ESOCS Devotional 31 January 2024 – Speak Sound Doctrine
MEMORY VERSE: “But speak thou the things which become sound doctrine.” Titus 2:1 KJV
TEXT: TITUS 2: 1-15
Plead with your mother, plead: for she is not my wife, neither am I her husband: let her therefore put away her whoredoms out of her sight, and her adulteries from between her breasts;
3 Lest I strip her naked, and set her as in the day that she was born, and make her as a wilderness, and set her like a dry land, and slay her with thirst.
4 And I will not have mercy upon her children; for they be the children of whoredoms.
5 For their mother hath played the harlot: she that conceived them hath done shamefully: for she said, I will go after my lovers, that give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, mine oil and my drink.
6 Therefore, behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns, and make a wall, that she shall not find her paths.
7 And she shall follow after her lovers, but she shall not overtake them; and she shall seek them, but shall not find them: then shall she say, I will go and return to my first husband; for then was it better with me than now.
8 For she did not know that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold, which they prepared for Baal.
9 Therefore will I return, and take away my corn in the time thereof, and my wine in the season thereof, and will recover my wool and my flax given to cover her nakedness.
10 And now will I discover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and none shall deliver her out of mine hand.
11 I will also cause all her mirth to cease, her feast days, her new moons, and her sabbaths, and all her solemn feasts.
12 And I will destroy her vines and her fig trees, whereof she hath said, These are my rewards that my lovers have given me: and I will make them a forest, and the beasts of the field shall eat them.
13 And I will visit upon her the days of Baalim, wherein she burned incense to them, and she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels, and she went after her lovers, and forgat me, saith the Lord.
14 Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her.
15 And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope: and she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt.
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The emphasis in this instruction to Titus was on ‘sound doctrine’. This means healthy teaching. Truth that comes from God is spiritually healthy for the preservation of the soul. Healthy teaching has a positive impact on attitudes and behaviour. It can only be healthy not when it is believed, but when it is behaved. So, Paul instructed Titus to use healthy teaching to correct the virus of ungodliness that was prevalent at this time in the area where he was ministering in Crete. Sound teaching should be used to teach older men, older women, young men, young women, and servants (house helps, shop boys/girls) how to behave in all areas of life for right living all the time and anywhere.
Right teaching combines correct knowledge, understanding and experience, and is consistent with the teachings in the Bible and keeps Jesus Christ central. It cannot be condemned. It is used to rebuke (with all authority) the wrongs in the church, society, workplace, business circles, among peers, etc.
The importance of sound teaching is that it will challenge false teachers. Believers must be grounded in the truths of the Scripture – then, they will not be swayed by the powerful oratory of false teachers or the pull of emotions. Also, preachers and teachers must challenge their members to understand sound doctrine. Some people may want to challenge us, but we must resist it (v 15).
We must endeavour to learn the word, apply Biblical principles, and live what we learn.
- False teachers are all over the place teaching false doctrines.
- Father, open my eyes to know false doctrines and give me the will to reject them.
Further Reading: 1 Timothy 1:4-10; 2 Timothy 4:3; 1 Peter 3:1-11
ESOCS Devotional 31 January 2024
