In this sermon, the preacher discusses the appearance and extension of the grace of God. He emphasizes the importance of teaching and exemplifying the virtues of the Christian faith to God's people. The preacher also highlights the hope of grace, specifically the blessed hope and the second coming of Christ. He encourages believers to continually search out the infinite excellencies of God's grace and present it to others. The proper response to grace is described as denying ungodliness and worldly desires, and living sensibly, righteously, and godly in the present age.

Let's open up our Bibles to Titus chapter two, verses 11 through 15, we're going to be talking about the grace of God applied to our lives. Demonstrating both the power of the gospel, the truth of the gospel, when we consider the grace that is manifested through the work of Christ. I'm going to read in Titus chapter two, verse 11 through 15, for the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of the great God and Savior Christ Jesus, who gave himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed and to purify for himself a people for his own possession, zealous for good deeds. These things speak and exhort and reprove with all authority. Let no one disregard you. Let's go the Lord in prayer. Father, thank you for your word. I pray again, Lord, that you will use this in the heart of your people. To bless them, to edify them, that they would be greater and greater vessels of your grace and your power to a world that needs you so desperately. Father, please, in Jesus name, amen. Here we see the purpose of grace. We talk so much in reformed circles about the grace of God. But here we see the purpose of grace, the end, the reason for grace. And what is that? To instruct God's people that they might be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. Now, I've said this already, but I'm going to say it again. The world has seen enough of large congregations. Of eloquent preachers. And of powerful religious leaders. What the world is lacking today and desperately needs to see are men who are held captive by the cross of Jesus Christ, men who are transformed by the grace of God. That's what the world needs to see. The world needs to see men who in their own lives deny ungodliness and worldliness. And they teach God's people to do the same. The world needs to see men who live sensibly, who live righteously, who live godly in this present evil age and men who teach God's people to do the same. The world needs to see men. Whose hearts no longer belong to this world, men who are longing for the coming of their great God and savior, Jesus Christ, they need to see. Men who love the church and desire that the reality of Christ in their own life might be seen throughout the church. Now. I want us to look at verse 11 to start off, we're going to look at the appearance of grace, verse 11, for the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men. Now. The grace of God is God's. Unmerited favor to undeserving sinners, God's unmerited favor to undeserving sinners. Now, that is a very brief definition, and the reason why I've given this definition so brief. Is that trying to describe the grace of God is hopeless. Trying to explain the grace of God to men. Is impossible. I mean, even the tongues of angels and the tongues of the greatest preachers is absolutely useless when it comes to describing the grace of God, it goes beyond anything that you and I can explain. But that itself is the job of the preacher. This is our job to study the grace of God. To study it in depth so that we might be able to stand in the pulpit and explain to God's people all the magnificent things that he is and that he has done for them. Now, I want you to look at the phrase has appeared. It comes from the Greek word Epiphano. And that word is very important. It can be it refers to that which shines forth, that which is displayed, that which is made known. Now, when we look at this text, I want you to see something very important. First of all, the context, when we look at the world, when we look at the history of humanity, there has never been a moment in time when the grace of God has not been manifested. Even in the fall, God manifested his grace in the salvation of Noah from the flood. God manifested his grace even in the Tower of Babel. God manifested his grace. And certainly with Abraham and the nation of Israel, God manifested his grace. Yet when Paul comes here. To verse four or to verse 11, when Paul gets here to verse 11, he speaks of an appearance of grace that is so great that it is as though grace had never appeared. Now, let me repeat that when Paul gets to verse 11, he speaks of a grace, an appearance, a manifestation of grace that is so great that it is as though grace had never appeared before on the planet. Now, I want you to think again about a candle, like in our last sermon. If you light a candle, even a single candle lit in the darkness can be seen for miles. But when the sun rises and fills the sky, the light of that candle appears as though it was nothing, as though it had no light at all. In the same way, what Paul is teaching us here is that even though all throughout human history, God has revealed his grace. When the son of God came to this earth, lived a perfect life and died a death on behalf of his people, there was a manifestation of grace that eclipsed every other manifestation. It was though the grace of God had never been seen before. This is the central idea of Christianity. If you are going to be a preacher of the gospel, then you must realize it is the gospel that is the greatest of all messages, the one that takes eternity to understand. And it is our job as preachers to search out the glories of the gospel and to present them before God's people. Now, I want us to look at the extension of grace. We've talked about its appearance. Now let's look at its extension in verse 11, for the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men. Now, in the Greek text, there's a little preposition, Gar, Gar in the English text. It's translated for. And what it does is it connects it connects verse 11 with the previous 10 verses of chapter two, and in those 10 verses of chapter two, Paul is giving moral instruction. Now, listen to all types and kinds of people within the Roman Empire. All types and kinds of people. Now. It's like Paul is writing in those 10 verses. Is. Instructing all types and kinds of people from every walk of life who have accepted Christ, he's teaching them how to walk, and then he comes to verse 11 and it's like he just stands there. And he marvels at the grace of God, not only at the at the in not only at the how can I say it at the infinite greatness of the grace of God, but he marvels at its at its extension. He looks, Paul, this Jew, he looks out and he sees Jew. Greek, circumcised, uncircumcised, Scythian, barbarian, slave and free man, that God has done a work of grace of infinite magnitude and also of global extension. And Paul just marvels. You and I need to see the same thing as preachers, that God has done a great work of grace that goes beyond anything we could ever imagine, and also that it extends to all types and kinds of people. If the church in Korea is strong, it means that it must reach out to the world's the ones who are in Korea who truly know the truth of the gospel, must be the most zealous with the gospel, must preach the gospel to the world, because there are many places in the world where there has been a genuine work of the spirit of God. But the theology is very, very poor, and because of that, many of the great works of the spirit are being lost. And heresy and false doctrine is growing. So you need to see as the church in Korea, not only a vision for Korea. But a vision for the world, vision for the world, when you study the gospel, it is not just for you, when you study the gospel, it is not just for Korea, when you study and preach the gospel, it is for all types and kinds of people. We should not rest until the gospel is preached throughout the world, but the true gospel, the true gospel, there are many people preaching a gospel today that is not a biblical gospel, and they're preaching a grace that is not grace. The churches in Korea that are sound, the men in Korea who are biblical must rise up, not with just a national vision, but you must rise up with a global vision. Now, I want you to note here, it says, for the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation. Now, salvation here is not just legal justification, it's not just freedom from the condemnation of sin, but he is also talking about freedom from the power and bondage of sin. And we must understand this, that men who are truly justified have also been regenerated by the Holy Spirit. That that we're not only called to boast in the fact that we're justified before God, but we are to live righteous lives, showing that the gospel has power not only to make us right with God, but to free us from the power of sin. Now, the freedom from sin. Will always be imperfect in this life, none of us will be completely and totally free from sin, even the most godly among us will still have to struggle against sin, but there is victory, there is growth, there is sanctification, this gospel of which Paul is writing is powerful enough to create a new kind of man. This gospel that Paul is writing about is powerful enough to create a new kind of community, what kind of man, what kind of community, a community that says no to ungodliness and worldliness, a church that lives sensibly, righteously and godly in this present age, a church that is not bound by a love for the world, but is looking for the second coming of Jesus Christ and a church that is zealous for good deeds. We cannot be a witness just with our mouth. We must also be a witness with our lives, we must prove that this gospel has power, not just to make us right with God, but to transform us here on Earth. Now, look in verse 12, the instruction of grace instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age. Now, the word instruction or instructing comes from the Greek word Piedual. The word is it refers to the educating or training of children with the purpose of teaching them proper habits of behavior. So listen to what it's saying, the grace of God has come not just to justify us. But to train us, to teach us in proper habits of behavior, to summarize, the grace of God has come to instruct us to be like Jesus. Now, I want you to notice that this verb is present tense, indicating a continuous or habitual practice that the grace of God is constantly working, constantly teaching, training and chastising and disciplining God's people so that they might be like Christ. If you're a minister of the gospel, he's constantly doing that to you. But as a minister of the gospel, what you need to realize is that you must join with the work of grace, it's not your responsibility just to make a big church. It's your responsibility to labor for a holy church, a holy, holy church. Now, we must ask ourselves the question, it says the grace of God instructs. But how does it do that? I mean, really, it sounds pretty. But how does it happen, what does it mean? How does the grace of God revealed in the gospel instruct us? To be different, let me just give you a few examples, first of all, in the gospel, we understand that Christ became like us so that we would become like him. That instructs us that you and I ought to strive to be like Christ with all our heart. Young men, if you're going into seminary or you're in training, know this, all that training is very important, but nothing will be a substitute for Christlike character. Nothing, nothing. And you should not just be striving for good grades, you must be striving with all your heart to be conformed to the image of Christ. Another thing, Christ died to make us righteous. He died to make us righteous and not just legal justification before God. He died so that we would live a life that is conformed to the person and will of God. So what does that instruct us to do? To hunger and thirst for righteousness. To cultivate righteousness, to study the word of God and pray, not just so we can preach, but so that we might be changed. Christ died to make us his own. That's what the gospel tells us. What does that instruct us to do? To tear down every idol in our lives. And to give ourselves wholly and completely to God. If he died in order to make us his own, how can we give our heart to another? Especially how can we give our hearts to the world? Finally, Christ died because he loved us. We know that everything that God does, he does for his own glory. But don't you think for one moment that's to the exclusion of his love for his people. Christ died because he loved you. Never forget that he determined to love you. What does that instruct us to do? To love the Lord, our God, with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. Many of you have been in the ministry for a long time and there's almost nothing new that you could hear. But you know, this is what I've discovered. For example, I greatly love Dr. Bekey. He has forgotten more things about God than I've ever learned. I love Dr. Sproul, R.C. Sproul. John MacArthur. John Piper. So many others. But when I listen to them preach. Just like you, when you listen to people preach. Very rarely do you learn something new, but I remember one time I went to preach at a college. And before I was to preach. It was a secular university. Before I was to preach, some students were called on to give their testimony. They were brand new Christians. Now, when they got up and gave their testimonies, they said some things that were wrong. They didn't theologically understand everything that had happened to them. And brothers, I didn't learn anything new from them, but something did happen. I remembered all the things I had forgotten. That new love for Christ. When you're just bubbling over a new love for Christ that you just can't contain. Being happy in the Lord. Just excited that Jesus loved you. And look at us now, pastors. Some of us are very old soldiers and a lot of times we work and we work and we work. We have so many burdens. Sometimes we just need to sit down, shut off the emails. Close the office door and go back to when we were brand new believers and just delight in the fact that he loves us. And that our great responsibility. Is to love him, too. Now, I've talked about how the grace of God instructs us. But how does the grace of God discipline us? Because the Greek word Piedual, it doesn't just mean teaching. It refers to disciplining. How does the grace of God discipline us? Let me say it this way. You should never think that the whip of the law is more severe than the whip of grace. Now, what do I mean by that? Do you recall in the book of Romans? It doesn't say that the wrath of God leads us to repentance. But it says the kindness of God. The tolerance of God, the patience of God leads us to repentance. It is his kindness, his grace that breaks our hearts. A thousand beatings from the law would be more bearable than knowing you offended a God of grace. You see, and this is something that I really want you to see, that the more we know about the grace of God. The more we are freed from fear, and yet at the same time, the more we want to be godly because we don't want to offend such a God. I tell young students this. I love the law of God. I love the law of God. But when I walk around in my daily life, I'm not thinking about I don't want to break that law. I don't want to break that law. What I think about is this, that the Holy Spirit dwells within me. God dwells within me. I do not want to offend him. I do not want to dishonor him. One of the things that I've always marveled at about the Korean culture is the sense of honor. I still hear young Korean people say, I don't want to dishonor my father. I don't want to dishonor my family. That is a very noble thing. But we should take it one step further. I don't want to dishonor my God. Why do we say no to ungodliness? We do not want to dishonor our God. Now, before I go any further. I've talked about how the grace of God instructs us. I've talked about how it even disciplines us. But now I also want to show you that the grace of God is our greatest motivation. It is our greatest motivation for doing what we do. Paul said in First Timothy, chapter three, verse 16, he says, by common confession, great is the mystery of godliness. Now, what does he mean? This is what he means by common confession. Great is the mystery of the gospel that leads to all true godliness, all true piety. And in this we find a great truth. In this we find a pearl of great price that that the believer. Is not driven to godliness by the whip of the law. The believer is driven to godliness by greater and greater comprehension of what God has done for us in Christ. And this is the reason why. As preachers, as pastors. Well, let me let me just say it this way. What should we really be doing? Pastor, think about this. God is using you. You've become important, but along with that. You've become very, very busy, people want to talk to you all the time, there are problems to solve. There are plans to make people are looking to you. And. I understand that, but you have to decide something. Who do you belong to, even though you're to give your life for God's people, you don't belong to God's people, you belong to God. God's people will not judge you on the day of judgment, God will judge you on the day of judgment. You are answerable to him. And if you are in the ministry. You do have many tasks that you cannot neglect, but your greatest task. Is to be like an explorer. Your greatest task is to be like a miner who goes down into the earth in search of great gems. In order to present the gems of God's grace to God's people, that they might be transformed by them, I dearly love John MacArthur. And I love the ministry that God has given him. And I greatly respect the seminary that they have there. One of the reasons I so respect it. Is those students come out. Kind of like robots. Now, I don't mean that in a bad way, but here's what they're saying. In this school. You are taught to study the Bible so that you can open up God's word to God's people, if you are a preacher, if you are a pastor. If you are a man of God. Your primary responsibility. Is to know how to preach God's word, that means you study God's word. In order to preach God's word. In the street, in the pulpit and behind the counselor's desk. Pastors, that's what we're about. We are to be men who are enamored with the grace of God. We are mesmerized by the gospel, we are saturated by the gospel and we live to discover greater and greater truths of the gospel so that we can preach them to God's people. And that is the only true biblical motivation out there. Why do they go across the world evangelizing? Why do they risk their life? Why do they give up everything? Because they've learned of the grace of God in the gospel, because they went to a church where the preacher saw that as his greatest priority to preach the gospel and to make the infinite excellencies of the grace of God known to all. That is our job. Now, let's look at the proper response to grace. Chapter two, verse 12, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age. Listen to this one word denial. Denial. The instruction of grace comes in two stages, and it is very important to maintain the order. Before the grace of God instructs you with regard to the virtue, you ought to live. The grace of God instructs you with regard to the sin that you must be rid of, that you must get out of your life in verse 12, it says, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires. Now, let me read a quote from D. Edmund Hebert, due to man's sinful past, there must first be a negative work, a cleaning away of the rubbish before there can be constructive building. Everything offensive to God and contrary to grace must be renounced. I want to read another quote from Hayne Griffin. The true learning of heaven must begin with the unlearning and laying off of all which stands in the way of the development of the new man. Everything that stands in our way to being what God wants us to be must be gone. It must be eliminated. The word deny. It comes from a Greek word, which means to refuse to disown, to say no to to reject. The word is used in Hebrews 11, 24. It says, by faith, when he had grown up by faith, Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. Now, I want you to think about this is an amazing truth here. Moses is a young man. On one side, he is given the world, he is to be in the family of the most powerful man on the planet, the wealthiest man on the planet. Moses, all he has to do is say yes, and he gains the world. The other option, what is it? To suffer and die as a slave. To identify himself with the most despised people on the planet. And what does Moses do? Moses says no to Egypt. He says no to Pharaoh. And he says yes to the Messiah. He says yes to Christ. He has says yes to identifying himself with God's people. We are called to look at ungodliness and worldliness and do exactly the same thing in Acts chapter three, verse 14. The word is used, but you disowned the holy and righteous one and put to death the prince of life. Now, think about this text. You disowned the holy and righteous one. And you put to death the prince of life, it's the same word again. And what does it mean? You and I are to look at ungodliness and worldly desires, and we're not only to reject them, we are to kill them. We are to crucify them. We are to hate them. We are to run a stake through their heart. Let me put it this way. You can never truly live for Christ unless first you renounce ungodliness and worldliness, you must disown them. You must crucify them. There is a teaching that has permeated the church all over the world. It is the prosperity gospel that we are to be wealthy and we are to be healthy and we are to have comfort. There is hardly any teaching on this planet that I hate more than the prosperity gospel. I hate it because what it is saying is this. Jesus is not enough. I need something more. I love what Dr. MacArthur says. If this is your best life now, then you're going to hell. My best life is not now. My best life is when Christ appears. That is what we live for. And for that reason, we are willing to deny ungodliness and worldliness. Now, what is ungodliness? It is the root, maybe of all other sins. It is any attitude or action. That demonstrates a lack of reverence toward God. And shows a contempt for God's law. Now, what is worldliness, what is worldliness? Well, I want to give you a few facts about worldliness to help you identify it. It's every desire that is contrary to the nature and will of God. It is also desires that pertain to and characterize this fallen evil age and will not translate into eternity. They are desires that control our drive, our not our lives, but the lives of unbelieving men. What are worldly desires? They are desires that drive and control the lives of unbelieving men whose hope is in this world. And who have no thoughts of God. Finally, worldly desires are this. They are desires that distract us from God and his will. They are desires that are substitutes for God and his will. And they are desires that are telling the world that for us, God is not sufficient and God is not satisfying. That is what worldly desires are. Now, as ministers of the gospel. It is our job. To stand before the congregation and to identify ungodliness and to identify worldliness. And we are to expose it in the congregation and we are to teach God's people to flee from it like it was the plague. And we are to teach them how to hold on to the promises and power of God. We are to rebuke people in the congregation who are ungodly and worldly. And most of all, you and I, as ministers of the gospel, we must be examples of men who reject ungodliness and worldliness. We show it with our lives and you must understand something. This world is filled with so many false prophets. This world is filled with so many people that abuse their privileges in the ministry. It is filled with so many people who have enriched themselves that we must do the opposite. Just because things are given to you do not mean you have to receive it. We need only what we need to live with dignity. We should not expect to enrich ourselves in the ministry. That is a contrary to everything we say. We believe we are to be men of God. We are messengers of Christ. Heaven belongs to us. Why should we care about these worldly things? We should not. We should deny them. But not only should we deny ungodliness and worldliness, but the Bible says that we should live. We should live. We should live more than anyone else on this planet. We should have life more than anyone else on this planet, but life that is sensible, that is righteous and that is godly. We're not going to win the world by being like the world. We will win the world by being completely different than the world. The Bible modifies the word live here with three different adverbs. First of all, sensibly. It means to live like a person in their right mind. To live like someone who is not crazy, it is to live in a way that agrees with everything we know about God, to live in a way that agrees with the reality of God. What he has done for us. The promises he's given us, the warnings that he's given us, it is to live in agreement with the reality of the scriptures. That's what it means to live sensibly. But so many people live contrary to that. They say my home is in heaven, but all they care about is worldly things. They say God commands us to be gracious and giving. But they're stingy. They say we have a great commission, but they do nothing to advance the Great Commission. Christ died for sin, they say. But they live in sin. That's a contradiction. We're to live sensibly, but we're also to live, the Bible says, righteously. That is to live in a way that conforms to what the Bible says about God and what it says about God's will to live in agreement with who God is and what he has commanded. And this is principally not just with the relationship to God, but with our relationship to others. We are to live before our brothers and sisters in Christ and we are to live before the world in a way that is righteous, honest, fair, integrity. Keeping our word, keeping our promises, living as Christ would live among the body, and then we are to live in a godly manner, the Bible says we are to live in a godly manner. That is the opposite of living ungodly. Who is a godly man? It is a man who believes that God is the greatest reality and a man who considers it his supreme privilege and duty to know God, to worship God and to obey God. That is a godly man. He may be weak, he may be full of failure and so many things, but his heart does burn for God's. As ministers of Christ. We must set before God's people the virtues of the Christian faith, we must teach them how to avail themselves of the power of God through prayer, we must exhort them to godly living. We must rebuke those who are slothful. But most of all, men, we must be examples of a righteous life. We must be examples to our flock. They must see in us that there is a possibility of living in a different way in this world. Now, the hope of grace, verse 13, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of our of the glory of our great God and savior, Christ Jesus. Now notice this. Paul began this text talking about the appearance of grace in the first coming of Christ. Now he's going to talk about the continued appearing of the grace of God in the second coming of Christ as Christians. Brothers and sisters, as Christians, we live between two days, two days. There are two days of extreme importance to us. The day that Jesus Christ came and died and rose again from the dead. The other day is the day of his appearing, those two days ought to control our lives. And in those two days are found enough grace to propel the regenerate heart to greater and greater heights of glory and godliness. Again, I want you to look at something. Let me let me put it this way. The second coming. You'll know everything about the second coming on the day it happens, but you could be in a heaven for an eternity. And you will still not fully comprehend the beauty and the glory of the gospel in order to motivate God's people. In order to give them strength, we must search out the infinite excellencies of the grace of God. It's our job so that we might present the grace of God in ever increasing measures to God's people. Years ago, when I told my pastor that God had called me. He turned around and he looked at me and he said this. He said, boy, can you be alone? And I thought he meant that if I preached the truth, no one would like me and I would be alone. But that's not what he meant. He meant this. While all the other. Boys are running around with other boys, can you separate yourself from them and be alone with God? Can you live a life alone with God? Studying his word, giving yourself to prayer. While everyone else is running around doing all sorts of busy little activities. Peace. Can you be that one man who is not a man of the people, but is a man of God for the sake of the people? That although although you love people and you spend time with people and you care about people, your main responsibility is to be before God to know him, to know his word. To intercede, to walk with him. I'm afraid that we become so busy that we look more like businessmen than we look like prophets. And that is dangerous. Now, let us look at the end or purpose of grace in verse 14. Who gave himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed and to purify for himself a people for his own possession, zealous for good works. Why should we deny ungodliness and worldliness? Why should we live sensibly and righteously and devoutly? Because this is the reason for which Jesus died. It says that he died to save us from every lawless deed. That's just not referring to justification. It's referring also to our present life. He died. That we might live righteously, secondly, he died to purify for himself a people, he did this in the cross when he died through his blood, his people were made clean. And yet, at the same time, we are to live a clean life here on Earth. If his blood has purified us, then we want to live pure lives here on this planet. And then thirdly. He died to be glorified in a group of people who would zealously do good works in his name, ministers. People who do not care about possessions, who do not care about wealth, who do not care about comfort. Who do not care about fame, they live to do the will of God, they have the same attitude as their Lord. Do you want to know the heart of Christ? You want to truly know the heart of Christ. Well, here it is, it is manifested in his prayer. Our father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on Earth as it is in heaven. That's what he lived for, that's what he died for, and that's the way we must be. We care for nothing else. Except that his name be glorified. Now, we finish with this in verse 15, the exhortation and reproof of grace. These things speak and exhort and reprove with all authority, let no one disregard you. Now he's going to he's looking now at Titus and at us, and he's telling us about our responsibility as ministers. Brothers, like the Apostle Paul, we are to burn with a godly jealousy for the church. We are to desire to present the church to Christ as a pure virgin, without spot and without wrinkle. Like the Apostle Paul, we should say this, who is our hope, who is our joy, who is our crown of boasting? It's the church, it's the church, we desire to present the church to Christ, the pure virgin. That is our duty. And how do we do that? He gives us three things, we speak, we teach, we preach. Hendrickson says this. We must constantly talk about this glorious life of sanctification. As a thank offering presented to God for his wonderful grace in Christ. We must constantly put this before the believers, believers, this is why he saved us. This is why we live. So that we might reflect his glory, not only should we teach, we must exhort. I listen to a lot of expository preaching and a lot of it's just like some kind of a history lecture. Our lecture in Greek or Hebrew grammar, the preacher does not just inform. The preacher exhorts so that people will obey what they've learned, a great part of preaching is not just teaching, but exhorting people here. Oh, Israel, listen to me, what I am preaching, you will be held accountable for on the day of judgment. I am not here just talking. That's the way we must preach to God's people. After telling them the truth, we must exhort them to obey the truth. And not only that, we must also reprove God's people in love. But still, we must at times reprove God's people, we must warn them of the wrath to come, we must warn them of the dangers of sin. We must tell them to flee from all ungodliness. Now, Paul says in verse 15 that Titus is to do this with all authority. And we are to do it with all authority, but from where does our authority come? It doesn't come from just our calling, it doesn't come from some special anointing. We have authority only to the degree that we correctly interpret and preach God's word. We don't preach our own opinions, our own inferences, our own conclusions. We preach the absolute truth of the word of God. What he has said now, finally, he says, let no one disregard you. The Greek word means do not let anyone think around you. Now, that sounds unusual, doesn't it? But it's extremely important. No more. Can you come here and translate? I spent, well, I spent a great part of my life preaching in the jungle. You don't have to worry about microphones. Now, he says, let no one disregard you. This literally means do not let anyone think around you. Now, I want to quote Hendrickson here. Titus must conduct himself in such a manner that no one will think around him. That no one in his heart will bypass or ignore Titus. Now, what can we do as ministers so that no one will disregard us? First of all, we must preach the word. If people disregard our opinions, that's good, because our opinions are just our opinions. If you give me your opinion, I'm going to disregard you. But if you give me the word of God, I'm going to hear. Secondly, we must live a life that validates what we say. Now, listen to a text in 1 Timothy 4, 11 through 12. Paul says, prescribe and teach these things. Let no one look down on your youthfulness. Now, if there's a young minister here, I want you to listen. He's saying, Timothy, don't let anyone look down on you just because you're young. Now, a young minister will hear that, and he'll tell the people, don't look down on me just because I'm young. But then he forgets the rest of the verse. Why should they not look down on him? And why should they not look down on us? Because in our speech, our conduct, our love, our faith, our purity, we show ourselves to be examples of true believers. You do not have right to demand respect just because of your calling. As a matter of fact, if you have to walk around all the time demanding respect, you've already lost. The respect that you have should come from the character that comes out of you. A wise man once said this, if you have to look at your wife and say, submit to me, there's already a problem. And maybe not with her, maybe with you. We ought to live in such a way that people acknowledge our authority. There is a great difference. It is something that we earn by living godly lives. This is a minister of the grace of God. Let's pray.