Titus 1:1-3 (ESV)

Greeting

 1Paul, a servant[a] of God and(A) an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of God’s elect and(B) their knowledge of the truth,(C) which accords with godliness, 2(D) in hope of eternal life, which God,(E) who never lies,(F) promised(G) before the ages began[b] 3and(H) at the proper time manifested in his word(I) through the preaching(J) with which I have been entrusted(K) by the command of God our Savior;

You know those moments when you come across a verse that you don’t think you have saw before and you think ‘man! Who put that there?’ and ‘I’m sure that wasn’t in there before!’ Maybe it’s just me that this happens to, anyway it happened with these verses the other night. When this happens its like the bible comes alive and you just want to keep devouring it!

Anyway, let me quickly draw out a few things that these verses showed me.

1) Paul’s calling as an apostle was largely for the benefit of the faith of God’s elect! Wow! Think about that. God’s chosen people are so important to God that He raises up a man and a ministry to lead them, guide them and care for them. He is so committed to their faith that he prepares a vessel of honour for his purposes!

 A large part of Paul’s ministry was the revelation of God which was written down and preserved through the ages-in other words the scriptures. Paul wrote most of the New Testament. Now with this in mind think about these verses. Replace ‘Paul’s apostolic calling’ with the word ‘Holy Scriptures’ and you will see that the scriptures exist for the benefit of the faith of the elect and our knowledge of the truth.

2) The elects knowledge of the truth was very important. It is through a knowledge of the truth that the elect hear the voice of the great shepherd and are called into the kingdom. It is through their knowledge of the truth that they are preserved. It is through their knowledge of the truth that they are set free and conformed into the image of the One who called them out of darkness and into light! No wonder Paul was so passionate about the truth! No wonder he got angry when people corrupted the message, Paul’s calling was to ensure that God’s elect were established in their knowledge of the truth.

3) The faith of the elect and our knowledge of the truth accords with godliness. In other words it lines up with godliness, it leads to godliness and it coexists with godliness! Faith and knowledge of the truth are not an option-lose these and you will lose godliness. Many Christians today are concerned about the amount of worldliness and lack of the fear of the Lord that there seems to be in our churches. Could our worldliness, which is simply a lack of godliness, stem from our ignorance of the knowledge of the truth? Could our ignorance of the knowledge of the truth be causing our faith to suffer?

4) So what is the knowledge of the truth? What does the faith of God’s elect rest upon? What is the source of this godliness? It is none other than the hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began.

Pause here for a bit.

The hope of eternal life. The hope of eternal life. The hope of eternal life!

Do you have the hope of eternal life? The word hope here does not mean what we use it to mean. Our use of hope is inseparable from uncertainty. For example ‘I hope it doesn’t rain tommorow’ or ‘I hope I Will one day make lots of money’. Nope, God’s hope is secure. God’s hope comes with assurance, why? Because God- who NEVER lies- promised it before the ages began. Who did he promise it to? Back to the verses, his elect. God promised his elect eternal life before the world began. This truth runs all the way through scripture.

John 17 1-2 “Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. 2For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him.

This leaves us with a question though. Perhaps more than one. Who are the elect of God? Or put another way, can I know for sure that I am God’s elect? How do I know that I have the hope of eternal life? The following verse, penned by the apostle Paul, will answer both of these questions. The scripture gives clear answers to the questions of how a person receives eternal life and how a person can be assured of eternal life.

1John 3:15 I write(A) these things to you who(B) believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life.

We can see from this several things. 1) John’s calling as an apostle was like that of Paul. It was for the benefit of the faith of the elect and their knowledge of the truth. 2) John was writing in order that the believers might know  that they have eternal life. How can they know? Through the things that are written. What are the things that are written? They are God’s truth. Here we see John also dealing with the issue which Paul deals with, that is, the knowledge of the truth. What does this truth reveal? It reveals Jesus.

Those who believe in the name of Jesus are those who can rest assured that they have the hope of eternal life. Why is this?

John 17:3Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.

The elect can know they have eternal life because eternal life is to know God. To know God and His Son the Lord Jesus Christ is eternal life. The person who truly trusts in Christ is born again of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of God testifies that he is new born child of the Most High God.

Rom 8:15For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship.[g] And by him we cry, “Abba,[h] Father.” 16The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.

5)This brings me to my final point, and takes us back to the verses being discussed.  God manifested through the preaching of Paul! Think about that for a second. When Paul spoke God showed up. Was this because Paul was special or because his message was special? Paul says ”at the proper time manifested in his word(I) through the preaching(J) with which I have been entrusted”. God manifests in His Word, through the preaching! Wow!

True biblical preaching anointed by the Holy Spirit will have this effect. God will manifest, in other words reveal Himself, in His word through the preaching! Paul was a revivalist! This was the success of Jonathan Edward’s preaching, It was the success of Wesley, Whitfield, Spurgeon and Duncan Campbell of the Lewis revival. Many today understand the concept of the anointing. They understand the need of the Holy Spirits power upon preaching. They understand the need for God to show up in power through the preaching. However many have forgotten that God does not anoint theirword, No! He anoints HisWord! He shows up when His Word is preached. What is His word? Surely anyone who uses scripture is preaching His word? No way. His word is the Lord Jesus Christ. The Son of the Living God. The One who was born of a virgin, Divinity made flesh. The God-Man. Fully God and fully man. This is His Word. It is Jesus Christ who must be preached. His nature must be preached, his teaching must be preached and his death and resurrection must be preached. So must his second coming and judgement be preached. For this is the very reason why people need to hear the gospel and be saved. When this Word is preached with a prayerful dependency upon God, God will manifest Himself through the preaching of the Word.