Hold Fast

[00:00:04] Our one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We thank you for the gift of your word. [00:00:12] That as we read the pages of the Bible, we find truths that we find nowhere else in the world. [00:00:20] Wonderful, marvelous truths, truths that lead us to safety because they lead us away from paths and ways of thinking and feeling that would lead us to death. [00:00:37] But your Word, like a lamp, shines forth and shows us where to go. [00:00:42] Most especially, it shows us who to trust to whom to go. [00:00:47] We go to you, Lord Jesus, our God and our King and our friend and our Savior. [00:00:53] You have the words of eternal life. [00:00:57] Help us then today to receive your Word. [00:01:03] Open our hearts by your Spirit that we can understand it and fill our hearts with your Spirit, so that we don't merely assent to it, but that we would believe it, that we would be drawn and be devoted to your Word, trusting in it, leaning on it, following it, because it leads us to you, the one on whom we place our trust. In Jesus name we ask. Amen. [00:01:34] Sermon text this evening is Titus, chapter one. Titus, chapter one. [00:01:40] We're going to read verse nine through 14 and we'll focus in our message on verse nine. [00:01:50] Hear God's word. [00:01:52] This is speaking of the elders, the pastors and the ruling elders that Titus is to appoint in the churches. [00:02:00] He, the Elder, must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it. [00:02:18] For there are many who are insubordinate, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision party. [00:02:28] They must be silenced, since they are upsetting whole families by teaching for shameful gain what they ought not to cheat. Teach. [00:02:38] One of the Cretans, a prophet of their own. Said, Cretans are always liars, evil beasts and lazy gluttons. [00:02:48] This testimony is true. Therefore, rebuke them sharply that they may be sound in the faith, not devoting themselves to Jewish myths and the commands of people who turn away from the truth. [00:03:04] Please be seated. [00:03:21] There are certain times in life when we need to hold things firm or hold things fast. Paul says here that the Elder needs to hold firm to the trustworthy word. [00:03:33] Sometimes it's really important that you have a good, firm, steady grip on something. [00:03:41] Like many pastors, there was a time in my life when I painted houses. [00:03:48] I don't know if you've heard that from a pastor before, but I've met quite a few that one time in their life painted a house. And it's really important when you're learning to paint to have a firm, steady grip on that paintbrush or that paint roller that's loaded with paint. Because what happens if you don't have a firm grip on it and you're brushing back and forth? Maybe you're trying to go really fast and that brush slips out of your hand. [00:04:17] You can guess the mess depending on where you're painting, what you're above. [00:04:22] That paint can go everywhere. It'd be quite the mess to clean up. [00:04:27] Maybe you've had a toddler that you were trying to teach to drink out of a cup. [00:04:32] And what do you tell them when you hand them the cup with, you know, maybe a quarter inch of milk in the bottom? [00:04:39] Hold tight, don't drop it, because otherwise it goes everywhere, right? [00:04:47] Imagine having a doctor who needed to do a procedure on you and he didn't have a firm grip on that scalpel. [00:04:56] That'd be a problem, right? [00:04:59] Well, in all of these cases, in increasing severity, maybe something bad happens when you don't have a nice firm grip on whatever this tool is that you're using, whether it's the paintbrush, the cup of milk, or the scalpel. Here Paul says that the elder needs to have a really firm grasp of. [00:05:22] He calls it the trustworthy word. We want to look at that this evening. This really last week. We looked at what we sometimes call the qualifications or requirements for the elder, that the elder or the overseer had to be a good steward of his family and a good steward of his own character. We saw how that was important, how the family and his relationships were like a training ground, learning to apply the gospel to others, also to himself in relationships and then in his own character, that he should demonstrate the fruit of the spirit, of a heart and life changed by the gospel. [00:06:00] Here Paul adds one final requirement, and it's not last but least, this requirement is also central to what it means to be an elder. He needs to have a firm grasp of sound doctrine or sound teaching. Right to teaching. [00:06:18] We'll look at this evening and how the elder needs to be someone who holds fast to sound doctrine. First, we'll look at what this sound doctrine is, this faithful or trustworthy word. [00:06:29] Secondly, we'll look at what it means for him to hold fast to it. [00:06:32] And thirdly, we'll look at how he is called to use doctrine. Why does he need to have a firm grip on sound doctrine? [00:06:41] So first, he needs to hold fast to sound doctrine. So what is sound doctrine doctrine? [00:06:48] Our verse, verse nine says that the elder must be someone who holds firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and to rebuke those who contradict it. In other words, sound doctrine. [00:07:07] He needs to hold fast to the trustworthy or faithful word. [00:07:12] What is the trustworthy or faithful word that he's to have a tight grip upon? [00:07:18] The word. [00:07:20] The short answer is the word that's referred to here is the idea of the message. The message or the teaching that they, the elders had received from Paul and Titus. [00:07:34] The Greek word for word, just like our English word for word can refer to a number of things. And here it's the idea of words, a message or a set of teachings, preachings that they had heard. [00:07:47] This is the thing he's to hold fast to is the things that they were taught. And you see that immediately. He immediately explains what it is that he needs to hold fast to. He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught. In other words, the word is the message that he was taught. [00:08:09] We could put it another way. This is the gospel. The gospel that Paul and Titus were preaching as they went around the island of Crete. [00:08:22] To show you again in context, another place that we've already looked at, we spent a lot of time looking at it earlier. [00:08:30] Where he uses the word word in the same way is back in verse three, in verse two and three, Paul's talking about the ministry of the gospel. In other words, the work of preachers, their aim, their goal as they preach, and the basis for the gospel ministry we saw in verse two and verse three is the hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before ages began. [00:09:02] The ground of the gospel is God's promise from all eternity that he would offer salvation to sinners, salvation and eternal life to sinners. That's the ground is the promise of salvation. [00:09:17] And then he says in verse three that this promise was at the proper time manifested in his word through the preaching with which I have been entrusted. [00:09:29] The word is the message in which the promise was proclaimed. In other words, the preaching of the gospel. That's what Paul has in view back here in verse three and again down here in verse nine. The trustworthy or faithful word which they were taught is the preaching of the promise of the gospel, the hope of eternal life that's offered to sinners by God in Christ Jesus. [00:09:58] That's the word, the message of the gospel which they were taught. They need to hold fast to it. And you can see this. If it's that message of the gospel that they're to hold fast to as they're holding fast to it, they will be able to instruct others in the thing that they hold fast to. And what does he say? That they're to instruct others? In verse 9, he must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine. Sound doctrine is the teachings based on the word that he's received. [00:10:34] The two are basically synonyms. Here in the verse. [00:10:38] The faithful, trustworthy, reliable word is the message of the gospel of salvation. [00:10:44] It's also sound doctrine. Doctrine is just an old word for teachings, the ideas, the things that Paul went around teaching. [00:10:54] And sound means that it's true, correct or right. [00:10:59] Paul uses these phrases all over his writings. [00:11:04] If you look at Timothy 1, 10, 11, Paul says something very similar to another pastor, Timothy, in the context he's describing a whole bunch of sins that Timothy should teach people to avoid and he himself should avoid. And at the end he says, there's all of these sins you need to stay away from. And then he says, if there is any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine, according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust, I received this message, the glorious gospel, and I went around teaching that rightly, the sound doctrine. [00:11:50] One more place where you see this, that the word, the sound doctrine is the message of the gospel. [00:11:56] Again, Paul Speaking to Timothy 2 Timothy, this time 1 verse 13. [00:12:02] Hold fast. There's that same word as in our text here. Hold fast the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me. [00:12:15] Sound words, sound doctrine. Right. Teaching the message of the truths of the gospel. That's what the elder is, to hold fast to the faithful, reliable word. Faithful and reliable because of who it comes from. [00:12:30] It comes from Jesus. Faithful and reliable because of who it leads to. [00:12:35] It leads to Jesus. [00:12:40] Sometimes we call this faithful word or trustworthy word. We call it the apostolic teaching. [00:12:50] The stuff, the Ideas that the 12 apostles and Paul, the 13th apostle to the Gentiles, the ideas that they went around teaching everywhere they went. [00:13:01] This doctrine or apostolic teaching we read about over and over again. In the early chapters of the book of Acts, when we read Acts 2 a few weeks ago, we read that the early Christians devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and to breaking of bread and to prayers. They were devoted to this sound doctrine that came from the apostles. Now eventually the apostles teaching came to be written down in the four Gospels, in the letters and so forth. And it became our new Testament. So what for the early church was the apostles teaching sound doctrine for Us that is now encapsulated, written down for us in the Bible. [00:13:48] So for us, it's not just apostolic teaching, it's biblical teaching from, for us, it now comes from the Bible. [00:13:58] Where did the apostles get it from? [00:14:01] Where did Peter, James and John, as they stood before the Sanhedrin, the Jewish rulers who had power to punish them pretty severely, where did they get this gospel? Why were they so bold in preaching in the face of men who opposed them, who they knew didn't want them to be talking about Jesus? Because they put Jesus to death, death on the cross. [00:14:23] Where did they get this teaching that was so powerful that they were willing to risk severe punishment, imprisonment, beatings, maybe even death? Eventually, they got it from Jesus. [00:14:35] For three years at least, they followed around after Jesus. They heard him preach many sermons. One of the largest of them we call the Sermon on the Mount. Matthew 5, 6 and 7. [00:14:46] Wonderful teaching from Jesus. [00:14:49] Jesus taught them for three long years. And then at the end, after he rose from the dead, he came and he saw them, visited them multiple times, and he continued teaching them. We read in Luke chapter 24 that he opened their minds to understand the Old Testament. And he opened their minds to see how all of the Old Testament taught about Jesus. So not only is the apostolic teaching of the Gospel we find in the New Testament that we know the apostles heard from Jesus own mouth, but the Gospel is also found in the Old Testament. It's the whole Bible. Whole 66 books contain this gospel, this sound doctrine. [00:15:35] And at the end, before Jesus went up into heaven, his last words were what? [00:15:42] Go make disciples of the nations, baptize them and teach them to observe all that I have commanded you. [00:15:51] The apostolic apostles and the pastors and elders who follow them are to continue teaching everything that Jesus had instructed them in, which was not just what becomes the New Testament, but the Old Testament. [00:16:06] So this doctrine, the sound doctrine, it's the gospel story, the truths of the gospel, it's what's found in the New Testament and the Old Testament that the apostles went around teaching. [00:16:19] It comes from Jesus. But if it comes from Jesus, that means something wonderful, something really amazing about this doctrine. [00:16:29] It's not just reliable and trustworthy the way maybe you have a good, reliable, trustworthy car that can get you from point A to point B, or maybe a reliable, trustworthy friend that you can depend on. [00:16:43] The trustworthiness of this doctrine goes far beyond earthly reliableness and trustworthiness because this doctrine is a heavenly doctrine. [00:16:53] Jesus came all the way from heaven down to earth to reveal this Doctrine to us. [00:17:00] He came to be the light of the world. He's the light that shone in the darkness to draw us out of the darkness and into the kingdom of heaven. [00:17:14] He says, I have come as the light of the world, that whoever believes in me should not abide in darkness, but he will have the light of life. [00:17:26] This doctrine is reliable and trustworthy because it leads to Jesus and through him to eternal life. No other teaching will do this. [00:17:36] People, you and I, not elders included, all of us, all of us were in darkness. And there's only one source of light that can reach us and draw us out. [00:17:48] It's the faithful, trustworthy word. [00:17:52] You are a sinner. [00:17:54] The gospel comes to you and tells you that you can be freed from your sins. [00:18:01] You are far from God. [00:18:04] The gospel proclaims to you Jesus is the way, the truth and the life, the way to the Father. [00:18:12] You are dead. The gospel comes to you and reveals to you that Jesus is the resurrection and the life. [00:18:22] You, not just elders, you need this faithful word, this sound doctrine, and you need to hold fast to it. [00:18:30] What does it look like to hold fast to sound doctrine? [00:18:35] The elder, Paul says whether he's the teaching elder, the pastor, or whether he's one of the elders who rule, the elder must be someone who holds fast to sound doctrine. What does that mean? He needs to be devoted to it. [00:18:51] He needs to be committed to sound doctrine, to. To the faithful word in a way that he's not committed to anything else in his life. [00:19:02] Think of it this way. [00:19:03] What else can lead you to eternal life? [00:19:07] Nothing. [00:19:10] Then if you can let go of anything else, sometimes you may have to. But this is the one thing you can never let go of. Now, that's true for every Christian. But Paul says it has to be especially true for the elder. He's got to have a firm grasp of sound doctrine. He needs to understand it, he needs to be believe it, and he needs to be devoted to it. [00:19:36] In fact, like the apostles, as we read about later in Acts, he needs to be willing to give his life for it. [00:19:44] John and Peter, they were beaten for holding fast to the sound doctrine, the gospel. [00:19:49] Later, James was put to death. [00:19:52] Peter and Paul, later in the story, there too are hauled before Caesar. And tradition tells us they too lost their lives because they held fast and would not give up the truths of the gospel. [00:20:08] So it's a devotion, this holding fast, more than just understanding assenting. There's a devotion, a firm commitment to it. [00:20:17] But it's more than just a firm commitment in holding Fast he has to have a firm conviction of it, an unwavering, unmoving conviction that the truths of the Gospel are right and that nothing can move him from that. [00:20:37] Paul describes how every Christian should be moving towards this kind of unwavering, unmoving conviction in the gospel. [00:20:48] In Ephesians 4:13, Paul says that the work of pastors and elders is to build up the saints through teaching, through teaching, this sound doctrine. And the result of believers coming more and more to understand and be convinced of the truths of sound doctrine is that we will all come to the unity of faith and the knowledge of the Son of God. The more we're taught, instructed, the more we come to know who Jesus is and to be settled in those beliefs. [00:21:21] He says that we come then, coming to this knowledge of the Son of God, we become a perfect man to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. That's what's supposed to be happening as we come more and more to understand and be convinced of the truths of who Jesus is and of what he's done for us, of our forgiveness in him and of eternal life in him. The result then is as we become perfect and complete in the knowledge of Christ. [00:21:48] He says that we should no longer be children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the trickery of man and the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting. [00:22:01] That those who don't yet aren't yet firmly gripped with the truths of the Gospel and aren't holding fast to it, Paul says they're blown about as they hear false teaching, as they hear errors, as people whisper untruths in their ears, they falter. They're led astray. [00:22:20] And Paul says that the teaching, the sound doctrine, is supposed to lead people to Christ so that they'll no longer be blown about, but they too will have an anchor, the anchor being the Lord Jesus, and not be blown about by false teaching. [00:22:38] So there's what we don't want in an elder, someone who's still like a child in the faith, blown about and being deceived. Rather, he holds fast. When false teaching comes, he knows the truth. And so when false teaching comes, he's not fazed by it. He recognizes it for what he is. He has the truth having sunk deep into his heart. He holds onto it clearly in his mind, and not just in his mind, but in his heart, because he believes it and he has a clear grasp of it. And so he's able to take that error that comes along and compare it side by side with the truth and say, nope, this isn't the real thing. It's a counterfeit. I know the truth. I have it firmly in my mind, and this isn't it. I can spot the problems, issues with it. And so when false doctrine comes, he's holding firmly to the truth. [00:23:38] Now, if you've been in the church for long enough, if you've known enough people, if you watch people come and come to faith as Christians, you've seen people who've had a zeal for doctrine, for teaching. [00:23:56] What Paul's talking about here and having a firm grasp of doctrine is not just a zeal for doctrine. It's not an emotional thing, primarily that he's referring to. Many Christians can have, especially early on in their faith, can have a great deal of emotion, emotional zeal for doctrine. They may spend many hours reading doctrinal books. [00:24:20] That's a good thing, right? We encourage that. Even people come and ask me questions. I say, go read this book, Go read that book. It's wonderful. Learn. Drink deeply from the fountain of Scripture and of theology. These are good things. [00:24:35] But sometimes there's much zeal. People learning rapidly, but they don't really have a firm grip on the truths of the gospel. [00:24:46] And as quickly as they dove into the fountain of theology, drinking deeply from it so quickly they get led astray from it because they didn't have a firm grasp of it. [00:24:58] A passion and zeal for theology is not the same thing as a man holding firmly, tightly to sound doctrine. [00:25:08] Now, how do you see then? How do you see that a man has a firm grasp on sound doctrine? [00:25:15] Well, I refer you first of all to last week's study. [00:25:20] If the man really has a firm grasp on sound doctrine, it's going to show up in his character, in his life, how he lives, because he knows the Gospel and it shapes how he thinks, how he treats others, how he treats his wife and his children. His family has been transformed because he has a firm grip on. On the truths of the gospel. So the first place you can look, does his life look like someone and something that's been changed by the gospel? [00:25:52] If it does, he's probably holding quite firmly to sound doctrine. [00:25:59] Secondly, this is where before we make someone a pastor or an elder, we examine him, that is, the guys who are already elders. The sit the man down and we ask him a bunch of questions. And you can ask Brother oftadal or Pastor Kjelbka. [00:26:17] The presbytery meeting that we had on Friday, we spent many hours examining, I think, four different Young men who were preparing to become pastors. Each of them, we spent about an hour asking them many questions about their understanding of the Gospel and of who God is and of the Bible. [00:26:36] We do similar things when we examine men and appoint them as ruling elders in the local church as well. [00:26:43] We examine the man carefully and we look to see, does he understand what the Bible is teaching about the nature of sin? [00:26:55] And does he understand God and his holiness and what the Bible teaches about that? And that the only way of salvation is through faith in Jesus Christ? [00:27:04] And can he take those truths and apply them to his own life? [00:27:09] What do you do when you fall into sin? [00:27:13] How do you pursue the Lord Jesus positively seeking to grow in your faith? Can you apply the truths of the Gospel in your life? And how would you do this with others? How have you counseled your children? How have you counseled other brothers and sisters that you've had the opportunity to minister the Lord Word to? [00:27:33] And we look to see, is he able to apply God's Word to those around him? And then we press him, we push him to see. [00:27:44] Are you willing? Do you confess and truly believe the uncomfortable things the Bible teaches? [00:27:50] The Bible talks not just about God's love, but his wrath. [00:27:56] Do you believe what the Bible teaches about how an eternal punishment? [00:28:01] And do you understand how that relates to Jesus and his dying on the cross? That's an important question. [00:28:08] Why does Jesus have to die on the cross? Why does the wrath of God have to be satisfied? Because our sin deserves the eternal weight of God's wrath forever in hell. Does he understand and believe these things? [00:28:22] And can he apply them in leading people to to faith and repentance? Does he understand the biblical teaching on sexual purity and how we live in a world that denies all of that and says, do whatever your heart says is right. [00:28:36] Follow your love for another man or another woman, whether he or she is your spouse or not. Do what your heart tells you to do. That's what's right. That's what the world says. [00:28:47] Do you think that's really what God says? Do you agree with the biblical teaching? We examine and press him on these sorts of things. [00:28:57] We look to see, does he hold fast to sound doctrine? Well, elders have to hold fast to sound doctrine, but so do all Christians. [00:29:07] Yes, you have to hold fast to sound doctrine to be an elder. But really all Christians are called to this. We saw from Ephesians 4. This is the goal of the pastoral ministry, is that you would mature in your understanding of. Of who Jesus is and of how he calls you to live before Him. [00:29:29] We explained that sound doctrine isn't just the apostles teaching. It isn't just things that are written down in the New Testament or in the Old Testament. Even sound doctrine is Jesus teaching. If you're a Christian, that means you're a disciple, a follower of Jesus. [00:29:46] He's your master, he's your teacher, He's. He's your king. Which means sound doctrine is for you because it comes from Jesus to you. [00:29:56] If you're Jesus disciple, you must cling to Jesus teaching to his Gospel and cling to it with all your might. [00:30:05] You are to believe, and not just to believe, but out of that trust in the word of God that it's right and good, you're to obey it and to seek to live your life according to it. [00:30:16] Why? [00:30:17] Because it's His Word. It's the Master's word. [00:30:20] So to hold fast to sound doctrine is a beautiful thing. It's a wonderful thing. And the result is that your life will grow and change. And the people around you who you serve, whether you're elder or not, they're going to grow and change from the truths of the Gospel as you live them and apply them. [00:30:41] And you need to hold fast to sound doctrine. [00:30:44] Not just because it's nice, not just because it's good and true. Those are all good things. [00:30:51] But you need to hold fast to sound doctrine because it's the gospel, it's the good news. And as you hold fast to the gospel and the good news, you are holding fast not just to words on a page, but this is how you hold fast to the Lord Jesus Christ himself. [00:31:10] It's his words, his revelation of himself to you. Holding fast to sound doctrine really means holding fast to Jesus. [00:31:22] Sound doctrine isn't just to be held fast. It's held fast for a reason, because it needs to be used. Elders need to know how to use this stuff. We've talked a little bit about that already. And we should be able to see when we examine an elder that he. He's able to use it. [00:31:39] How should he use it? Imagine a surgeon, you go to get a surgery. We've had some people in our church recently, hip replacement, sinus surgery, facial surgery, Right? [00:31:52] Imagine you go to see a surgeon and you ask the surgeon, now, where were you trained? And he tells you, his medical school. He says, yeah, I went through four years of medical school and I read all these books. And you say, and how many people have you operated on? He says, well, I haven't done that yet. [00:32:13] I haven't done that yet. [00:32:15] How would you feel. [00:32:16] How would you feel about a surgeon who doesn't know what the inside of the human body looks like? [00:32:24] He needs to go in and take out your sick gallbladder, but he doesn't know where it is. I know where it is in a book, but I've never actually cut someone open and looked for the gallbladder and found it. And that sounds a little disgusting, but maybe it gets the point here. [00:32:38] Sound doctrine isn't just meant to be understood. [00:32:41] It's given to us and to elders, in this case, so that it would be used and used well and used skillfully so that when you come to your elder, like you come to the surgeon and you say, no, what's your training? He says, well, not only do I know, because I've studied lots about the human body and how it works and how surgery works. I've done this a bunch of times, and I can tell you where the gallbladder is. It's behind this organ and it's next to the liver. And here's how I get to it. [00:33:12] Now, I wouldn't want to ask a surgeon all of those details before I went in to get my gallbladder removed. I wouldn't want to know. [00:33:19] But we want elders who are able to use the gospel and to use it well for our benefit. [00:33:28] An elder who doesn't hold fast and doesn't know how to use the gospel is like a doctor unfamiliar with the human body because he's never been inside it. It's a problem. [00:33:41] There's two parts to the work, two ways in which Paul says he is to use sound doctrine. And both of them rely on a careful knowledge and a firm grip, like that firm grip on the scalpel or the paintbrush. On sound doctrine. He says he needs to be able to instruct in sound doctrine and to rebuke those who contradict it. [00:34:05] The first part instructing or exhorting in sound doctrine. [00:34:10] We could divide this into two further parts. He needs to have some ability to take this truths of the gospel and teach others who he teaching well. First of all, think about Paul and Titus and their ministry. They came to Crete and they went around and they found pagans who were willing to listen to them talk about this Jesus who came to save sinners. [00:34:33] So first of all, the elder, whether he's the pastor or a ruling elder, he needs to be able to explain the gospel to people who don't know it, people who've never heard of, about God and the way of salvation and about their sins. [00:34:49] He needs to be able to take and apply the truths of the Gospel to pagan hearts. [00:34:58] Secondly, he needs to be able to exhort, instruct and build up people who are already Christians, whether they're new baby Christians or whether they're people who've been Christians for a long time. [00:35:10] God's given pastors, of course, in our weekly pulpit, preaching like this, but also ruling elders, all of us in private, in one on one discipleship, to provide instruction to Christians. What does that look like? [00:35:24] An elder needs to be able to take the truths of the Gospel and apply them to the lives of Christians. [00:35:31] Maybe someone comes to an elder or pastor and he says, pastor, elder, so? And so I'm really struggling with sin and it's really discouraging me and I don't know what to do about it. [00:35:47] Maybe it's a pretty serious sin. [00:35:49] We need to be able to sit down with him and open the Bible with him and explain to him how that applies to him. [00:35:59] And we need to understand that the Bible addresses sinners in various stages. [00:36:06] Obviously, anyone who's struggling with sin needs to repent and turn to Christ. But that sinner, that person who is struggling with this sin may be in a different place. [00:36:17] Perhaps he's sinning and he says, I really like it and my problem is in repenting. My problem with this sin is that I'm having trouble giving it up. [00:36:33] Now we need, then the elder needs to know how to take the truths of the Gospel and say, now what you need here is to come face to face with God in his goodness and his holiness. You need to see how God is good and how wonderful God is, and compare that with this miserable sin that you've given yourself over to. [00:36:56] God has so much goodness for you to offer you, and yet you give yourself over to whatever this is. Greed, covetousness, lust, this miserable, wretched thing. Do you see how awful your sin is compared to God and His goodness? [00:37:13] And then do you see his holiness and how his holiness demands that you put away that impurity? [00:37:21] And that might be the beginning place for one Christian who's struggling with his sin. But maybe a different Christian comes along and he says, pastor, I'm struggling with my sin and if I start in the same place, it might not be quite the right place for him to start. Now we all need to hear about God's goodness and his holiness. But maybe this believer says, I know my sin, I know how awful it is, but I feel stuck in my guilt and my shame and I'm not doing that sin anymore. But, Pastor, how do I feel right again with God? [00:38:01] Well, that believer's in a different place. And so I take him to other scriptures where I can show him the mercy of God in Christ, the compassion and the love of God for guilty sinners. [00:38:14] And of course, both of them then need to be led through the process of repentance, ultimately to faith in Jesus Christ. And that beautiful vision of we heard this morning of Christ and how he satisfied everything for us. That's why we can turn and repent is because Jesus has secured forgiveness and righteousness, our justification. [00:38:38] So he. He needs to know how to use this doctrine to build up believers in the Lord. He also, Paul says, needs to know how to rebuke those who contradict. [00:38:50] What's this talking about? Well, we read the next few verses so you would have some context. This is talking about people who come either from outside the church or who arise sometimes within the church and who are directly teaching against the gospel. [00:39:08] Sometimes they're outside the church, sometimes they're in the church. [00:39:11] If you read the next verses, you see some of them are just out there in society. [00:39:16] Some of them are Jews who are speaking against the Christian church. [00:39:20] Paul says pastors and elders need to be able to answer attacks against the Gospel. [00:39:28] And if you look at verse 13 and 14, he says, therefore rebuke them sharply that they may be sound in the faith. [00:39:38] The goal of this answering the objections to the Gospel isn't just to show that they're wrong. [00:39:46] It's to bring them to the truth. [00:39:51] In Paul's day, most of the opposition, as you read through the Book of Acts, you read through Paul's letters, most of the opposition to the Gospel comes from Jewish Judaizers, Jews who are trying to get people back to the Jewish faith and oppose the Gospel, or Judaizing Christians who are teaching a false gospel. [00:40:12] You see this in Acts 28:22. The Jews came to Paul imprisoned at Rome, and they say, we desire to hear from you what you think for concerning this sect, meaning Christianity. We know that it is spoken against everywhere in our day. The truth of the Gospel is spoken against everywhere. It is all over the place. [00:40:36] The Mormons teach that they are Christians. They claim to be the church, and they claim that there are many gods, not just one God. The Father, they say, is God. The Son is a separate God. Jesus is a different God. And then all of you will one day become gods too. [00:40:56] The Mormons teach that there are many gods very clearly contrary to the truth of the Gospel. This is that there's one God and one mediator between God and man. [00:41:05] Christ Jesus. [00:41:07] Jehovah's Witnesses also claim to be Christians. And they go around just like the Mormons knocking on our doors. And they too teach against the gospel. [00:41:18] They teach that Jesus is also a second God, just like the Mormons, that he's not truly and fully God. [00:41:27] The Roman Catholic Church, even more twisted in a way. [00:41:32] They teach one God and three persons. They're sound on the Trinity, they're sound that Jesus is the Son of God. But they teach that you need to earn your salvation. And the Eastern Orthodox Church teaches basically the same thing. And both of those churches claim to be Christians, but they lead their people in all kinds of rank idolatry, worshiping of images of saints and of Mary, and then you could keep going. [00:41:59] In the so called evangelical Christianity here in America, there's all sorts of error, some very serious error. We mentioned denying the eternal wrath of God, denying that there's hell. [00:42:13] People have been teaching that for a number of years in the guise of true Christianity, evangelical Christianity, and all sorts of problems go along with that everywhere we look. If you're serving as an elder, you are faced with people who oppose the truth. They come in all forms, shapes, colors, sizes. [00:42:34] And the elder has to have such a firm grasp and understanding of the truth that he can sift out these errors and not just oppose them, but work to convince and convict those in error or those being led astray. Sheep being led astray back to the truth. We have in this verse really a summary of the whole of the pastoral ministry teaching against error and leading sheep back, as well as the building up of believers and the bringing in of the lost to faith in Christ. [00:43:08] You can see why holding fast to sound doctrine and unwavering commitment to the truths of the Gospel isn't just something Paul tacks on to the end of this list of of requirements. But it's a primary requirement for someone to serve as an elder in Christ's church. [00:43:29] The elder needs to hold fast to the faithful Word because he holds fast to Jesus, the Word of God, the Son of God. [00:43:40] And if he holds fast to Jesus, he will be able to lead others to Jesus. [00:43:46] So what do you do with all of this? We've kind of interspersed all sorts of applications throughout. [00:43:53] I'll leave you with two thoughts. [00:43:56] One, pray for your pastors and your elders. [00:44:02] Pray that we would not be led astray. [00:44:04] Pray that the truths of the Gospel would sink deep into our hearts. Pray that we would reach for these truths which when we come to minister to you and pray that the Lord Jesus would raise up and prepare other men in our congregation to serve as elders and pastors. [00:44:23] So pray. [00:44:25] And secondly, consider deeply the truths of the gospel. [00:44:32] Think deeply about these things. [00:44:35] Meditate every day. Do you have some time on your hands? Are you doing the dishes? Are you driving to work? [00:44:42] Are you tempted to flip on the radio or flip on the TV and watch a TV show? Say, wait a minute, I can take some time to think about who Jesus is. [00:44:52] I can take some time to think about the events of my day and my struggles and my problems and say, how does the good news relate to these things? How does it encourage me? How does this call me to repentance or to greater faith in the Lord Jesus? [00:45:08] Ponder Jesus throughout life and you'll be led to hold fast to him. And hold fast to him because he's the only name under heaven by which you can be saved. Let's pray. [00:45:20] Our great God and our King, we thank you that you work through your word, that it's like gospel sunshine, shining brighter than the sun. [00:45:33] Not just when it's preached or when we speak it to one another, but even when we open your word and meditate on it in private. [00:45:41] Everywhere your word goes forth, it shines brightly, O God. We ask that it would shine brightly in our hearts, illuminating our errors, sin leading us in the way of righteousness and truth, and most especially leading us to Jesus, the way, the truth and the life that through him we might be led to the Father. [00:46:03] Help us, O Lord. [00:46:05] Grant us and bless us as a church with men who hold fast to Jesus and who hold fast to his teaching, that we, through their ministry might be blessed. We ask especially that you would raise up new elders and deacons and pastors from our midst to serve your flock here, that we might be blessed and we might work together as one body, being knit together in love, being those who mature and become a perfect man, one whole body that stands up, no longer deceived or blown about by error, but one that knows who Jesus is and follows him together. [00:46:45] To your glory we ask. Amen.