Titus 2:1 But speak thou the things which become sound doctrine: 2 That the aged men be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, in patience.
Here is a question to consider. Why would anyone settle for lies rather than truth? Paul commanded Titus to speak the things which become sound doctrine. We talked about that from chapter 1. You cannot get sound doctrine from a corrupted text. That should be rather obvious, and yet most people don’t get it. Most people are impressed with a preacher who consults two or three or five or six different perversions and brings all of that stuff into their preaching and teaching. People get so impressed that this man must have spent hours studying. The man is deceived and he is a deceiver. When he brings in his many perversions, he gives you a smorgasbord to choose from. You need to decide which one you like better. Some people like shrimp. Others like mushrooms or fish, etc. The same principle applies to doctrine. Some people like the idea that they can work to get saved. Others like it that they don’t have to get wet but can just have a little water poured on their head and they can call that baptism. Some people want to believe that if they did not bother to pray and seek wise counsel and married someone that later turned out to be less than they expected, they can get rid of that person and they can go and marry someone else. The flesh likes options. If a preacher will confirm what your feelings desire, what more could you want? How about having God confirm what you want? That is a novel idea but not one that many people want. God does not approve of sin. He does not approve of corruption. His Word is absolute. His Word is settled in heaven. It cannot be altered. Thus, when people alter God’s Word, what have they done? Here is what Jesus said:
Matthew 15:3 But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition? 4 For God commanded, saying, Honour thy father and mother: and, He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death. 5 But ye say, Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, It is a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; 6 And honour not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition. 7 Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, 8 This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.
The problem Jesus addressed was not that the Word of God was destroyed. What was wrong is that the traditions of men have pushed aside the truth. The truth is still there if a person wants it. The problem was that the people were drawing nigh to God with their mouth, but their heart was far from God. That is the same problem today. God’s Word is settled. Man cannot change It. God’s Word is always there as THE foundation. Man will be judged by God’s Word, not his opinions. God rejects man’s opinions. They have no value to God. Yet so many people hold to their opinions at the expense of God’s Word. That is not a wise choice. That needs to be stopped. That is why Titus needed to speak the things that become sound doctrine. In verse 2 we see that the aged men need to be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, in patience. Older men are supposed to have walked with God for a while. They are supposed to have gained some wisdom over the years. The younger men need the counsel of older, godly men. If the older men are not godly, the younger men cannot look to them for wise counsel. Many older men are so concerned about being accepted as “cool” by the younger men. They are so concerned about offending those who do not want the truth. The aged men should understand that the soul that does not know the Lord is headed for hell. That should be of great concern to the aged men. They need to be sober. They need to be grave, which means honourable. The aged men need to be trustworthy. The younger men need to know that if they go to the aged men, they will get sound advice. In II Kings 22, we read that the king of Israel had one “grave” prophet. He had one prophet who cared enough about his soul to tell Him exactly what God told him. We read in that passage that the king hated Micaiah because he did not scratch the king’s itchy ears. The king hated him. He refused to see the value of being told the truth. In the book of Daniel, we read that king Nebuchadnezzar had many counsellors. They were wicked men. The king had a dream that he could not even remember nor did he understand the dream. He called his counsellors and demanded that they tell him the dream and its interpretation. His “wise men” admitted they could not do that. They stated that no man could do that. They stalled for time and the king was very upset with them and wanted them all killed. He was fed up with their lies. He had tolerated their lies in the past. He kept them on his payroll. However now he had a dream that troubled him and he needed some solid answers. The Lord had provided the people who could give the king the answer he needed. Daniel and his three friends were there. Nebuchadnezzar had taken them captive. He did not know the value of these men. As the command went out to kill all the wise men, Daniel asked for some time. He promised to have the answer the king needed. Daniel and his three friends prayed and God gave them the answer. Daniel brought the answer to the king and satisfied the kings need for the moment. He also reminded the king that true answers come from God. The king needed to know the true God and thus God would continue to work on him to break him. Daniel and his three friends were not clowns. They were sober and grave and they knew how to approach God and they knew they could trust Him to provide for their needs. The aged men need to be temperate. We have looked at this word before. The Greek word here means to have “self-control”. That self control will only work if God is in control. There are lost people who exercise self control. They know how to avoid certain things. However, they are still lost and headed for hell. The temperate man needs to be controlled by God. He needs to submit to God’s direction in all things. That is the kind of man we need today. The aged men also need to be sound in faith. They need to have proved that they believe in God. Micaiah was such a man. The king hated him, but he could not find Biblical fault with him. The same was true for every faithful man in the Bible. The ultimate example was and is Jesus Christ. He was all that Titus needed to teach the aged men to be. The aged men cannot be on a roller coaster ride with their faith. They need to know the true God and they need to be genuine in their faith. They also need to be sound in charity. They needed to be willing to help others without charge, without grumbling and complaining later. They cannot keep a list of what they spent and expect payment at some point. They cannot keep track of the hours they helped that needy person. They did it because they demonstrated the love of God. The aged men also need to be sound in patience. Again, they cannot act as if they are not in a hurry and then complain later of how long it took for that person to finally get it. They do not complain how long that doctor appointment took for that needy person. The aged men need to be sound in patience. The people of Crete needed these kind of aged men. We still need them today. Life is far too short to waste it on trying to keep up with the Joneses or trying to fit in with the worldly crowd. Not everyone will appreciate sound men, but God will. That is what matters. Pastor Bartel
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