Preached in June, 1890.
(Taken down by a Hearer.)
THIS epistle to Titus differs from most of Paul’s epistles in this, that it dwells more upon the practical duties of the Christian life than upon Christian doctrine. Paul usually lays down first the foundation of gospel doctrine in his epistles, and then makes application of it, showing what the effects of it ought to be in the life and conversation of believers. This epistle to Titus is mostly practical, except a few verses in the middle of the passage I have read. Now, we may account for this by the circumstances of the case. Titus was the minister of the Christian Church in the island of Crete, lately gathered from among the heathen population of that island. Now, the people of Crete had a very bad character; indeed, so much so that their name had become a proverb for wickedness. They were “evil beasts, slow bellies,” and this witness, Paul says, is true. They were noted for falsehood, treachery, drunkenness, bloody cruelty, and a host of other evils. And, indeed, the island of Crete has the same character to this day. Although a great part of the population consists of Greeks of the Greek Church, they still maintain a bad character among their neighbours for rebelliousness and cruelty. And hence the Christian Church being newly gathered here, it was needful that the new converts should be instructed in the practical duties of the Christian life. This was the purpose of this epistle written to Titus.
Paul exhorts Titus in this epistle—in this chapter—to teach them obedience to lawful authority, the authority of their magistrates. He exhorts him to teach them the duty of meekness and kindness towards all men—the very opposite of their naturally fierce and untame spirit—and you will see that he urges this upon Christians by the mercy and kindness that they had received from God. They who were once no better than the rude heathen around them, had received great mercy from God when He opened their eyes and gave them the Christian faith. And therefore he urges them to show mercy and kindness unto all others for the Lord’s sake, saying, “For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. But after that the kindness and love of God, our Saviour, toward man 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,”—and all Christians have to say the same thing—”which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ, our Saviour; that, being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” He thus bids Titus to exhort them, by the mercies of God, to walk in a Christian spirit toward all men.
Now, there are several things to be noticed in these verses.
I.—In the first place, in these verses (from the fourth down to the seventh) the apostle gives a summary of the gospel way of salvation—the way by which sinners are made partakers of eternal life.
(1) He shows, first, that the author of salvation is God the Father, and He is therefore called here “God our Saviour.”
This must refer to the Father, because it is also said, in the seventh verse, that He shed the Holy Ghost “through Jesus Christ our Saviour.” The Father is the fountain of all being and the fountain of all blessing. Paul says in another place, “There is one God, even the Father, of whom are all things, and we by him.” And again he says, in 2 Cor. iv., “All things are of God,”—all things that are in the new creation as well as all things that are in the old. The Father is the author of all things, and Jesus Christ is the executor of the Father’s will, both in the old and new creation. “All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made.” God the Father is here called “our Saviour,” and His kindness appears in the acting of Jesus Christ, who is the beginning and the ending—the Alpha and Omega—of all things. He is the Father of Christ, and in Him He is the Father of all mercy and the Father of all believers. Well, that is the first truth contained in the passage.
(2) The next truth set before us—and remember this is the sum of the gospel which Paul calls to mind as what ought to influence the Grecian believers in leading a quiet, peaceful, Christian life—is that the kindness and love of God the Father toward men is the original moving cause of salvation—the love of God independent of anything else.
There was in them, by nature, everything that should alienate God from them, but this love of His surmounted all obstacles. It was sovereign, free, everlasting; the moving, the original, cause of their salvation, when they had destroyed themselves and when they were ready to perish eternally. When there was no eye to pity and no hand to help them, He looked on them in pity and in love. He said, “When I passed by thee and saw thee polluted in thine own blood, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live, . . . behold thy time was the time of love.” His justice demanded destruction; His mercy pleaded for salvation. And this is the case in regard to every sinner. The justice of God cries aloud, O sinner, for your destruction, and if God was strict to mark iniquity, you could not stand. It’s of God’s mercy that you are not cast into outer darkness. His justice cried aloud for their destruction; His mercy pleaded for their salvation. The Lord’s mercy pleads for sinners, as in the case of Israel of old, when He said, by Hosea, the prophet, “How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? How shall I deliver thee, Israel?” His heart was turned within Him. And O, how unwilling is He to destroy the sinner! With what longsuffering He bears with them, if so be they will repent and turn to Him that they may be saved. “All day long have I stretched forth my hands to a disobedient and gainsaying people.” But “how shall I give thee up, Ephraim?” “As I live, saith the Lord, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked should turn and live.” His mercy and kindness are free and sovereign. There is nothing in the creature to merit mercy, and indeed it would seem, to man’s limited reason, that nothing could intervene between justice and him. But the wisdom of God knew how to reconcile justice and mercy. Mercy and truth are met together, righteousness and peace embrace each other, in the cross of Christ. All the attributes of God are thereby glorified. The mercy of God is glorified in that His anger is turned away from them. The infinite wisdom of God reconciles justice and mercy in salvation, and therefore He can say without injury to His justice, “Deliver from going down to the pit; I have found a ransom.” This is one of the leading fundamental doctrines of the gospel.
(3) Further, this reconciliation was made by the obedience and death of the Lord Jesus.
That was the only channel by which the Father’s mercy could reach a perishing world, and therefore Christ is called the mercy promised of the Father—the mercy in whom are all mercies comprehended, “the seed of the woman” who was to “bruise the head of the serpent.” Now, this kindness and love of God appeared to the world in the coming of Christ. It was no doubt foreshadowed by many rites and ceremonies, and foretold by many prophets, but it appeared to the world in reality in the coming of Christ, and it is now revealed unto all who have the gospel in the Word of truth—the only hope of the sinner. The sovereign mercy and kindness of God is the original cause of their salvation, and the instrumental means ordained by God for that end is the gospel.
This love and mercy of God, apprehended by faith, has power to change the nature of the sinner. It is the love of God with power that constrains the heart to love the Lord. This has power to change the whole current of the soul; to make him hate what he loves by nature, and to love what he hates; to turn the heart of stone into a heart of flesh; to subdue the rebellious will, and to make the sinner hunger and thirst after righteousness and after the Word of God. “As new-born babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby; if so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.” That is just to apprehend by faith the kindness and love of God in sending His only-begotten Son to die for them in their room. This has power to make the sinner willing to be saved in God’s way, and saved that he may be to the glory of God and may renounce all glorying in himself.
Now, Paul here excludes all works by men as a means of salvation. “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us.” This is the deadly error that men are ready to fall into—substituting their own righteousness for Christ’s. This is the great error by which the Jewish nation fell. “Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness. Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law.” They stumbled at the sufferings of Christ. They said, “He saved others, but himself he cannot save.” “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy.” All the steps of their salvation from first to last come from God’s mercy and kindness and love in Christ. Their election is from His mercy; their effectual calling is from His mercy; their justification and sanctification, and glorification at last, are all from His mercy.
(4) The next doctrine that is contained in this passage is that the application of the salvation that is in Christ unto the souls of men, is by the regeneration or renewing of the Holy Ghost.
The Holy Spirit is the executor of Christ’s will and testament. It is He who applies salvation unto the soul. All merit in the sinner is excluded by the merit of Christ, and all power in the sinner is excluded by the power of the Holy Ghost. There is no power of man at work in their regeneration, as there was no power of man at work in their redemption. It is the power of the Holy Ghost alone that applies this redemption to the soul. They are saved by the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost. Man has nothing to glory of. “By grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.” And what is the end of all we are also told. It is “that being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” That is the end of the whole.
Now, it is by this gospel of salvation—these doctrines we have been considering—that the love of God, manifested in the work of Christ, is applied unto the soul by the faith which is of the operation of the Spirit. It is of these doctrines that Paul says in the eighth verse—”This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men.” The literal meaning of the word here rendered “saying” is “messenger.” “This is a faithful messenger.” These are the foundation truths of the gospel. This is the true doctrine of Christianity, taught by Christ Himself and by His Spirit to the apostles—the very truth of God. It came from heaven, and it leads to heaven the soul that receives it by faith, and by it alone can sinners find rest to their souls. The apostle exhorts Titus to preach these doctrines—first, of the love of God as the foundation of all salvation; of the death of Christ as the channel of regeneration; and of the Holy Spirit as the only agent by whom salvation is applied unto the soul.
II.—“These things I will that thou affirm constantly.”
Why did he insist so much upon the preaching of these doctrines? It was because the apostle foresaw that times were coming when these doctrines would be denied and opposed by many; and therefore he would have Titus—and not only Titus, but every minister of the gospel—to preach these doctrines, and to do so “constantly.”
Now, these doctrines are opposed through the love of sin and the love of the world that run by nature in men’s hearts, leading them to rebel against God’s authority, and to follow their own deceitful lusts. The gospel warns men to abstain from all evil, and to crucify the flesh with its affections and lusts, but men are so wedded to their own sins that they will not obey these commands. They trample them under their feet and oppose them by the pride of their hearts—the pride whereby they think they are wiser than God—and they refuse His truth and embrace the devil’s error, like our first father, Adam, and fall as he did. God said, “In the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die.” The devil said they would not, but would be as gods, and they believed the devil. They rejected God’s truth and embraced the devil’s error, and, in consequence, they died: the threatened judgment came upon them. And this is just what men do to this day; and especially, the Apostle Peter tells us, that in the last days there shall come seducers and false teachers, who shall bring in damnable heresies. And they not only reject the truth of these coming events that are prophesied, but they reject the saving doctrines of the Word, and especially these fundamental doctrines that the apostle mentions in these four verses, and which he desires might be constantly affirmed. “Let them be the burden of your exhortation,” he says. These leading doctrines are the doctrines which we see impugned all over the world at the present day—in our own land as well as elsewhere.
Now, we may learn a few important truths here.
(1) Seeing that the gospel is the revelation from God, and that God is the God of truth, who cannot lie, surely it should be held fast and firm constantly by all who love the truth.
The word “constantly” has a wide meaning in the Greek; it not only signifies here “constantly,” but also “confidently,” “strongly,” “positively.” “These things I will that thou affirm positively.” That was the way in which Paul preached the gospel. He did not speak doubtfully about these doctrines, and express them in ambiguous terms. He says in another place, “Though we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.” Paul himself was an example of what he exhorted Titus to do. He constantly asserted the doctrines of grace. The doctrines that are contained in these verses he asserted at all times, for they are the fundamental doctrines of Christianity. And we might also include that of man’s misery—the sin and misery of man and God’s mercy in Christ—Christ’s divinity and Christ’s atoning sacrifice—which all, through grace, are applied to the heart of the sinner by the work of the Holy Spirit, whereby he obtains a sure hope of the inheritance of eternal life. All these doctrines are in these passages. “This is a faithful messenger, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly.”
It is dishonouring to God and to the gospel if these things are not affirmed constantly and strongly, whether men like them or not, or whether they be agreeable to the spirit of the age or not. In Paul’s time there was great opposition to the gospel of Christ, and so it has been in every age, and it is strongly in our own time. But this only made the apostle the more resolute in declaring the truth. The more it was opposed, the more resolute he became. He was just like David when he said, “They have made void thy law, therefore I love thy precepts above gold.” When the Word of God is depreciated by the world then it is the more precious to those who love it. “This is a faithful saying,” a faithful “messenger,” and surely it is the messenger’s business to deliver, constantly and positively, whatever message God has sent by him. It is not a message from man but from God, and he must therefore faithfully deliver the message of God. “Speak the words that I command thee.” This was the great rule with Moses—”according to all that the Lord commanded him,” so he did; and Moses could not have higher praise than that “he was faithful in all his house as a servant.” But Christ was faithful “as a son over his own house.”
(2) Now, the doctrine here is this, that the faithful preaching of the gospel is the true foundation of Christian practice.
Paul would have Titus affirm constantly the doctrines of grace and salvation, salvation by the sovereign mercy of God through the work of Christ, and the regenerating work of the Spirit, in order that “they who have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works.” God’s kindness and love is the great motive-power for making sinners love Him. Paul shows them all the kindness that God had done for them in providing for their salvation, and now he says: “Put them in mind of this kindness of God, that they may be careful to maintain good works, that they may say, What shall I render to the Lord for all His mercies towards me?” The doctrine implied in it is, that good principles are the roots of good practices. Christ says, “Make the tree good,” and his fruit shall then be good. A bad tree cannot bring forth good fruit, neither can a good tree bring forth corrupt fruit. Every tree is known by its fruit. Well, these gospel principles, truly received into the heart, will bring forth a holy life, but unsound doctrines will bring forth an unholy life; that necessarily follows. “Men do not gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles.” We may be assured that the man whose faith is not sound gospel faith, receiving and resting upon the gospel of God’s grace, is far from Christ. The man who embraces these doctrines will bring forth good fruit, but in him who rejects them we look for nothing but an unholy life, whether seen of men or not, and this the Word tells plainly: “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.”
Now, the grace of the gospel acts upon the whole life of man, his personal life, his social life among his neighbours, his religious life, and all his acts of worship. It will influence his mind in giving a right direction to his strongest motives, towards himself, towards his neighbour, and towards God. And this is set before us so clearly that he who runs may read, and that a child may understand it. The gospel contains the rules that the Holy Spirit gives for the leading of a Christian life, and provides the strongest motives to do so. All other motives appeal to man as a short-lived creature of time, but the gospel appeals to him as an immortal who shall live throughout eternity. It appeals to the heart by the love of Christ. Paul says, “The love of Christ constraineth us.” It appeals to the heart by the hope of glory. “Everyone that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.” He that hath the hope of eternal glory will be labouring to purify his heart and life, in order that he may be made meet for that glory. And the gospel also appeals to him by the fear of the great day of judgment, as the apostle says: “Seeing ye look for such things, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness.”
Apart from the gospel a man has no such motives to live a holy life. The motives he has apart from the gospel are—to make the most he can of this present life; to eat and drink, just like the rich man who said, “Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry”; or like him who saith, “I shall have peace, though I walk in the imagination of mine heart, to add drunkenness to thirst.” They have no higher motives than to make the most of their short time, for they have no hope beyond it. The motives that the gospel brings are towards the enjoyment of eternal life. It will be altogether in vain, therefore, to say to the worldly man, “O, be good, be holy”—altogether in vain until the gospel enters into his heart. Therefore says the apostle, “These things teach and exhort; these great truths I am speaking of are good and profitable unto men.” That is, they are good for enlightening them, for renewing them, for sanctifying them, for leading their affections to the things that are above, and for purifying their life on earth.
Then there are some other things mentioned in the ninth verse. “But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law, for they are unprofitable and vain.” They are unprofitable; they will have no effect in converting his soul or sanctifying his life, and it does not matter whether these speculations are true or not, because they will have no effect upon the heart.
These doctrines of grace are the only things in the universe that will have a saving effect on man’s life. And it is the strong love of God in all that He has done in the work of salvation that constrains the soul to love God.
(3) Now, there is another doctrine in this passage. The trial of men’s faith is their practice.
“These things I will that thou affirm constantly”—and what is the end of it? “That they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works.” In them who have no faith you need not look for good works, but from them who have it, you may expect such. This is the general doctrine of the passage, that the proof of men’s faith is the practice; and this is what Christ means when He says: “By their fruits ye shall know them;” and what James says: “Faith without works is dead;” and what the apostle says here: “Be careful to maintain good works.” The fruits of faith are to subdue the heart, and to keep the commandments of God, or, in other words, to lead a holy life, to lead the life of Christ, who went about continually doing good. We may say, then, that all those works that are done from the love of Christ are good works. If we only give a halfpenny to a beggar, or a cup of cold water, in the name of Christ, it is a good work. If you act as a faithful servant to your master, your believing, hearing, and obeying in that capacity are all good works, and are accepted of Him. Everything that you do or can do from the love of Christ is a good work, not merely the acts of religion, but works in all other lawful capacities. You may see these, if you turn to Titus, second chapter: “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 to 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 soberminded. In all things showing thyself a pattern of good works; in doctrine showing uncorruption, 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.” These are the good works. Men would think little of any of them, but they are precious in God’s sight. When they come from the right motive, when they come from reverence for His authority and His Word, and from the influence of the love of God in Christ, the man who does them shows his faith by his works.
It is a great reproach when worldly men go beyond professing Christians in some of these things; when worldly men, for example, are more charitable to some benevolent object than they are. It is a reproach to the cause of Christ when worldly men can say to professing Christians, “Thou hast faith and I have works; show me thy faith without thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works.” This is a reproach that the world takes up against the work of Christ. It has sometimes a great handle of this kind against the Church of Christ.
(4) Therefore we may say, in the last place, that it is a great and indispensable duty of all Christians to “be careful to maintain good works,” and to make it a special business.
It is their duty to hold fast the doctrines of grace, and to hold frequent meditation upon them, as they are the root and spring of all good works—the great love and kindness of God in the gift of Christ, the love of Christ in giving Himself to be an offering and sacrifice, and the great love of the Holy Spirit in condescending to come and deal with them and to make application to their souls of the redemption that is in Christ. This is the spring of good works—a living faith in God’s gospel truths, frequent meditation upon them, and a constant resolution, by the grace of God, to work according to these doctrines.
Blessed is the man whose delight is in the law of God, and who meditates thereon day and night; “he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.” O, what mercies follow upon a living faith and a holy life! Such men shall lack no good thing. He shall make all things work together for their good. Goodness and mercy shall follow them all the days of their life, and they shall “dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.”