Well, good morning to everyone. Another beautiful morning. We've been getting a lot of sunshine lately. That's kind of nice in our winter. A little hoary frost out there this morning. 

Yesterday we had pictures at our house because we like to torture ourselves whenever we have a family gathering, and the kids said, "Dad, your hair looks silver in the snow," so whatever that's worth. 

Well, last time we were in Titus a couple of weeks ago, we talked about the work of God in salvation, particularly in regeneration, and it's vital that we understand God's intent in saving us, what it is that He has accomplished in our salvation, not only concerning justification and our position in Christ, but also the actual work of regeneration, the recreating of who we are in Christ. 

We looked at the truths that we have died with Christ, that our old man and Adam was crucified with Christ, was buried, and raised to newness of life. We died to sin, to the law. We died to the fear of death, having been given a new heart, a new spirit, and the Holy Spirit coming to indwell and empower us permanently. These are profound truths for our understanding of the Christian life. 

These truths form the basis, as we said last time, the why we must live a new life as believers in Jesus Christ. If we do not understand the doctrine, the truths of our salvation, if we do not know the reality of who we now are in Christ as a result of His saving work, and if we do not see these truths, these indicatives, as the basis for living out the commands, the imperatives in the Scriptures, then we will only be striving to keep a law, to live by the law, the commands. And there's no power; there's no provision in the command. The exhortations give us no basis nor power to keep them, to live them out, and thus we'll be frustrated in our attempts and efforts to live a holy life. 

Unfortunately, most of Christianity exists in this state, in this confusion, not knowing or understanding the doctrine nor God's means for applying it in our lives. 

Our text is all about witness. It's all about fulfilling our roles within the body for the growth and the health of the body, and ultimately for our witness to the world. We've seen this in the command of Timothy, or Titus, I'm sorry, to speak sound words, teach doctrine for the health and well-being of the church. And also in all the various categories and exhortations listed here in this text, this morning we focus in on the instructions to bond slaves, to employees in relation to their employers, slaves in relation to their masters, how they should conduct themselves. 

The application for us in our world is the employee-employer relationship. And here's one of our greatest opportunities: to live out our salvation, to represent Christ as an ambassador and to be a witness to the transforming power of the gospel. That's what our text is really about this morning. 

If you'll turn with me to Titus 2.9, and we'll go to the end of the chapter. 

"Exhort bond servants to be obedient to their own masters, to be well-pleasing in all things, not answering back, not pilfering, but showing all good fidelity that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things. For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from every lawless deed, and purify for himself his own special people, zealous for good works. Speak these things, exhort and rebuke with all authority, let no one despise you." 

I've given you three points on your outline this morning. First, the will of God; second, the way of God; and third, the working witness. 

Well, first, I'd like to highlight in our text the will and purpose of God in saving us. I think this is so important for us to understand, not only the truths of what He has done in us in recreating us and uniting us to Jesus in His death, burial, and resurrection, but also why He did this. What is His intention and purpose for us in our time on this earth? 

If you look at verse 14 of our text, it says, "Who gave himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed, and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works." Speaking of Jesus, our great God and Savior, it says He gave Himself for us that, for the purpose that, in order that, He might redeem us from every lawless deed, and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works. 

We talk continually, and rightly so, about the truth that good works, or the deeds of the law, have nothing to do with our justification of receiving salvation, of being saved. That's by grace through faith alone. This is the crux of the matter, the essential truth of the gospel and our salvation. 

But we must also recognize that our salvation has everything to do with, that is, results in good works, with holiness and glorifying God and being a witness of the gospel in this world in everything we do. Whether we eat or drink, everything, even the mundane things must be done to the glory of God. 

And here's where doctrine, the truths about our salvation, are so important. It's often taught, I have heard it taught, that believers in Jesus Christ are free from condemnation, that they have sort of a "get-out-of-hell-free card" because of Christ; they are justified in Christ, but somehow they are still vile, wretched sinners. 

I've heard it taught that the height of Christian maturity is realizing how desperately wicked we are, that we need the law to show us how sinful we are and to drive us back into the fold of God's grace, that sin still dominates and controls us, and that, well, how many times have you heard this, "Well, we're going to sin." 

I'm not advocating sinless perfection in this world because our faith is imperfect, our knowledge is imperfect, and we're often unwilling to choose to believe, to trust, to put our whole faith in God. But I will submit that these types of teachings, these failures to understand the magnitude of what God has done in us in salvation, undermine the whole point and purpose of why God has saved us and His intention for our lives. 

He's made us new creations. He's killed our old man, the man in Adam, the body controlled by indwelling sin, in order that, for the very purpose that we should no longer be slaves of sin, no longer who we were in Adam, but now by His grace and power, able to have consistent victory and to experience abundant fruit, the fruit of holiness in our lives as we abide in Him. 

The scriptures say that He has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness. We lack nothing. We are new men, alive in our spirit, holy in our nature, the essence of who we are. Yes, we are still incarcerated in these bodies, and sin still dwells in these bodies, but we are dead to it, and we are alive to God. 

Our expectation should be for holiness, for good works that are pleasing to God and a witness to men. We love Ephesians 2, 8, 9, but look at the purpose, the flow into verse 10. "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast." 

Listen to verse 10. "For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which He prepared beforehand that we should walk in them." 

For His workmanship, His new creation, were created in Christ Jesus for good works. It's God's will for us to be holy. His will for us is our sanctification, the outward conforming of our lives and our walk to the inward reality of who we are in Christ as new men, free from the law of sin and death, under grace, dead to the law. 

Our expectation should be every day to live a holy life, to abide in Christ, to trust in His grace and power and life in us, and trust Him to produce fruit through us. And all this teaching about how sinful and wicked we are, about two natures and the struggle of the good dog and the bad dog, and all of this undermines the truth of the scriptures, the basis, the why we can and should, in fact, must live a new life in Christ. 

We cannot continue in sin, for we have died to it. That does not mean we will never sin. It means that we cannot continue as we were in Adam, in a perpetual state of sinfulness dominated and controlled by indwelling sin because we are no longer who we were. We are in Christ; we are not in Adam. 

I'm going to give you what I think is the best illustration of this undermining in one of my personal favorite illustrations in the text of scriptures. We spent a good deal of time in Romans 6 in our last message looking at the great truths of our salvation in Christ, the fact we died to sin and our old man was crucified, that the body controlled by indwelling sin might be rendered powerless, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. 

The truth that we're no longer under the law, that we died to the law and we were married to Jesus in order that we might bear fruit to God. We saw the truth that we died to death because we died with Christ. We have been released from the fear of death, the death that He dies, He died once, and now the life He lives, He lives to God. Likewise, you also reckon yourselves. 

All of these great truths in chapter 6 and the first six verses of chapter 7, culminating in 7, 5-6, and picked up again in 8, 1-4, are teaching us about God's means, the why we can live a life, but also leading into how we should live that life. 

Turn over to Romans 7, 5 with me please. I want to look at this one more time just as an illustration. This is a contrast between the man in Adam, the man in Christ. It's what we've seen all the way back to 5-12 and all the way through chapter 6 into 7 and up into chapter 8. Verse 5, "For when we were in the flesh," that's when we were carnal men, when we were fleshly, when we were in Adam, here was our condition. The sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death. 

And then verse 6, he talks about the believer in Jesus Christ, "But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter." 

Here we have the great contrast, the man in Adam in the flesh, under law, sin, and death. Conflicted with the man in Christ, delivered from the law, from sin, from death, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter. 

This leads us from the purpose of God to the plan of God, from the will of God for our sanctification to the way of God, by the Holy Spirit, by His grace, by His power, by Jesus living in us. And we're going to get to that in a minute. This is the new way of life and holiness. 

What I want you to see here is that Paul has laid down all of these great truths of our salvation, and he's going to pick them up again in Acts 1-4, reiterating freedom from the law of sin and death, after this little parenthesis in Romans 7, 7-25. 

You remember the last time we looked at verse 5, and how Paul's statement concerning the man in Adam, the man in the flesh, the unbeliever, how the law is tied to sin, and the law is tied to death, and that this statement gave rise to some serious and adamant objections from the Jew. This is the pattern of Paul's writing in the book of Romans. 

So Paul had to answer what he meant by this statement, that the law gave rise to sin and produced death in the man in Adam. And so we see those two questions in the subsequent answers in verses 7 and 13. Is the law sin? Is the law what brought death to me? 

So if the questions arise out of verse 5, speaking of the man in Adam and in the flesh, then the answers in the rest of the chapter would also relate to the man in Adam in the flesh. And here's my point, my friends, why I belabor this vital truth. Many if not most Christian teachers today, and this is actually not true historically but originated in the reformed tradition from Augustine, Calvin, and Luther, but most today apply Romans 7, 14 to 25 to the Christian. 

So in verses like 14 and 15, they would say this is true of the Christian and the normal Christian life. "We know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, fleshly, a slave to sin. For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice, but what I hate, that I do." 

Again the context is important. Paul said in verse 5 that sin is tied to the law, death is tied to the law. So the question here in verse 13 is has the law brought death to me? Is that what you're saying, Paul? And Paul says no. No, no, no, no, no. It's not the law that's the problem for the man in Adam, right? What's the problem? Indwelling sin. And that's his whole point in the rest of this chapter. 

Here's how he characterizes the man he's speaking of. "The law is spiritual, I am carnal. I'm a slave to sin." And the result is verse 15, the present tense in the Greek. Here's the literal translation. "For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not ever practice. But what I hate, that I continually always do." 

Verse 19 is similar. "For the good that I will to do, I do not ever do. But the evil I will not to do, that I continually perpetually always practice." You see, the tense characterizes the nature of the action, not so much the time. 

Verse 23 summarizes the condition of this man. He says, "I want to do good. I want to keep the law of God. That's my desire in my mind. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members." 

Here's my point. We study the great truths of Romans 6. But so often, these are taught as only positional. "Oh, that's who we are in Christ." But it's not actually true. And then we come to Romans 7, and we say, "See, Paul could not live a holy life. The things he wanted to do, he couldn't do them. The things he hated, he was always doing them." And we make the normal Christian life one of sin and defeat and fruitlessness. And that becomes our expectation. 

It's the same thing in 1 Corinthians 3. "Are you not carnal?" remember, he says. Remember the next words? Living like mere men. It always makes me think of a high school football coach at halftime, and the guys are getting mopped up on the field. And he comes in, and he goes, "You're playing like a bunch of girls." Does that mean they are girls? Does that mean the Corinthians were carnal, fleshly? No, it means they were acting like mere men. They were acting contrary to who they are. 

We undermine the truths of Romans 6 by a gross misinterpretation and misapplication of Romans 7. And I hear it all the time from believers. "Well, you know, if Paul couldn't do it, you know, what I want to do, I do not do anything. Then how am I supposed to do it? We're going to sin." 

Is this the salvation that God has provided? Is this the reality of regeneration and the new creation in Christ, His very life in us? Or is this a false teaching and undermining the great truths of the provision that God has made in our salvation with the express purpose of producing holiness in our lives? 

Let me ask you this. If you take out Romans 7 and 1 Corinthians 3, what crutch do you have for your sin in the scriptures? It's for His glory and His purpose that we live, like Mark read this morning. About 10 times, I almost put that scripture in my notes, and then Mark read it this morning. 

He died for us so we live for Him. My brother, my sister, you are not a vile, wretched sinner. You are not carnal. You are not a slave to sin. You are a new creation in Christ, dead to sin, dead to the law, free from the fear of death. You have a new heart and a new spirit, and the very life of God is in you, empowering you to live a new life. This is the will of God. 

And next, we see the way of God. This is important as well, the means, the how. Look at verse 11 in our text. "For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ." 

We've seen this already this morning in Romans 7-6. We are no longer to live by the letter, by the law, but by the Spirit. It is grace that teaches us, not the law. It is grace that teaches us. My life is not one of striving to please God by keeping the law, by living up to a standard in hopes of gaining my own righteousness or coming into the favor of God by some level of holiness. 

My life is a life of thankfulness to God for His gift, for His grace, His work of salvation and provision and power in my life. It's a life of fervent desire to live for the one who died for me. I'm not trying to gain God's favor. I have God's favor. He is pleased with me in Christ. And my life is a life of faith and trust in Him as His power works in me. 

It's a life of thankfulness for the salvation He's given me in a belief in the Holy Spirit who gives life to my mortal body as I am filled by Him, as I am controlled by Him. Paul summarized probably most succinctly in Galatians 2-19 his understanding of the Christian life. Listen to what he said. He said, "For I through the law died to the law that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. It's no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God. For if righteousness, holy living, good deeds come through the law, then Christ died in vain." 

You see, if I know the doctrine, the sound words, that I died with Christ, that I'm dead to sin and law and death, that I'm a new man with a new heart and quickened in my spirit, then it is logical and reasonable. Remember we looked at that in Romans 12, 1 and 2 last time? It's logical and reasonable for me to live a new life because I am a new man. 

And if I believe that Jesus lives in me, that the Holy Spirit empowers me and guides me into truth and produces life through me, if I trust that Jesus is divine and I am a branch abiding in Him as He produces life and fruit through me, if I look to the grace of God, if I walk each step by faith, reckoning what God says to be true, taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, not living by my feelings, not living by my emotions, not even by my experience or performance, but by the grace of God, then my expectation should be a life of victory, of witness. 

I should, as God does, expect holiness as the normal Christian life, not bondage to sin and law. And my friends, it is grace that teaches me this. It's an understanding of salvation and life by grace through faith that teaches us to live a holy life and to expect it. 

And then I think, boy, last night I failed. Why did I fail? In little things. Because I don't reckon myself. I don't count up the facts in my mind of who I am and reckon them to be true and choose to believe what God says and not what I feel in the moment, in each moment. And when I fail to do that, I sin. That doesn't mean I have to sin. 

It's grace, not law, that teaches me, that shows me the way of God for holiness. Verse 11, "For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ." 

My brothers and sisters, it is grace. It is the salvation of God in Christ by grace through faith that teaches us. It's about the truth. It's about the words of God, about the promise of life, eternal life now and forever. When do you get eternal life? When you believe Jesus. 

We have it right now. We have eternal life. We live by faith in the promise of God, His life in us by faith today and anticipating His coming to take us to be with Him in heaven. Life eternal with Him. This is grace. 

This is God's way to life, right? Justification by grace through faith. This is God's way to life. But it's also God's way of life. I almost got a seminary degree. I quit because it was worthless. But one important thing I learned was a professor I had in a seminary class said that Jesus Christ is the way to life and Jesus Christ is the way of life. It's about the only thing I remember. 

We see in our text the will of God. We see the way of God. And now the application of all these truths, we finally come to the bond slaves in our text, a working witness. Verse nine. "Exhort bond servants to be obedient to their own masters, to be well-pleasing in all things, not answering back, not pilfering, but showing all good fidelity that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things." 

Well, the Bible has a lot to say about work. In these verses and in passages like Ephesians 4, 1 Peter 2, we learn some great truths concerning how God views work and how we should view it as well. 

I'd like for you to turn over to 1 Peter 2, a really instructive and stunning text. 1 Peter 2, beginning at verse 11. I want you to see how all of these admonitions are tied to our witness. 

1 Peter 2, 11. "Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against your soul, having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation. 

Therefore, submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, whether to the king as supreme or to governors as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men, as free yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bond servants of God. 

Honor all people, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king. Servants, be submissive to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the harsh. For this is commendable if because of conscience toward God one endures grief, suffering wrongfully. 

For what credit is it if when you are beaten for your faults you take it patiently, but when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God. For to this you were called because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that you should follow His steps, who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth, who when He was reviled, He did not revile in return. When He suffered, He did not threaten but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously." 

The context of this passage is again our witness, our testimony before the world, the Gentiles, and we are to be submissive to authority, peaceable, contending for the faith, but not being contentious. And one of the most important areas of submission, the most practical, the most effective for our testimony is our workplace. We are to be submissive to our bosses, to our employers, and Peter says something most astonishing here: not only to the good, but also to the harsh. 

Our submission is not dependent on anyone else's behavior, but only on ourselves. We are obligated to have an attitude of submission in our workplace, even if our bosses are real jerks or incredibly inept or even abusive. Look at Peter's words here. 

"What credit is it if when you are beaten for your faults you take it patiently, but when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God, for to this you were called." Hmm, a lot of preachers skip over those words; it's good. 

It was the case in the time of Peter that their masters would sometimes be harsh, even beating them, and sometimes for no fault of theirs, perhaps even for their testimony of their faith in Christ. Now in our day, we do not experience such things, thankfully, and being beaten at work is not a big concern for us, but we sometimes do have harsh bosses, even abusive bosses, and we are sometimes persecuted for our faith as our witness. 

We are free to get another job, leave that job, get out of that situation. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 7, "Were you called while a slave, do not be concerned about it, but if you can be made free, rather use it. For he who is called in the Lord while a slave is the Lord's freed man. Likewise, he who is called while free is Christ's slave. You were bought at a price, do not become slaves of men." 

The principle here is an attitude of the heart. It's a willingness to submit to authority in our workplace because our submission is not ultimately to our boss, but to our Lord. We are serving the Lord in all things. And this is true in our jobs as well. 

We are to be submissive in our spirit, in our work, because how we work is a testimony to the world of the transforming power of the gospel. I think we see this very clearly in Ephesians 4. Turn over to Ephesians 4 with me. I want you to look at verse 28, and then we'll go back and read the context. 

Ephesians 4.28, "Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need." Just stay there for a minute. 

The world steals. It's common practice. Some are outright thieves; others are more subtle, cheating on taxes, not claiming income, getting the body man to bump up the estimate to cover the deductible, or maybe even just stealing time at work. 

Not working hard, not giving it your all as working under the Lord. But we see in this great passage in Ephesians 4 that we should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk. We have not so learned Christ, he says, as the truth is in Jesus, that we have put off that old man, that we have put on the new man, and we are being renewed in the spirit of our mind. 

At the end of these great truths that he lays out in 17-24, Paul makes application of them in verse 25. He says, "Again, based on the truths. Therefore, putting away lying, let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor, for we are members of one another. Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil. Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, that he may have something to give him who has need." 

Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 

Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice, and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you. 

The old man was inherently and completely selfish, focused on self, looking after his own interest. He would steal for his own benefit. But when a man hears the gospel, when he hears the truth about his sin and his condemnation, about Jesus and His free gift of salvation, and when a man receives the gift of salvation by faith, he is changed. He's made a new creation; he's given a new heart, a new will, and a new desire, and that is expressed in his desire to work, to be a witness, to be a good employee, that he might provide for his family, for the work of the gospel, and that he might have something to share with him who has a need. 

This is a tremendous testimony. The change that takes place in a man when he is born again. And isn't it amazing to see how different a man in Christ is in the workplace, in our world today? 

What is the testimony of the lost man in the workplace? What is the view of work in our world today? 2 Thessalonians 3.10, Paul said, "For even when we were with you, we commanded you this, if anyone will not work, he should not eat." 

How many in our world are eating and not working? Work is a four-letter word in our culture, and everyone's trying to get out of it. I remember a few years ago, my nephews were here from Indiana; my brother was putting a 17-year-old boy, twin boys, my brother's putting a hardwood floor in his cabin, and those boys sat there and played video games for two days while my brother put that floor in. 

I couldn't take it anymore. So I went over there and grabbed him by the ear and said, "Come on, you're going to help your dad, and you're going with me." And I had this boy pound four T-posts. He said, "I don't like to work." We had to go over to Ray's for something. I told Ray, I said, "Ray, he said he doesn't like to work." Ray said, "What? He doesn't like to work?" 

I said, "Man, we work for fun." That's the you-per attitude. It should not be so for the believer in Jesus Christ. I love 1 Thessalonians 4.11, a life verse for all of us, "That you also aspire to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, and work with your own hands as we commanded you." 

And notice again how he links this to our witness for the gospel in the next verse. He says, "That you may walk properly toward those who are outside and that you may lack nothing." Quiet life, mind your own business, and work with your hands. Or as we say, keep calm and start a farm. 

If we follow the biblical admonitions concerning work, based on the truth of who we are in Christ, we will be different. We will be a positive witness for the power of the gospel and we will shine in the workplace. The standard is not that high in the world. If we show up on time, give an honest day's work, and don't sass-talk the boss and steal his stuff, we'll be ahead of most employees. 

But God's standard is very high. If we work as unto the Lord, if we work as if we're serving Jesus our Savior, think of what a testimony we could be in this world to our co-workers and all of those around us. 

"Exhort bond servants to be obedient to their own masters, to be well-pleasing in all things, not answering back, not pilfering, but showing all good fidelity, that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things. For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us." Teaching us. 

And Paul ends the chapter where he started exhorting Titus, verse 15,  "'Speak these things. Exhort and rebuke with all authority. Let no one despise you, just like verse 1. But as for you, speak the things which are proper for sound, healthy doctrine.'" 

My friends, good practice is based on sound doctrine. 

Closing prayer. Father, we thank You for Your words, so practical, so applicable, and we thank You for the truth, truth of our salvation, of Jesus' life in us in this new covenant time, that He is divine; we are the branches. If His words abide in us and we abide in Him, we will bear much fruit. 

We know that that's Your purpose, Your desire for us, to bring glory to You and men to Christ. Thank You for the opportunity to be a witness. Thank You for the opportunity to work, to produce, to glorify You in this way. In Jesus' name, amen.