Bible Study for Young Men from Titus 2:6-8

We are doing a Bible Study that will take us through the book of Titus. Most recently we have studied Biblical instructions to younger and older women and also to older men. I would encourage you to read these study posts as well. Here are the links: Bible Teaching for Younger and Older Women 

Bible Teaching for Older Men

But today the focus of our study is young men. At first thought you might think that it will be a teaching on how to treat a young woman or girlfriend or on remaining sexually pure. These are very important issues and you may be surprised to find a variety of instructions to young men in three short verses. So let's begin and see what these verses from Titus 2:6-8 will teach us. We will go through each verse in the study.

A Teaching to Young men - ( picture shutterstock.com )

Titus 2: 6-8

6 Young men likewise exhort to be sober minded.

7 In all things shewing thyself a pattern of good works: in doctrine shewing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity,

8 Sound speech, that cannot be condemned; that he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of you.

 Verse 6 - Young men likewise exhort to be sober minded.

Here again we see the word sober minded. We have seen similar words of exhortation to women and to older men in previous studies. Young men are encouraged to live with a sober mind. This means to live intentionally and to make right choices with purpose. Sometimes a young man does not take the time to think through the choices he is making and he seems surprised when he must face the consequences of his actions. Here in Titus young men are strongly encouraged to be careful to be of sober mind.  Living sober mindedly first of all includes submitting your life to the Lord Jesus Christ in complete surrender. To do this is the most important thing you can ever do and then as you make Jesus Lord of your life and your first love, everything else in life will fall into place. With Jesus as your Savior, the Holy Spirit then indwells you and living according to Biblical teaching becomes clearer every day. So secondly, living sobermindedly would include living a life of integrity, being careful of the friends you choose, careful in entertainment choices and abstaining from alcohol, abstaining from drugs and smoking, and other addictions. Viewing and participating in pornography has no place in the Christian life. It is very dangerous to view and participate in pornography and lustful living and will have lifelong consequences in friendhips and it makes it almost impossible to have a good marriage. So please, please young men do not set yourself up for failure by viewing and participating in pornography, it is a terrible addiction. The Bible has very harsh words for anyone who is living in immorality. Please do not take this lightly. ( For a more complete look at what the Bible says about pornography/immorality, please read my blog post on this topic - link here Sexual Immorality ) 

Ephesians 5: 1-7

Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children;

2 And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.

3 But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints;

4 Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks.

5 For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.

6 Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience.

7 Be not ye therefore partakers with them.

Verse 7- In all things shewing thyself a pattern of good works: in doctrine shewing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity,

Here in verse 7, a young man is encouraged to be an good example to those he come in contact with. Let your peers, friends, family and fellow employees see you doing good. A Christian should be the most loving, kind and helpful person anyone meets. When you feel that  prompting from the Holy Spirit, urging you to help someone and to show kindness, then do not hesitate to follow the Lord. 

Make it your habit to read and study your Bible every day. Set aside a time of day and a place where you meet with the Lord, and pray about everything - and just thank the Lord for things, what He has done for you, for His presence in your life and how He is guiding you, He has your best in mind and He will not disappoint you when you give your whole mind, soul, and body to the Lord Jesus.

The Lord would have men to be leaders, so be willing to follow the Lord in this. Study the Bible and be ready to teach others the pure Word of Scriptures.

Let everything you do be done with integrity, serving the Lord with intentionality.

Verse 8- 

Sound speech, that cannot be condemned; that he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of you

Here in verse 8, young men are encouraged be be careful in speech. As quoted in the earlier passage from Ephesians, in verse 4 we read these strong words, as to what is not to be a part of our speech - so  Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks

So we see that foolish talking, or dirty jokes, are not to be a part of our conversations. Another translation reads -  Obscene stories, foolish talk, and coarse jokes—these are not for you. Instead, let there be thankfulness to God.

 It is important to always be a man of truth. Satan is the father of lies and every lie you or I tell is pleasing to satan but entirely a sin and an offense to the Lord Jesus. 

Be encouraged young men - live your life with integrity, intentionality, truth, decency, purity, and love the Lord Jesus with all your heart. Put Him first in your every thought and decision and may the Lord richly bless you as you seek Him!!

Bible teaching on - The Way a Woman Dresses

Proverbs 11: 22 As a jewel of gold in a swine's snout, so is a fair woman which is without discretion

There is a great need in our Christian church and community today to actually believe the Word of God - I mean believing it to the point of living accordingly. Of what benefit is it if we say we belong to Christ Jesus but do not obey the teaching of the Bible? The way a woman dresses is an area that the church refuses to address and yet it is very clear in the Bible what God requires. 

1Timothy Chapter 2. Verses 9 and 10 reads :  In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array;  But (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works

  As I read this Scripture I wonder why Christian women do not take this chapter to heart. To all the men and husbands out there - may I encourage you to speak up and tell your wife what the Bible says here, tell your sisters, and other women in your life and also speak up in your churches - if the Pastor won't speak to this issue, then may I encourage you to speak up about this anyway! To all the Christian women out there who are careful to be modest in how you dress - may the Lord richly bless you in many ways. To the Christian women who wear revealing and tight clothing may the Lord have mercy on you, you do not want to continue living like this and I urge you to pray earnestly to the Lord in repentance and I pray that you will decide today to honor God in all areas of your life including your dress.

 Verse 9 clearly says that women are to dress in modest clothing - women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array;
 1 Peter says women are to be chaste - as they observe your chaste and respectful behavior
I looked up the word chaste in my dictionary and it says - virtuous, pure,simple and restrained in style or taste. Then I looked up modest and it says not showy, but pure and chaste.

Christian women all across our nations are dressing provocatively, so as to lure men to lustful thinking. They are most likely sitting in the pew in front of you on any given Sunday morning. This is not right. God hasn't just written these things in the Bible for the sake of filling up the pages - No He expects that we do what the Scriptures say. He has written it for our good and we would be wise to obey Him.  Do we as  women want to stand before God on the day of judgment and give account for our behavior which has destroyed many a man and many a marriage. God will hold women accountable for wearing the provocative, skimpy, sensual clothing because His Word clearly states that we are to be modest, pure and chaste. Beauty is in one's character, not in sensuality or in showing off your sexy or  flirting. 

I challenge every Christian woman to put off the sensual way of dressing and clothe yourself as a daughter of the King of Heaven! We are waiting to hear the words of our Saviour say "well done, good and faithful servant!" So we must obey the Word of God and be a light for the Lord in this dark and evil world!

 Remember the verses from Proverbs: As a jewel of gold in a swine's snout, so is a fair woman which is without discretion

Proverbs 31:30  - Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised.

This really boils down to an issue of pride verses the fear of the Lord - are we as women going to live in obedience to the Lord or are we going to spit in the face of the Lord ( so to speak )? It is prideful for a woman to think that it is acceptable to wear the short skirts and shorts, the low cut tops, the bare back and shoulders etc, - there will be a time of reckoning and it will be here sooner than we expect.

Proverbs 16: 17-18  The highway of the upright is to depart from evil: he that keepeth his way preserveth his soul.

 Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.

Psalm 111:10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments: his praise endureth for ever.

Psalm 19:9-10 The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.

 More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.

If Jesus gave His all for us - why would we continue to play around with sin??

Please take time to study all of the 1Timothy 2:9-15 passage :

 In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array;

 But (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works.

 Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection.

 But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.

 For Adam was first formed, then Eve.

 And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.

 Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety.

Discerning False Teachers and Prophets

In our world today, there are many many teachers and preachers providing programming on the radio, TV, and through the internet. There are books coming out constantly that claim to be from the Lord. How do we know which Bible teacher or preacher to trust? We are told that in order to recognize a counterfeit, one must be thoroughly familiar with the authentic and in that way we will be able to distinguish the true teachers from the false. I have found though, that the false teachers also proclaim some truth mixed in with their deceptions. So it can be quite a challenge sometimes to differentiate between the true and false teacher. I am not going to name any names in this blog post but I want to explore what to look for. What does the Bible say about this? How can we know and what should we be looking for? Jesus says in Matthew 7 that false prophets come in sheeps clothing but inwardly they are ravening wolves. This means that they are very deceptive - they really do look like good people whom we could trust - BUT they are not. Jesus also says - Ye shall know them by their fruits - This means that it's not so much who they say they are but their actions ( their fruits) will make it obvious for whom they are working ( either for the Lord or for satan) Jesus says a good tree bringeth forth good fruit, but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.
Evil fruit is that which Jesus mentions in Mark 7 -evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness
SO, look at the life of the person who is claiming to be God's messenger - what kinds of things are they doing when they think no one is watching? What kind of life are they promoting?
Matthew 7: 15-17 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.
Mark 7: 21-23 For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.

Let's look at some more characteristic of false prophets and false teachers as described in the Bible:

* deception and false teaching - ( shall deceive many - Matthew 24)
* sign and wonders - ( shall shew signs and wonders, to seduce, - Mark 13)
* destructive, untrue doctrines - (who privily shall bring in damnable heresies - 2 Peter)
* in word or action they deny the Lord; ( denying the Lord that bought them, 2 Peter)
* they are popular and are held in high regard by many people ; ( all men shall speak well of you! Luke 6)
* a Bible teacher must confess Jesus Christ is come as a baby, Son of God or else he or she is not from God - ( confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God 1 John )
*some other clues to discerning the false teacher is if he claims there are other ways to be saved than through Jesus alone. The Bible teaches that there is only One true God, One Savior - our Lord Jesus Christ.
* a false teacher will justify sin - especially sexual sin. This could be in promoting or tolerating the gay lifestyle, or the false teacher may preach that there is no real freedom from lust, pornography, adultery and other sexual sins. Beware of these kinds of teachers. The Bible teaches to flee sin, to put sin to death in our lives, to be a separate and a sanctified people.

As I read through this list, what I see over and over again is that the false teacher lies. He lives a lie and speaks a lie but all the while tries to have people believe that he is a true Christian. He pretends to be a true preacher of the gospel.

Sexual Immorality

1 Thessalonians 4: 3-7 For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God; that no one should take advantage of and defraud his brother in this matter, because the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also forewarned you and testified.
What is more destructive than sexual immorality? We have seen time and time again how a man or woman basically destroys everything that has any real significance in his or her life by participating in this horrific sin.
The Bible is very clear that Christians are to abstain from every type of sexual immorality. There is no excuse because of how clear the Bible is on this issue. Sexual involvement outside the bond of marriage is unholy, and dishonors God. It ruins the chances of having a good relationship with your spouse or any future spouse ( if you are not currently married), with your family,  as well as destroying one's own body. The Bible teaches in Romans 6:23  For the wages of sin is death,. This death certainly means death in your relationship with the Lord, in your relationship with the people close to you as well as it can mean physical death.
 So what does sexual immorality mean in Biblical terms? When all is said and done it is God who sets the standard for holy living so it is important to remember that what we find in the Bible is God's standard and we need to abide by the words of the Bible.
The word sexual immorality or fornication ( as is used in the King James Bible) comes from the Greek word  pornia which is translated pornography in the English language. It is a broad term which includes all forms of sexual immorality.

Sexual immorality includes:

Lust and pornography -  Matthew 5:28 But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.

Adultery - is extramarital sex and also lust. It is included in the ten commandments and in the Old Testament law required the death penalty . It destroys the soul of the one participating in it - Proverbs 6:32 says But whoso committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding: he that doeth it destroyeth his own soul.

 Incest -  is sex with a close relative who is not your spouse. Also required the death penalty in
Leviticus 18: 6-7 None of you shall approach to any that is near of kin to him, to uncover their nakedness: I am the Lord.
The nakedness of thy father, or the nakedness of thy mother, shalt thou not uncover: she is thy mother; thou shalt not uncover her nakedness.
Deuteronomy 27:22  Cursed be he that lieth with his sister, the daughter of his father, or the daughter of his mother. And all the people shall say, Amen.

Homosexuality - is sex with a person of one's own gender - male with male, female with female. It is strongly condemned in both the Old and New Testament . Romans 1:26 -27  For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature.  Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due.
Leviticus 18:22 You shall not lie with a male as with a woman. It is an abomination
Homosexuality also required the death penalty in Leviticus 20:13  If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.

Beastiality - is sex with an animal  - also punishable by the death penalty in the Old Testament 
Exodus 22:19 Whoever lies with an animal shall surely be put to death
Deuteronomy 27: 21  Cursed be he that lieth with any manner of beast. And all the people shall say, Amen.

The only sex blessed by God and that brings honor to His Name is that of a husband and wife who are married to each other - commited till death do part.