gardner earlier today.
[2:27] If I can pull it up here real quick. Maybe not. But it was just encouraging. Something one of the young men over there sent me. He was discouraged.
[2:40] But really, what he wrote was encouraging. He was broken and hurting over not being able to reach the people like he should. He said he really has a burden for souls.
[2:51] And just really wants to learn better on how to reach his people because he's broken for them. And really what he was saying to me is, you know, I don't think I'm doing a very good job.
[3:02] But to me, it was encouraging because I could see his heart and how compassionate he is. How ate up he is. How brokenhearted he is over his people.
[3:14] And I could just see God all over that. And really God blessing and using this young man is a phenomenal, is an awesome young man using this young guy in a great way.
[3:26] But I know he would appreciate your prayers and he would appreciate me passing his name along to you. So you can pray for his English name is Chris. So that's easy enough. If you put him on your prayer list, I'd appreciate that.
[3:37] And he would really appreciate that God would use him at Servants of Christ Baptist Church. Titus chapter number 2. We'll read verse number 1 and then we'll skip down to verse number 9 for sake of time.
[3:52] What time is it in? 8 o'clock? Okay. But speak thou the things which become sound doctrine. And then verse number 9. And exhort servants to be obedient unto their own masters and to please them well in all things.
[4:06] Not answering again. Not purloining. But showing all good fidelity. That they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things. For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men.
[4:19] And 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 our Savior Jesus Christ.
[4:34] Who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity. And purify unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works. These things speak and exhort and rebuke with all authority.
[4:49] Let no man despise thee. Let's pray. Lord, we love you. We thank you for this time together tonight. Lord, thank you for the awesome testimonies we've heard. For the offering and all the songs that we've sang.
[4:59] Lord, we pray that you'd be glorified. And God, now through the preaching of your word, would you speak to our hearts. God, help us to all be attentive. And God, I pray that you would just cut us and help us and build us, encourage us through your powerful word.
[5:15] We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. Tonight I want to preach on the subject of sound doctrine. And really, sometimes it kind of worries me when we speak Bible words sometimes.
[5:31] Because I think the people in the pew and some of the cooler pastors out there, they tend to make these things seem boring and they're not relative and they're not practical to your life.
[5:46] But if you'll study your Bible, you'll find out that it's really practical. And there's no new things. I heard a good quote the other day. He said, if it's new, it's probably not true.
[5:59] And if it's true, it's probably not new. The Bible's an old book. And it's true. And it's as true today for your life as it ever has been. And it will be tomorrow too.
[6:09] And what he's saying here is, he's telling Titus, he's left him there in Crete to set in order things that were wanting and lacking there. And he's talking, if you read the first eight verses, he talks to older men.
[6:23] He talks to older ladies. He talks to younger women. And he talks to younger men. Then he gets down to verse 9 and he talks to servants. What's he talking to? He's talking to the church. Everybody that made up the church at that time.
[6:35] And he says, Titus, preacher, I want you to tell them sound doctrine. I want you to give them something that will help them. And really what he's saying is, I want you to give them healthy instruction.
[6:47] Healthy instruction. Now, I don't know about you, but I want to be healthy. It's good to see Keith Shoemaker and Rebecca. They both, I don't know about Rebecca. She's probably always been fit. But Keith, I know he has lost a lot of weight.
[7:00] He went from 315 down to 260 something. We care about our health, our body's health. And that's a good thing. But there's more to this life than just our bodies.
[7:12] We have a soul and spirit. And we should be just as concerned about those things as we are the outer things. And something that breaks my heart, I look at some people in my family and friends that I have, and they're miserable.
[7:27] They have no joy. They have no purpose. They continuously are in problems and stressed out and broken hearted.
[7:39] And it's not because God is bringing things into their lives. And apparently they profess to be believers. But it's because they bring these things upon themselves.
[7:50] And those are the very people that Titus was to give this sound doctrine to. And it's to you to save us from a lot of the heartache and things that we bring on our own selves.
[8:00] And unhealthy lifestyles that we live. Not just physically, but all over. And these teachings will help you to be a full, complete person.
[8:12] I mean, you will be really joy-filled. You will be satisfied. You will have something to wake up for in the morning. You will have peace when you lay your head on your pillow at night.
[8:23] If we will only take in the sound doctrine that God gives us and that God exhorted or Paul exhorted Titus to give the church then. You know, and it also, if I could give you an illustration, because you're sitting here in the church.
[8:40] You say, well, Kevin, I go to church. I have a Bible. I'm involved in Sunday school. I do this, that, and the other. I'm really involved. I've been in this thing for a long time.
[8:51] But can I tell you that many people, even in the church, they still are infants in Christ. Or they still are. If we could see them spiritually. If we could see all of you.
[9:02] It wouldn't be a pretty picture. And I would say even in my own life sometimes, that's the case. So we need to really take heed about what Paul's saying here.
[9:12] You know, there's many people that join a gym, but they never go. And there's also people that join a gym and they go, but they don't really do anything. You have people that join gyms to go in and sit on that vibrating machine.
[9:25] Can I tell you that you're never going to get fit sitting on that thing? If that's you, please find another way to work out. There's people over there killing themselves, and they're still not in shape.
[9:37] So I assure you, whatever that guy said, you're going to have to sit on that thing 24-7 before you really get in shape. And so just like joining a gym, being around things that could help you, that's not going to get the job down.
[9:51] You can come to this church for the rest of your life, but until you start putting into practice the sound doctrine that is preached and taught, there's not going to be any difference in your life at all.
[10:04] And you need this. As a mother, as a father, as a grandmother or grandpa, as a husband and a wife, man, for the sake of the people around you, and for your relationship with Christ, you need to take in sound doctrine.
[10:20] And so I'm going to skip down to where he talks to servants here. And he was talking to literal servants. Over half the population was made up of literal slaves. But as I read my New Testament over and over again, I find that the apostles and all the church leaders refer to themselves as servants.
[10:41] So I think that we can apply these verses to you and I. And what he says here to these servants would be very good, healthy instruction for you and I. So let's take a look at some of these things.
[10:53] He says the very first thing in verse number 9, he says, exhort servants to be obedient unto their own masters. I'm not going to give you anything new tonight.
[11:04] I'm not going to give you anything just going to blow your mind. I'm going to tell you exactly what the verse says here. It's healthy for you if you will obey your master.
[11:15] If you will obey your master, I assure you, it will be healthy. You cannot serve two masters. And when you step outside of serving Jesus and submitting to him, then you begin to serve, put yourself under the yoke of this world and the devil.
[11:32] And they're horrible taskmasters. And they promise freedom, but all it is is bondage. And it brings destruction and a lot of shame.
[11:42] The fruit of sin is shame into your life. And so the best thing that you and I can do, the healthiest thing that we can do, body, soul and spirit in this present world and for the life to come is to obey our master.
[11:57] Is that you tonight? Man, this is almost cliche in the church. Jesus is our Lord. But until you put that into practice in your life and you keep that in the forefront of your mind and you practice that on a daily basis and on an all time basis, it's not going to make a difference.
[12:16] And you're going to stay out of shape. You're going to stay unhealthy. There's not going to be that growth. There's not going to be that joy. There's not going to be that peace that God wants for you. So obey your master.
[12:27] The word here is a bond servant. And that word bond servant is a person that was responsible to and totally dependent on someone else.
[12:40] He was totally responsible to and totally dependent on someone else. Exodus chapter 21 defines that role for us or what would happen at the end of this servant's service to his master.
[12:54] He was given a choice. And the Bible says in verse 5 and 6 of Exodus chapter 21, And if the servant, bond servant, shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my children, I will not go out free.
[13:08] Then his master shall bring him unto the judges. He shall also bring him to the door or under the doorpost. And his master shall bore his ear through with an awl.
[13:18] And he shall serve him forever. And he shall serve him forever. It was a love relationship. It wasn't a force. It was a love. It was saying, my life will be so much better.
[13:30] My master takes better care of me than anything outside of his house, outside of his property, outside of managing his things. It's much better in here for me. It's much better in here for my relationship with my wife and for my children if I just stay with you.
[13:46] And then he would take that mark upon him and he would serve him forever. Ever. And that's what you and I need to do. We need to take on that bond servant mentality that I love my master and I'm going to serve him for the rest of my life.
[13:59] It's better to serve him than to be out in the world or to be out doing my own thing or living my own life. We are servants or slaves to Christ. That's not a bad thing.
[14:11] Jesus takes far better care of us than we could ever take care of our own. Jesus is God. He's omnipotent. He's omniscient. He knows everything.
[14:21] He knows where your decisions will take you. You can only see the now and as you scheme and manipulate and think you're getting your way, it's only going to harm you in the end.
[14:32] But Jesus sees where that's taken you. And as a loving Heavenly Father, He will watch out for you. It says in 1 Corinthians chapter 4 and verse 1, Let a man so account of us as of the ministers or servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.
[14:48] In 1 Corinthians chapter 7 and verse 22, the Bible says, For he that is called in the Lord, being a servant, a literal servant, slave, is the Lord's free man. Likewise, also he that is called, being free, is Christ's servant.
[15:03] You are bought with a price, be not ye the servants of men. That verse tells me there's a choice. That you can either be Christ's servant or you can be a servant to men.
[15:14] What is it for you tonight? Who are you serving? Are you on the throne? Are you serving? Are you really just stepping out and really just trying to put yourself back under the lordship of Satan?
[15:27] And being guided and allowing him to toy with your life? Or have you bowed your knees to Jesus Christ? The healthy thing to do for your marriage, the healthy thing to do for your children, the healthy thing to do for your church, the healthy thing to do for your neighbor, is to obey your master, Jesus Christ.
[15:48] Paul said in Romans 1.1, Paul a servant of Jesus Christ. Philippians 1.1, Paul and Timotheus the servants of Jesus Christ.
[15:58] In Jude 1.1, Jude a servant of Jesus Christ. We're definitely not better than they are. But man, we live it sometimes. We definitely ignore and we definitely rebel against his lordship many times.
[16:14] But that's only hurting us. It's only hurting us. And it's only stunning our growth in Christ. What God would want to do in and through our lives. We serve him when we serve others.
[16:29] Matthew 25.40 says, And the king shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, and as much as ye have done it unto one of the least of these, my brethren, ye have done it unto me. We should serve others.
[16:41] And as we serve others, we serve Christ. Everything we should do, we do, we do as unto the Lord. I love what Paul said in 2 Corinthians 4.5. He says, For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord.
[16:55] And ourselves, your servants, for Jesus' sake. Paul made himself servant to others and he served others as unto the Lord. It's freeing. Man, when you get into your Sunday school class and people don't appreciate you, Man, you're serving others.
[17:11] When nobody notices you driving your bus route and spending extra hours or cleaning, You're not doing that for Brother Gardner. You're not doing that for a deacon or anybody else.
[17:22] You're doing that for the Lord. And if you're not, you're doing it for the wrong reason. And when man applauds for you, when you do your service, then you've gotten your reward. But if you'll just wait patiently and do it as in the Lord, Then the Lord will keep your reward in heaven.
[17:37] Man, we serve in marriage. Or ladies serve in marriage. The Bible commands in Ephesians 5.22. And this is not a downgrade on women.
[17:49] Man, if you're a lady in here, you're a wife in here, serve your husband. I mean, some of you are probably wanting to throw something right now, But that's a command. And it's not negative.
[18:00] It's just your mind's been poisoned with the way this world teaches. Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, As unto the Lord. Serve Him as if you're serving Jesus.
[18:12] Serve God in everything you do. Jesus is the pinnacle of it all. In Colossians 3.22 and 24, it says, Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh, Not with eye service as men pleasers, but in singleness of heart, Fearing God.
[18:28] And whatsoever you do, do it heartily as the Lord, not unto men, Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance. For you serve the Lord Christ. The object of Christianity is not to sin less, but to glorify God more.
[18:43] It is not to somehow stop ourselves from doing the bad things that we so want to do, But to find ourselves craving to do what pleases God. The bondservant mentality.
[18:56] Obey your master. I love my master. My master takes good care of me. He says here, he says, Exhort servants to be obedient unto their own masters and to please them well in all things.
[19:10] And he says, Not answering again. This is a big problem for me. You know, as a slave would maybe back talk his master, I do that a lot of times. Just as the children of Israel in the Old Testament, Their biggest problems, one of the things that stands out the most, Is their murmuring and complaining.
[19:26] I stole some things from your pastor's messages. He talked about in one of his Corinthians messages. He said, Complaining dishonors God. Contentment glorifies Him.
[19:38] Complaining is like praising the devil and bad-mouthing God. We should control our tongues. Back talking or murmuring, Complaining, bad attitude, Control your tongue.
[19:49] Man, that's one of my biggest problems. I get down. Nothing is worse, brother John, than employing a sour employee. Nothing's worse. It drains you to go into the workplace or into the church.
[20:02] And you know you have to deal with somebody that just has the worst attitude. They think they deserve everything. Can I tell you, the attitude that a servant has is, I own nothing.
[20:13] So anything that you give to me is wonderful. You were dead in your trespasses and sins. You were on your way to hell. So anything that you get above hell is wonderful.
[20:24] We should expect nothing. Be thankful for everything. That's why Paul said, Give thanks in everything. A thankful people. Complaining destroys.
[20:37] Complaining destroys. Proverbs 18.21 says, Death and life are in the power of the tongue. You think you're not doing anything. You think you're just talking to a friend about somebody else. But you're destroying.
[20:48] Man, we destroy. We hurt so many people with this little, little instrument. Man, we destroy lives. We destroy people's walk with Christ. We destroy relationships.
[21:00] We set people back in their Christian life just by speaking or writing or typing something that we should not be doing. Once spoken words can never be gotten back.
[21:14] It's forbidden. It's forbidden. In Titus chapter 3, if you look on over, in verses 1 and 2, he says, Put them in mind to speak evil of no man. You know, in the context there, he's saying, don't be speaking evil of other people.
[21:30] And he gives a kind of a description of these people. Verse 3 says, For we also were sometimes foolish and disobedient and deceived, serving divers' lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another.
[21:46] That was you and I. So before you get on your sister that's not saved, or your brother that's not saved, or whoever that is living in the world, somebody that just really upsets you because of their stupidity.
[22:00] I mean, you look at it and you're like, why do you do that? It frustrates you and you vent that to somebody else and you say hateful things. Remember, you also were disobedient.
[22:10] Remember, you also were deceived. And if that person's lost, they're just doing what a lost person does. Disobey. Live foolishly. What we need to be is controlling our tongue.
[22:23] Making sure we're not speaking anything to hurt those people. To speak evil of no man. It's forbidden. We're to adorn the gospel. We're to adorn the gospel of Jesus Christ.
[22:37] It says there in verse number 9, I think verse number 10, it says, Not purloining, but showing all good fidelity, that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things.
[22:53] It means to beautify. To beautify. To just put that finished touch on it. So that when people think of the gospel and what it's done, and they look at your life, man, it just makes it even more beautiful.
[23:09] Seeing the joy that's in your life and in your heart, and the way you live. And you're not murmuring and complaining. You've got that sour attitude and drainer of people with the way that you are.
[23:23] Adorn the gospel of Christ. It's better to be quiet, the Bible says in 1 Thessalonians 4, verse 11. And that you study to be quiet. To seek earnestly to be quiet.
[23:35] And to do your own business and to work with your own hands as we commanded you. Tonight, people, God owes us nothing. We deserve hell. You owe Him everything. So give thanks for all things.
[23:47] 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 18. In everything, give thanks. In everything, give thanks. Trying to make sure I'm not going over here. And then he says in verse number 10, Two aspects to consider.
[24:12] We should be good employees to our employers here on earth. You shouldn't be pilfering off of your boss. You shouldn't be stealing. You should be a trustworthy employee.
[24:24] So if you're the one that's cutting corners here and there and taking things that don't belong to you and that kind of thing, you're an untrustworthy employee. And that's a bad testimony as a Christian. But also on a higher plane, our Master has entrusted us with all spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus.
[24:40] We've been in all riches. He's given us His grace. He's given us a birthright to His family. We carry His name. And we should not be pilfering off God. We should be trustworthy stewards, good managers of the things that God has given us.
[24:57] But many of us, many, many of the children of God, many of, many Christians are guilty of pilfering off God. We're not trustworthy servants. God blesses us and we, we hoard it up unto ourselves.
[25:08] We tear down our barns and we build bigger barns. We take the blessings and the talents that God has given us and we use them for our own glory. When God says, that was mine, that is mine.
[25:20] It's still mine and you're stealing it. You've been bought with a price. Everything about you is His. And it's to bring Him glory. So don't be pilfering off of God. That's healthy. That's healthy for you.
[25:32] It's not good for you to be built up with pride. It's destructive. Other people don't want to be around you if that's how you are. And they're going to see that. They're going to see what kind of employee you are.
[25:44] And they're not going to want to, they're not going to trust you when time comes for when some kind of situation like that takes place. They're going to know what kind of employee you were. Don't be a pilfer, if that's a word.
[25:56] But showing all good fidelity in verse 10. It means trustworthiness. It's just the opposite of pilfering. It's being an honest and loyal steward.
[26:07] 1 Corinthians 4, verse 2 said, Moreover, it is required in stewards that a man be found faithful. Trustworthy. Trustworthy. It's in reference to being a good manager of the mysteries of God.
[26:20] Are you that trustworthy servant tonight? Or are you pilfering off God? God uses trustworthy and faithful servants that seek His glory and not their own.
[26:31] By doing this, you become healthy. By living according to sound doctrine, not just hearing it, but doing it, incorporating it into your life, you will become healthy.
[26:44] And not only that, but you beautify the gospel of Jesus Christ. You're not giving a bad impression. What kind of servant are you tonight?
[26:56] I have more to say, but I'll stop there. Obey your Master. It's the healthy way of life. You may, if we could see it, man, it would probably be scary to us.
[27:09] We would just scare the living daylight. We would look at each other. If we could see each other probably from God's eyes, it would probably scare us to death because of the way we live. Because we don't live by sound doctrine.
[27:22] This is the way to get in shape. This is the way to live a healthy life, not only now, but this life translates into eternity. Healthy, sound doctrine.
[27:32] Instruction for your life. Obey your Master. Let's pray. Lord, we love You. We thank You for this time together tonight. Lord, I pray, God, that You'd help all of us.
[27:43] God, to obey our Lord Jesus Christ. In Jesus' name, Amen. This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfredo, Georgia. For more information, log on to www.visionbaptist.com where you can find our service times, location, contact information, and more audio and video recordings.