Expectations for Younger Men | Titus 2:6-8

I want to start this morning by doing something

I almost never do, but it actually makes sense

for today's message. I'm going to recommend a

book to you guys. And not just any book, but

a book that's written by one of the great men

of the faith and not all that long ago. Every

once in a while, you'll hear me quote or cite

this man, J .C. Ryle. And sometimes I forget

that not everybody in the body is as much of

a church history nerd as I am. So sometimes I

just quote guys and expect you to know. But let

me take just a moment this morning to introduce

him to you and to introduce to you one of the

great books that he has written that's still

in print today. J .C. Ryle was a brilliant scholar

at Oxford in 19th century England. He originally

thought about studying law and going into politics.

In fact, at one time in his life, he intended

to run for parliament, but financial problems

forced him to take another path into the ministry,

and he was ordained in the Church of England

as a minister and preacher of the gospel. Over

a career of almost 60 years in the pulpit, 60

years, he pastored churches in Winchester, Suffolk,

and Liverpool. He wrote more than 200 books and

gospel tracks during his life that had a circulation

of millions in both the UK and America. He married

three times and was widowed three times. So you

can imagine the amount of suffering that he endured

in his life. marriage relationships. And as for

his final days, Ryle finally retired from his

pulpit at the age of 82 and died less than two

years later at the very turn of the century in

the year 1900. Now, as you might have guessed,

he and Spurgeon were contemporaries and they

were friends. And even though Spurgeon was a

Baptist and Spurgeon jokingly chided him for

remaining in the Church of England, They spoke

highly of each other. In fact, Spurgeon called

Ryle an evangelical champion and one of the bravest

and best of men. And Ryle wrote that he admired

Spurgeon's sermons so much that he often studied

them during the week for their clarity and effectiveness.

And in the year 1865, when he was approaching

the age of 50, about to become an older man,

Ryle stopped and wrote a book titled Thoughts

for Young Men. Thoughts for Young Men. And this

is the book I would highly recommend to anybody

here this morning who is a young man in our congregation.

It's not a long book. It's less than 100 pages

long, but incredibly insightful and very, very

practical. So I thought as a lead -in to our

time in Titus this morning, I'd share just a

few of his, I think, brilliant general insights

for young men. I'll give you just three of them.

Number one, he says that death and judgment are

not far away. and that young men seem not to

be aware of this. I think that's true. And he

writes that to combat the common idea that when

you're young, you can just go out and live with

abandon with no repercussions whatsoever. But

that is far from true, and an older man can tell

you that that is true. No matter how strong and

healthy you feel in this stage of life, you are

not invincible, nor are you impervious. to the

possibility of dying and he cites ecclesiastes

Ecclesiastes 11:9

chapter 11 verse 9 that says this rejoice young

man while you're young and let your heart be

glad during the days of young manhood follow

the impulses of your heart and the desire of

your eyes yet yet know that god will bring you

to judgment for all of these things like all

men even when you're young your days are a mist

that comes Therefore, Ryle says, don't wait until

later in life to get serious about spiritual

matters. That's good advice. Second thing, what

young men will be depends on what they are now.

And they seem to forget this, Ryle says. Youth

is the planting time of full age, he says. Think

about that. This is the planting time of your

older age. Both good and bad have deep roots.

And you're developing them right now, young men.

And once sin is allowed to settle in your heart,

change becomes more and more difficult. Here's

a great quote from the book. He says, custom

becomes second nature and its chains are not

easily broken. Habits are like stones rolling

downhill. The further they roll, the faster and

more ungovernable is their course. So he says

today, young men, today is the day to put off

sin. Just a third thing. The devil uses special

diligence to destroy the souls of young men and

they don't seem to know it. Satan knows all too

well who exactly is going to make up the next

generation of Christ worshipers and therefore

he employs every trick in his book to cause you

to stumble. So don't be ignorant of his schemes.

Again, quoting Ryle, young men, you are those

on whom he puts his choicest temptations. He

spreads his net with the most watchful carefulness

to entangle your hearts. He baits his trap with

the sweetest morsels to bring you under his power.

He displays his wares in order to make you buy

his sugared poison. So what the devil does is

he dresses up sin, but he never tells you anything

about the sting that comes later. He promises

everything but delivers only pain, sorrow, and

regret. So just as a closing to our intro this

morning, Ryle writes this, young men, young men,

I wish you could know the comfort of having a

conscience that is not burdened with a long list

of youthful sins. Be merciful to yourselves.

Seek the Lord early so that you will be spared

many a bitter tear. Let's dive in. Grab your

Bibles. We're going to Titus chapter 2. Titus

Titus 2 · chapter mention Titus 2 · chapter mention

chapter 2. So we're in our fourth and final message

in this little series within a series addressing

God's expectations for four different categories

of people in the church. We have talked about,

first of all, older men, and then we addressed

older women, and then last Sunday, younger women,

and today it's the young guys that are up to

bat. By the way, when we arrived in chapter two

a number of weeks ago, of the four messages,

this is the one I was most looking forward to

preaching, primarily because it's so badly needed

in the church today, but also a moment of transparency.

I'm convinced that God has used much of my own

foolishness as a young man to sort of put me

in this moment here today. And this is one of

the things that age teaches you. You look back

and you look at all of your foolish mistakes,

and by the grace of God, you've survived. But

regret happens often. And so it gives me a chance

to stand up here and equip me to sort of warn

you guys and also encourage you in the Lord.

So I'm grateful that he's given me a platform

to do this. All right, let's back up to verse

1. Let's read this whole section, verses 1 through

8, which, by the way, the theme has been all

along. How can we develop into a healthy body

and a beautiful bride? one that displays the

splendor of Christ to a watching world. All four

categories of believers in this section have

a responsibility to be a part of that great vision.

Verse 1 says, Older men are to be temperate,

dignified, sensible, sound in faith, in love,

in perseverance. Older women. Okay, man, you

know, that was the moment. The woo -hoos are

so, you guys are the loudest group in the church.

Come on now. Let me say it again. Older women.

Likewise are to be reverent in their behavior.

Was that reverent? Yeah, that was reverent. That's

okay, that's good. Reverent in their behavior,

not malicious gossips nor enslaved to much wine,

teaching what is good so that they may encourage

the young women. Give them time. Give them years.

They'll get better at that. Encourage the young

women to love their husbands, to love their children,

to be sensible, pure, workers at home, kind,

being subject to their own husbands so that the

word of God will not be dishonored. And now our

text for this morning, verse 6. Likewise, and

again, that's an important word, right? Paul's

saying, look, in the same way that older men

and older women and younger women are called

to the standard of godliness, likewise, Titus,

now urge the young men to be sensible in all

things. Show yourself to be an example of good

deeds with purity and doctrine, dignified, sound

in speech, which is beyond reproach. so that

the opponent will be put to shame, having nothing

bad to say about us. Okay, once again, let's

ask the question, what age are we talking about

when Paul speaks of young men? And again, he

doesn't give us a number. But I think it's best

to think about the age here in relation to Titus

himself. Now, I think I mentioned this in the

very first sermon in the series, that most scholars

believe that at this point Paul is in his early

60s and that Titus is in his early to mid 30s.

So if you want a picture of this, this is like

me and Ken. Okay? You didn't know that was coming,

but that's what we're talking about. So early

to mid -30s at the time that this letter is being

written to him. So he's a young man himself.

This is his peer group that Paul is now addressing,

so it's very personal for him. By the way, just

as a teaser, if you just want to take a peek

at what comes next, verses 9 and 10, look what

comes next. Paul addresses slaves in the church.

And this has become an incredibly divisive and

controversial topic online these days. So the

next time we're together to talk about this,

what I want to do is address the controversy

and hopefully provide you guys with a strong

apologetic for what the Bible actually says and

teaches about slavery. So don't miss that. Okay,

two things I want to do before we break down

these three verses in detail. First, I want to

talk about the challenges that men face. in our

culture today. And then I want to specifically

talk about the challenges that younger men have

to face in this age. So we'll do that, and then

we'll get to the verses, I promise. Now, last

Sunday, I said, young women don't have it easy

today. And I really did mean that. Because this

culture is constantly bombarding young women,

trying to tell them, first of all, who they are,

and second, what they should become. And those

voices come at women from both the secular left

and the traditional right. And it can be confusing

to navigate through all of those opinions and

all of those expectations. And yes, the same

is true for young men today. All these cultural

voices out there attempting to define manhood

and then to fit you and I into one box or another.

And sadly, I don't think the church has done

a great job at helping this. In fact, shallow

evangelicalism has tended to send men in one

of two opposite directions. On the one hand,

telling some men, well, you need to tamp down

your masculinity and sort of lean into that more

emotional side, that more feminine side of who

you are. And on the other extreme, I've seen

movements within the church that look more like

a beer commercial. than they do for biblical

masculinity, right? Where it's all about, it's

just glorifying things like, you know, toughness

and guns and combat sports and the like. So last

week I put up this picture, these pictures, and

got a bit of a laugh talking about the voices

coming at women, right? On the one side, you've

got the killer businesswoman. On the other side,

you've got the trad wife. And you ladies are

trying to figure out, well, where do I fit on

that spectrum? Well, the same thing is true for

guys. On the one side, you got the emo guy. On

the other side, you got the camo guy. And we're

trying to figure out where we fit on this spectrum.

Don't stare at that too long. But there's an

identity crisis out there for young men, even

in the church, where, guys, we have the perfect

masculine image in Jesus. Here's a man who walked

the earth as both a spiritual warrior who was

strong and unbending on the truth, but also the

good shepherd, meek and gentle in his love and

care for others. And so that's what the church

needs to fight for and teach, true biblical manhood,

not one extreme or the other. We need to exhort

men to faithfulness as leaders and as husbands

and as fathers to have both strength and the

heart of a servant, one that cares. And if we

don't balance that well, the church is going

to suffer. And we've seen a lot of churches suffering

because we've gotten manhood all out of whack.

We've seen churches where men now sit back and

they just passively relinquish the authority

that God has called them to. And then we see

in other churches where ungodly men, seeing that

vacuum of power, step in and grab it and then

abuse that power. Recently, we've seen too many

churches where women have also noticed that vacuum

of power and have stepped in taking control of

leadership. So the church needs to get this right,

and we at Oak Hill need to make sure that we're

actually teaching and promoting true biblical

manhood. I find it interesting if you look at

the first century church in Corinth, it's a prime

example of what happens when a church of men

don't understand who they are or what role they're

supposed to play. And if you read 1 Corinthians,

you know that that church was mired in all kinds

of sins, doctrinal error and sexual immorality,

divorce, dissension, and so many more things.

And I think the best way to explain it is there

were a lot of males in the church in Corinth,

but not enough men. And there's a difference.

A lot of males, but not enough men. And Paul

chastised them for their immaturity. He writes,

for example, and I, brothers, could not speak

to you as spiritual men. Guys, I cannot even

speak to you as spiritual men. But as the men

of flesh, men driven by fleshly desires, infants

in Christ, I gave you milk to drink, not solid

food, for you were not yet able to receive it.

Indeed, even now. You are not able. They're going

through like this protracted adolescence. They're

not growing up. They're not able to receive solid

food. He goes on later to say in chapter 13,

when I was a child, guys, I used to speak like

a child, think like a child, reason like a child.

When I became a man, I did away with childish

things. He writes, some of you have become arrogant

as though I were not coming to you. Uh -oh, dad's

coming home. He says, what do you desire? Shall

I come to you with a rod, like a father spanking

his kids, or with love and a spirit of gentleness?

And as he wraps up this first letter to this

immature church, he urges them with these very

famous words. He says, be on alert, stand firm

in the faith, act like men. Not like males, but

men. Be strong. Let all that you do be done in

love. In other words, guys, look around, grow

up, and be sober -minded. You have a defined

role of leadership and authority and protection

that is essential to the life of the church,

and if you fail, there will be spiritual disaster.

And I know that's a heavy burden for men to carry,

but it's what God has given us. In my experience,

I have found that men... relish the idea of a

grand vision for their lives, one marked by leadership

and service and devotion to something far greater

than themselves. And we have that in the kingdom

of God. We have that in the mission of the church.

We just need men to step in and embrace that

and say, I want to become what God has called

me to be. So let's talk a little bit about particular

dangers then that come to young men. What are

the stumbling blocks that sometimes get in the

way of us? meeting this call to action that young

men have. By the way, to some extent, some of

what I'm about to share does apply to women as

well, so ladies, don't check out on me. Let's

talk about youth. First of all, let me say this

clearly. If you are in your 20s, 30s, enjoy this

time in your life. It's wonderful. You should

enjoy this time in your life. I don't want to

be one of those crabby old men that's like, ew.

Right? Get off my lawn. Not going to be that

guy. You should enjoy this time of life. It is

an amazing thing to be in your 20s and 30s. I

would say for me and for Tanya, our 40s was actually

our favorite decade. So you are in a good place

right now. Enjoy it while you have it. And most

importantly, give thanks to God for all that

you have at this stage of your life. Thank him

for your health. Thank him for your energy level.

Thank him for what you're building in life, your

careers, your families, all of these things.

Thank him for what still lies ahead in the time

that you're given. And then do this old man a

favor. Don't take all the things that you have

for granted. Because it can go away fast. And

time moves faster than you think it does. Don't

take it for granted. Enjoy the season you are

in right now. Don't always, I did this. This

is one of those little bits of wisdom that I

wish I knew back then that, man, if I could go

back, I would change it. Don't always be looking

forward to speed up into the next season. Enjoy

the one you're in right now and be thankful to

God for all of it. Know that one day, Lord willing,

you too will be an older person and you are going

to want to look back and have fond memories of

this time, not regrets, because of things you

got entangled up with. So think carefully about

these things. And to that end, let me share with

you a few warnings that could trip you up. Some

of this comes from Ryle's book. Some of it is

just my personal thoughts about my memory of

being a young man. And let me just start with,

can I start with the oldest sin in the book?

It's pride. Pride. Men, beware of how easy it

is to become prideful, especially as a young

man. Now, we're all born proud, but as J .C.

Ryle says, Pride never reigns anywhere so powerfully

as in the heart of a young man. I remember this

well. So often young men don't seek out or even

if they do seek it out, don't listen to wise

counsel. Don't listen to older men. Because even

at their young age, they're convinced that they

know everything they need to know. In fact, it

almost makes them angry to be told otherwise.

I have literally sat down with young men. And

they've looked me square in the eyes and said,

Jeff, thanks for the advice, but I know everything

I need to know. I've got this figured out. Okay.

You know, sometimes we just have to learn the

hard way. But don't let pride get in the way.

Ray Abom was an amazing example of this, wasn't

he? Do you remember the story? A young man who

despised the counsel of the older, experienced

men who had served his father Solomon. What did

he do instead? He turned to all his buddies and

he said, young guys, give me some advice. How'd

that work out for him? He lived long enough to

reap the consequences of his foolishness. The

prodigal son is another example. This young man

who insisted, I've got to have my share of the

inheritance right now because I have a lifestyle

I want to get to. I want to be my own boss. And

he ran from his father's counsel, but he too

quickly discovered the sting of his own folly.

Pride, young men. Pride will take you down. Second

warning. Young men today have too much freedom,

too many choices, and not enough self -discipline.

It's true. Look, I know this might be a little

painful. It's okay. I was with you. I was there

once. I know. I lacked discipline in my early

20s. Some have never been taught the value of

hard work. Others have been indulged too much,

had everything done for them. And when young

men are left to do as they please with all this

freedom and all these choices, they will often

choose self -destructive things, things that

will come back to haunt them. Things that will

hurt them in the present. It's a dangerous time

to be young if you have not developed the skill

of self -discipline. That's number two. Third

thing to be aware of. Young men, you live in

a culture that is more sexualized than any before

you. Don't take it lightly. There are so many

pernicious things that you can fall into these

days. And when you're young, a combination of

factors makes this very hazardous for your soul.

Number one, you're in the strongest and healthiest

time in your life. But number two, your lusts

and passions are at their height. Number three,

you don't recognize how vulnerable you are because

you really think you're invincible and you can't

be touched. And number four, you don't yet realize

just how empty and unsatisfying all those things

of the flesh will turn out to be. Until you get

older and you look back and go, none of it satisfied.

What was I thinking? Fourth thing, stumbling

block for you, the fear of man, the fear of man's

opinion. It is strongest when you are young to

fear the opinion of men. Proverbs 29, 25 says

the fear of man is a snare. It will trap you,

it will make you a slave. Most men are like sheep,

they just follow the flock. Why? Because they

want to be liked, they want to be admired, they

want to be with the crowd. So if the crowd says

this is right, then I say that's right. When

the crowd says this is wrong, then that's wrong.

I'm not willing to be that fish who swims upstream

because of the fear of man. I was afraid of the

people, so I gave in to them, said Saul to Samuel.

I was afraid what the people would think, so

I gave in as he disobeyed the Lord. Friends,

the fear of man is a form of slavery. J .C. Rowell

puts it this way. Be courageous, young men. Do

not worry what the world says or thinks, for

you will not always be with the world. That's

good advice. Finally, one last warning for young

men. And this is a strange one, thoughtlessness.

Thoughtlessness. Now, maybe this sounds strange,

but realize when you're young, you have a tendency

not to take stock of where your life is at. Young

men often don't look back to acknowledge the

mistakes that they've made. They often don't

look around to see what trouble they're in right

now in the present, and they often don't look

forward to see where they're trying to go. They

just live in the moment. Everything is about

the here and now, nothing else. Think of Esau.

Think of Esau, a thoughtless man who just had

to have his brother's stew in that moment because

of a desire of the flesh. I'm super hungry. Give

me that stew. I'll give up my entire birthright

for it, not realizing later on how much he wished

he had it. Don't think, just hurry, whispers

Satan. Just hurry. What's the reason to slow

down, right? Young man, be careful. Don't be

impulsive. Don't be thoughtless. I could go on

and on with such things. That's just a small

sampler, guys, that issues that you're facing

today and you need to be aware of them. You need

to be aware. So what I want to do now is go back

to the text because Paul has a few things to

say about this as well. So let's look back at

verses six through eight. and we'll see what

the divine counsel is for young men. Now, as

you do that, look at verse 6. You're going to

notice this word that keeps coming up in each

of these messages. In verse 6, he says, Likewise,

urge the young men to be sensible. In the New

American Standard, sensible. But before we get

into that, do you see the phrase, in all things,

at the beginning of verse 7? Grammatically, that...

That verse number, I think, is not in the right

place. Grammatically, that phrase, in all things,

should be attached not to the beginning of verse

7, but to the end of verse 6. So I'll put this

on the screen. I think, in my opinion, this is

actually the way it should read. Likewise, urge

the young men to be sensible in all things. Show

yourself to be an example of good deeds. I think

that's right. That's the point Paul is making.

Be sensible in every area of your life, men.

Be sensible. Now, the Greek word for urge there

is the perfect descriptor. I love this. This

is when sometimes the Greek language, and by

the way, let me apologize. I know we've probably

done more Greek in the last four weeks than in

the previous entire year, but these definitions

are so important in the original languages, so

thanks for bearing with me. But Paul uses parakaleo

here, and in its most literal form, it means

to call to one side. Like a father might do a

son. Son, come here. Let's talk. That's what

this means. And it's often used in the Bible

when somebody is imploring somebody or pleading

with them in some way. So the best way to think

of this is Paul says, Titus, I want you to call

the young men of Crete to your side. Come alongside

them and plead with them to be sensible in every

area of their life. And so we're back to the

Greek verb sophroneo, which means to be sensible.

And Paul has used it in every section. Remember

in chapter 1, he said elders need to be sensible.

Then in chapter 2, he said older men need to

be sensible. And that older women should focus

on bringing younger women back to their senses

so that they'll be sensible. So this is a hugely

important theme. Guys, it's still true today.

That was not just first century Crete. Still

true today. God would have all of us live sensibly.

regardless of the category we're in, young, old,

male, or female, it doesn't matter, we glorify

God and we make the body of Christ beautiful

when we act sensibly. Now, once again, what does

that word mean? Primarily, it means to be self

-controlled, to be self -controlled, to have

your desires and your passions under control,

to show sound judgment in your choices and decisions.

So in just this single word, Paul captures the

main quality that young men need to have if they

want to live godly lives. Men, do you hear that?

Paul says, if there's just one word I can use,

it'd be this one, be self -controlled, be sensible

in the way you live. And it's a big challenge

for men in our younger years. Again, I can testify

to this. It's that stage of life when we are

impulsive and we are prideful and we are ambitious.

And at the same time, we're lacking wisdom and

experience. Can you see what a recipe for disaster

that is? If it's not under control, this is how

we get ourselves in trouble. Unrestrained desires

combined with foolishness and impatience. So

young men need to learn to have self -control

so that they don't fall into all the snares and

traps that are out there. Just waiting for the

next victim to step in the loop. As an illustration

of this, back in 2001, a researcher went out

and wrote a book called Over the Edge. And this

researcher documented all the deaths that have

taken place at the Grand Canyon. About 900 people

have died since they started keeping track of

it. And on average, 11 people die each year through

accidents and falls and drowning. People get

lost and then die of exposure, things like that.

And guess what? 82 % of the ones who died were

young men. And we all could have predicted that,

right? Men who set out in weird ways to prove

their manhood, but end up making foolish choices

that cost them their lives and devastate entire

families. These were young men who were not sensible,

according to Paul's definition. And again, I

was once there, putting myself in harm's way

out of some misplaced need to prove myself as

a man. It is only by the grace of God that I

am alive today. And I mean that in all seriousness.

Multiple near -death experiences because of my

own foolishness in my late teens and early 20s.

The grace of God. So younger men, follow the

example of Paul here. Paul uses himself as a

great example here. In 1 Corinthians 9, he says

this. I do not run like one who runs aimlessly

or box like one beating the air. Instead, I discipline

my body and bring it under control. That's so

important. And this is a godly older man who

has real life experience. And he's telling you,

look, learn to discipline yourself. Learn to

control your passions. Walk with consistency

rather than just bursting out your front door

every morning and running around aimlessly. which

is what young men tend to do. What a great example.

Discipline your body and bring it under control.

All right, let's look at verse seven. Now there's

a shift in language at verse seven. Notice Paul

was sort of speaking generally about young men,

about being sensible, but now he says, show yourself,

meaning he's now talking to somebody in particular,

who's of course Titus, who he's writing to. He's

like, Titus, show yourself as an example to all

those young guys on Crete. Okay? And what is

he exhorting him to do? To be an example to these

other men. Show them what it looks like to live

sensibly, to live with self -control. The word

example there is tupos. It's where we get our

word type from. We're typology. So Paul is saying

to Titus, I want you to get out there with the

guys, and I want you to establish a type of life,

a pattern of living. that other young men can

see and go, oh, that's what I'm supposed to be

doing and imitate it. And that idea of imitation,

this is foundational, you guys. I know we talked

a lot about spiritual mothering with the ladies,

but this is so foundational for men, this idea

of example and imitation. It's all over the Bible.

Paul says to the Corinthians, he says, I exhort

you, be imitators of me. And then later in chapter

11, he adds this important disclaimer, just as

I imitate Christ. And we need mature men to do

this, to be examples to the younger men and say,

imitate me as I imitate Christ. Don't just do

what I do, do it because I follow Christ, right?

That's important. In Philippians 3, Paul writes

again, brothers, join in following my example

and observe those who walk according to the pattern

you have in us as apostles. Walk in that pattern.

Okay? You know what this means, young guys? You've

got to get to know some older guys. You've got

to observe. You've got to pay attention. Ask

questions. Do you know how much older guys like

getting questions? And then we start into our

stories. Well, when I was young, I had to walk

to school in the snow. But we love it. Come ask

us questions. Oh, we've got stuff to share. And

then we also find Paul writing in his other pastoral

letter to another young man, Timothy. He says

this, let no one look down on your youthfulness,

Timothy. And that's important too. Because sometimes

young men feel judged. No, don't let people look

down on you. But if you want to be respected,

do this. In speech, conduct, love, faith, and

purity, show yourself an example to those who

believe. What a great list that is, right? In

the way you speak, in your lifestyle, in your

love, in your faithfulness, in your sexual purity,

in all those areas of life, Timothy, you be a

pattern for others to look at and imitate. And

listen, this is a pattern of life in the church

that we need to live out, even today, right?

Those who are mature in the faith, setting the

example. Young men slowing down long enough to

look. Right? Because I know you're impulsive.

You're ambitious. I got things to do, places

to be. Slow down long enough to see the example

of older, wiser men. But then let me also challenge

you with this. You too are an example. I don't

want you to step away from this going, oh, well,

my only responsibility is to look and imitate.

No, you're an example too. You can be an example

to your peers, by the way. If you're growing

in maturity, be an example to your peers. But

secondly, if you're in your, and you may say,

look, I'm in my late 20s, my early 30s. I'm too

young to be an example. Guys, there's already

a generation coming behind you. There are youth.

There are 17, 18 -year -olds. There are college

students who are looking to you. If you're in

that upper 20s, early 30s, they're looking at

you because you're the next step ahead of them.

So know that your life is on display. This is

a responsibility for everybody in the body to

know that our lives are on display for others

to see and to imitate. I'll give you a quote

from Dr. MacArthur who always sort of summarizes

things so well. He says, to convince a man that

God can save, I need to show him a man he saved.

To convince a man that God can give hope, I need

to show him a man with hope. To convince a man

that God can give complete and total and utter

satisfaction, I need to show him a satisfied

man. We demonstrate the beauty of a saving God

by showing saved lives. Sinners have to see the

transforming power of Christ's presence, not

in some clever technique, but in someone's life.

That's brilliant. So the example matters. The

example matters, the observing matters, the imitation

matters. This is the life of the church. So now

let's ask the question, in what ways is Paul

telling Titus to set an example? Well, there's

four things here in verses 7 and 8. And let's

start with the foundational one. Show the young

men, Titus, what it means to have purity of doctrine.

This is what it's built on, purity of doctrine.

Now, two definitions here. First, the word for

doctrine, didaskalia, really just means teaching

or instruction. To be a godly man, listen now.

To be a godly young man, you must build your

life on teaching that is consistent with the

scriptures. You must build your life on teaching

that is consistent with the scriptures. Paul

adds that qualifier, pure teaching, right? In

the Greek word there for pure means uncorrupted.

Doctrine, teaching that is not tainted by falsehood,

not stained by false teachers. teaching that

is truly divine, as perfect as God himself is.

That's what we seek out, to build as a foundation,

young men, for godly living, scripture. There's

no substitute for this, by the way, for knowing

truth and then living it out with integrity.

There's no magical pill you can take to just

go, oh, there's no AI that you can, you know.

conjure up to put it in your brain and have it

lived out in your life. Sorry, you've got to

study the word. You've got to know the word.

You've got to live the word if you want to be

that godly young man. So that's the foundation

for sensible living. Pure doctrine, fundamental

teaching, uncorrupted truth. Make sense? Don't

skip that part. Then second, Titus, show the

young man. The young man, what it looks like

to be dignified. Now, this is kind of a strange

one. This is the Greek word semnades, meaning

something that's worthy of reverence, worthy

of respect. And the way this sentence is constructed

in the Greek grammatically, it's a little bit

strange. I think Paul is connecting the sense

of dignity to the way that pure doctrine should

be communicated. In the way you communicate your

teaching, be dignified. Do it with all seriousness,

Titus. If you're gonna proclaim sound doctrine,

do it with all seriousness. Teach doctrine in

a way that commands respect for the word and

submission to its authority. So Titus, be sober

-minded about this when it comes to teaching

the word. Be dignified. Now does that mean we

can't have a sense of humor and laugh? We've

already done that this morning, right? That too

is a gift from God. So it's not that we have

to be humorless. But it does mean in living life

together, we take truth seriously. We give the

teaching of God's word its place as a time of

sacred sharing in the sense of reverence as we

listen to his word preached. And that's important.

So dignify. Third thing, Titus, be an example

of good deeds for young men. Be an example of

good deeds. Now, here, Paul has a specific point.

He's not saying teach, teach sound doctrine.

He's saying, I want you to live sound doctrine,

okay? I want you to live this out. His point

is practical. You believe in sound doctrine,

good. You proclaim sound doctrine, great. Now

walk in sound doctrine. Let your deeds be evidence

of all. Let your actions be consistent with what

you believe and what you say. How important is

this in our world we live in today as a witness?

We profess Christ. We put ourselves out there.

But do we walk in the things that we believe?

Do we walk in the things that we say? The world

is watching. We talked about that last Sunday.

And they smell hypocrisy, don't they? So walk

in your doctrine. Engage in good deeds for the

glory of God and for the good of your neighbor,

for the good of your fellow believer. Titus,

your life should be full of this visible good

works that all the young men in Crete can see

and imitate. I think what Paul is doing here

is he's sort of drawing a contrast. Remember

in chapter one, he addressed the false teachers

and he said, they profess to know Christ, but

by their deeds, they what? They deny him, being

disobedient. So he's saying, look, Titus, make

the contrast obvious because the men in Crete

are watching. Make it obvious. Let the young

men see the disobedience of those wolves, but

then let them see the genuine Christian love

and service in you. And that's important for

us as well. And listen, friends, we should, you

know, we often make fun of all other belief systems

about good works, but we should understand that

the command to excel in good deeds matters. Don't

fall into the trap of easy believism. Trusting

in Christ and doing good deeds go hand in hand.

They do. We're not saved by our good deeds, but

we're saved for good deeds. And the best way

to understand this, we have this amazing chapter.

When someone says, why do you believe that we

can be saved by grace alone through faith alone?

We almost immediately jump to Ephesians 2, right?

And we should. What does it say? By grace you've

been saved through faith and that not of yourselves.

It's the gift of God, not as a result of work,

so that no one may boast. And we say, amen, that's

wonderful. What's the next verse say? How often

do we forget this? What does it say? For we are

his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for

good works. It's all right there in just three

verses. We're saved by grace through faith alone,

but we're saved for good works. So don't be surprised

when you see a verse in Titus 2 like this. Listen,

we are going to keep preaching the Reformation

doctrine of justification by faith alone, but

we dare not promote a dead orthodoxy. Where belief

doesn't translate into practical work for God's

glory, right? Amen? Make sure we get that balanced

well. Last thing. Fourth thing, Titus. Show the

young men how to be sound in speech. The type

of speech that's beyond reproach, that cannot

be condemned by the world because of its virtue.

Now, the word used here for speech is not actual

formal teaching. Paul uses the very well -known

Greek word logos here, which is just the simple

Greek word for words. So what he's talking about

here is everyday speech, everyday conversations.

In all of your conversations, make sure that

it's sound. What does sound mean in Titus? Healthy.

Same, right? Remember we talked about the Greek

word is the same word we have for hygiene. Sound

speech is healthy speech. Remember what Paul

said to the Ephesian church? Let no unwholesome

word or foul language proceed from your mouth,

but only, only what is good for building up someone

in need so that it gives grace to those who hear.

That should mark our speech together. Again,

does that mean we can't joke around? Of course

not. Does that mean we can't tell lighthearted

stories or have lighthearted conversations? Of

course not. It just means that in all of our

communication, we honor God as we talk. And we

acknowledge that we have this shared relationship

in him, that it matters. This is what Paul means

by sound. Our words should be health -giving.

Even when we tell stories, even when we tell

jokes, even when we talk about the Dodgers. Especially.

It should be health -giving. Let your speech

be wholesome. Even if it's for fun, let it be

wholesome. Right? Let it be edifying. Let it

not be crass or useless. Let it be beyond reproach.

So that if anybody in the world hears you talking

to a believer, they're gonna say, oh, that's

interesting, that's different. Or they say, man,

aren't those guys Christians? I thought they

were supposed to be different. You guys sound

just like me and my friends. We need to be distinct

in that. Sound in speech. And then that brings

us to what I would call the purpose statement

of this whole section about young men. Look at

the end of verse eight. If young men are sensible

and self -controlled, if they're engaged in good

deeds that come out of pure doctrine, if they're

acting with dignity and soundness in the way

they speak to each other, then Paul says anyone

who's hostile to the faith, any opponent is going

to be put to shame because they don't have anything

bad to say about you. Now, Paul's point here

isn't that, well, look, if you do everything

really well, that your opponents are going to

go away. Or they're going to stop persecuting

you. That's not what he's saying. In fact, it

may get worse, right? They may persecute you

even more. His point is, if we're handling our

business spiritually as a church, our enemies

are going to be at a loss when they try to criticize

us. They're going to go, I don't have any ammunition

to shoot at these Christians because we haven't

handed them any ammunition. And we tend to do

that far too often. In fact, in order to come

after us, they'd have to make stuff up if we

were this pure. They'd have to lie about us,

and then when their lies get exposed, they're

put to shame in their untruths. That's the point

that Paul is making here. And the thing to realize

about this, and we all felt this before, we either

rise or fall together on this because the hypocrisy

of one Christian affects all of us. We've all

felt that before. You're like, oh, really, that

guy fell? You know, I'm witnessing to my friend

at work, and now there's this scandal, right?

It affects all of us, so we're all responsible

for this. All of that hypocrisy casts a shadow

over the church, and it gives unbelievers an

excuse in their heart to reject Jesus, and we

don't want to give them that excuse. We don't

want to give them that ammunition to shoot at

us. So this responsibility falls on all of us,

and let me just say, because I think Paul's hinting

at this, it falls on young men in particular.

because of where you're at in the stage of your

life. So guys, don't let our enemies speak evil

against us. Don't give them that ammunition.

Okay, I don't know. I forgot my watch this morning.

Wow, I know I'm running out of time. I can't

see well, but Grant's like, yes. Okay, so let

me wrap this up. All right, let me say, first

of all, I said to my wife this morning, this

message is hard on the young guys. So, sorry,

not sorry. There's been a lot of warnings and

challenges here, but I honestly, from the bottom

of my heart, as an older guy, I urge you to heed

them and to not think of yourself as wise and

invincible right now. or unable to learn things

anymore or to think that you've got it all figured

out. Take the dangers seriously. Take the challenges

seriously. If you won't take them from me, will

you take them from J .C. Ryle? A far greater

man than I. But let me also share with you before

we go this encouragement. Young men, you guys

have some incredible opportunities in front of

you. This is such a sweet and rich season for

you. Honestly, I wish as I was writing this,

I was like, I wish I could go back. With the

knowledge I have now and go back and redo, Lord,

can I get a redo? It doesn't work that way, but

I wish. Young man, your ministry in the church

is so important right now. Your leadership in

the home is so desperately needed today. And

this is why I want you to avoid all these traps

and snares. because you're desperately needed.

If you will seek to put the Lord first in your

life in these coming years, which are so formational,

you can build healthy marriages and you can lead

families that will flourish under God's gracious

hand. You'll have a chance to make a huge impact

on the lives of the people around you, a chance

to step into important roles and minister to

so many other people. Young men, please do not

sit out there and go, well, look, we've got these

older guys, and the calling is for them. No,

the calling is for you. And the preparation starts

today. And I'll close with this, and this may

shock you. The church is counting on you. Young

men, the church is counting on you. The rest

of us in this church are counting on you. You

know why? Because I won't be here forever. I

won't. And some of our other elders who I know

you love and I know you admire and you count

on, they're aging too and they won't be here

forever. So what then? We're counting on a younger

generation of men. Who will look at the scriptures

and take these commands and these exhortations

to heart. We're looking for a generation of men

who will answer the call that God has on their

life to step into roles that are needed to advance

the kingdom of God in this place. So I'm looking

at you young men. We need you. We're counting

on you. Because I'm getting old. And we're praying

for you. Us older guys are praying for you that

God would raise up this next generation of faithful

men. So let's bow our heads and we'll pray for

them now. Lord, what a privilege it is to look

into the text of your word and to see these generational

concepts come to the top and to... And to trust,

Lord, as we always do, that you're sovereign

and that you are building your church and you

will not let it fail and that you're raising

up men to answer that call and to step into these

important roles of leadership. And, Lord, as

an older man and with my fellow older men here,

Lord, we're thankful for the leadership you've

brought to Oak Hill. Even in a church of our

size, you've given us some godly men. We're grateful

for that, Lord. And now we pray for all the guys

that are out here in this congregation in their

late 20s, early 30s, that, Lord, they would not

take this message, these exhortations lightly,

but they would begin to pray and ask you to give

them a vision for what roles you have for them

in the church, that they might be shaken from

any lethargy they might have about the importance

of this role for men in the church. Lord, that

you would do a great work. We pray for these

young guys. We pray, Lord, and ask that you would

raise up the right men who can lead this church

into the future. So thank you for doing that,

Lord. Again, as I say, we always trust that you

are sovereign at work in us. We just know that

sometimes we don't have because we don't ask,

so we ask. And we thank you, Lord, that you hear

our prayers. To you be all glory for this time

that we have together this morning. In Jesus'

name we pray. Amen.