The Ministry – part 3
Titus 1:1-4 (2b-3a)
February 2, 2025
We were just here this morning, so there’s no need for much recap.
We are talking about the ministry.
What is it?
To learn we are listening to Paul talk about his ministry,
And from him we are gaining an example of our ministry.
This is certainly a ministry in general, but we all have it.
6 realities about Paul’s ministry.
#1 HIS CREDENTIALS
Titus 1:1a
“Paul, a bond-servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ”
• He was both prophet and apostle.
• He spoke from God.
This was Paul’s authority and it is our authority too.
We are not prophets or apostles, but we have a letter written by one.
We take what Paul wrote here,
Understanding that it was inspired by the Holy Spirit
And is therefore the very words of God and we approach the people.
We say “Thus sayeth the Lord” and then we quote the Bible.
#2 HIS CALLING
Titus 1:1b-2a
“for the faith of those chosen of God and the knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness, in the hope of eternal life,”
This is the end game
This is the objective
• EVANGELISM
• EDIFICATION
• ENCOURAGEMENT
That is what he set out to do.
That is what we set out to do.
• We preach the gospel seeking the salvation of the lost.
• We teach the truth seeking the sanctification of the redeemed.
• We remind of eternal life seeking the encouragement of the saints.
Those things we have covered our last two times together.
Tonight let’s move forward.
#3 HIS CONFIDENCE
Titus 1:2b-3a
“which God, who cannot lie, promised long ages ago, but at the proper time manifested, even His word”
What we want to discuss tonight is
The necessary confidence that is required to do ministry.
Let me state it in sort of a negative way first:
Without proper confidence you will most likely neglect your ministry,
Or even worse, you will quite possibly distort your ministry.
What do I mean by that?
• Everyone knows that ministry is hard.
• Everyone knows that ministry can be discouraging.
• Everyone knows there can be seasons of dry spells where visible or measurable results seem few and far between.
We only have to think about people like
Chris and Meegan on the mission field in Papua New Guinea.
Living among a people who speak a foreign language
• Trying to learn the language
• Trying to learn the culture
• Trying to live in a primitive conditions
• Hoping to complete a Bible translation
• Hoping to eventually be able to communicate the gospel
And when they finally reach that point,
Then they have only arrived to a status that you and I already enjoy.
Having the Bible in the language of the people you are called to reach.
At that point they are called
• To take this new message as outsiders
• To confront decades if not millenniums of tradition and cultural superstition
and worldliness
• And call them to repent and change they way they are thinking in favor of the
words of God.
They will ask these people to abandon their gods, their religion,
Their practice, their traditions, their ideologies, their behaviors.
DISCOURGING?
YOU KNOW IT IS.
This is why confidence is necessary.
If you don’t have confidence in the ministry
It is very easy to neglect the ministry.
There must be a conviction that moves beyond minimal results.
There must be a conviction that knows it will eventually work.
Where there is no confidence ministry is often neglected.
But that is only half of the problem.
The other problem is that ministry gets DISTORTED.
WHAT DO I MEAN?
I MEAN THAT YOUR CONFIDENCE CANNOT BE IN YOUR SELF
Confidence in self is a fast track to failure.
John 15:4-5 “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.”
The belief that “you can do it” is a ministry killing belief.
It has actually led to one of the most destructive ministry ideologies
Ever conceived and that is PRAGMATISM.
Pragmatism is the belief that “the end justifies the means”
It doesn’t matter how you get there so long as you get there.
It is fueled by ministers who abandon God’s methods in favor of their own
In order to achieve a goal they have determined as success.
Men fueled by pragmatic thinking
Abandon their confidence in God’s plan
In favor of implementing their own quicker plan
And ultimately accomplish nothing.
CONFIDENCE IS ESSENTIAL,
BUT OUR CONFIDENCE MUST BE IN GOD.
I’m reminded of Paul speaking of a time
When God reinforced that truth to him.
2 Corinthians 1:8-9 “For we do not want you to be unaware, brethren, of our affliction which came to us in Asia, that we were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life; indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead;”
Paul learned through great affliction not to trust in himself, but in God.
Later in that same letter
We get his famous statement about the thorn in the flesh:
2 Corinthians 12:9-10 “And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.”
CONFIDENCE MUST BE IN GOD.
In his final letter Paul told Timothy:
2 Timothy 1:12 “For this reason I also suffer these things, but I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day.”
IT IS CONFIDENCE IN GOD.
We go into a hostile world;
• Preaching to those who are spiritually dead;
• With a goal of salvation,
• A transformation to godliness,
• And these sinners being welcomed into the very presence of God to live with
Him for all eternity.
And we have no ability to make any of that happen.
• We can’t speak to the dead.
• We can’t transform any lives.
• We certainly can’t grant eternal life or access into heaven.
And yet we go knowing that we will succeed.
We have confidence that our ministry will not fail.
Paul said:
2 Corinthians 2:14 “But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place.”
1 Corinthians 15:58 “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.”
He said:
2 Corinthians 4:8-14 “we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death works in us, but life in you. But having the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, “I BELIEVED, THEREFORE I SPOKE,” we also believe, therefore we also speak, knowing that He who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and will present us with you.”
You notice the affliction but you also notice the unwavering confidence.
“we also believe, therefore we also speak”
• It doesn’t matter that we are afflicted in every way.
• It doesn’t matter that we are perplexed.
• It doesn’t matter that we are struck down.
• It doesn’t matter that we are carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus.
• It doesn’t matter that we are constantly being delivered over to death.
WE BELIEVE
It is the necessary confidence that a believer must have
To do ministry in this broken world
And the apostle Paul had it in spades.
WHAT WE WANT TO DO TONIGHT IS EXAMINE THAT CONFIDENCE.
And we see THE SOURCE of it in this statement:
“which God, who cannot lie, promised long ages go, but at the proper time manifested even His word,”
Paul had just said that
• His goal in ministry was the salvation of God’s chosen.
• His goal was also the sanctification of God’s redeemed.
• His goal was also the satisfaction or hope of those whom God saves.
But why is Paul so confident that the lost will be saved,
that the saved will be sanctified, and that the sanctified will be glorified?
Because “God, who cannot lie, promised [it] long ages ago, [and] at the proper time manifested [it in] His word.”
It didn’t matter if it felt like no one would ever be saved under his preaching,
• God promised that they would.
It didn’t matter if it felt like sanctification wasn’t occurring,
• God promised that it would.
It didn’t matter if eternal life in heaven with God felt like a dream that would never show up,
• God promised that it would.
AND PAUL WAS CONFIDENT.
Tonight let’s break down the 3 things Paul was confident in.
And as we do this,
Let this be the foundation of your confidence in ministry as well.
1) GOD’S CHARACTER
“which God, who cannot lie”
There’s a great truth that ought to be pondered a little more deeply.
God “cannot lie”
• It doesn’t say He will not lie, it says He “cannot lie”.
It is an immutable spiritual law
Based upon the very nature of who God is.
Numbers 23:19 “God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent; Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?”
1 Samuel 15:29 “Also the Glory of Israel will not lie or change His mind; for He is not a man that He should change His mind.”
Hebrews 6:18 “so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement to take hold of the hope set before us.”
YOU GET THE POINT.
And certainly we contrast that to what Scripture says about the devil.
John 8:44 “You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”
It is not in God’s nature to lie.
He cannot do it.
And we are reassured of this over and over throughout the Scriptures
As we examine the fundamental truths about the word of God.
Jesus said:
John 17:17 “Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.”
Or think of:
John 10:35 “If he called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken),”
Listen to:
Isaiah 40:8 “The grass withers, the flower fades, But the word of our God stands forever.”
Or:
Isaiah 55:10-11 “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, And do not return there without watering the earth And making it bear and sprout, And furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater; So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.”
God’s word cannot fail.
It just can’t happen.
That means that every promise God ever made must be fulfilled.
It means that every prophecy God ever inspired must come to fruition.
That would include then not only God’s integrity but also HIS POWER.
You can promise to buy your wife a new car,
And then any number of circumstances can arise
That make that promise unfulfillable.
And you would say, “I didn’t lie, I had every intention of buying you a car, it’s just that circumstances changed.”
You understand that it still qualifies as a lie.
More than that it qualifies as A RECKLESS PROMISE
Because you promised something that is beyond your power to fulfill.
But that never happens to God.
When He promises something
He not only has the integrity to do it but also the power to do it.
IT IS A CERTAINTY.
And this confidence fuels Paul’s ministry.
And when we take it a step further WE SEE WHY.
God’s Character
2) GOD’S COMMITMENT
“Promised long ages ago”
It’s not just that God keeps His promises.
We also see that God makes promises.
Just because He can’t lie
Does not mean He is obligated to promise anything, but He has.
Now first let’s identify the promise.
What is the promise that Paul is referring to here?
It is the promise that
• God has chosen men for salvation,
• He will sanctify them
• And He will give them eternal life.
And Paul says that God promised this “long ages ago”
And that alone is worth examining.
The exact same phrase “long ages ago”
Is also used in the book of 2 Timothy, but there it is translated differently.
2 Timothy 1:9 “who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity,”
There the same phrase is translated “from all eternity”
It literally means “before time began”
John MacArthur stated:
“The plan of redemption for sinners did not come after men fell but before man was even created. The Father showed His perfect love to the Son (cf. John 17:23-24, 26) by promising Him a redeemed humanity who would serve and glorify Him forever.”
(MacArthur, John [The MacArthur New Testament Commentary: Titus; The Moody Bible Institute of Chicago, IL; 1996] pg. 11)
In short, you have God here making a promise before time began.
AND IT SORT OF BEGS THE QUESTION,
If the promise was made before time then who was the promise made to?
And there can only be one answer.
• Angels were not created yet.
• Men were not created yet.
The only possible answer is that it is an “inner-trinitarian” promise.
It is a promise that the Father made to the Son.
God made a promise to Christ in eternity past
That He would save a people, sanctify them,
And grant them eternal life to be with Him forever.
Now consider the references
That Jesus made to this very promise even in His earthly ministry.
John 6:37-40 “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out. “For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. “This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day. “For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.”
Did you catch the references Jesus made?
There is a reference to those whom the Father has given to the Son.
• “All that the Father gives Me…”
• “of all that He has given Me…”
And that those God promised to give to Christ may be granted eternal life.
• “of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day.”
• “everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life…”
You see what is happening there.
Jesus is referencing that promise that Paul is referring to here.
That before time began the Father made a promise to the Son
To give Him a redeemed people
That would behold Him, trust Him, and glorify Him forever.
Look at the great high priestly prayer of Jesus.
John 17:6 “I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world; they were Yours and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word.
• There it is again: “they were Yours and You gave them to Me”
John 17:9-11 “I ask on their behalf; I do not ask on behalf of the world, but of those whom You have given Me; for they are Yours; and all things that are Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine; and I have been glorified in them. “I am no longer in the world; and yet they themselves are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We are.
• “those whom You have given Me;”
And here the prayer is for their protection,
“keep them in Your name”
It is the prayer that God would preserve the promise
Of this redeemed people by keeping them for Christ.
John 17:23-24 “I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me. “Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.”
• “they also, whom You have given Me”
• And “for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.”
DO YOU SEE THE POINT BEING MADE HERE?
We are talking about the sovereign love of God
And it is a love that was first expressed from the Father to the Son.
The Father loves the Son.
John 3:35 “The Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hand.”
John 5:20 “For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself is doing; and the Father will show Him greater works than these, so that you will marvel.”
And in that love the Father promised before time began
To give Him a redeemed bride for His enjoyment, honor, and glory.
This is one of the greatest encouragements
To our security and assurance that you can ever grab ahold of.
You are God’s gift to the Son whom He loves.
You are the fulfilment of God’s promise to His Son.
So that in the end we see:
Revelation 5:11-12 “Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders; and the number of them was myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.”
DOES THAT HELP IT COME INTO FOCUS?
1. There was a commitment made by God, “who cannot lie” to His Son whom He loves.
2. That commitment was to choose for Him a bride.
3. The Son would then be sent to redeem that bride through His own sacrifice.
4. And that bride would be given to the Son for His glory and honor.
AND PAUL KNOWS THAT
If God made such a promise then God will keep it.
There is no chance that those whom God has sovereignly chosen as a love gift to His Son will not be given to Him.
What God promised long ago will certainly be fulfilled.
God cannot and does not break His commitments.
We lean upon this. We trust in this.
Isaiah 25:1 “O LORD, You are my God; I will exalt You, I will give thanks to Your name; For You have worked wonders, Plans formed long ago, with perfect faithfulness.”
Isaiah 46:10 “Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things which have not been done, Saying, ‘My purpose will be established, And I will accomplish all My good pleasure’;”
Does that help you recognize the source of Paul’s confidence?
• He is going out into this world of hostility.
• He is going out as a sheep among wolves.
• He is going out into a world that hates and crucified Christ.
• He is going out in search of those whom God has chosen.
And Paul has every confidence that He will find them.
Paul has every confidence that they will respond to the gospel.
• He believes they will be saved.
• He believes they will be sanctified.
• He believes that God will in fact give them the eternal life He promised.
Because God does not break His promises.
What confidence you can have in that as well!
What confidence that gives me to stand before you week in and week out.
I have zero confidence
• That I am adequate in any way to save any lost person.
• That I am adequate in any way to lead a person to sanctification.
• That I am adequate in any way to preserve you in Christ until you enter the
glorious presence of God in heaven.
And you should have zero confidence in me that I can do that for you.
But, we have every confidence in God.
We know that God promised it and so it will happen.
To read it one more time.
John 6:37-40 “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out. “For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. “This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day. “For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.”
There is no doubt.
• Regardless of the opposition.
• Regardless of the seemingly slow-moving process at times.
We are confident in God’s character
And we are confident in God’s commitment to His Son.
There is a third aspect that fuels our confidence.
3) GOD’S COMMUNICATION
(3) “but at the proper time manifested, even His word,”
SO
• The God who can always be trusted; the God who cannot lie;
• Made a promise before time began to His Son.
That is a good thing, but obviously we were not there,
And therefore that promise could not aid our confidence…
UNLESS God chose to reveal to us what that promise and plan was.
There are many times in this life that we are forced to accept
That God works in ways that we don’t understand.
There are many situations in life where we sort of walk in the dark,
At least in regard to the “why’s?” and the “how long’s?”.
WE DON’T ALWAYS KNOW WHAT GOD IS DOING.
We have confidence that He is good.
We have confidence that He is sovereign.
But we don’t really know what He is doing through our hardships.
However, in regard to salvation, sanctification, and the satisfaction of eternal life God has been very open and very clear.
HE HAS MADE HIS WILL KNOWN IN THAT ARENA.
We have no doubt what God’s will is in that area
Because He has revealed it to us in “His word”.
The kids taught us this during the Christmas play this year.
Matthew 13:16-17 “But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear. “For truly I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.”
1 Peter 1:10-12 “As to this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful searches and inquiries, seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow. It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you, in these things which now have been announced to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven—things into which angels long to look.”
I don’t know
• Why every single thing that happens in my life actually happens.
I can’t typically explain
• Why you go through the things you go through.
Some things are a mystery to us.
BUT THE OVERALL PLAN IS NOT.
God’s general plan is crystal clear because God has made it clear.
Romans 8:28-30 “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.”
God’s plan was to choose to redeem a people for His Son.
• They are people “who are called according to His purpose”
• He “foreknew” them before time began.
• And “those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren;”
God chose these people and set their destiny to meet Christ, to trust Christ, to know Christ, and to be sanctified by Christ until they look like Christ.
• And “these whom He predestined He also called” to salvation.
• And “these whom He called He also justified” through the shed blood of His Son.
• And “these whom He justified, He also glorified” that they would have eternal life and forever dwell with Christ where they would honor and worship Him for all eternity.
We don’t always know the little details of the plan, but we know the plan.
AND NOTHING WILL STOP THAT PLAN.
The Father loves the Son and you are a gift to the Son.
• You were chosen by the Father.
• You were redeemed by the Son.
• You are being sanctified into a vessel of glory.
• You will be taken to dwell with Him for all eternity where you will see His glory
and worship Him forever.
That is what is happening in your life.
God has commissioned us to labor in that plan.
• We preach the gospel to call out the chosen.
• We teach the truth to sanctify the redeemed.
• We encourage the redeemed not to quit because eternal life awaits.
AND WE KNOW WE WILL SUCCEED.
• We have been granted the promises of God.
• We have been granted the word of God.
Now NEXT TIME we’ll see that our work is to proclaim that word
As our power for accomplishing these promises.
BUT FOR TONIGHT I simply want you to understand that
There is no chance that your ministry or my ministry can fail.
We don’t get discouraged
• When we go out into this world and it feels like rejection.
• When we try to teach and the sanctification process seems to be taking forever.
• When our ministries feel small and insignificant.
And we certainly don’t abandon the ministry in favor of our own plans.
Instead we place our confidence in the revealed plan of God
• That all who the Father has given are coming.
• That all those who come will be conformed into the image of Christ.
• And those who are conformed will be granted eternal life which will never be ‘
taken from them.
The Father promised that to the Son.
And God doesn’t break His promises, and certainly not to His Son.
DOES THAT HELP YOUR CONFIDENCE IN MINISTRY?
BELOVED YOU CAN’T FAIL.
YES, you can neglect your ministry.
YES, you can disqualify yourself from ministry.
YES, you can discredit your ministry through sinful living.
And those are all things
Paul is going to encourage Titus to warn us about.
But if you will remain faithful to your ministry,
• If you will strive to walk in truth and perform the duty that you have been called to,
• If you will adorn the gospel you preach with the good works God determined…
• YOU CANNOT FAIL.
God will see to it that your ministry succeeds
Because it is fueled by His great promise, not your ability.
SO STAND upon the credentials and authority of God’s word.
RECOGNIZE that you have been called
• To the salvation of the lost,
• To the sanctification of the redeemed,
• To the satisfaction of the saved to obtain eternal life.
AND BE CONFIDENT that God will accomplish His what He has promised.
Ministry will get a whole lot easier when you do that.
