The sermon emphasizes the critical link between sound doctrine and the resulting character of believers, contrasting it with the negative outcomes of false doctrine. Using examples from Romans, Ephesians, and Philippians, the speaker illustrates how sound theology forms the foundation for righteous living. The sermon focuses on Paul's teachings in Titus chapters 1 and 2, highlighting the responsibilities of church leaders and members to uphold sound doctrine. In particular, it addresses older men, urging them to embody qualities of temperance, dignity, sensibility, and maturity, described as 'gravitas' and 'maturity.' These qualities include being sound in faith, love, and perseverance. The speaker underscores the importance of older men as role models in the church, calling them to be steadfast in their faith and to lead by example. The sermon concludes with a call for all members, especially older men, to remain vigilant in their faith journey, resisting temptation and striving to be men of character for the benefit of the entire congregation.

Beginning in verse 1, but as for you, speak the things which are fitting for sound doctrine. Older men are to be temperate, dignified, sensible, sound in faith, in love, in perseverance. May God bless the reading of his word Man you may be seated Well last Lord's Day we identified the false doctrine of false teachers and how that false doctrine leads to false character. Do you remember that? If not, it's going to be a long Sunday.

That was Paul's point at the very end of chapter 1 verses 10 through 16. That's Paul's point. Compare the virtue of faithful teachers with the vice of false teachers. Excuse me just a second. The virtue of faithful teachers and the vice of false teachers.

False doctrine, false teaching results in false character, and yet sound doctrine results in sound character. Sound doctrine produces sound character, And false doctrine produces the opposite, evil character. It really matters what you believe. It really matters what you believe. Jesus said so, out of the abundance of one's heart what you believe the mouth speaks you act What you believe within will come out.

So when terrorists do what they do, their behavior is flowing out of their doctrine, their teaching, what they believe. America, for a long time, believed in the sanctity of human life. And so America, for a long time, protected human life from conception all the way to natural death. But once America gave up on the doctrine, the sound doctrine of the sanctity of life from the Holy Scriptures, now we kill babies. Now we euthanize.

What you believe very much affects what you do in every sphere of life. And this is throughout the Bible. Paul takes the first 11 chapters of the book of Romans to talk doctrine. 11 chapters on teaching the truths of the gospel. And then in chapter 12, near the end of the book, Paul finally gets to these words, therefore, do this.

First 11 chapters of Romans, Indicatives, truths about who God is, what He's done, theology. And then in chapters 12 through 16, imperatives. Here's how that theology gets applied. Sound doctrine results in sound application. That's in the book of Romans.

What about the book of Ephesians? Ephesians chapters 1 through 3, sound doctrine. First half of Ephesians, sound theology. Here's what you are to believe. Last three chapters of Ephesians, here's how that belief fleshes itself out in the church, in the home, in the public sphere.

It's throughout the Bible. Same thing in Philippians chapter 2. God has worked salvation into you, sound doctrine into you, so what God has worked into you, the doctrine of salvation, you work out with fear and trembling. Out of the heart, one speaks. Out of doctrine, treasured in your heart, comes action.

Doctrine, theology, whether it's good or bad, it will come out of here. You know that. You should know that. It's a huge part of the sermon. You need to know whatever you're treasuring up in your heart is going to come out of here with your mouth, it's going to come out of here with your fingertips.

Bad theology comes out of your fingertips with evil deeds. But sound doctrine, when treasured up in your heart, will come out of your fingertips in righteous deeds by the grace of God. So hope you're understanding that contrast. That contrast, bad doctrine, evil deeds, versus sound doctrine, righteous deeds, that contrast is exactly what Paul describes in Titus chapter 1 and in Titus chapter 2. If you don't get that contrast, you're not going to get the book.

How does chapter 1 end? I want to make sure you see this. How does chapter 1 end? Look at the end of Titus chapter 1. Titus chapter 1 verse 16.

False teachers, they profess to know God, but by their deeds they what? They deny Him. They say they know God and they teach false doctrine, but what comes out of them, their deeds demonstrates that their doctrine isn't righteous. Their deeds deny God. Therefore their doctrine denies God.

So they're worthless for any good deed, Paul says. That's the false teachers who teach false doctrine. Worthless for any good deed. You see the fruit of their false doctrine. But what about faithful teachers?

What about those who teach sound doctrine? Chapter 2 verse 1. Chapter 2 verse 1. But as for you, speak the things which are fitting for sound doctrine. I hope you're seeing it.

Verse 16 is the result of false doctrine. Chapter 2 verse 1, the result of sound doctrine, speak the things fitting for it. There's righteous things to give yourself to. Chapter 2 verse 1, as for you Titus, as for you Pastor Grant, as for you Pastor Matthew, when you teach sound doctrine, exhort your people to good deeds. Tell them, speak to them of how they are to live in light of the true gospel of Jesus Christ.

A church that is taught the true gospel should adorn the gospel with truly good works. False teachers with unsound doctrine, that's chapter 1 verse 16, worthless for any good work. Chapter 2 verse 1, for those in the church who embrace orthodoxy, for those who embrace truth according to God's word, look at verse 7 of chapter 2. Look at verse 7. For those of you that embrace orthodoxy, sound doctrine, you're to be an example of what?

Good deeds. That's what it says at the very end of verse 7. In all things, show yourself to be an example of good deeds. That's in complete contrast to the end of chapter 1. False doctrine worthless for any good deed.

Chapter 2 verse 7. Sound doctrine, Good deeds. Good deeds. Your good deeds, beloved church, adorn the gospel of Jesus Christ. Your good deeds demonstrate that what you have been taught is from God.

And in contrast, the evil deeds of the false teachers convey that their message is not from God. And that contrast is at the heart of the first two chapters of Titus. Titus chapter 1, Paul addresses the leaders of the church. Chapter 1 is all about church leadership. Titus, there needs to be order in the church.

Step 1, appoint elders. And this is what elders should look like. There's going to be some bad guys that come in. In fact, the bad guys are already there. And these men of God are to silence them.

Chapter 1 is all about the church, leadership. These men will oversee the church in pure doctrine. In chapter 2, Paul addresses you. You. You.

Did the light just kick on? Wow. You guys are good back there. Chapter one, church leadership. Chapter two, the congregation.

Okay? So if you're thinking about an outline of the book, chapter one, church leadership, chapter two, congregation. Titus, exhort your people to live out what they believe. Titus, exhort your people to work out what Christ has worked in. So Pastor Grant, Pastor Matthew, Pastor Dave, Paul is telling us in Titus chapter 2, we are to exhort you, our people.

We're to speak the things consistent with what you've been taught in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We are to call you to obedience. We are to teach you sound doctrine. And then in teaching you sound doctrine, exhort you to apply it to every single sphere of your life, which is where we get in trouble. Especially in reform circles, love theology.

Love me some doctrine. You don't really love that doctrine if you're not comfortable with your pastor applying it to your life. You don't love it. You love something else. If you love sound doctrine, it results in a desire with all your heart, I want to obey it.

Something's going to happen with these hands. Okay? Something's going to happen with your hands. Something's going to happen with your mouth at 12 o'clock and at 3 o'clock and this evening when you go to bed. Something's going to happen.

The exhortation to you is whatever happens with this and this needs to be fitting with that which you were taught. Needs to be influenced by that which you were taught. And when you fall short, repent and believe because that's what you're taught. The blood of Jesus covers your sin. So that's chapter, I just want to make sure you get this book.

Chapter one, church leaders teaching sound doctrine. Chapter two, church members who are taught that sound doctrine and how their lives should reflect that sound doctrine. Church members. And if you read chapter two, if you were to read it all the way through it, which by the way, I hope you're reading through Titus regularly at least once a week. But if you can't handle that, read Titus 2 just for a few times the next few weeks as we go through it.

It's, the whole thing's connected. So read Titus 2. But you notice in chapter 2, Paul addresses each and every one of you. If you just scan the chapter, there's not a soul in this room that Paul does not single out. Old, young, male, female, and then son.

That's everybody. It's everybody. Paul addresses each of you regarding how sound doctrine is to come out of your fingertips. So children, children look at me now. Come on now.

Children, Paul is talking to you. I'm talking to you. I'm going to be talking about older men in just a moment. I'm going to be talking about older men here in just a moment. Our verse is this morning, verse 2, older men.

The temptation for you children to say, Well, I'm not an old man. I'm not even a man, you might say. This is for you. Young men, little boys, Do you not wish to grow up and be real true men? With gravitas?

The kind of man that will go out and slay the dragon and get the girl? The kind of man that Paul talks about in Hebrews chapter 11, men of whom the world is not worthy. That's the kind of man you want to be, isn't it? Young man, come on! Amen.

And that is what godly older men are. And so you need to listen, little boys. You need to listen. You need to watch. You need to watch the older men and be mentored by the older men, and be discipled by the older men, this is for you, young men.

Don't you check out verse 2. And young ladies, little girls, little girls, my little girls, one day you will grow up and you're going to marry one of these strapping young men. And you need a man who will slay the dragon and protect you. So what are you to be looking for? Right here.

This is for you, little girls. And two weeks from now, young ladies, when I talk about older women, two weeks from now, when I talk about older women and you're tempted to say, well, I'm not an older woman. You will be. That is for you too. Do you not wish little girls to become the kind of joyful and triumphant wife and mother whose clothing is strength and honor and who laughs at the days to come because she hopes in Almighty God.

That's Proverbs 31. Do you not desire to be the woman of whom Solomon writes, who can find such an excellent woman a wife? That her husband and her children rise up and they call her blessed and her works praise her in the gates. You must, young women, you must desire these things. There is eternal glory in them.

There is no more glorious calling. Chapter 2 is for you. You get what I'm saying, kids? Children, are you listening to me? I need you to listen.

Chapter 2 is for everybody. And as we study chapter 2, as we study chapter 2, you're going to notice that there are similarities for each station. Yes, there are similarities between old and young, male and female. There are similarities, but far more, far more than the similarities, there are distinctions. God through Paul makes distinctions.

The good works that a man is to give himself to in Titus chapter 2 for the glory of God. Some of those good works are distinct from what Paul urges a woman to do to the glory of God. They're different. You shouldn't have an issue with that. The chief end of both men and women is to both glorify God.

But Paul right here in Titus chapter 2, right here in front of you, makes distinctions. Some, some of the ways in which you glorify God as a man or as a woman are different. And praise God they're different. I mean we couldn't operate as a church if there were no distinctions when it come to giftings and operation and the way that God had made us to me can you I'm just I'm so glad that our bodies are just one big arm One big leg you'd be like the the the duffel pods in Narnia If you don't know what a duffel pot is, church library, Voyage of the Dawn Treader, write the Travesty today. Paul makes distinctions.

The body of Christ needs distinctions to live. So here is how men are to live and here is how women are to live out of sound doctrine and it's beautiful. It's beautiful. I'm not talking gospel distinctions lest I be misunderstood. There are no distinctions when it comes to salvation.

Let's make that clear. Galatians 3.28, there's neither male nor female. All are sinners and all are justified by faith and one in Christ. There are no distinctions when it comes to God saving you. But that same God that saved you, not on the basis of anything inside of you, the same God that saved you, according to His mercy alone, that same God, through the same author Paul, under divine inspiration, writes to you in Titus chapter 2 that while there are no distinctions with regard to salvation, there are very much distinctions in the ways that men and women are to live and move and have their being for the glory of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Men are different than women. It seems shocking that I had to say that. Men are distinct from women. You know, America needs to learn from Paul. America needs to hear from God.

This whole transgender abomination would be cleared up in no time. God made them male and female. And He made them distinct, and we see that even in Titus chapter 2. And by the way, as we read from Titus chapter 2, and you see these distinctions, look at me guys. When you read Titus chapter 2, and you see these distinctions, you're supposed to love them.

If you look at these distinctions and you think, I don't like that. Get a different taste. Your taste buds are bad. You don't get to define what good is. That's not you.

God is the author of everything good, true, and beautiful. He has the best taste. And so if you are here, you're going, why are women this way and men this way? It's because God knows what's best. God knows what's beautiful.

God knows what is awesome. He made... Have you seen the peacock? I mean, my girls see a peacock, they go, they get blown away. They see a giraffe blown away.

They see the mountains blown away. But we get to these distinctions that God made in the pinnacle of creation, man and woman, and you're no longer blown away. Bad taste. Get different taste buds. You've got to let God define what is good, true, and beautiful.

And these distinctions are good, true, and beautiful. All right? Titus chapter two is awesome. And I hope you on some level are thinking, let's dive in then, pastor. Come on, let's get to it.

Okay, we'll do it. That's chapter two. Church members, church members and all that they must be for the glory of God, old, young, male and female, distinct all for his glory. That's verse one. That's verse one.

A contrast, okay, as for you Titus, speak the things fitting for sound doctrine. What you believe will affect what you do. So let's get to one more verse this morning. Alright? Let's try to get through verse two.

Which group of church members does Paul first bring up? Older men. It's verse two. Some translations say aged men, aged men, older men. I've heard many, many, many men say that instead of aged men we could say the phrase, the gray beards of the flock.

I like that. Gray beards of the flock. We would say gray hairs of the flock, but some don't have hair. It's okay. I'm on my way.

These are the men who are called to be the most mature. These are the men who set the pace in the congregation. These are the men who are called to be the most mature. These are the men who set pace in the congregation. These are the men who are the men that all the young men are looking up to.

These are the men who The younger generation wants to emulate Because these men standing on Christ the scriptures are in a sense pillars of the church These are the kind of men that we need desperately in this body Older men need to talk to you right now, if you've ever thought, well I'm old. So now that I'm old, I'm not sure what else I have left to offer to the Lord and his people. I'm not sure if I'm any use in this pure in this church. If you think that, Paul has something very much to say to you this morning that goes against that little grain that you have in your head. He does not agree with you.

Older man, I need you. Your pastor, the youngest pastor for this church, needs you. I mean, it's no accident that things have been more difficult for Pastor Matthew and I, not just because we're down to two pastors, but we are down to the youngest two pastors. This church, older men, is counting on you. And I hope you see the next few minutes what I mean.

God would not have you sit in that little pew and wonder if you are useful in the body any longer. Nay. He would have you sit up straight this morning, and He would have you hear verse 2, and then He would have you bring younger men into your orbit for the glory of Jesus Christ. What are you, older men, And by extension, the younger men who are following in your footsteps, what are you to be? Well, Paul answers that question in verse 2.

Paul gives six qualities that older men must seek to possess. Six things that older men must seek to be. Number one, temperate. Number two, dignified. Number three, sensible.

Four, sound in faith. Number five, in love. Number six, sound in perseverance. And those six qualities can be summed up really in two main exhortations. So I'm going to take three and three, because I think Paul takes three and three.

Those six things you see in verse two can be summed up in two different exhortations. Exhortation number one, older men are to be men of gravitas. Older men are to be men of gravitas. And that's summed up by the first three words, temperate, dignified, sensible. Men of gravity, gravitas.

In exhortation number two, which we'll get to in a moment. Older men are to be men of maturity. And that's summed up by the final three qualities. Sound in faith, sound in love, and sound in perseverance. Men of maturity.

Paul says to Titus, and he says to the pastors of Crossroad Church, Grant, Matthew, Dave, call the older men in your body to be men of gravitas. Men of maturity. So let's talk about men of gravitas first. Older men are to be men of gravitas. They're to be steadfast and immovable.

That's what gravitas is, right? You're not tossed to and fro from every wind and wave of doctrine. Men of gravitas aren't tossed around by some opinion or cultural whim. They are not concerned with the labels that culture will throw at them. They're not thrown off balance by emotional sabotage and manipulation.

No a man with gravitas has a certain gravity about him. He's got sobriety. He doesn't get pulled out of orbit by some new thought or some new cultural sensitivity or phenomenon. No, no, no. His life, an older man with gravitas, is a life bound up in the Holy Scriptures.

And the planets of his life are orbiting the center and foundation of his soul, which is Jesus Christ and his Word. And an older man with gravitas very much wants your life to join that orbit. He wants your life, young men, to orbit that same center of gravity as His. And He's going to pull you into that when you spend time around Him. That's how you know a man's got gravitas.

Oh, be like him. Lord, make me like him. We need more men with gravitas. These are the men who know their Bibles. Men who have made mistakes.

Let me say that again. These are men who know their Bibles and they very much know their mistakes. But they also very much know well the worn path of repentance towards the cross of Jesus Christ. Men who know the greatness of their sin, yes, and yet the greatness of their Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Men of verse 2.

Men of temperance, dignified, sensible. Men of gravitas. That word temperate there, verse 2, has the same root word as the word for sober mindedness in 2 Timothy chapter 4. Be temperate, sober minded, having self control, Be steady. And this is important because older men, who were they to hear from?

These older men were to hear from someone teaching them. Who was the one going to be teaching them? A younger man named Titus, at least at first. That's what it says, ask for you, referring to Titus, speak the things which are fitting for sound doctrine. You're going to have to be teaching these older men.

You're going to have to teach them Titus. And these men were going to have to submit to Titus. Older men were going to be called out of their sin. They were going to be called out of intemperance into temperance. And what's going to be the temptation for older men when a younger man calls them out?

Well, it's the same temptation that I experienced, that maybe you experience if you're a parent, when your child calls you out in your sin. Hate to admit it, but it's true, so I got to. Just the other day, it wasn't very long ago, that one of my children, very innocently, she pointed out sin in my life. She asked me about it. She was famous, like the most gracious.

I don't even think she knew she was doing it. Kind of things. And in that moment, what did I want to do? I was being impatient. You know, My flesh rose up in me.

How could I be patient in a time like this? I was not being very temperate, not being very steady. And so, of course she was right, and so I wasn't sinned, and so I apologized. I asked her to forgive me and she smiled. She forgave me.

It's almost like, daddy, come on. Let's just move on. That's the difficulty. Older men will have a hard time hearing correction. Older men will want to resist correction that cannot be in this church.

Older men, hear me, just like my daughter needed a father to show her the way to handle correction, just like my daughter needed a father to show her the way to handle correction. Just like my daughter needed a father to show her what it looked like to be sober minded and to look to the cross and to ask for forgiveness. We need fathers in this congregation, gray-bearded men and gray-headed men who walk us down the well-worn path of repentance and humility so that we would learn to walk those paths ourselves. I don't know of a better moment in my childhood than the moments when my father, Charlie Brown, took me by the hand and said, Grant, I want to take you down the path of repentance because I need to repent and I want to show you how. In front of my mother, in front of my brothers, huge, Huge.

You want to even suggest that I thought less of my father because he taught me what it looked like to be humble and to repent and to believe the gospel? To my dying day, that is the greatest man I know. Graviates, do that. Be men like that. That's a man of gravitas, men of temperance, men that are sober-minded.

As Richard Lensky says, men who are like balance wheels for the congregation, level headed. A man of gravitas is not just tempered, he's also dignified. That word dignified, that could be translated worthy of respect or grave or serious. I can't put it better than theologian and Christian counselor Jay Adams. He writes this, the word dignified has deteriorated like so many words in our language.

It means to be serious, but it does not mean gloomy or dour. Nay, it is The dignity of one who knows what he's doing, one with sound judgment. To be serious, to be grave, is to understand what circumstances must not be treated lightly. It is the ability to weigh and sift and act accordingly. It is the quality that is possessed by a person who faces up to grave situations with the solemnity they require.

The ability to treat weighty and profound issues for what they are. A serious person, a man of dignity, knows when to turn off levity and get down to business. Older Christian men should be examples of seriousness since much of life and death is serious business." End quote. A man of gravitas is a dignified man. But he's also a man of sensibility.

You'll notice there the third word, the third descriptor there, temperate, dignified, sensible. Matthew Henry defines sensibility in this way. One who governs well his passions and affections. A man who governs well his passions and affections. Again, we have here the idea of sober-mindedness.

All three of these things are very much connected with gravitas and sober-mindedness, self-control, the planets of his life, his family, his affections, his work, his leisure. Those things are not spinning out of control. They're held in orbit governed by the Lord Jesus Christ. As Paul Washer commonly states, the mark of a Godly man is God upon the man. It's God who gives older men this kind of gravitas.

And I want to say, hopefully not overstating, I don't know how I could overstate this, The way that this is worked into you older men is to have worn out knees from hitting the ground in repentance and faith. Gravitas comes when you have made that path towards the cross and the empty tomb well worn. And men will follow that orbit. Gravitas, Temperate, dignified, sensible. You know, I really appreciate the story that I read this week in preparation of a Scottish, an old Scottish Christian who was on a boat and they got caught in a severe storm.

The passengers began to panic, despairing, but this older man, temperate, sensible, and dignified, He sat through the storm calmly. In fact, he was so peaceful that the panic-stricken passengers thought that he wasn't even praying. He was so peaceful. All these people are crying out and he's peaceful. They say, why are you not even praying?

And he replied to them after the storm was over that he pitied those who had only begun to pray when the storm came. Older men are to be men of gravitas. Exhortation number two. Older men are to be men of gravitas. Exhortation number two.

Older men are to be men of maturity. Men of maturity. Sound in the faith. Sound in love. Sound in perseverance.

And Now I'm putting that word in there, Sound, but that is implied. I hope you see that. Look at the end of verse 2. Sound in Faith, in Love, in perseverance. That word sound goes with the other two.

Sound in faith, sound in love, sound in perseverance. A man of maturity is first and foremost sound in the faith. Now this second exhortation is really important. Men of maturity, sound in the faith. Those last three descriptors, someone could say in light of exhortation number one, well lost men, men who are dead in their sins, men who don't know the Lord Jesus, they could still hold some gravitas.

I mean haven't you seen Gladiator? I mean that guy, Maximus Decimus Meridius, I mean he got gravitas. You haven't seen Gladiator? That's not in the library. So the, at least I think, the possible problem that some might have with this is, well, but you could be a man of gravitas and not be in the Lord.

And so that's why this second exhortation is so important. Those things, men of temperance, dignity, and sensibility, those things might be expected for non-christians in Titus' day. And so Paul adds these final three descriptors to make it very, very clear. Older men in the church must be sound in the faith. You want true gravacos?

Sound doctrine. You want true temperance? Sound doctrine. Sound in the faith. You want true dignity?

Sound doctrine. Sound in the faith. This comes from the gospel of Jesus Christ. You want a man that's truly sensible? He must be ground in the faith.

And so Paul adds these final three descriptors, especially the first one. Older men of the church must be sound in faith. They must know the truth, and the truth must be what sets them free. And it's the truth upon which they stand, and upon which all the rest of who they are flows from, godly gravitas is grounded in Christ crucified, risen, and reigning. Older Christian men, therefore, are not just to be men of gravitas, no, they're to be men of maturity, sound in faith.

As one brother puts it, every man of gravity is standing firm upon a foundation. Paul here says to Titus, to instruct the older men that their foundation must be the faith which was once and for all delivered unto the Saints and these older men must be grounded upon the rock which is Christ end quote Older men must be sound in the faith. Older men must also be sound in love. Some translations read sound in charity. These are the kind of men who are not bitter men.

Men who know the greatness of their sin and the greatness of their Savior, men who have been forgiven the greatest of all debts in God forgiving them of their sins. And so they know how to forgive debts far less than the debt that they've been forgiven. They read Romans chapter 5 of the love of God demonstrated towards them while they were yet sinners, enemies of God and how God the Son took on flesh and He loved them and He gave Himself for them bearing their sins in his body. They read about how someone will hardly die for a righteous man, though maybe, perhaps, for a good man, someone would dare even to die. But that God demonstrated His love towards them while they were yet sinners, enemies of the thrice holy God.

God sent His Son to die for them. That's love. And in experiencing that love, this kind of man, mature, sound in the faith and sound in love, these kind of men, in experiencing that forgiveness at the cross, the farthest thing for them to do is to turn around to their fellow law breaker, to their fellow sinner, their neighbor, and to choke them out because that person has done something against them. No, no, no. These are men who, because of the love of Christ, do the hard work of forgiveness in their hearts when asked.

These are the kind of men who are living examples of the Lord's Prayer. Forgive us our debts as we forgive those who have trespassed against us Men who are sound in love Men who are sound in love love others they love God and they love others And do you know in essence what that is? What this command is in my estimation? When I read, sound in love. Paul is telling you, older men, to be men of the law.

Be men who love the law of God. Is not the law of God summarized by that one word? Love? Love for God. Love for neighbor.

Commandments numbers one through four, the first table of the law. Love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. And then Commandments 5-10, out of love for God, let that soul change you. Let that sound doctrine change you. And you love your neighbor as yourself.

Commandments 5 through 10. Older men, if you are to be sound in the faith and sound in love, You must delight in the law of God, which is love. Men, older men, you must know the law of God. You must meditate on it. You must obey it.

Know the Ten Commandments. If you don't know the Ten Commandments, know them today. Memorize them. Hide them in your hearts and then apply them. Take the Ten Commandments and say, I want to apply them to every corner of my life Because I love God and I love my neighbor as myself.

Do this diligently. What did Jesus say? What did Jesus say? If you love me, you will keep my commandments. You will keep the law of God.

A mature man is a man sound in love who delights in the law of Christ. And lastly, a man, a mature man is sound in perseverance. Older man, you are to be mature. And that means you are to be sound in perseverance. That could be translated sound in patience or sound in endurance.

A mature man is a steadfast man. I think this final quality here at the end of verse two is intentionally last so that it connects to the first quality, temperate. This is a man who doesn't get blown around by every wind and wave of doctrine. He stays the course. The winds and the waves of life, they can come at him full force, and while everyone else around him is running around with their hands flying around, hysterical, throwing up their hands in despair, while that's going on, a man of maturity, this man, When the storm comes, He smiles.

When those winds and waves come, He smiles. When everyone else is given to hysterics, He smiles because He knows that those same winds and waves have already been tamed once by the voice of Almighty God when He took on flesh 2000 years ago. He stilled Him with a word. And that same Savior and Lord who stilled the sea 2000 years ago, 2000 years ago also died for His sins. But he didn't stop there.

He was then raised up from the grave so that all in him would be raised up to and justified But the same Lord did not just raise up from the grave He then ascended on high into heaven and he's now seated at the right hand of God the Father So that in heaven right now, He has all authority in heaven and on earth. And the man that knows that, the man that understands that doctrine and believes it in his heart, is a man who perseveres. He stays the course. He stands with his feet on the rock of Christ and His Word. He stands firm and he smiles.

Maybe even sings a song, whistles a tune. Sound doctrine gives way to sound character. Sound doctrine, when truly believed, when treasured up in your heart, results in sound virtue. Are you seeing that yet? Thank you.

I'm not making that up. What's the way that verse two ends? All three of the descriptors at the end of verse two are what? Sound in faith, sound in love, sound in perseverance. I know that word sound is implied in the last two, but it's there.

Sound in faith, sound in love, sound in doctrine. As for you Titus, speak the things fitting for sound doctrine. Because if it's embraced, it will result in sound faith, sound love, sound perseverance. Soundness is all over this passage. I hope you see the connection.

Older men, you need this sound doctrine. You need to leave here every Sunday morning, taught in sound doctrine. You need to be filled up so that these qualities would come out of you. You need this. You need the Lord's Day with the Lord's people and the Lord's people really need You.

Men, hear me. Older men, hear me. Dear older brothers, your congregation needs you. Over just the past few years, the members of your congregation have had to watch man after man after man, aged men fall into sin. Your congregation has had to watch so many older men fall and give into temptation.

They've had to witness men who they respect and admire and emulate fall into sin and ruin marriages and devastate churches. When that happens a lot, that impacts people. That impacts people. When you see older men after older men after older men not finish well. Especially impacts the younger generation when they see the very men they look up to fold up like cheap chairs.

Get to the end. Get to the end. Everybody's living longer. People are living longer than they did in the past. And so maybe some of the heroes of the faith long ago, they didn't live this long, they didn't have some of these temptations, They just died, went to glory.

We're living longer and we're seeing men fail. If you're 37 and a younger pastor, it hurts really bad. It's devastatingly impactful. Devastatingly impactful. Older men, it doesn't have to be you.

By the grace of God, that does not have to be true for you here in this congregation. Be men of maturity. Be men this day who get on their knees and repent and believe afresh in the Gospel. The blood of Jesus will cover those sins and walk in maturity and get gravitas. Be on your guard.

Older men, don't pack it in in the final years of your life. Make the final days count. With the hours that you have left, resist the temptation and let the guard down. The evil one will come for you. Don't you think?

You get to the end of your life and he's... The flesh, the world, and the devil, very much still going on in your life. So fight the urge to coast, and far from coasting, pick up the shield, strap on the sword, and go out and fight. And not just fight for you, fight for the sake of your children, and your children's children, and your children's children's children. So that on that day when you draw your final breath, you enter into glory, you will hear those blessed words from your blessed hope.

Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your Master. May it be so at Crossroad Church. Amen? Amen.

Let's pray. Our Father in heaven, thank you for this your word. Thank you for the gray beards in this flock. Thank you for the young men and the young ladies and the older women. How I long, Lord, to see all of them, mature in the faith, strong in You, the Lord, and in the strength of Your might.

This will not come. This will not come unless we humble ourselves and rise up as men and women who trust in the Lord Jesus, who lean not on our understanding, but in all our ways acknowledge you, trusting that you will make our paths great. Make us continually so a people of your book, a people of your gospel. That every day and every night we could go to bed with hearts full of gladness. And because of the sound doctrine therein, live out sound lives.

For Jesus' sake. Amen.