Titus Chapter 3

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So, what probably will happen, we're live, we're deciding what book to study next.
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What probably will happen is we won't have a Bible study in two weeks because we probably have to decide on the book and I got to prepare for that.
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And then January 1st is also Wednesday, so we probably won't have a
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Bible study then either because it's a holiday and people might be gone or they're spending time with their family or just resting.
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So we'll, after finishing Titus today, we will probably pick up with the new book on the third
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Wednesday of January. So it's like a month, more than a month long break. Now, if anyone has a book in mind, whether short or long, old or new, please let me know.
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You can just text me, call me, leave a message, email me, just let me know.
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Or Proverbs, we've never done Proverbs yet. We've never done Proverbs yet, so I'm open to Proverbs too.
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Someone just logged on, so we're deciding what to study after Titus because we're almost done with Titus and I think we'll finish today.
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We will probably take a break from Bible study the third
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Wednesday of the month because I don't know if we will have the book chosen yet.
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So please let me know if you have a book in mind, short, long,
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Old Testament, New Testament. Yeah, Joel, OK, I'll put that, keep that in mind.
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Yeah, Joel is an option. Cassandra recommended
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Habakkuk or however you say it. I've heard Habakkuk, right?
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Habakkuk, right? I'm open. I mean, I'm going to be preaching from that after Luke, which is early next year.
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So Habakkuk would be OK. We'll cover that. So please let me know sometime this month.
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Proverbs, Joel, just let me know and then I'll pray about it.
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Yeah, or usually, usually I just like, like,
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OK, I do feel like we need to study this passage, you know, it's like if it's depending on what the church would benefit a lot from or I mean, we'll be fed either way, but do the themes in this book, would that be really helpful for the church?
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So, yeah, please let me know. And then with that, we'll start with a prayer and we'll, we're starting from Titus chapter three,
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Titus chapter three, OK, I'll pray. Father, we're grateful for our brothers and sisters in Christ.
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Thank you for always protecting us from every evil thing. Please be with those who are not feeling well.
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Please heal them and help them to focus on you and help them to honor you with everything they do, wherever they are.
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Thank you for the provision and protection of everyone here. And we ask that you would open our hearts to hear your word in Jesus name.
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Amen. All right, Titus chapter three. Just to recap, chapter two was mainly about the household code.
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Household code means how each person, how each role in the house were to live.
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Right. Started with older men, older women, younger women, younger men, and then servants or slaves or bond servants.
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And really the reason for this godly living, right?
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None of the gossiping, none of these disobedience, sound teaching, sound speech, right?
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Patience, right? The reason does anyone remember what the reason to live that way is, according to Paul?
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Well, to encourage and be a representative. That's right. To encourage and be a representative to others, and ultimately, right, because of what
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Jesus had done for them, right? To represent Christ well, right? For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men.
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And because of that, you're changed. It's the grace of God that motivates us.
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The fact that Jesus died for our sin motivates us to live in ways that are honoring to Christ, right?
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So it is very gospel centered. The second reason was that he's going to come back soon, right?
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The glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. Here, God and Savior, same person,
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Jesus. The fact that he's coming back and we got to live that way in a godly manner, even though it's hard, right?
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Now, with that, Paul addresses the whole church, right?
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As he's ending his letter, he's addressing the whole church. Who can read verses one through two?
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Go ahead. Okay, so when it says remind, what does it signify when
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Paul says to remind them? Yes, exactly.
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This is not new information, right? That's right. Remind them means they've heard this before.
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For sure, I liked how Cassandra said it, right? Somebody's forgetting. Reminder is needed.
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This is not new information. And I think that's important because sometimes,
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I actually oftentimes, reminder is what we desperately need.
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We often think we need new teaching, new information, new technique, new advanced program, right?
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But sometimes we just need a good old reminder of what God had already said.
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Right. Actually, my one friend, she says, well, that was when I was B .C. Yeah. When is
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B .C.? Before Christ? Yeah. And we'll get to B .C. here, too, actually.
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I'm glad you said it. No, for sure. So, good.
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What are certain things that Paul, hey, Dexter, we just got to Titus chapter three and we just read the first two verses.
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We're planning on finishing the chapter because it's rather short and the end is much like reading to specific people that most of them we don't know much about.
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But if you have a book in mind of the Bible, whether Old or New Testament, let me know that you would like to study that.
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I'll pray about it and then we'll study it next. With that in mind, we probably won't have another
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Bible study this month because I have to prepare whatever book because I don't even know what book.
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And then January 1st is Wednesday, so we probably won't meet that day either because people have it off and they might be gone or they might want to rest.
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Yeah, New Year's Day, right? OK, so, yeah,
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I'll remind them. And what's the reminder? What does Paul want Titus to remind the church of?
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The way it is and yeah, right, to obey and this this word for obeying is obeying someone that's higher authority, it can be
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God in Acts 529. The word is used for God.
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We must obey God rather than people. Acts 529, Acts 532, obey the
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Holy Spirit. So that's got higher authority in our case. It is all human rulers and authorities, right?
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Why do you think that that why do you think Paul commands Titus to remind the church to be obedient?
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Well, some people feel that if they were a follower of Christ, then they can dismiss what man says.
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That's right. Yeah, oftentimes we want to, we're by nature, we don't want to obey authorities, first of all.
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Right. But again, we have that kind of false teaching where people are like, well, because I'm a
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Christian, that doesn't apply to me. Right. Right.
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Render to Caesar what's due. Right. Yeah. Um, yeah. Obeying authority is quite important.
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Um, again, there are exceptions as to when you don't obey the authority, but we do not make rules out of exception.
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Right. We obey authorities generally. It's just that when the authorities are not obeying
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God, that's when you have to disobey the authorities because they're no longer obeying
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God. But unless that's the case, you must obey the authorities. And how, what does it look like to obey?
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Be gentle and respectful. Yeah. The attitude. Right. Right. What else?
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Considerate. Considerate. Right. Peaceful. Peaceful. Right. No slandering.
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No slandering. Um, ready for every good work.
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So it's not like, oh, I'm just obeying in spirit, whatever that means. Right. You're actually ready to show it.
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Right. But yeah, I, you know, I, I littered by, you know, I'm obeying the what, you know, people,
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I'm obeying the heart of the law, whatever. Right. No, no. Obey. Right. Uh, now what, what is slandering trash talk, trash talk?
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Yeah. Uh, damaging someone else's reputation. Gossip.
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Yeah. Um, now, why do you think as Christians we do not do that?
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We're more worldly than of Christ, than Christ like. Right. What else?
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What's wrong with slandering? It's an evil, it's evil.
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Yeah. False accuses someone. Yeah. Falsely accusing someone.
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Right. That's right.
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Right. It does tell us, right. Command. It's commanded not to, and then it doesn't represent Christ. And I think they're both great.
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As Christians, we operate on what is true and slandering.
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Someone is not true. Right. Um, also we, we consider
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God, do we represent, reflect God? Well, because God doesn't slander anyone because he never lies.
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Right. Also, we must consider others more significant.
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This is heavily missing in the world and often the church. It's like people say things and do things and it's like, how did that consider another person more significant when you said that or did that?
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Right. It's a Philippians two, right? Because Jesus did that. Jesus considered other was more significant than himself.
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Right. That's the heart of Christ. Uh, again, uh, if someone is gossiping to you, what's, what's the correct response?
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Exactly. Yeah. That's what we need to say. Um, and that's, that needs to be our church culture.
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And I thank God it's not really a prevalent thing as far as I know.
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Right. That that gossiping is happening here. But if anyone speaks of another person with malice intention, intention with malice.
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Right. Uh, or frankly, it's just none of their business. Right. Uh, I think
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Cassandra, what Cassandra said is right. I don't want to hear it or even just call it as it is.
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I don't want to gossip. It will not be a popular thing to say they might be turned off by it, but it is better than either being involved in sin or having that person sin.
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Right. Uh, gossip is gossip destroys churches. We are not going to risk that and we're not going to do that as a church, right?
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We, we do not talk about someone else with malice, right? It's another thing.
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If someone shares something and says, please share that for, to be prayed with, get permission first.
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Right. So, uh, again, we do, we don't do gossip here. We don't do slandering here and it will not be tolerated, tolerated here.
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Good. Uh, peaceable. What does it mean to be peaceable? Yeah. Right.
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Right. Not, not irate, not contentious, not a fighter.
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Right. Uh, in fact, this is the same word that's used for a characteristic of elders in first Timothy three, three.
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What that means is elders are just like any other Christians. There are other
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Christians are held to the same standard. You're not supposed to be argumentative, irate, contentious, peaceable, right?
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Again, this does not mean to be a doormat. We don't condone abuse either.
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If someone is verbally or physically or any of manipulatively, relationally, sexually abusive, please contact the right authorities, right?
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We do. That's what, that's what obeying the authority means. Don't hide it for the sake of the church, call the police.
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If it's, if it's an abuse, that's illegal, but if it's an abuse that might not be illegal, please let the elders deacons know, right?
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We, we can't have abuses here either. Right. Uh, peaceable does not mean being a doormat.
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Peaceable does not mean letting someone sin against you and God. That's how a peaceable is.
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Uh, next, what does it mean to be gentle? Nice.
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What else? Caring. Yeah. Think about someone who's gentle in your life and think about what that's like or who that it's like.
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What, what is he like? Well, what is she like? So if someone does or says something inappropriate, you don't just go up to them and say, what?
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Yeah. Just pull them to the side and say, you know, there's a better way you could tell them what was good about what they said, but the delivery.
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Yeah. Yeah. Delivery matters too. Right. Yeah. I like that. Uh, forbearing, forgiving.
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Right. Not overreacting. Uh, this also is a characteristic of an elder.
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According to first Timothy three, three again, it really shows Christians are held to the same standard, right?
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You gotta be like Christ. Um, in fact, it's the
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Lord's characteristic. He is forgiven, right? Uh, same word is used in Psalm 86, five is forgiving the
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Lord's forgiving. He's forbearing and that's how we got to see him. Oftentimes we think he's too strict, but rather he's actually very forbearing.
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Next is showing a humility. Uh, what does it mean to be showing humility?
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Humble, right? What does that look like? It's kind of close to gentle, actually.
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What, what does humility mean? Or what does that look like? The best thing that walked in this room, right?
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Complete opposite of that. Yeah. Right. Uh, humility does not focus the attention on him or herself, right?
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What else? Courtesy, right?
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It, it thinks of others. Yeah. Knowing your place before God, right?
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Right, right, right. I like that. Knowing the true place before God, according to God's view.
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This also means, uh, humility is not, I'm the worst, right?
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I'm so bad at that. Right. That's false humility. People think like, you know, you, you probably know people who are actually good at something, but for some, one reason or another, they're like,
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I'm just so bad at that, you know? Oh, I like, uh, maybe it's like a, he's a chef or she's a chef.
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Right. Oh, I'm so bad at cooking, right? That's not humility because what's going to happen.
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Someone in the crowd or someone in the room will jump in and say, no, no, you're so good.
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Right. Cause it brings the attention back to them. That is false humility.
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Um, and I think both of you are, all of you are right. Really having the right view of yourself, according to God's eyes, it doesn't have, it's, it doesn't have to be the worst.
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It's not the lowest, but it's also not the best. It's the accurate, true view of yourself and not drawing attention to yourself.
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Good. Um, in fact, Jesus describes himself that way.
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He's gentle and lowly come all who are weary and tired for my heart is gentle and lowly.
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It means he's approachable. He's not all that he's doesn't, he won't act like that.
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And he, he will receive you. No question asked. Just come to him.
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That's, that's, that's his heart. Right? So we're reflecting his character, right?
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Oh, that's Matthew 11, 29. He's approachable. He's not presumptuous, right?
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He's like, Oh, you again, right? Even if it's again, right? He's not like that.
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He's warm. He's, he's down to earth. Right? Now, when you read these, this list, what do you think the church was struggling with?
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Yeah. Yeah. Right. Remembering part, right?
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Remind them to be right. That's the whole list, right? That's very good.
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Right. And showing all humility to all men, right? That's, it's not some, it doesn't say those.
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Those you get along with show humility. That's not what it says. Right. I don't think there's a misunderstanding.
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Yeah. Some people say we should show all these qualities to the church, but we don't have to do it.
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Yes, that's, that's exactly a good point. All men means not just the church.
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All men means not just the conservatives, right? All men means not just Christians, right?
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All men, because after all, it's so easy to be gentle and approachable to people you agree with, people you like, people you get along with.
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You don't disagree with, right? All men is actually a higher call.
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All men means people you vehemently disagree with. When you're even debating, you got to show humility.
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Now, next question is hard. Who are some people or some types of people, you don't have to name names, please don't name names, that you have a hard time responding with humility slash gentleness?
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Yeah, yeah, if sure. Yeah, if there's history behind that too, with that relationship.
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Pretty much the same way. Yeah, he's one of the people that presses a button and when he sees that gets a reaction out of you, that's his feed off of it.
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Yeah, yeah, for sure. Yeah. Yeah, I have a hard time with people who are manipulative.
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I just I cannot stand them. And sometimes I need to lower my voice because I can't get angry with those people.
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But I have to just still treat them, you know, the same way.
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Selfish in some ways. Yeah, it shows. Right. Yeah.
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We're going to do it. Yeah, for sure.
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It's a hard thing. That's why we just as much as the creeds, cretins, we need to be reminded to.
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Yeah, that call, as Cassandra noted, showing all to all men, all men, that's hard.
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Some men can't do it. Is it also safe to say you just don't engage?
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Not engaging can be sometimes a good answer because there are certain people who will push the button on purpose.
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And it's just like, I'm I'm not going to I'm going to love you from a distance.
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Is a correct way. There are certain cases in which that's that's the right way.
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But sometimes it's not possible. You know, if it's your colleague. Right. It's like, what are you going to do?
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Leave your job for just for that person. Right. Guarantee you'll find someone else for another, you know, at another job.
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So, yeah, but but it is possible. And and sometimes that's the loving thing to do.
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You don't let them sin against you. Right. But, yeah, you're right.
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And that that's treating them with humility. Good. Now.
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What? Let's let's go over first three who can read verse three.
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Go ahead. Well, we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pledges, passing our days in promise and envy, hated by others and hating one another.
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No, just just three. Yeah. Now, what is the reason for responding in that manner that we just read in verses one and two?
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Because we're pointing fingers at others and we are guilty of the same. Right. It's we were once like that.
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That's the thing, because we were once like that. Right. Just briefly, what does foolish mean?
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Doing what you know you shouldn't, but choosing to do it anyway. Yeah, that's a that's a great description.
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Yeah. Fools aren't ignorant. Fools are not dumb. They're not intellectually deficient.
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They're not mentally ill. But fools know what's right and do the opposite because sheer sheerly because that's what they want to do.
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That reminds me when my daughter was telling me, you're not the boss of me. Because I asked her to do something she didn't want to do.
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Right. Right. Yeah. People can show foolish responses. Right. Yeah.
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Fools. Fools are that it's a it's a moral dilemma. It's not an intellectual dilemma.
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People who might not be smart, maybe extremely wise and not foolish at all.
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Disobedient means rebellion. I think we we are so used to seeing disobedience that we're like so jaded by it.
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It doesn't seem that bad. But it's it's nothing less than rebelling against God.
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It's like disobedience is not OK at any level. Right. It's it's a it's rebellion.
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It's saying I'm in charge. In fact, that's how Paul described the false teachers in Chapter one.
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Right. They're disobedient to God. And in the last days,
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Paul says in Second Timothy three, they'll be disobedient to their parents. Any form of authority, they will just hate.
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And we live in that kind of culture. Right. And it's like it's prevalent.
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It's everywhere, whether conservatives or liberals are just disobedience is
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OK and they'll justify it. And that's not OK. Now and then it increases serving various loss and pleasures.
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I like actually the translation enslaved by loss and pleasures. Some translations have that enslaved by that sounds more accurate in terms of that's the state they're in.
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Right. So think people who make decisions purely based upon how they feel rather than the truth of the matter.
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There are one day this way and then another day this. And I mean, it's it's a chaos, it's a tornado.
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Right. And that they were just like that. Right. Next one, living in malice and envy.
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So that was their lifestyle. Envy is a passionate desire for something that doesn't belong to them.
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Envy is a form of idolatry because you're saying God messed up because I don't have that. Right.
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I don't have a Ferrari. I want it. But what's the reason
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I don't have that? Ultimately, God didn't give it. Right. That's that's envy.
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Envy. Envy is a dangerous thing to play with. It's OK to want certain things.
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It's OK to want good things. Right. When it becomes a passionate desire that it's all consuming, that's dangerous.
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It's OK to want a nice house. Right. Oh, we're not Buddhists, right.
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Buddhists like to get rid of all the desires. That's unrealistic. And no one has ever done that ever.
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And no one can. Humans are made to desire things. In fact, humans are made to desire
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God. We just don't. Now, what does when we take a look at all this, right, and hateful and hating one another, that's pretty straightforward.
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Just there's discord in every form of relationship, both sides. What does that look like in our culture?
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And what I see when I look at the news. Yeah. Yeah. Right. The news is prevalent, right?
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Think more of themselves than others. Yeah. It's hard for them to show compassion.
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Sure. Compassion. Yeah. For sure. And and and that's what we need to remember when we are interacting with people who might be frustrating new believers or even, frankly, unbelievers.
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Right, because it's easy to feel high and mighty after being saved and then you've matured a bit and you're not, frankly, committing the same sin as they are.
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Right. It's like, oh, yeah, you're you're addicted to drugs. You know, I don't do that.
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You know, it's easy to feel that way. But what Paul does is no, no, you were once like that.
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That's why you can be gentle, have have empathy here. Right.
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It's easy to look down upon those who commit a different sin than you.
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It's easy, easy to do that. But Paul says that you actually you were like them.
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I mean, this list is pretty, pretty powerful. Now, what type of people do you look down upon?
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Yeah. Like, do you personally? I personally look down upon people who are really pro abortion.
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I have hard time empathizing. I just it's just so hard.
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Sometimes I like my ball. I mean, I haven't really interacted with many of them. Recently, just the type of job
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I have because I'm around Christian school kids and staff who are very, very pro life and the church.
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People are very much so. But like in college or, you know, very hard.
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Yeah, I used to work for those who were like, yeah.
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Yeah, I came to the realization that no matter what the sin is, at some point, it is.
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Oh, yeah,
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I think it's what they want.
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Right now, it's just not used to be that way.
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But I'm coming to a clear knowledge. It's not all as it seems.
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From my perspective, it's for sure. Yeah. Now we're going to the theological background.
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Whenever Paul tells us to do something, it's never just for the sake of doing it, but rather there's a deep theology behind why we actually live
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Godly lives and do good works. There's a there's something related to God.
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There's some rich theology behind why we must be gentle and humble in this way when we treat others.
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So who can read versus five through eight? I mean, sorry, four through eight.
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We skipped four, which is quite important. Yeah. OK, go ahead.
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But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.
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He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ, our
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Savior. So that having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.
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This is a trustworthy saying, and I want you to stress these things so that those who have trust in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good.
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These things are excellent and profitable for everyone. All right. This is theologically rich.
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Like if you want a good systematic theology lesson, like look at these verses and look at, wow, like what is
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God doing here? What has he done? Right. So first, when we look at verse four, how are we how were we changed from our former state of so much hatred to the goodness and gentleness that Paul asks us to live?
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How are we changed? What changed us? God, it's
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God. It's it's the goodness and kindness. It's the love of God, our
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Savior. It's not us who changed us. Right.
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That's that's theology one. That really puts to shame all the cults that say you've got to be good enough.
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No, it's you can't be like that. Gentle and humble and kind, peaceable by yourself.
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You can't do it by yourself. It's it's about going back to your salvation.
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Now, who's the savior here? Jesus. Yeah. Jesus in verse six.
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Right. Through Jesus Christ, our savior. And then verse four is
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God. So there's. Yeah. So there's your salvation is.
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An outworking of the triune God. It's not just Jesus alone.
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It's God, the father and Jesus, and we'll get to the Holy Spirit, too. This Paul unpacks that your salvation regeneration is not just one person of the
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Trinity. It's all three. Persons of the Trinity. It's it's beautifully triune.
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And if there are any cults that say, well, you know, like only God, the father is God and, you know,
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Jesus or the Holy Spirit is just a force. Not here. They're all working together.
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Right. Verse five is also rich, too.
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What is your salvation not based on? Yeah, not by works like you can't get clearer than that of the gospel.
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The Catholics, Mormons, the Jehovah's Witnesses, the top three cults you will encounter, even
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Jews. Right. Works. It's about works. You've got to be good enough. But Paul spells it out.
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Not by works of righteousness, which we have done. It's not about what we've done.
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You don't do a single thing. To become a peaceable, gentle man or woman of God.
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You had to be delivered from all the hateful things by God.
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And it says it's and what's the opposite of our works? What do we depend on instead?
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His mercy. It's totally depend. We're saved not because we were good enough.
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God's goodness did not enter into history because we were OK, good. Right. Jesus didn't enter because the world was getting better.
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Vega was pretty dark. But rather, it's his mercy. And he saved us right through his mercy.
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He saved us. His mercy means we don't contribute a thing. If you're receiving mercy, that means you didn't do a thing.
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And through the washing of regeneration and renewing of whom? OK, what does it mean by washing a regeneration?
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You think, yeah, it's a new nature. It's a new birth.
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Right. And we can think of many verses about new birth. John three, you must be born again. Same idea.
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You got to be a new creature when you're saved. When you're saved, you become a new creature.
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Right. And it's done by whom? The Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity. Not another angel, not another person, not another priest.
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God. Right. Your regeneration is dependent on the act of God.
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God, the spirit. God, the spirit is not some inanimate force. God, the spirit is a person who washes you clean and makes you new.
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It has to be the Holy Spirit. OK. Whom he poured out on us abundantly.
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So God, the father poured out on us abundantly. What does it mean by abundantly?
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Yeah. No, there's no limit. It's limitless. Yeah. Do not get into a call that says, yeah,
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I have the more more of the Holy Spirit than you or I'm more spiritually filled. Unless you can do this, this, this.
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Right. Mainly, like unless you can speak in tongues, you're not really baptized in the spirit. No. Right.
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Poured out abundantly through the agency of Jesus Christ. Again, he now is the savior.
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Well, I thank God, the father, savior. Well, Jesus Christ is the savior, too, because he's also
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God. He's God is equally divine. Verse seven, that having been justified by his grace.
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So what does it mean to be justified? See, it's a part of salvation.
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Justifies a court legal language. Yeah. The sins have been paid for.
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Yeah, it's it's when God looks at the record and your record of sin.
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Yeah, it's now it says legally it's paid for. Right. And who paid for it? Jesus paid for it.
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Yeah. You're justified. You're declared righteous. God says, yeah, you're you're righteous.
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Not because you're righteous. But by what? Jesus is righteousness.
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And how is that given? Do you have to pay for that? It's not 20.
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Right. Free. Right. I like that.
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And the reason why you're treated just as if you've never sinned is because it's grace by it says here justified by grace.
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Grace means gift on God's and that justification is given freely.
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That's grace on your end. You receive it by what do you need to do?
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How do you receive your faith? Justification by faith alone, through grace alone.
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They go together because because it is freely given by God. You don't need to do a thing which you just believe.
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Right. They go together. You cannot have justification by faith alone without being in grace alone.
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That we should become heirs according to hope of eternal life, where that's our new identity, when you look at each other, those of you who, you know,
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Christians, right, any Christian, that's their identity. Your fellow heirs, co -heirs of eternal life, your brothers and sisters in Christ, sons and daughters of God.
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That's that's the identity. And I mean, this chunk is huge.
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Now, we'll finish. Is it my turn to read or have you read yet?
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OK, do you want to read eight through the end? Yeah, this is a faithful saying in these things.
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I want to constantly that those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain their words.
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These things are good and profitable to men, but avoid foolish disputes, genealogies, contentions and strivings about the law.
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They are unprofitable and useless. Reject the divisible, divisive man after the first and second admission, knowing that such a person is warped and sinning, being self condemned.
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When I send Artemis to you or Titicus, be diligent to come to me at Nicopolis, for I have decided to spend the winter there.
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Send the next, the lawyer, Apollos, on the journey with haste that they may lack nothing.
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Let your people also learn to maintain good works, to meet urgent needs that they may not be unfruitful.
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All who are with me, greet you, greet those who love us in faith.
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Grace be with you all. Amen. All right. So Paul says, right, this is a faithful saying.
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And these things I want you to affirm constantly that those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works.
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Again, it's not just personal, individual faith that doesn't produce fruit. Right. Good, genuine faith produces good works.
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Yet good works do not save. Right. That's that's the important distinction.
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These things are good and profitable to men. And now
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Paul turns in verses nine through 11. What must we do to people who are contentious and they want to focus on all these speculations?
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Avoid them. First, we correct them, right? And we correct them twice.
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But if they keep doing it, as Jim said, avoid them. Right. So it is important to correct.
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But after two corrections, they're not really changing. And then, you know, it just is not your job to save.
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You're not the Holy Spirit. Then you avoid them. And that is
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OK. Right. Again, that's about not being a doormat.
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Briefly, some things we know. I sent Artemis to you. Artemis probably is the person who's delivering this letter to Crete.
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So he's Paul's telling them, like, OK, this is my guy.
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Or Tychicus, Tychicus is is another fellow who delivered the letters to the
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Ephesians and Colossians, too, I believe. So he's kind of no. But we don't know too much, really.
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I'll be diligent to come to me at Nicopolis, Nicopolis. Nicopolis, direct translation, city of victory.
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Nike is the shoe brand or whatever athletic brand.
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It's named after goddess of victory. But here it's the city of victory.
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It's a western coastal city in Greece. And Greece is kind of south, which means it's actually a mild temperate place.
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So that's where Paul spending his winter. Must have been nice. But knowing
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Paul, it probably wasn't. Too nice, knowing how badly he's treated everywhere he goes.
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Send Zenith the lawyer and Apollos, Apollos, not much known about Zenith, the lawyer.
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But Apollos is the same guy who really debated well, knew scripture really well from the book of Acts.
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And we'll see more of him when we go through acts after Habakkuk, Habakkuk or Habakkuk, right?
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Habakkuk. And that they may like nothing and let our people also learn to maintain good works.
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Again, Paul is really stressing good works because they've been saved, right?
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To meet urgent needs that they may not be unfruitful. And then he sends greetings.
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All who are with me greet you. Greet those who love us in the faith. Grace be with you all.
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Amen. And oftentimes, sometimes he's writing a letter with another person or sometimes someone else is writing it for him.
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There's like professional letter writer. So there are multiple people involved, but ultimately it's under the authority of Paul, whom
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God has inspired. Right. God has given us scripture. So although this letter was to directly to the
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Cretans, Cretan church, but it also applies to us. Right. That's that's how it works.
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Any questions or comments? All right.
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I'm grateful to be studying Titus with you. I feel like I know Titus much more and deeply than ever before because I had to study, right, as well.
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So thank you for your faithfulness. And I'll see you on Sunday. Please let me know what book you might want to study.
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Long, short, old, new. I just let me know and I'll like write a list and then pray about it and see what happens.
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Proverbs. OK. And Joel. First, Peter. All right.
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Yeah. Please let me know in the next couple of weeks. Let's pray. Father, we're grateful for this church.
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We're grateful for each individual who just loves you and who loves to hear your word.
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And we ask that you would continue to feed that for the rest of their lives, that they may grow in the spirit so that they may become more like Christ.
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And we're grateful that our salvation is a triune activity because we have a triune
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God. There's no person of the Trinity who's not involved. And we're grateful because we desperately need to be saved and we can't save ourselves.
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We ask that you would remind us of this deep truth in Jesus name. Amen. All right.