Separate From Sinners (Blessed Is The Man - Part 2)

Thank you for listening to this message from the ministry of Morse Corner Church in Leverett, Massachusetts. Morse Corner is a non-denominational church that is committed to the preaching and teaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Our church was founded in 1896 by two students of the famous evangelist D .L. Moody. We seek to encourage and edify the body of Christ through the proclamation of God's word through the ministries of the local church.

If you'd like more information, visit our website morsecornerchurch .com. We hope you enjoy the message. You know, the doctrine is important and at this church we really make a big thing about doctrine and sound doctrine, right?

Sound Doctrine and Daily Christian Living

But you know that the everyday advice for Christian living, that's really, really important too. So it would be a great mistake for us to only focus on salvation or even Christian doctrine and then neglect the teachings of daily Christian living.

So let's go through this. Paul begins chapter two by saying, but as for you, so this applies to Titus and every Christian pastor really. He says, speak the things which are proper for sound doctrine. The word sound means healthy.

Okay, so healthy doctrine. It speaks of someone who believes the right things because believing the right things will cause people, if they're consistent, it'll cause them to what? Do the right thing.

So first you have to believe the right things and that should lead you to do the right thing. So good doctrine produces good practice. Bad doctrine produces bad practice, but good doctrine produces good practice.

Paul already addressed the bad at the end of chapter one because the false teachers, they did not have sound doctrine and they obviously taught many things that were true. Otherwise they wouldn't have gained an audience.

So they got their foot in the door. The false teachers did, but their doctrine, a little leaven leavens the whole lump and it was causing a lot of problems in the church. It was leading to people having all sorts of messed up beliefs and then that led to bad practice.

So we want to avoid all of that. I think you know this is the way it works. If you have a glass of water and let's say it's half full with pure water and then you take a glass of half full of dirty water and pour it into the clean.

Does the clean become dirty or does the dirty become clean? Yeah, see, yeah, the whole thing becomes corrupt at that point. That's just the nature of it. You can't take something clean and put it in with the dirty.

You take something pure and put it in with the corrupt and expect the clean to just have this positive influence and clean it. That's not the way it works. You need to avoid that which is dirty. You need to stay away from that which is corrupted.

Avoiding Corrupting Influences

First Corinthians 15 verse 33 says, do not be deceived. Evil company corrupts good habits. OK, so what does that mean? One thing Christians need to do. Be careful who you're hanging around with. Be careful who you're spending time with.

We all have unbelievers, friends, neighbors, coworkers, and we do want to reach them for Christ. But if you're just hanging around with them every single day and you're talking about your Christian ideas and they're talking about their worldly ideas, they're going to influence you, not the other way around.

It's not the way that it works. Remember back in Psalm 1, the blessed man, he doesn't stand in the path of sinners. Sometimes you'll hear people say things that, well, yeah, but Jesus hung out with sinners.

Jesus liked to hang out with sinners. That's not true. That's a lie. Oh, remember, there's that one occasion where occasion where Jesus ate with tax collectors and sinners. You remember that? And he was criticized for it.

How can the master be spending time with these people? You remember what Jesus said? He said he what was the purpose? He was calling them to repentance. He was calling them to repentance. So Jesus wasn't just hanging around the consistent manner of life with with those who are lawless.

That's simply not true. So neither should we. Neither should we. One thing we try to promote in the church is Christian fellowship. Again, we have people that we know and love, and we're not saying withdraw completely.

But, you know, on Friday night, Saturday night, week after week after week after week, if you're spending time with the ungodly, you're going to become ungodly. I know there's people say, well, that's not true.

Yes, it is. The way you think will become the way just like they think. OK, that's that's not a popular thing to preach, but it's true. The blessed man of Psalm chapter one, he doesn't stand in the path of sinners.

Oh, well, we're all sinners. Well, some are more sinful than others. What are Christians called? Saints. Your identity. You may say, well, I'm a sinner and you may think that's being humble. And it's true.

All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. But your identity is a saint. So we need to start portraying that identity. And really, when it comes down to it, you shouldn't you shouldn't have to separate yourself from unbelievers.

If you're a saint, they will want to separate themselves from you. OK, the blessed man of Psalm chapter one, you know who it describes better than even David. It describes the son of God. The son of God did not walk in the counsel of the ungodly, nor did he stand in the path of sinners, nor did he sit in the seat of the scornful.

But his delight was in the law of the Lord. That was true for Jesus more than any other man. And he sets the example. He spent his time with the disciples. And when he spent time with the ungodly, he reached out to them and he shared God's love for them.

But he didn't hang around with them. OK, I'll move off that point. You get you get the get the idea. So the older men are to lead by example. Amen. Older men are to lead by example. They are to teach the younger men and the older women.

Likewise, the older women teach the younger women. So you teach the younger generation. So that means the older generation has to be setting the example. The older generation sets the standard. OK, so what are the older men to teach?

What's the pattern of their life there to be? Number one says sober, reverent, temperate, sound in faith, also sound and love and sound and patient. The word sober. When you hear the word sober, you pretty much think of one thing, don't you?

Yes. Someone who is not drunk. Of course, that's true. The older men shouldn't be drunk and neither should the younger men. Drugs would be included in this as as well. Older men in the church should be of sound mind.

And Paul's going to tell the women in a moment not to be given too much wine. Don't be a wino. Don't be a drunk. That's what he's saying. Put it into the vernacular. I said, well, I have been up until today.

I'm half drunk right now. Start today. Don't do it anymore. God will forgive you. I heard a story of a man. He was he grew up to be a Christian theologian. You know, when he got saved, he got saved in church on Sunday morning when he was half drunk.

He said, Lord, I don't want to do this anymore. I'm not going to do it anymore. And he repented right then and there. And he served God the rest of his life. God can do that. He wants to do that. So why is this important?

Because, you know, when a person is doing drugs or partaking in much wine, yeah, they can get really high, but also they can get really low. Also, another way to translate this is being temperate. The older men need to be level headed.

Abusing alcohol or abusing substances causes people to lose their temper. Yeah. Anyone who's ever been in a home with someone who's an alcoholic or a drug addict, you know that it's a chaotic situation.

They're constantly flying off the handle and it can lead to violence. Never mind the destruction to their own health. So if you want young men to avoid it, what do you do? You set a pattern of good behavior.

I think this is what leads a lot of young people astray. When they see the adults doing things that are wrong, they're setting the example. So they grow up and they do things that are wrong. So if you want to be blessed by God, do what God says and be sober.

Reverence, Self-Control, and Sound Faith

And then Paul says, be reverent, be someone that people can look up to. Be of good character. Set a good example. You know, be honest. Be someone that someone can look at you and say, I want to be like that guy.

I want to be more like him. I want to be more like her. Back in the book of First Timothy, chapter three, verse eight, Paul uses this word to, it's included at least in the qualifications for deacons and church leadership.

And say, well, that's just what they need to focus on. No, that's something all Christian men should aspire to. Not necessarily to be a pastor or a deacon, but to live up to that standard. That applies to everybody.

All Christians should live that way. And again, if you've fallen short in the past. OK, confess that and turn away from that and start over. Start setting that positive example today. You know, God is a God of second chances.

You know, Titus is ministering to the Cretans. He's dealing with this stuff and he doesn't throw them away. He doesn't say you rotten. No, he loves these people and he wants what's best for them. That's Paul's heart.

That's Titus's heart. That's our heart. Then self-control, being temperate also speaks of self-control. You know, having self-control is one of the fruits of the spirit, isn't it? The next one is men need to be sound in faith.

To get a little better idea of what is meant by that. Go back to Titus chapter 1 for a moment. You see that same statement. Titus 1 verse 12. Paul writes, one of them, a prophet of their own said that Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.

And he says, this testimony is true. Therefore, rebuke them sharply that they may be what? Sound in the faith. Not giving heed to Jewish fables and commandments of men who turn from the truth. So based on this, if someone is sound in faith, it means they're, well, first of all, they're not known as a liar.

They're not known as a lazy person. Hopefully they're not known as an evil beast. Someone who's kind of a vicious person, vindictive. So older men are to be sound in the faith. He also says sound in charity.

That's another term for love. A Christian man is to have a healthy amount of love. This is something that's really lacking in our culture today. People just don't have that love for one another. Everyone's angry at each other.

Everyone's trying to tear down one another. We should have a healthy amount of love. The Greek word, and I'm sure you know it, is agape. Agape speaks of really a divine love. God has this love for his people.

We should have that same love for others. So treat other people well. Treat them the way you would want to be treated. Jesus spoke of this, and we call it the golden rule. God, he had goodwill towards men, so should we.

We should demonstrate that same thing. Also, he says sound in patience. We all know what it means to be patient and what it looks like being impatient. Who's known, what category of people are known as being impatient?

Little kids, right? Little kids are known to be impatient. It's been said that patience is a virtue. That's true. But little kids, they want what they want, and they want it now, and they're just not going to wait, and you know how that is.

Some of you know really well right now the way that is. That shouldn't be the way we act, though. When you grow up and you're mature, and especially if you're an older man, you shouldn't be like that.

That's the way little kids are. So we need to mature, and we should be patient. It's not easy, but we should display that. So loyalty to the faith, loyalty to the Lord, serving the Lord, serving one another, being kind to one another, being patient with one another.

This is the example that is to be set. Thanks for listening. I'm Pastor Michael Grant from Morris Coronet Church. If you'd like to listen to the complete message, or if you'd like more information about the ministry, visit our website, morriscoronetchurch .com.

And we'd love to have you join us some Sunday morning here in Leverett. Until next time, may the grace of God be with you.