A young man had just graduated from Bible school and wanted to be a pastor.  But when he was offered a temporary job as a police officer, he accepted it, thinking it might give him some good insight into human nature that would come in handy later in the ministry.  One of the questions on the police academy exam was, “What would you do to disperse an unruly crowd?”  The aspiring pastor thought for a moment, then responded, “I’d take up a collection.  That’ll disperse any crowd!”

Speaking of unruly people, the island of Crete where Titus was stationed (Tit. 1:5) had it’s share of them.  We know this because after Paul told him to ordain elders in the island’s churches, he told him the reason he needed to ordain them:

“For there are many unruly and vain talkers…” (Titus 1:10).

The dictionary defines the word “unruly” as people who don’t want to be ruled.  That’s probably why the only other people in the Bible who are called “unruly” are people who didn’t want to be ruled by the rulers of their local church.  Speaking of those spiritual leaders, Paul told the Thessalonians,

“…know them which labour among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you; And… esteem them very highly in love for their work’s sake… warn them that are unruly” (I Thessalonians 5:12-14).

See the connection?  After speaking about rulers, Paul told them to warn the unruly.  In the context, these were obviously people who didn’t want to be ruled by the church’s pastor and elders.

But how could Paul have known that there were unruly men who didn’t want to be ruled by leaders in Crete?  Their churches didn’t have rulers yet!  Remember, Paul had left Titus in Crete to ordain elders (Tit. 1:5).  So how did Paul know that some of the Cretians were unruly?

Well, it was because of the way that pastors are supposed to rule.  Paul explained how leaders are to rule in the dispensation of grace when he told the Corinthians,

“Not for that we have dominion over your faith, but are helpers of your joy: for by faith ye stand” (II Corinthians 1:24).

Pastors aren’t supposed to rule by having “dominion” over God’s people, that is, by dominating them.  People stand by faith, and faith comes by the Word of God (Rom. 10:17).  That means pastors are supposed to rule by teaching people the Word, and then letting the Word rule them.  Beloved, the only way you are going to have any joy in life is if you let God’s Word rule your life!

But that’s how Paul knew there were unruly men in Crete.  When he was there among them, he had seen that there were Cretians who didn’t want to be ruled by the Word that he had taught them.  So he told Titus to ordain some elders to teach those unruly men more of God’s Word.

Perhaps you are thinking, “How would that help?  If they didn’t want to be ruled by God’s Word, why ordain leaders to give them more of His Word?”

The answer is that God doesn’t have a “Plan B” when it comes to helping people with their joy!  That means when people don’t want to be ruled by the Word, a pastor shouldn’t chuck the Scriptures and look around for something else to give them.  Instead, he should continue to teach the Word, and ordain elders to do the same.  You see, growing in the Word is a believer’s only hope of living the joyous Christian life God wants each of us to richly enjoy.

To the Reader:

Some of our Two Minutes articles were written many years ago by Pastor C. R. Stam for publication in newspapers. When many of these articles were later compiled in book form, Pastor Stam wrote this word of explanation in the Preface:

"It should be borne in mind that the newspaper column, Two Minutes With the Bible, has now been published for many years, so that local, national and international events are discussed as if they occurred only recently. Rather than rewrite or date such articles, we have left them just as they were when first published. This, we felt, would add to the interest, especially since our readers understand that they first appeared as newspaper articles."

To this we would add that the same is true for the articles written by others that we continue to add, on a regular basis, to the Two Minutes library. We hope that you'll agree that while some of the references in these articles are dated, the spiritual truths taught therein are timeless.

As the Apostle Paul came to the end of his list of qualifications for the ministry, he closed by insisting that pastors should always be

“Holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers” (Titus 1:9).

Here we know that Paul is talking about the faithful Word of God that Pastor Titus had been taught of him, for he told Pastor Timothy to “hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me” (II Tim. 1:13).  If you’re a pastor, and you’re not holding fast to the form of sound words found in Paul’s epistles, you’ll never be able “to exhort and to convince the gainsayers” (1:9).

Of course, if you’re not a pastor, you’re probably wondering, “What’s a gainsayer?”  A gainsayer is someone who contradicts what you say.  A gainsayer in the Bible is someone who contradicts what God says in His Word.  And each time the word gainsay is used, it is used of men who opposed God’s Word dispensationally.

For instance, Jude talked about “the gainsaying of Core” (Jude 1:11).  If you don’t remember who Core was,

“… Korah… and Dathan and Abiram… gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, and said unto them… all the congregation are holy, every one of them… wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above the congregation…?” (Num. 16:1-3).

In the Law, God had made it clear that He had sanctified Moses and Aaron, setting them apart from all others in Israel as holy unto Himself.  But Core chose to gainsay His Word by insisting that all the people were holy.  This was a dispensational error.  All the congregation of Israel will be holy in the coming kingdom of heaven on earth.  God has promised that they will be “an holy nation” and “a kingdom of priests” (Ex. 19:6).  But they weren’t in Moses’ day!

Over in the New Testament, the Lord promised His followers, “I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist” (Lu. 21:15).  He made good on that promise at Pentecost, when “they were all filled with the Holy Ghost” (Acts 2:4).  Stephen was one of those who were filled with the Spirit (Acts 6:5), “and they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spake” (v. 10).

But the people of Stephen’s nation stubbornly clung to the old dispensation of the Law, and refused Peter’s offer of the new dispensation of the kingdom (Acts 3:19) when they stoned him.  That’s how they became “a disobedient and gainsaying people” (Rom. 10:21), people who contradicted God’s Word dispensationally.  Only men like Peter seemed willing to change. When the Lord told him to go minister to a Gentile, something that was “unlawful” under the Law of Moses (Acts 10:28), Peter obeyed this new dispensational command “without gainsaying” (Acts 10:29).

The gainsayers in Crete, where Titus was stationed (Tit. 1:5), were the “unruly and vain talkers… of the circumcision” he mentions in the next verse (Tit. 1:10).  They were “unruly” because they refused to recognize Paul’s new dispensational “rule” (Gal. 6:16) that “in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision” (v. 15).  They were making the dispensational error of thinking that circumcision was still part of God’s program, and contradicting the faithful word that Titus had received from Paul.

Beloved, the only answer to dispensational error today is “holding fast the faithful word” that we have heard from Paul.  Pauline truth alone can save us from any and all other dispensational errors.  Let’s hold it fast!

To the Reader:

Some of our Two Minutes articles were written many years ago by Pastor C. R. Stam for publication in newspapers. When many of these articles were later compiled in book form, Pastor Stam wrote this word of explanation in the Preface:

"It should be borne in mind that the newspaper column, Two Minutes With the Bible, has now been published for many years, so that local, national and international events are discussed as if they occurred only recently. Rather than rewrite or date such articles, we have left them just as they were when first published. This, we felt, would add to the interest, especially since our readers understand that they first appeared as newspaper articles."

To this we would add that the same is true for the articles written by others that we continue to add, on a regular basis, to the Two Minutes library. We hope that you'll agree that while some of the references in these articles are dated, the spiritual truths taught therein are timeless.

As the Apostle Paul came to the end of his list of qualifications for the ministry, he closed by insisting that pastors should always be

“Holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers” (Titus 1:9).

Here we know that Paul is talking about the faithful Word of God that Pastor Titus had been taught of him, for he told Pastor Timothy to “hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me” (II Tim. 1:13).

How “fast” should pastors hold the “sound doctrine” that Paul taught Titus, and the rest of us, in his epistles?  Well, after God allowed Satan to take away Job’s health, his wealth, and his family, God used that same phrase to say of Job, “still he holdeth fast his integrity” (Job 2:3).  Pastor, will you hold the truth of Paul’s gospel that fast?  Will you say with Job’s degree of conviction,

“…I will not remove mine integrity from me.  My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go…so long as I live” (Job 27:5,6).

Is that how fast you’ll hold to Pauline truth if you lose everything you hold dear?

Will you hold the truth as fast as Tribulation saints, whom the Lord warns, “hold fast…if therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief” (Rev. 3:3).  Those believers will have to hold fast to their truth, and endure to the end of the Tribulation to be saved (Mt. 10:22; 24:13).  You don’t have to hold your truth fast to be saved—but you should hold it fast as if you did, as if your very eternal life depended on it.  After all, the eternal life of your hearers will depend on how tight a grasp you maintain on the truth of Paul’s gospel.

God promised the people of Israel, “I will give you pastors according to Mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding” (Jer. 3:15), and He will make good on that promise in the kingdom of heaven on earth that He went on to describe (v.16-18).  What’s a pastor according to God’s heart?  Well, God said of those same pastors in the kingdom, “I will set up shepherds over them which shall feed them: and they shall fear no more” (Jer. 23:4).  Thus a pastor according to God’s heart will hold the truth fast, and not allow fear to cause him let it go. 

That’s the kind of pastors God will have in the kingdom of heaven.  And if the pastors of our grace churches will hold fast to Pauline truth without fear of what it will cost, all of God’s people can experience a little bit of heaven on earth now, in this dispensation.  We have God’s Word on it.  If you’re not a pastor, why not encourage your pastor to stand firm with all the pastors who are “holding fast the faithful word?”

To the Reader:

Some of our Two Minutes articles were written many years ago by Pastor C. R. Stam for publication in newspapers. When many of these articles were later compiled in book form, Pastor Stam wrote this word of explanation in the Preface:

"It should be borne in mind that the newspaper column, Two Minutes With the Bible, has now been published for many years, so that local, national and international events are discussed as if they occurred only recently. Rather than rewrite or date such articles, we have left them just as they were when first published. This, we felt, would add to the interest, especially since our readers understand that they first appeared as newspaper articles."

To this we would add that the same is true for the articles written by others that we continue to add, on a regular basis, to the Two Minutes library. We hope that you'll agree that while some of the references in these articles are dated, the spiritual truths taught therein are timeless.