Titus 2

[0:00] Well, good morning, Christ Family Church, and again, happy Mother's Day to our moms in the room. If you would turn with me to Titus chapter 2. Titus chapter 2.

[0:15] And this morning we're going to take a short break from our normal study in Acts. One week break from the study of the book of Acts. Nathan asked me if I would share something special this morning since it is Mother's Day.

[0:29] So we're going to take a brief depart from the book of Acts. We'll come back together again, I believe, next week. We're scheduled to do some more in the book of Acts. So this morning we're going to be talking and focusing on biblical womanhood, which is exciting for all those guys who are in the room saying, yes, I'm glad I came here this morning.

[0:49] I'm so glad that we're talking about biblical womanhood. Before you go there, in your minds, stay with me, guys. This is going to be important for you because whether you are a young woman, whether you're an older woman, whether you have kids, or whether you don't have kids, this message should apply to you because we all have moms, right?

[1:09] We all were born to someone, and we all have moms. And at the very least, men, we can pray toward or for our mothers and for the people that we know in our lives who are moms, who are trying and working toward what these biblical truths have to teach us this morning.

[1:27] My hope this morning is that you're encouraged in at least two ways. The first, that you, and by you, I mean the mothers in the room this morning, that you are encouraged by what you're doing well, because so many of you are doing so many things so well, and that you would continue down that road of doing those things well, refining what you've done well and continue to do those things well.

[1:50] Secondly, I hope that everyone will be spurred on toward godliness in the areas where we neglect. And we all have areas that we neglect, right? Every single one of us, every person in this room has areas of neglect.

[2:02] Until we have achieved perfection, and biblically speaking, I don't think any of us are there yet. Until we achieve perfection, we have stuff we can work on. And so I hope that you will keep your mind and your heart open to God changing you through the power of His Word and the conviction of the Holy Spirit this morning.

[2:20] Now, Titus 2 has much to say to us this morning. And in the context of Titus 2, we have instructions to younger men, to older men, to younger women, and to older women.

[2:34] And we have a section in there also about speaking about servants. And so I want you to look at me at verse 3 to begin with, Titus 2, verse 3. And we're going to dive right in because we have a lot to cover this morning.

[2:48] We have a lot of ground to cover. We've got to do some groundwork before we dive into this. And I just want to go ahead and jump in. And then we're going to jump to the end of the passage because we have to connect some truths within the context of those passages this morning.

[2:58] So Titus 2, verse 3 says, Now, skip with me down to Titus 2, verse 11.

[3:26] For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness, to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, who are zealous for good works.

[3:56] Declare these things. Exhort and rebuke with all authority. Let no one disregard you. So what I want to do this morning to start off with in working through this passage, we're going to start with the end and work backwards because it's important for us to understand what we have going on here in the context toward the end of this chapter.

[4:15] And when we talk about biblical context, we have to keep in mind that our context exists both before and after the passage that we were looking at. So we're going to start by looking at the context afterwards.

[4:28] And he says at the very end of the chapter, And listen to the confidence here. Declare these things. Verse 15. Exhort and rebuke with all authority. And so what I want to do this morning is I want to walk us through a few reminders.

[4:40] And these reminders are not just for this morning, but for every morning that we gather here as a faith family at Christ Family Church. These are important things for us to remember. And the first reminder is this, that the Word is the preacher's only source of authority.

[4:57] The Word is the preacher's only source of authority. It says to exhort and rebuke with all authority as you declare these things, as you declare the Word. Now we live in a day where there are men and women, for that matter, who are standing up probably right now in front of faith families, their own faith families.

[5:17] And they are standing up before the people of God and speaking nonsense. They're speaking non-truths. They're speaking things that are outside of Scripture. And they will stand up before a gathered people and proclaim things that the Word does not say.

[5:30] This is one of the things that I'm most burdened about in our church culture today. That people would stand up and not speak truth to people.

[5:42] When a mega church leader not far away from us can proclaim before thousands of readers and listeners that expository preaching is lazy. That all the research that expositors do, researching the Greek and Hebrew and getting down to the minute details of what each individual word means.

[6:01] And to extrapolate the meaning from the text, that that is somehow lazy. He further goes on to say that he finds no example of expository preaching in Scripture. Which is so far from the truth.

[6:13] We've already seen this in the book of Acts over the last several months that we've been in the book of Acts. So many examples. So many great biblical examples of expository preaching.

[6:24] And really great examples from Peter's life and from others. So the question that's ringing in my mind is on whose authority are people like this speaking? From where do they get their truth statements?

[6:36] What are they basing their statements on? Because it certainly isn't on the Word of God. And you might say, well what makes you think that you have any authority? Well what makes Nathan or Clay or Jonathan or any of our community group leaders who teach the Bible on a regular basis?

[6:50] What gives anyone authority to teach the Word of God? And this is what I'll say because this is what the Word of God teaches us. First and foremost, the preacher's authority is not personal.

[7:02] The preacher's authority is not personal. It's not based on who he is. Some people think, well if the preacher said it, then it's got to be right. Right? Not necessarily.

[7:14] The preacher is a fallen human. Others go to the opposite end of the spectrum. They say, well if the preacher said it, then it's got to be wrong.

[7:25] And I could almost live with that because they are fallen. They are human. It's not on their own authority. It's not personal authority. If I said it in an imperfect, broken image of God and I'm standing on my own authority, then I could just as easily be wrong, as wrong as the next person.

[7:44] And this is why. When preachers go out on a limb and start preaching on their own authority, they fail every time. And if I stood before you today and I began to preach on my own authority, then I would fail.

[7:56] The preacher's authority is not personal. The preacher's authority is also not organizational. There's a lot of organizations and denominations and cults, and we won't mention anybody specifically this morning, but there are a lot of denominations and cults out there that teach that their organization somehow has authority.

[8:18] Or at the very least, that they have authority in addition to Scripture. And it's not true. The Word of God is the preacher's only authority. It's not organizational.

[8:29] And finally, the preacher's authority is not experiential. And this is one that seems to be the most dangerous and maybe the most dominant in our culture today, is this key idea that people believe is prevalent in the church culture, that someone can only speak to something if they've experienced that thing.

[8:50] And that's the only way you can speak with authority on that subject. So we've got this idea that if we've dealt with a particular sin, the best person to help us through that particular sin is someone who's experienced already, experienced that sin somehow.

[9:07] And this is ludicrous. If this were the case, then Jesus himself would have nothing to offer us in his ministry. Praise God that Jesus didn't once give in to sin.

[9:20] He didn't once fall to the same temptations of immorality and lying and cheating and adultery and all the things that we deal with in our lives as humans. He didn't once give in.

[9:33] And that's why he alone is able to help us through these sins and through these things. It undercuts the whole foundation of the gospel. And that is why he is able to help us.

[9:47] He is able to help us because he is free of sin. The preacher's authority is based on none of these things because the preacher's authority is only biblical. And I want us to be reminded of this this morning.

[10:00] As long as someone speaks the Word of God, he speaks what is in line with the Word of God, then he, as Titus 2 says, has all authority.

[10:11] But the minute he goes beyond the Word into thoughts or desires or psychology or experience, at that moment he has lost his authority or she has lost her authority.

[10:24] Everything we do, all teaching, all preaching, all authority is wrapped up in the Word of God. And so I understand that probably every person in this room by now is thinking, well, Kyle, this sounds more like a preaching lesson than it is a lesson on biblical womanhood.

[10:41] So what's the point? First, it's represented in a text. So I'm going to teach it. It's represented in a text, and it's important for us to understand. We're going to teach it. And I hope that every believer in this room can understand the context of this since as believers we should be teaching.

[11:00] Every person in here, as a believer, we should be teaching Scripture at some level. Second, I want to remind you that I'm not speaking on these things on my own authority, but on the authority of Christ.

[11:17] It isn't based on who I am or my personal opinions or my experience. If it were, I'd be in a lot of trouble this morning because, quite frankly, I'm not female. In case you were wondering.

[11:29] And that would make it really, really hard for me to preach on biblical womanhood if it was based on who I am. I'm not claiming to be the wise one that has all the biblical answers to biblical womanhood or who has all the answers to personal struggles in your marriages and your relationships with your children or in your relationships with other people.

[11:50] I realize that there are a plethora of different situations in this room, circumstances, people with different struggles, with different pasts.

[12:02] And at times when we're confronted with the Word, we're confronted by the Word. We all need to be confronted by the Word from time to time, hopefully on a regular basis. And in those times, the adversary will sometimes begin to whisper into your ear.

[12:18] He doesn't know what he's talking about. He doesn't know what you're going through. This doesn't apply to you. And then you'll go and try to find someone else who agrees with what you think.

[12:30] And you can easily find someone who agrees with what you think, someone who can tell you what you want to hear, as opposed to what the Word of God says. And I submit to you that those friends or those relatives or those people who are telling you just what you want to hear and not giving you biblical truth does not demonstrate biblical love in your life.

[12:49] I don't know how many times since Amanda and I have been married that we have had situations where we have spoken truth and love into somebody's life and they reject it for the lives of someone who told them what they would prefer to hear.

[13:07] I love a lot of things about my wife, but one of the things that I love the most is that if you ask her a question, if you come to her seeking truth, she's going to give it to you. She's going to tell you, she's going to give you truth from the Word and she'll do it out of love.

[13:21] And she's very good at tithes to ministry. But so often people walk away with unteachable hearts. Don't let that be you this morning. Don't let that be you. I want more than anything to stay as close to this Word as possible.

[13:37] And if I stray from this Word, you have my permission this morning just to tune me out. If I begin talking about my own experience, if I begin talking about my thoughts or anything else, you have my permission to tune me completely out.

[13:52] But as long as this Word is being clearly communicated, then I encourage you and I urge you to listen to what the Word of God says. I've been praying from the moment that I knew I'd be preaching this morning that the power of His Spirit would take this Word and apply it appropriately in each of our lives this morning.

[14:12] I realize we have all kinds of situations, all kinds of varying situations, and we have to apply this Word to our personal lives and our personal situations. So as we jump into biblical womanhood, we must first understand this, that the foundation of biblical womanhood is the Gospel.

[14:31] The foundation of biblical womanhood is the Gospel. And this is true for every aspect of the life of a born-again believer. The Gospel is foundational. The Gospel undergirds everything.

[14:43] It is the foundation for everything we talk about. And as what He is saying here in Titus 2, 11-14, you read that the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for Himself a people, His own possession, who are zealous for good works.

[15:17] That is the Gospel. He just spent ten verses saying, young men do this, older men do this, younger women do this, older women do this.

[15:30] And He says, the reason He says that all these things is that the Gospel is foundational for all of it. Everything that we do. How is the Gospel foundational? Three reasons this morning.

[15:41] Real quickly, before we jump into biblical womanhood, and by the way, this does connect. We're going to connect these things back to biblical womanhood, and I hope that you'll see how that works in a little bit. God's grace covers our past.

[15:54] We see this in the text this morning. God's grace covers our past. We see it in verse 11. God's grace has appeared. He has brought us to salvation. And here's where I'm going to lose some people, because typically, believers, oftentimes we fall into this habit of when we begin to talk about God's grace, we begin to tune it out, we begin to tune out things, because we've heard it before we know about God's grace.

[16:20] But the reality is that God has provided incredible grace for us, and we do not ever need to overcome the joy of the reality of what Christ has done in our lives.

[16:32] We were once dead in our sin and made alive again by Christ. This is a gift that we should never stop rejoicing in. This is a gift that was given to us freely.

[16:45] We've been spared the wrath of God through the blood of Christ and made alive again forever. This is something that we should always rejoice in. It's something that we should never get over in our lives.

[16:58] We should continually rejoice in this truth. But God not only covers our past by His grace, God's grace and powers are present. This is the picture now.

[17:10] God's grace trains us, according to verse 11. God's grace is our teacher. It trains us and disciples us on a daily basis to grow into the image of Christ.

[17:20] It's a process that we call sanctification. And this is how this works for application for us this morning. There's no woman in this room that can live up to the picture of Titus 2 on your own.

[17:33] In fact, for that matter, there's no man in this room who can live up to the picture of biblical manhood on his own. Grace empowers our present.

[17:45] It's grounded in the Gospel and it trains us for these things. This grace covers our past. It empowers our present. And God's grace guarantees our future. It guarantees our future.

[17:57] This is verse 13. Waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. So we see God's grace, past, present, and future, all wonderfully encapsulated in this passage.

[18:11] And we see how the Gospel is foundational for all that we're going to read about this morning. But not only is the Gospel foundational, the foundation of biblical womanhood, but it's also the purpose of biblical womanhood.

[18:25] And this is demonstrated no less than three times in Titus 2. We look at three different times. The first one that we're going to look at is Titus 2.9. He's talking about servants here. Slaves are to be submissive to their own masters in everything.

[18:39] They are to be well-pleasing, not argumentative, not pilfering, but showing all good faith. And here's the purpose clause. Paul inserts a purpose clause here as he writes.

[18:50] So that in everything they might adorn the doctrine of God our Savior. So we have a purpose for the reason why we're being told to do these things.

[19:01] Show your second example. See it again in verse 7. If you back up. This is speaking to younger men. Show yourselves in all respects to be a model of good works. And in your teaching, show integrity, dignity, and sound speech that cannot be condemned.

[19:16] And here it is again. So that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us. So there again we see a purpose. Thirdly, trained young women.

[19:28] This is the passage that we're talking about this morning, one of our focus passages. Trained young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind and submissive to their own husbands.

[19:40] That is that the Word of God may not be reviled. So the picture we get from Scripture is that you act in these ways. People have no grounds upon which to speak against the Word.

[19:53] They have no grounds upon which to speak bad about us. And they will all see the attractiveness of God our Savior. This is where I want us to all think about what biblical womanhood is not.

[20:09] That it's not for our cultural convenience. It's not for our cultural convenience. It's not to try to fit into the mold of the culture that exists around us. And so often we have done this even in our Christian circles.

[20:23] We have adopted what the world says should look like as women. And you have to understand that Paul is writing in a time here during the birth of Christianity.

[20:35] Christianity is brand new. And they are just discovering what effects that Christ has, what effects the gospel has on the family and on the home.

[20:46] And for the first time moms, dads, husbands, wives, and children are having to consider how to show Christ to the world, to the first century pagan world, what kind of difference Christ makes in the family and on the home.

[20:59] And it wasn't an easy task for them. Everything that they're being told to do is counter-cultural. All across the New Testament, everything that they are encountering, everything they're being told to do is counter-cultural.

[21:13] And though it's not a direct correlation to us today, the first century back then, there's no question that the picture of a Christ-centered family in our culture is under attack. The enemy wants to attack this because it's such an incredible picture of the gospel.

[21:30] We have to make a decision whether we're going to mold our lives into what the culture says is right or whether we're going to mold our lives into what God says is right. This is not about cultural convenience and as a result, there are some unpopular things that we're going to talk about this morning.

[21:45] I'll go ahead and warn you, there are some unpopular things that we're going to talk about that are unpopular in our culture. So biblical womanhood is not about cultural convenience and it's not about personal preference.

[21:56] We've got to realize this, that marriage, family, kids, mothering, fathering, none of this is for our individual fulfillment. I'm not saying that these things aren't fulfilling because they are indeed fulfilling when we do them well and we do them according to God and according to the way that God tells us to do them.

[22:14] They can be incredibly fulfilling. We must realize that God's glory is the end game in all of these things. We've got to be seeking God's glory in all of this. The purpose of marriage and parenting is to put the glory of God on display for the world to see.

[22:32] And we sacrifice our preferences and our comfort toward that end. So if biblical womanhood is not for cultural convenience and it's not for personal preference, then what exactly is the purpose of biblical womanhood?

[22:45] The purpose of biblical womanhood is number one, to show the beauty of Christ. To show the beauty of Christ. To make the teaching about God, our Savior, attractive to the world and attractive to believers.

[23:01] And this is where we're getting into the main course this morning. We've had the appetizers, we've gone through the salad course, we've gone through the soup course, and now we're getting into the core of what we're talking about this morning.

[23:12] How can we live today, women, how can you live in a way that puts the gospel of Christ on display? That is a consuming question.

[23:27] And unfortunately, it's not the consuming question that most of us ponder when we're thinking about our day-to-day activities. It's more likely, the question that we ask is more likely, what can I do on a day-to-day basis to make my life easiest?

[23:44] Because things are difficult, right? It's difficult day-to-day. Moms, dads, everyone. But as long as we're focused on that, we will not be able to engage Scripture on a meaningful level.

[23:59] It's at this point we must realize that our purpose is to show the beauty of Christ that we are truly engaging the Word. So the question for your life, woman of God, is how can you live in a way that puts the gospel of Jesus Christ on display in your life?

[24:17] So the first purpose of biblical womanhood is to show the beauty of Christ. Secondly, to advance the mission of Christ. To advance the mission of Christ. So that no one will align the Word.

[24:30] so that no one can say bad things about us. So that people in a pagan culture, both 1st century and 21st century, can see the gospel effect on our families.

[24:45] Do we realize how huge of a need this is today in our culture? It's huge. And I want to be careful here because I know that there are individuals in this room, situations where the glory of Christ may not have been put on display.

[25:01] At some point in your past, at some point along the way, whether through parenting or failed marriages or guilt from past situations, maybe very public situations where you did not display the glory of Christ, whether it be in any of these areas of your life.

[25:14] And I just want to remind you, this is part of the connection going back to what we started off with, what I've already said, that God's grace covers our past. It's important for us moving forward to understand that just because we did not do things well in the past does it mean that we have to live in that way in the future that we can still put the glory of God on display in our lives.

[25:34] At the same time, I know that there are men and women who may be struggling through marriages in this room. There may be men and women who are struggling to hold on to parenting. Let's face it, moms. I'm just going to go ahead and say it.

[25:45] Your job isn't easy. It's not easy. And any person that says that has never been a mom before. And I want to urge you whether you're struggling as a spouse or as a struggling parent, both men and women in the room, I want to urge you to hold fast by the grace of Christ in your life.

[26:08] Hold fast by His grace. Women, whether young or old, it's time for us to raise the bar in the church. It's time for us to raise the bar in our culture as believers in our culture.

[26:21] And as women say, this is what the gospel of Christ looks like in action played out in the woman's life. The world needs to see this. And the world needs to see this in you.

[26:35] The world needs to see biblical womanhood and biblical manhood on display boldly in the lives of the body of Christ. And they need to see it in this faith family. We all need to be on our knees praying toward this end on a regular basis.

[26:50] All of us, young, old, men, women, all of us in the room need to be praying that God will show the power of His gospel and bringing healing and joy back to our families. We need to pray that God will boldly display His gospel in us this morning.

[27:04] And that's the purpose of biblical womanhood. So what we have in Titus 2 is biblical womanhood split into two groups. Okay? Two different groups. Younger women, older women. Some have said of this passage that older women would be those who are past the years of having children in the home, child rearing years, while younger women would be those who still have children or younger in their homes.

[27:28] I don't want to disqualify any young women in here from this passage just because you don't have children. That's not necessarily the case. But there's no definite lines, and I'm not going to say give any ages.

[27:41] I'm going to tell you whether you're an older woman or a younger woman this morning. I just don't want to go there for obvious reasons. But just know that there's no defining age point here.

[27:52] Okay? Just as a side note, this may be one of the most misunderstood and maligned passages in all the New Testament. One of the most misunderstood. Radical feminism has crept into our church culture.

[28:07] And it's claimed that passages like Titus 2 are chauvinistic and sexist and outdated. And since it's outdated, it's optional for our lives. Well, it's not optional.

[28:18] It's still the Word of God. And I believe as we gain an understanding for this passage, we'll no longer believe that it's chauvinistic and we'll no longer believe that it's sexist. We'll look at this and we'll say this has been God's plan from the very beginning in chapter 2 of Genesis when He created woman, that this from the very beginning was God's plan.

[28:38] And we want to experience all that He has for us in our families and in biblical womanhood. So we'll start with older women because Scripture starts with older women. Older women, likewise, are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine.

[28:52] They are to teach what is good. So older women, command number one, be holy. Be holy. Live your lives reverently before God.

[29:04] Older women, set a godly example for younger women. Show younger women what life looks like when lived before a holy God. These are important things older women to teach to younger women.

[29:17] Be holy. Secondly, build up the body of Christ. He says this in two ways. First, he says, do not be slanderers. Build up the body with your tongue. Speak well of other people.

[29:33] Older women, speak in a way that builds up the character of Christ in others. Speak in a way that builds up the body of Christ in the church. Do not slander. And yes, this includes gossip. Do not do anything that is not useful, Ephesians 4, for building up others according to their need in Christ Jesus.

[29:55] So the word is saying, do not be slanderers. Do not speak in a way that will not bring glory to Christ. And not just control your tongue, but do not be addicted to much wine. This is a picture here of self-control.

[30:09] Being in control. Being sober-minded. This is a picture of guarding your body as a temple of the Holy Spirit. So be holy. Build up the body of Christ. And thirdly, make disciples.

[30:20] Older women still are speaking to you. Make disciples. And this is where it gets really, really good. Listen to what it says. They are to teach what is good. Remember this in the context of Scripture.

[30:32] Be holy. Build up the body of Christ. Why? Why do we need to be holy? Why do we need to build up the body of Christ? So that you can teach and train younger women. Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit, tells older women, make disciples with younger women.

[30:51] Show younger women what life looks like in Christ. Christ. And this is something that God has entrusted to older women.

[31:02] And I don't know how much this is going on in our faith family. I hope that it's going on. And I hope that if it's not, that we will continue to do this process in our lives. That older women would train and teach younger women and mentor.

[31:12] And I would submit that every believer needs someone older in their life to disciple them and to train them as a mentor. And every person needs a younger person in their life that they are currently training.

[31:27] This is what Titus 2 ministry looks like. So this is the picture. Make disciples. That's the three effects of the gospel on older women in Titus 2. There are more for younger women.

[31:39] Seven effects of the gospel that we see on younger women. Number one, love your husband. So train the young women to love their husbands.

[31:52] This is typically where we get kind of a nudge from the husband to their wife. See? It's in the Bible, honey. It's right here. But men, we're not going to be self-serving about this.

[32:03] We're not going to take this and shove it down anybody's face this morning. But this is how important this is, ladies, in the room. The command here, the commands are really bookended for young women in this regard.

[32:20] At the beginning, it's love your husbands. And at the end, it's submit to your husbands. This is a bookended thing. It's all encapsulated by loving her husband. And Scripture is consistent in this regard.

[32:32] In Genesis 2.18, in 1 Corinthians 11, 8, and 9, in Colossians, and all these places that talks about biblical womanhood and the command to love the husband. It always comes before the command to love the children.

[32:47] The command of Genesis 2.18 and 1 Corinthians 11, that women are first and foremost their husband's helper, not their children's helper. And the biblical picture is that the biblical woman who is a wife and a mother, her love for her children flows out of the spring of her love for her husband.

[33:07] Does that mean that you should disregard your children? No way. That's not what we're saying here at all. That aside from God, I just want to be clear here, aside from your relationship with God, the number one relationship in your life is your husband for married women.

[33:20] It's the number one responsibility aside from your relationship with God. Now, what I love about Titus 2 is that it's very quick to say that older women should train younger women to love their husbands, which implies, at least in my mind, it implies that it's not something that just happens automatically, right?

[33:46] Let's just be honest here. There are a couple of men in this room who are difficult to love. Not me, of course. Those guys, again, not me.

[33:57] Those guys have something to work on in their lives. I just want to be clear of being facetious, obviously. Let's just be very honest, man.

[34:07] Who in here, by a show of hands, is easy to love? And I'm not hands down, by the way. If you even started to raise your hand, you're going to get that elbow and the gut there.

[34:18] But biblical love is not always easy. It's not always easy. This love, women, it requires great determination on your part.

[34:29] It requires great determination. I've counseled through enough couples struggling with love and respect issues. Again, I'm speaking on experience, so if you want to tune this part out, that's fine.

[34:40] Whatever. But I've spoken with enough couples who are dealing with these issues to know that there are probably women in this room who will say, well, Kyle, you just don't know my husband.

[34:51] It's difficult. And I know that there are difficult situations represented in the room this morning. There's difficult times. We go through seasons of life that are difficult, with difficult circumstances. And this is where I want to remind you that your love for your husband is not dependent upon his worthiness to be loved.

[35:10] Let me say that again. Your love for your husband is not dependent on his worthiness to be loved. And this is big.

[35:21] Because this is not what the world says about love. The world says that if he's not being loving to you, then why are you even trying? If they don't do something right, then they don't deserve your love.

[35:33] That's not the picture in Scripture. Scripture says, ladies, love your husbands. And this is why. This is why we need to see the picture and this connection between the gospel and our families, between the gospel and our marriages.

[35:51] How can women who live with an unlovable husband love their husbands? And the only answer is the gospel. It's this picture that we see in the gospel.

[36:03] The whole picture of the gospel is a God who not only loves the unlovable, but who chooses to love the unlovable. A God who not only chooses to love the lovable, but chooses to love the unlovable.

[36:17] It's the picture of the gospel. A God who gives his life for us when we were the most undeserving. So how in the world can you love your husband? By the love that God has in you.

[36:28] It's 1 John 4, 19. We love why? Because he first loved us. Ladies, when you love your husband, because let's face it, guys, we're difficult to get along with sometimes.

[36:40] We're unlovable at times. You're a living, breathing picture of Christ to the world, ladies, when you love your husbands. And what may be even more compelling is that you are being a living picture of Christ to your children when you love your husbands.

[37:01] In a culture that says when things get difficult in marriage, things aren't going the way you would prefer, that you just move on. The gospel says when things are inconvenient, when things are not working out the way that you would hope they were, or according to your preference, you buckle down and you show your spouse love.

[37:15] This is priority. It requires great determination, but at the same time, I believe that as you practice, as you put this into practice, this love can bring about great delight in your life.

[37:28] Because this is the way God designed it to be. This is God's design for our lives. So, love your husbands. Secondly, love your children. Love your children.

[37:40] And while this might seem like this is something that comes very naturally, we live in a culture that simply does not love children at every turn, it seems like. The things that we say, the things that we do, we limit our children because of finances.

[37:53] They're a burden to us, is what we say when we talk about children in that way. That is so far from the truth, but at the same time, we realize that we have to be trained to love our children, and that's what gospel grace does for us.

[38:04] It's not always easy. I've already said it once, but I'll say it again. Husbands, this is your moment to say amen after this, because this is going to earn you brownie points, but there's the statement, and don't miss this, there is no profession in this world that requires more work or greater sacrifice than motherhood on a day-to-day basis.

[38:25] That was really weak, guys. Like, you probably woke up this morning, and you got here, and you just realized it was Mother's Day as the tulips were being handed out, but I'm trying to help you out here, okay?

[38:37] I want to say this again and see where we can get. There's no profession that requires more work or greater sacrifice on a day-to-day basis than biblical motherhood.

[38:49] That's what I want to hear. That's better. All right, although I'm a little bit concerned about your initiative there. Love involves deep demands.

[39:01] This love for children involves deep demands. There's no question for a mom to take a son or a daughter and to care for them spiritually, physically, and emotionally in every way, to lead them through the ups and downs and ebbs and flows of their life.

[39:16] The reality is that Titus 2 is saying, no woman, and please hear this, no woman is up to the task of mothering. You can't do it by yourself.

[39:28] It's the grace of God in you that enables you to mother, to be the mother that God has designed you to be. It's all based on His grace and His provision in your life.

[39:39] And everything about parenting, by the way, should drive us to our knees in prayer to God saying, God, I need you. Christ, work in me.

[39:51] Give me the wisdom that I need as a parent. Give me the wisdom I need to discipline my child. Give me the wisdom and the strength to be able to accomplish your will in my child's life. And also, we pray for our children's salvation on a daily basis.

[40:06] And again, this love done properly brings about deep delight and lasting joy. God will work through you, yes, you moms, to accomplish His purpose in your life.

[40:17] This is how Spurgeon says it. It's in your bulletin. Wes has already read it, but for the purposes of the sermon, I want to read it again just so we kind of wrap our minds around the importance of motherhood from the mind of Spurgeon.

[40:29] And there's somehow a wonderful power about a mother's voice when she talks to her children about Jesus and His love, which stamps itself on the heart. And the heart is a far better place for the custody of truth than ever the brain can become.

[40:47] Share the Gospel with your children every day. That's one of the most loving things you can do for your child is to share the Gospel with them every day. Train your children.

[40:58] Share the Gospel with your children. And next, discipline yourself. Discipline yourself. The Word says, Train the young women to love their husbands and children to be self-controlled.

[41:11] This is something that is mentioned with each of the groups in Titus 2, by the way. This idea of self-control is all throughout Scripture. We don't talk about it enough in our churches, but this idea of self-control is really important in Scripture.

[41:22] And in this case, it comes right on the hills of Titus 2, 5, talking about children. And that should make sense to us. How can we ever expect to discipline our children if we're not disciplined ourselves?

[41:37] And this is the connection here between here and verse 12, that God's grace disciplines us. It trains us. So that when you come home from an outing that day, moms, and your kids have been screaming in the vehicle all day, they didn't clean the rooms up before they left, so they got science projects growing in their rooms, the dog got into the trash, it's after 6 o'clock, you haven't started dinner yet, and your mother-in-law will be there in five minutes.

[42:02] What gets you through a situation like that? What keeps you from trying to crawl into a hole somewhere to a quiet place like you really want to do?

[42:14] It can only be God's grace. It can only be the grace of God working on our lives. You're saying, God, I need your grace today. Every single moment of today to enable me, to train me, to be the kind of woman and the kind of mother and the kind of wife that I need to be.

[42:31] You must discipline yourself, guard your heart, guard your mind, guard your body, and guard your will for the glory of Christ. Discipline yourself.

[42:41] The next, be faithful to God and to your husband. Be faithful to God and to your husband. Be, this is how the word puts it, be self-controlled and pure.

[42:57] This is a picture of marital faithfulness in heart, mind, and body. I want to say that again because it's important. A lot of times we think of that whole marital faithfulness as being just with the body.

[43:09] In the heart, in the mind, in the body. This is purity, innocence, uncontaminated purity.

[43:20] This is radical faithfulness to God and to your husband. And in this context, the word pure is really focused on sexual purity. We all know that the adversary wants to attack this area in women's lives and men's lives and in our marriages today.

[43:37] There's not one person, not one person who can withstand this temptation. And if you think that you can, if you think that you can withstand this temptation on your own, this is key, on your own, then you're saying that you are stronger than the strongest man, Samson, that you are wiser than the wisest man, Solomon, that you are more godly than the man after God's own heart, David.

[43:59] All three fell to sexual temptation. We can't do this on our own. What does Scripture say? Flee immorality.

[44:11] Flee immorality. I can't stress the seriousness of this. Do not think you can withstand it on your own. You have to take extreme measures against this sin.

[44:24] Do not put yourself in a position where someone can even call your purity into question. This is about being above reproach. Not putting yourself in a position where even your integrity can be questioned.

[44:36] If you find yourself in a position where you are alone with someone of the opposite gender, literally take flight. Flee from the temptation. Get out of there.

[44:48] Be awkward if you have to. It's better to be awkward than it is to succumb to the temptation. But here's the deal. Don't just run away from immorality.

[45:00] You're running, so you're running toward something. And so the thing you should be running toward is purity, toward holiness. You've got to embrace this idea of purity in your life.

[45:11] We need to guard this area of our lives and in our marriages. It will not only honor God, it will teach our children well as they see you doing these things. As they see you running after purity in your marriages and in your lives.

[45:27] It will also be a picture of the faithfulness of Christ to the world. Faithfulness of Christ to the church. Next, care for your home. Care for your home.

[45:37] We have three more things to go. We're about to wrap it up. Care for your home. And we'll go through these mostly quickly, but this one we're going to camp out on for a second. Be self-controlled, pure, working at home.

[45:51] Working at home. This is an important one, women. Managing the day-to-day operations of the home is your God-given responsibility. It's your God-given responsibility, women.

[46:07] For us, and my family, I'll just go ahead and tell you for us what that looks like is that Amanda stays at home to be able to train our children, to be able to teach our children, to be able to raise our children in the admonition of the Lord.

[46:19] We believe that God has entrusted us to that task. And that's our personal conviction, and we sacrifice a lot along that way, especially financially.

[46:30] We make a lot of sacrifices to make this happen. And I also recognize that there are situations and some seasons of lives for other people that simply do not allow this to happen.

[46:42] Single moms, you're going to have a hard time working from home at least at first. It's very, very difficult, and we all recognize that. If you have a desire to work from home, in that case, I know that there are ways to get there, but it might take some baby steps in getting there.

[46:58] And this is, again, speaking of experience, my wife is very good at finding ways to do this. So if you're a single mom or if you're just somebody who's wanting to look for ways to work from home, then Amanda has some ridiculously incredible ideas about how to do that.

[47:12] That's just on a side note. But we all recognize that there are difficulties in doing this, that obviously different situations, you have to apply this word. There's grace for these things.

[47:23] There's grace that God gives us for different and various situations that we look at. Now, this can be carried out in many ways. You look at the Proverbs 31. It's a great example of this.

[47:34] You have a picture of this woman who's doing a lot of things, like so many things. It's unbelievable that she's involved in doing so much. But it's all for the sake of the responsibility that she has to care for the home.

[47:49] But the picture in Scripture is that homemaking is mentioned a lot. It's mentioned a lot in Scripture and it's viewed as a noble and high calling. This idea of homemaking.

[48:00] So the picture is that it is godly, it is right to care for your home. And here's the key and don't miss this part because anybody can care for the home, right? Anybody can stay at home and care for the home.

[48:11] But it's for the purpose of creating a God-centered home. And don't miss that this morning. Anybody can care for the home. There's unbelievers who make this choice apart from Scripture to stay in the home.

[48:24] And you can stay at home and watch soap operas all day and blog and be on the internet and watch Netflix and you are nowhere near Titus 2. nowhere near it.

[48:35] The key here is that you care for the home with the purpose of creating a God-centered home. The picture that we've gotten Titus 2 is a responsibility for what God has entrusted you.

[48:49] So I encourage you here to take a look at your situation and apply these truths to your life. If you're capable of doing these things then you should do this.

[49:00] This is a noble and high calling for women. Single moms and working moms there's grace for how this looks in your life. I'm not going to be legalistic about this this morning.

[49:11] This is your God-entrusted responsibility women of God to care for your home. God-entrusted responsibility to take it and own it and make this something that you do.

[49:21] You work hard in this area and it will honor God and it will honor your husband and it will honor your family. Which leads us to the next picture. Serve with kindness. The last two we're going to go by quickly.

[49:31] Serve with kindness. To be busy at home to be kind amidst all she does. To be kind amidst, let's be honest, ungrateful kids and at times ungrateful husbands.

[49:44] What does this mean to serve with kindness? It means, number one, to desire the good of others. To desire the good of her husband. To desire the good of her children. And to desire the good of those who are guests within the home.

[49:58] Those who are visitors in the home. Secondly, to work for the good of others. You might want to study 1 Timothy to dive further into this. We don't have time to turn there right now, but 1 Timothy 2.9 and 1 Timothy 5.9 both talk about a woman who is marked or adorned with good works.

[50:18] Her reputation is for kindness. And instead of showing outward beauty like the world talks about and the world values so much, it's an incredible picture of this inward beauty being adorned for good works.

[50:31] There are so many of you in this room that do this so well. You're so accommodated and you're very loving toward your guests in your home and you're very loving toward those who are in your home and you care about them and I know sometimes that might seem to go unnoticed, but just remember that your reward does not exist in the finite realm of this world.

[50:50] Your reward exists in eternity. Work for the good of others and finally submit to your husband. Submit to your husband.

[51:02] I know we're running short on time this morning, but this is the last picture of what God said with the gospel and how the gospel affects younger women. We've already spoken about loving your husbands for the sake of time.

[51:16] We're going to shorten this. This is not really fair though to talk about the role of women in the church without talking about the role of men, of biblical manhood.

[51:28] So it's not fair to talk about biblical submission without talking about the husband's biblical sacrifice. And this is where we have to come to the understanding that the feminist movement has sold us in the church a bill of goods.

[51:45] Because what the feminist movement has said to us is that the role that women play as suitable helpers to their husbands is necessarily lesser than the role of leadership.

[51:59] And this is simply not true. Men and women, I want you to hear me carefully this morning, men and women are equal in their value. I'm not teaching egalitarianism here.

[52:11] They're equal in their value. What separates them is in their roles. The roles that they play. It's very important for us to understand this.

[52:22] Men, we are not to lord over our wives. We're not to lord over our wives. In fact, we are to sacrifice our lives.

[52:34] Ephesians 6 says Christ sacrificed himself for the church. It is the picture of the gospel men when we sacrifice our lives for our wives.

[52:45] It's very important that we get this, we understand this. We are equal in our value. God has given us equally important roles and in fact, I would say in my own life, a lot of times I have to come to the recognition that my whole family would fall apart without a suitable helper.

[53:10] I'm just going to be honest with you. If it were up to me raising two kids as it stands right now, two children and to be able to do all that I do and to be able to do all this, it would all fall apart.

[53:21] Number one, because men are not typically designed to be nourishing and all these things like women are. God has designed women perfectly for raising children and it's just equally important in the role.

[53:33] It's different in the role. The fact that I'm a spiritual leader in my family doesn't mean that I say, me man, you woman, me say, you do. It's not the picture that we get in Scripture.

[53:45] It's not biblical leadership, men. We lead in sacrifice. We lead in love, which means that you love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.

[53:57] We are different in our roles. A husband sacrifices, a wife submits. That's the summary of it. A husband sacrifices, a wife submits. And there's so much more time that we could spend here really on all of these topics.

[54:09] We could flesh them out. Each one of these could really be a sermon in and of themselves. We're not going to keep you here that long, though. But let me just say this. I want to encourage you women, just in closing, I want to encourage you.

[54:22] You have so much on your plate, yet you handle it with such grace. And it's so wonderful to see the work and the grace of Christ working in your lives in these regards. And all these things, the things that you know well and the things that you know you need to work on, remember that God's grace enables us to will and to act according to His purpose.

[54:45] And I know that we don't have any perfect moms in the room today. But we have some really, really good ones. We do. Wonderful moms, not perfect.

[54:58] And we have to remember that by God's grace, we accomplish these things. We better ourselves one day at a time. And it's all about better today than yesterday and better tomorrow than today.

[55:11] We're all a work in progress. We all are striving for holiness, to seek God's will in our lives. And women, just know that one day at a time. Better today than yesterday, better tomorrow than today.

[55:24] And when you do this, you're going to see fruit come through your ministry, both in your home, in your community, and across the nations for the glory of Christ. Now, we're going to pray together. I want to take an opportunity to pray for our moms this morning.

[55:39] And then after that, we're going to fellowship together in the Lord's Supper. So let's pray together. Specifically pray for our moms this morning. Let's pray together.