The Shepherd Who Preaches - Voddie Baucham

my assignment this evening was to address the issue of the shepherd who teaches the shepherd who preaches we already heard earlier today that that is our primary responsibility that is what we do that is who we are we just preach because we can't help it woe to me if I do not preach amen we want to we yearn to we sit out there you sit out there and when you hear people up here preaching you want to be up here preaching amen I hope you do just want to be preaching every time you hear someone preaching because it's what we do it's what we're called to it's what God made us to do I remember when I had first announced to my pastor I was a relatively new Christian I didn't grow up in church never heard the gospel - my freshman year in college I was raised by a single teenage Buddhist mother then drug infested gang infested South Central Los Angeles California so here was relatively new believer and I didn't understand all of the terminology that we have and the South people talk about you know surrendering to preach and things of that nature and I didn't know what that meant didn't think it sounded too good surrender in Dupree I mean you know maybe you surrendered or welding but not you know preaching I've tried everything else I could I guess I'll surrender the day I wasn't surrendering it was it was all I could think about it was it was all I was all I wanted I just wanted to preach and I went to my pastor I told my pastor I said pastor I believe God made me to be a preacher and he pulled out his calendar and he said okay third Sunday of next month we'll all find out god bless him Tex tonight is a familiar one it's in Titus chapter 1 and verse 9 Titus chapter 1 and verse 9 we find here these words he 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 there it is in a nutshell holding firmly to sound doctrine to the truth as taught so that as a result of holding firmly to that truth he will be able to exhort in sound doctrine and refute those who contradict it it sounds simple enough until you place it within the context or the broader context of the book of Titus you then understand that the book of Titus is summarized for us in a thesis statement there in the introduction Paul gives his greeting in chapter 1 verse 1 and he begins with Paul a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ for the sake of the faith of God's elect and here's the key phrase their knowledge of the truth which accords with godliness in hope of eternal life which God who never lies promised before the ages began and at the proper time manifested in his word through the preaching with which I have been entrusted by the command of God our Savior but the thesis there is this balance between the truth that we preach and the fruit that it bears Paul is writing this epistle to Crete an area where the gospel has been under attack where the gospel has been undermined where the gospel has been maligned we see that toward the end of the first chapter and we'll talk about that momentarily but there are false teachers in Crete and the false teachers in Crete were not only saying things that were inaccurate but their lives did not accord with the truth of the gospel anyone who reads Titus very carefully will wonder and scratch their head at how anyone can continue to persist in this myth that Paul is somehow at odds with James those who argue that what Paul is teaching about the gospel and about justification is different than what James is teaching about the gospel and about justification because of James emphasis on works is not read very carefully the Epistle to titus because that is in large part his message but it's not just about faith and works listen to this analysis in 1st Timothy Paul stresses sound doctrine in Titus he stresses worthy Christian conduct and insists that Christian conduct must be based and regulated by Christian truth nowhere else does Paul more forcefully urge the essential connection between evangelical truth and the purest morality then in this brief letter here the basic truth of the gospel as displayed in the abiding glory of their saving and sanctifying app it appeal the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit is the experiential basis for Christian conduct so this truth that we teach is not just a truth that we teach in a vacuum it's not just a truth that we teach so that people can have the information it's a truth that we teach because it is the power of God unto salvation and salvation does something just in people's eternity but salvation does something in people's here and now salvation utterly transforms Who I am it uh Turley transforms what I desire if uh Turley transforms the way that I live but if the gospel that I preach is not the gospel that accords with that which has been provided and preserved for us by the Apostles then ultimately I get to a place where I am working toward that which only the gospel can produce but trying to get there by illegitimate means that's a problem and so we see here that elders must hold to a truth that accords with godliness this godliness is rooted in the gospel it's not rooted in sheer behaviorism or behavioral transformation it is rooted in the fact that when Christ saves a man he transforms a man this anchored and apostolic Authority notice what he says in verse 9 he must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught in other words what we hold to is not just something that we make up on our own or something that works for us what we hold to must be anchored in that which was taught which was communicated which was handed down by the Apostles in fact this is why Titus has authority to do what Paul asked him to do notice in verse 5 this is why I left you in Crete so that you might put what remains in order and appoint elders in every town as I directed you why on earth would Titus have the authority to appoint elders in Crete because the Apostle Paul granted that authority to him why on earth would you and I have the authority to call men everywhere to repent because we are holding to the Apostolic gospel we are holding to it firmly it is not our gospel is not our message it is not our news but the god who speaks has spoken he has spoken through the word Jesus Christ and he has spoken through the preservation of the message of Christ through the Apostles turn with me if you will to the right and look at the book of Hebrews Hebrews chapter 2 therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard lest we drift away from it for since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation it was declared at first by the Lord and it was attested to us by those who heard while god also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the holy spirit distributed according to his will this is the authority of the Apostolic message the Apostles and the prophets being the foundation upon which the church is built upon which our message is built so we are tethered if you will we are tied to a historical gospel we are tied to that which actually occurred that which was proclaimed that which was reported that which was recorded and that which was preserved not only this but we're shaped by this truth that accords with godliness how ironic would it be for Paul to say that we must proclaim this truth that accords with godliness however it's not necessary that there be any fruit in your life that this truth has brought about any godliness he does not engage in such irony notice with me if you will back in verse 6 go to verse 5 again this is why I left you in Crete so that you might put what remained in order and appoint elders in every town as I directed you if anyone is above reproach the husband of one wife and his children are believers and not open to the charge of debauchery or insubordination I believe that's an unfortunate translation manat say his children are believers should say he has faithful children there several since then I'll argue for that for the sake of time let me give this to you briefly first look firstly because the root word that is used there is the same word that is used later in holding firm to the trustworthy word secondly because Paul explains what he means right after he says it notice what he says above reproach the husband and one wife his children are believers I would say his children are faithful children what do you mean by that Paul not open to the charge of debauchery or insubordination that's what he means by that thirdly because it'd be a huge problem every time a new child was born into an elders home sometimes stuffs just simple there's a fourth reason and we'll get to that momentarily for an overseer as God's Stewart must be above reproach he must not be arrogant or quick-tempered or a drunkard or violent or greedy for gain but hospitable a lover of good self-control upright holy and discipline then we get to our verse but it's not just that he puts this character before he puts the teaching that's not the only reason that we argue that he has to be shaped by this truth we argue because of the frame that's around this paragraph the first part of the frame we've already read Paul is talking about their knowledge of the truth which accords with godliness then he talks about the elder and he talks about his outward godliness then him holding to the truth in the very next paragraph he identifies the false teachers and notice what he says in the last verse of that paragraph where he identifies the false teachers they profess to know God but they deny him by their works they are detestable disobedient unfit for any good work so they are the opposite of the individual who's qualified to be elder not because the individual who's qualified to be elder has had more behavioral modification but because the truth to which he holds is actually the truth that transforms lives now there's a ditch on both sides of the road here especially as it relates to the first part of these requirements in the elders life is above reproach the husband on life we usually don't have a problem with that one its children are faithful children not open to the charge of debauchery or insubordination the ditch on the first side of the road is a ditch that says a man has complete control over the outcome in his children's lives looks that's unrealistic it's also deterministic behavior istic and naturalistic in other words it's unbiblical that is simply true I do not have complete control over the outcome of my children's lives and by the way my children ought to be grateful for that amen I'm grateful on their behalf but there's a ditch on the other side of the road the ditch on the other side of the road says a man has no control over what his children become no none whatsoever well what's wrong with that well first of all it's fatalistic and it is also unrealistic but thirdly it ignores the clear implication of this text if a man has absolutely no control over any aspect of his children's lives then why does Paul tell Titus to examine his children makes no sense none whatsoever one of the scariest passages in the entire Bible found in 1st Samuel 3 10 to 14 the Lord came and stood calling as at other times Samuel Samuel and Samuel said speak for your servant hears then the Lord said to Samuel behold I am about to do a thing in Israel at which the two ears of everyone who hears it will tingle on that day I will fulfil against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house from beginning to end and I declare to him that I am about to punish his house forever for the iniquity that he knew because his sons were blaspheming God and he did not restrain them therefore I swear to the house of a lie that the iniquity of Eli's house shall not be atoned for by sacrifice or offering for ever does this mean that Eli had some sort of deterministic control over his children's lives no absolutely not but what does it mean it means that you know the gospel this gospel that has changed and transformed your life and this gospel that has changed and transform your life is the greatest gift that you could ever give to the children whom God brings into your home so what do you do you bathe them in the gospel you shower them in the gospel you lather them up with the gospel does it mean that they're automatically going to be saved no no it does it no it doesn't but you commanded to bring in four children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord and there is great hope in knowing that God blesses that deterministically no absolutely not but God blesses that you see fruit as a result of that not only this but it's personal character what shaped his personal character in verses 7 and 8 it's Paul saying here's what you look for you you look for guys who have exemplary personal character and if those guys get saved make them elders again the knowledge of the truth which accords with godliness this is the fruit that the gospel bears in a man's life before I was converted before you were converted we knew how to behave we knew how to impress people we don't we hear people talk all the time about Mormons or Jehovah's Witnesses or Muslims who have quote-unquote exemplary character exemplary family lives exemplary this that Aliyah that's not Paul's point Paul is not saying that you look for this list of behaviors in a man that has been foisted upon him by his culture what Paul is saying is this gospel that I am talking about that accords with holiness and righteousness will take hold in a man's life and when it does you'll see it and when it doesn't you'll see it we also communicate this truth thank you then a courts were sound or courts with godliness notice again our verse he must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught so that what he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine notice what it doesn't say the man must have this character so that he can merely be a picture of good character that's not where Paul goes Paul talks about the character and then he comes to the truth why because it's the truth that produces the character so he talks about the character then comes to the truth then he talks about the man communicating the truth why is it important that he communicates the truth because that is the only thing that will produce in the life of God's people the character which comes from the fruit of the gospel there is no other hope for true godliness for true holiness for true righteousness for true morality among our people none whatsoever this means that a man must place limits and restrictions on what he communicates hold firmly to the trustworthy word as taught there is restraint there we are not free to preach any and everything that we like we hold firmly to the trustworthy word as taught so that we can communicate sound doctrine this implies a passionate cherishing and pursuit of the gospel do you cherish the gospel do you pursue the gospel in your own life do you believe the gospel do you hold it dear in your own life or are you enamored with any and every fad that comes along it also implies personal dependence and Trust do you know how far you are apart from the gospel have you any reservations whatsoever about who you really are deep down inside apart from the gospel do you ever have a wool Ismene moment do you ever have a who will save me from the body of this death moment do you ever have a moment where you honestly come before god and say god how can i still be preaching how can i still be saved i know you know what's in my mind i know you know what's in my heart i know you know what i fight with and what I struggle with do you come to that place or have you arrived at him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall you don't pass gospel 101 and go on to something else you are utterly dependent upon the gospel until the day that you die and beyond this also implies constant measuring and judging of what we teach against the standards of the gospel or are you preaching the gospel do you make it a point to preach the gospel this eliminates even the remotest possibility of replacing fidelity to the gospel with fidelity to trends and other things is it the gospel or church growth trends which is it I am NOT saying that small churches are more holy or more righteous than large churches there are ruined evil godless small churches amen somebody and there are evil ruin godless big ones that go by the same name that is not my point but my point is what we trust in is the gospel psychology self-help what do you believe your peoples greatest need is is their greatest need to look inside themselves and find answers is their greatest need to find five ways to do this or six ways to do that or is their greatest need to come to the end of themselves through the truth to which you hold to the truth that's transform your life to the truth that you proclaim because you've got nothing better social gospel have you bought that lie that basically paints a picture of the church as a no more than the glorified red cross have you bought that lie that measures the effectiveness of the church by what it does in the community if I hear that one more time that's a great church they do so many things in the community you know what usually and again generalization it's not always the case but usually it's been my experience that when people say that's a great church they do so many things in the community you can't find the gospel there to save your life or more importantly your soul moralism you believe that your people need moralism or the gospel entertainment do we believe that people need entertainment or the gospel we must communicate the content of the gospel not just talk about the gospel or around the gospel but we must communicate the content of the gospel you know it's amazing there's a whole lot of gospel talk going on right now and that's a good thing but what I notice is it often time with all the gospel talk there's not a whole lot of gospel amen we must communicate the gospel we must communicate to men that they are lost in their sins because of the fall of our first parent Adam they need to know that you are ruined you don't just need to be improved you need to you need to be made over you can't get there from here you're a sinner they need to know that they need to hear that God is just and righteous and not only does he judge theoretically he's going to judge you because of your sin because of what you thought and said and did you should have died in your sleep last night but God gave you another day you need to beg him for forgiveness because you're ruined apart from Christ and here's what you need to know he died for the sins that you committed not for his own but by his passive and active obedience he purchased full and complete righteousness that he might impute it to you and then took upon himself all of the guilt that was necessary as a propitiation to a righteous God whose wrath must be poured out on sin and it is only when you acknowledge your sin first from your sin and call on this Christ who died and apply that to yourself that you have any hope of being saved our people need to hear that till they get tired of it and then they need to hear it a few more times you know when you're preaching the gospel enough when the kids in your church start going that's alright cuz one day by God's grace it'll click but not if you're not preaching the gospel they say holding firm to the trustworthy word is thought doesn't just mean that we got a lot of theology books and that we read them and study them didn't mean that we just know what the right thing to say he is but that we actually believe the gospel and preach the gospel and believe it to be our greatest need and our people's greatest need as well we must preach the gospel from all of Scripture you know I didn't get this I'd say it was about six or seven years ago well I got a letter that just changed my whole world I got a letter from a lady a Jewish lady an Orthodox Jewish lady who had gotten a hold of a sermon that I had preached from the Old Testament and this Orthodox Jewish lady wrote me a letter raving about my sermon and talking about how much she liked my sermon I'm sitting in my office in my house and I'm just bawling and my wife comes in and she goes what's the matter and I'm holding this letter she goes oh another one of those I don't cry over those she said what is it I said a woman who loved my sermon so what is it it's an Orthodox Jewish woman who heard me preach and was not cut to the quick because I did not preach the gospel I preached for 45 minutes and there was nothing there to offend a Jew who does not believe that Jesus is the Messiah and that gives anything wrong with it because after all hey it's the Old Testament we're either doing a character study or is Aesop's fables listen you either believe that there's no gospel in the Old Testament and don't preach it cuz why preach it if there's no gospel there or you believe that all of the scripture is Christian literature and that you can find the truth of God's redemptive work in the person of Jesus Christ all over its pages just like Jesus did that's what it means to hold firmly to this trustworthy word as taught by the way holding firmly to the trustworthy word has taught who's writing this the Apostle Paul who who gave us the majority of the New Testament so before the majority of the New Testament is given to us this individual is saying that Titus needs to be preaching the trustworthy word as taught trustworthy word as taught from where ethiopian eunuch what are you reading i'm reading isaiah excuse me isaiah well I'll tell you what why don't you put that scroll down and I'll preach to you something better no sir starting from there he preaches the gospel Jesus walking along the road to Emmaus and these men are prevented from knowing who he is and they're all distraught what's the matter boys and they asked him one of the most ironic questions if not the most ironic question in all of the Bible are you the only man in the Jerusalem who doesn't know what's happened here over the last few days folks if you ever need a proof text for people who don't believe that Jesus is God you just take him right there because if Jesus is not divine at that moment he loses it and he does not continue the conversation at that moment he goes actually boys I'm the only one in town who does know what happened but what does he accuse them of being so slow to believe what the prophets what did you tell the Pharisees you need to believe Moses Moses world of me she holding firmly to the trustworthy word as taught is about preaching the gospel because the gospel is all we have whether we're on the left side of the book or the right side of the book we got nothing else Paul's emphasis makes it clear that this must also include the implications of the gospel notice what he says in chapter 2 verses 11 through 14 and watch what he does it's the same thing that he does in chapter 1 he says beginning in verse 11 for the grace of God has appeared there's this Proclamation bringing salvation for all people amen hallelujah praise the Lord gospel time training us to renounce godlessness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled upright and godly lives in the present age waiting for our Blessed hope now here we go again for what he does waiting for our Blessed hope the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ who gave himself up for us well now we would just we went back into the teaching of the gospel again right now watch what he does to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works that's what happens when the gospel gets ahold of you you are not the same and you are zealous for good works there's a final peace the elders also refute those who deny the gospel and its implications that's when we get to the false teachers they deny the content of the gospel but they also deny the implications of the gospel and that's important you don't separate these that's Paul's message throughout if you look throughout he goes back and forth between who Christ is and what he's done and what he produces in his people who Christ is and what he's done and what he produces and his people what is he saying about the older men the older men are to be the younger the older women are to be why so that they might train so that they might teach what are they teaching they're teaching these younger women to be something why are they teaching them to be something so that the Word of God may not be reviled what do you teach servants you teach servants how to be how to live why you're upholding a teaching show yourself to be an example even in your speech why so our opponents will have anything to say against us there's no either/or here there's a both and this is about the gospel and what the gospel produces and the life of his people why is this important because if you don't believe this you won't preach the gospel if you don't believe this then here's what you believe you believe the gospel saves us but that beyond that when our lives need to be transformed we need something else and so what do we do we preach the gospel when we feel like people need to be saved but beyond that we preach moralism because what they need is rules to live by that's what you get to this preacher I got some lost friends coming to church next week you gonna preach the gospel god forbid that that question should ever be asked why because you're lost friend needs the gospel but so do you and I got nothing better to give you do you believe that do you believe that you've got absolutely nothing better to give anyone than the gospel so you refute those who contradicted you refute those who contradicted in what they teach and you refute those who contradicted in the way that they live this is not new by the way listen to what Jude says beloved although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation I found it necessary to write to you appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the Saints there's the content for certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation ungodly people who do what one pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and to deny our only master in Lord Jesus Christ you never get one without the other you never get one without the other why because you can't promote lawlessness without demeaning Jesus and you can't promote righteousness true righteousness without preaching Jesus he is our righteousness not just the example for us to follow though he is of every bit of that but if all he is is an example for us to follow that I believe that I have something in and of myself that can do it and I cannot I am in desperate need of Christ I'm reminded of this I'm reminded of this every time I look at verses 5 through 8 am I in and of myself a husband worthy of eldership absolutely not am i in and of myself a father worthy of eldership absolutely not am i in and of myself a man who has character worthy of eldership absolutely not am i in and of myself a man who has something to give to communicate to teach to people that is worthy of eldership absolutely not but because of the gospel by the grace of God I am then we must teach we have to guess truth be told we've got nothing else worth giving we must hold firmly relentlessly doggedly to the trustworthy word as taught not as modified as taught so that we will be able to exhort in sound doctrine that's our job what I understand that that's what I need it's easier for me to understand it that's what our people need and to refute those who contradicted this last part there are those who get uncomfortable and one of the reasons they get uncomfortable is because of the 11th commandment the 11th commandment is a uniquely American commandment I don't know if you guys have it in Italy but the 11th commandment is thou shalt be nice don't know if you knew that or not but that's the 11th commandment and unfortunately since people don't believe in the Ten Commandments all we have left is the 11th commandment thou shalt be nice and because of that we get a little gun-shy we get a little weary and we don't take our stand against those who are against the gospel either one of two things causes that one we don't love the gospel enough to defend it I don't want to believe that or to somebody has actually convinced us that loving the sheep enough to protect them by warning them when they're being lied to and led to something other than the pastures that satisfy and the streams of living water somehow unacceptable undertaking for us nothing could be further from the truth I'm not saying you got to be mean and nasty to people but know this no matter how nice you are the mere fact of pointing out error will make you mean and nasty in the minds of those who hold to the eleventh commandment you don't have to be unduly offensive or unnecessarily offensive folks the gospel is more than offensive enough but we must refute those who contradict why is why I believe is so important in our day and in our culture every bit as much as in Crete there are those who deny both the content of the gospel and its implications in our culture there are those who stand and preach before thousands who preach another gospel and our people need to be warned in our culture there are those who have books published all over the place that absolutely deny and undermine the gospel and our people need to be warned about these wolves but in our culture there are also those who undermine the gospel while claiming to uphold it by calling forth lifestyles that are abominations before God and saying that true gospel thinking and true gospel living looks beyond those sins those things must be refuted why must they be refuted because we must hold fast to the trustworthy word as talked so that we might be able to exhort in sound doctrine and refute those who contradict if you need more reason than that I can't help you because if you need more reason than that then you're saying that this is not enough and if this is not enough there's nothing in here that ever will be or can be let's pray father we are woefully inept and inadequate and yet by your grace you call those things that be not as though they are by your grace you take wool fully inept and inadequate men and not only save them but transform them by power of the gospel and beyond that call men to preach that same gospel not because of anything in us but because of Christ and what he has done for us and through us grant by your grace that we might trust this truth that we might cling to this truth that we might pursue it relentlessly grant by your grace that we might believe that there is nothing beyond above or better than the truth to which we hold now we might believe that we have nothing more significant to preach about to teach about to talk about or to give to your people what we are grateful for this gospel that calls forth the community of faith righteousness holiness without which no man will see God grant by your grace that we might preach it faithfully passionately clearly repeatedly authoritative ly unapologetically and unambiguously and grant that we might do this because we are indeed convinced that it is more than enough this we pray in Christ's name on

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Keywords: The Shepherd Who Preaches, Voddie Baucham, The Bible, The Holy Scriptures, Titus 1:9, Expository Preaching, Expository Sermons, Christian Preaching, Christianity (Religion), Christian (Adherents), Church, Faithfulness To The Gospel, Jesus Christ, Truth, Living By The Gospel, Religion

Id: KJdXaUoOWt4

Length: 47min 22sec (2842 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 23 2014