Sunday, February 23, 2025 PM

All right, let's open up our Bibles and turn to Titus chapter 1, and we will be reading beginning in verse 10, so we continue our series about what a good church needs. Let's begin with a word of prayer.

Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for this day. We thank you for your word. Thank you for the gift of your Holy Spirit. We thank you for the grace that you have shown us. Thank you for our hope in Jesus Christ.

I pray that you would help us to receive this exhortation from your word with all eagerness, and that you would have your way in us, and that we would really be the amen on earth of your will that is expressed from heaven.

We pray these things in Jesus' name, amen. Okay, Titus chapter 1, and let's begin reading in verse 10. For there are many insubordinate, both idle talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision, whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole households, teaching things which they ought not for the sake of dishonest gain.

One of them, a prophet of their own, said, Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons. This testimony is true. Therefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith, not giving heed to Jewish fables and commandments of men who turn from the truth.

To the pure all things are pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure, but even their mind and conscience are defiled. They profess to know God, but in works they deny him, being abominable, disobedient, and disqualified for every good work.

But as for you, speak the things which are proper for sound doctrine. So as we think about what a good church needs in that dynamic of good direction and good doctrine and good deeds, this is a passage that shows the need to contend for good doctrine.

It falls to the task of good leadership, and good leadership is defined by many qualities, many issues, but this is one of them. Do the leaders, does Titus, and do the elders whom he appoints in the various cities, will they contend for the truth?

Leadership needs to contend for proper doctrine. Also, there is a very close connection between doctrine and deeds, between what we really believe and how we really live. So all these things are still connected.

It's not a matter of taking a test on systematic theology and getting it 85 right. That's not what we're talking about. We're talking about contending for the faith. A good church must defend the truth.

Contending for Sound Doctrine in Titus 1

This is the theme of Titus 1, verse 10 through the end of the chapter. The fight to breathe, the fight to live, begins at conception and continues through birth and through a person's whole life. And the fight for truth has been a part of the church from the very beginning, from the very beginning.

And there has never ever been a generation of Christians, never a generation in the life of the church, when there was some kind of ceasefire in the conflict between truth and deceit. Neither side lays down their guns.

Now, some folks in the church may, from time to time, grow weary and do so. But, in short order, their light goes out as Jesus continues to build his church and sanctify his church. Satan never stops firing his guns, and the church must remain engaged and at the ready, resisting and standing firm until the day that our King returns.

We're not talking about the very same exact deceptions and false teaching today that our forebearers were 100 years ago and 500 years before that. There are similarities, but they're not exactly the same.

Whatever the contest is, we need to be standing there. Wherever the shelling is going on, that's where we reinforce. Whatever the aim is at, that's where we go stand. It's not a cantankerous issue, it's just a needful issue.

Someone once asked me, when we were in Sunday school, why we're always picking on the LGBTQ plus community. Why are we always talking about that? I said, well, throw me a different pitch, I'll swing at that.

If it's the pitch being thrown, I'm swinging. We've got to. If you want me to talk about something else, throw a different pitch. And you know, they'll get tired of it and something else will get thrown.

So we have to refute deception. There is a kind of deception that is simply stubborn leftovers, but it's a kind of deception that is tactical, purposeful, intentional, designed to attack the church. That's where Paul is talking to Titus here in verses 10 and 11.

And the task of Titus and the elders whom he appoints in these different churches, their task is to refute tactical deception, the purposeful deception. The deception that comes is a multi-layered strategy.

Don't be fooled. There are all manner of deceptions that have gained great ground today, not because they were sincerely good folks who were slightly mistaken, but that they've been laboring for decades in stages to achieve certain ends.

So we ought not be naive about the long-term, well-organized efforts of deceivers. Now in verses 10 and 11, again, we read this, Paul says, for, meaning why do we need elders? Why must they be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and convict those who contradict?

Why must there be a, the elders, why must they hold fast to faithful word? Why do we need that kind of leadership? Here's the reason why, verse 10, for there are many insubordinate, both idle talkers and deceivers.

Paul gives a little hint where they ought to be looking for their current crisis, especially those of the circumcision, whose mouths must be stopped to subvert whole households, teaching things which they ought not for the sake of dishonest gain.

Paul's not talking about folks who get something somewhat wrong, someone who was brought up in a tradition or a movement or a denomination that they just believe error as a way of life, and this is how Mama said it, and this is what I believe.

We're not talking about folks like, we're talking about those who are intentionally, strategically, tactically trying to lead the saints astray. And they look at the church and they see opportunity to do something.

And so Paul is saying that needs to be stopped, that needs to be opposed. Now Paul says not that we must have a seat at the table with them. He doesn't say that we must thoroughly and generously engage their ideas and give them a fair hearing.

He doesn't say that when someone comes with false teaching we need to recognize that they're coming from an oppressed status and we need to give them a full hearing, and that we need to take a back seat and let them speak a while and we need to learn.

What does he say? Whose mouths must be stopped. I think a legitimate translation of the original Greek is put a sock in it. The word means to silence by stopping the mouth. It's pretty straightforward.

It was most often used, this term, to stop the mouth either with a bridle or a muzzle or a gag. Paul says to Titus, these elders just need to shut it completely down. Put an end to it. Put a stop to it.

Now that seems a little out of step, I think, with some conceptions about the Christian.

Faith.

But it actually fits well with the incredible importance of the truth of the gospel and the precious value of the local church. So let's think first of all about the traits of the false teachers that Paul has here.

These are not folks who are, again, people who love Jesus and who are mistaken and struggling. We're not talking about that. We're talking about tactical deceivers, intentional false teachers. Notice first of all the aspects of their corruption.

They are insubordinate, has the idea of being rebellious. They are idle talkers, meaning they say empty things. Why do they say such empty things? Because they're trying to deceive. They're deceivers.

So being rebellious is someone who is refusing to submit to the proper authority. This tells us that if they are trying to be a part of the church, they're only there to subvert the authority that is there, trying to undercut that authority and telling others to do the same.

Insubordinate or rebellious. They only remain a part of the system so long as they think that they can overthrow it or take it over. Rebellious, insubordinate. There are those who are empty talkers, which means that they're skilled at using very impressive sounding language.

Language that is sweeping and impressive and gripping, but ultimately there's no solid anything behind it. It's a word salad, but man, it's the best house Caesar word salad you've ever come across. You think you could actually get something out of it.

They're very skilled at talking others into their false and vain point of view. I was just listening to a heap of this as various folks were explaining how important they were and how they needed all of the USA aid money back in evangelicalism as they were supporting the LGBTQ agendas across Africa, because that's what Africa needs.

The third term is deceivers. This is where we have false teachers and their idea here is to muddle people's minds, to trip them up with their thoughts and ultimately seduce them into participating in their sedition against the church.

They have a false claim, a false cause. It pulls on the heartstrings and they form a group. They can form a posse that soon help with the slander and they strategize about how to oust the cruel authority whom they despise.

So this is the way that they bring their corruption. We have insubordination, idle talking, and deception. But what is their aim? Their aim is not simply deconstruction. It's not simply hoping for chaos.

There is an aim to convert. In this particular case, Paul says, especially those of the circumcision. Now, those who were of the circumcision were known throughout the New Testament by different names.

But one name that got used sometimes of those who were of the circumcision was a false prophet. They were often encouraging people to go back to old covenant dynamics in order to truly be holy and pure and so on.

Others were just straight up called antichrists in 1 John. How did you know who an antichrist was? The ones who denied that the Messiah came in the flesh. The ones who denied that Jesus was the Messiah.

Well, none of the Gentiles, none of the Romans cared a lick about the Jewish Messiah. And who is this Jesus of Nazareth? It was the Jews. It was the religious Jews, those of the circumcision, who constantly were saying, this Jesus of Nazareth is not the Christ.

He is not the Son of God come in the flesh. Now, and John said in 1 John says, we know this is the last hour, meaning the last hour of the old covenant because many antichrists have come, past tense, already here.

The idea is conversion saying, you need to agree with us and stop believing what you're believing. The ones at the circumcision taught things that they should not teach. Verse 11 says they hold to Jewish myths.

We see in verse 14, they espouse the commandments of men as if they're the commandments of God. We see that in verse 14. They abandoned the truth, yet they professed to know God. So here's a group of men who said that they have the true knowledge of God.

And they're saying to the church, you're lacking. You don't have the whole thing. We have the whole thing. You're missing big, important parts of holiness or the gospel or the biblical message. You don't have it.

We do come to us. We'll give it to you. Now, that particular approach has been used in many different generations, whether the Gnostics or the Arians. You could think of the Sassanians. You could think of the Wokies today.

Same thing. You know, Southern Baptist professors saying the white church does not have the full gospel.

Right?

You have to—the black church has to come tell you the full gospel because you're not oppressed and they are. But that's Marxism applied to Scripture.

Okay?

This is a constant drumbeat. It doesn't have to be that. It could be another issue. It'll be something else 20 years from now. We're going to be fighting for something else.

Okay?

But it'll be a similar situation, saying Christ isn't sufficient. The Bible isn't sufficient. The Bible's not clear enough. You need my special knowledge to really, truly get it. Don't rely on the Scriptures themselves.

Charles Taze Russell, the founder of Jehovah's Witnesses, wrote six Scripture studies that he used to convince people of his way of thinking. No trinity. Denial of the divinity of Jesus Christ. So heresy upon heresy.

But he wrote these Scripture studies, and he wanted everybody to go through them. And he said it takes them two years to come into the light. He said, but if you let somebody alone with their Bible for just only their Bible, they're back into the darkness in six months.

Red flags, anybody? Now, what are the tactics of the false teachers? Notice how they operate. Whose mouths must be stopped.

Why?

They subvert whole households, teaching things which they ought not for the sake of dishonest gain. So they are targeting the family, the upset whole families, it says. They cause something to be overturned.

They cause it to fall.

They destroy.

They jeopardize. What would happen if the false teacher came into the home of a family in the church? Through some avenue. Taught them a false gospel. Used persuasive words. And successfully seduced them to his way of thinking.

They would believe what he said, and he would successfully get them to support his false church. And even if he couldn't convert the whole family, he might be able to convert one or two critical persons in the family.

And then the whole family would be up in turmoil. In either case, the agenda of the enemy to harm the church would progress very well. What I just mentioned happened in the church that I previously pastored.

A young lady in her mid -20s, desperate to get married. And along came a snake. And he was friends and friendly and warm. And he was a pastor of a false church. Divorced, but a pastor of a false church.

And he came along, and his gospel was this. Grace ends at the cross, and the rest is up to us. If you don't keep up your performance well throughout the course of your life, you go to hell. If you don't get baptized in his church, you go to hell.

If you don't agree with the movement that he was a part of, you go to hell. And he completely wiped an entire family out of our tiny little church. What Paul writes to Titus here, I've lived that. That was awful.

That was gut-wrenching. And those kinds of things can still happen. And that's why it is incumbent upon the elders, Titus and the elders he's appointing, to be shepherding and cautious and careful and aware and ready to put a stop to false teaching.

Notice he's targeting the family, but he's also targeting their finances. Subverting whole household, teaching things which they ought not. Notice, for the sake of dishonest gain. For the sake of dishonest gain.

Dishonest gain, sometimes translated sordid gain, or the King James Version, punk rock band Filthy Luker. It's a great name, Filthy Luker. Filthy Luker, sordid gain, what is this? It is the idea of using the themes of the scripture, the themes of the gospel, in an erroneous way, intentionally to gain some sort of advantage in a shameful way.

To try to gain some sort of, well in this case, financial gain. You think of Benny Hinn, Joyce Meyers, Joel Osteen, anybody on TBN. They all do very well for themselves in this respect. It's not the only gain you can search for and seek, but it is very common.

The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and by it many have pierced themselves and gone on to ruin. Now, the awareness of shepherds is key here. The language that Paul gives to the elders of the church in Ephesus in Acts 20 talks about them being shepherds and them being on guard against wolves.

That's a situation that you should be confronting early. You don't wait for the wolf to get into the boundaries of the flock and begin biting to do something. You see the wolf coming and do something about it.

I think from the sheep's perspective, sometimes I think that the shepherds are just so odd and weird, the way that they do things. How strange, from a sheep's perspective, to see a shepherd go high-tailing it out and running to the edge of the flock and hooping and hollering and swinging around his staff.

Why are you getting so worked up? But if he sees a wolf coming, what is he supposed to do? What is he supposed to do? False teachers must be silenced and removed. Jesus named names, Paul named names. It's okay for us to name names and say, by the way, please don't pay any attention to so-and-so.

They're after your money, but they're not caring for your soul. False teachers must be silenced and removed. Paul says to Titus, this is how important elders are for the church. How, how, if we don't have a sock laying around, how do we put a stop to the false teaching?

How the Church Should Silence False Teaching

First of all, by teaching sound doctrine. The best antidote to the false doctrine is to preach sound doctrine. That's what Paul commends Titus to do. Teach those things which are in accordance with sound doctrine.

And for folks in the church, that means pay attention. Pay attention. If it's your habit to text and surf the web and watch movies while you drive, it's possible you'll end up in a wreck. Very likely, isn't it?

Also, if it's your habit during preaching and teaching to daydream and to be absorbed with distractions and so on, you may end up in a wreck.

Spiritually.

Be careful. Second way to shut down false teaching is by directly confronting the false teacher. This direct confrontation is something that the elders are to do, but also to let everybody in the church know what is going on.

That's not a very pleasant thing to do, but sometimes it's very necessary. Also, there is instruction to Titus concerning the elders to equip the saints themselves to exercise discernment. In fact, we have instructions in the New Testament given to the saints themselves that all the saints are responsible to be discerning and to refute false doctrine and to not embrace that.

So all of us are called to be responsible in that. 1 John 4, verse 1 says, Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

We're all called to exercise spiritual discernment. Also, that means that we may have to make some hard choices. Very often, I think, we are introduced to false teachers and false doctrine by people that we love and care for, and they're very excited about all these new things that they're learning.

Here's my favorite new YouTube preacher. Here's my favorite new book. It teaches me how to pray to angels. And they're so excited, and it's so meaningful to them, and they're waiting for you to affirm them in their new excitement.

What do you do? I wouldn't affirm them in their new excitement. But is there a cost relationally to that? There can be, yes. And Jesus said that that's a cost that we need to be willing to pay as we follow him.

But we do live in a day and an age when objective truth is not valued. Subjective truth is primary. Well, if I've experienced this and felt this way, then everybody else should affirm me, because nobody else can experience what I experience.

We live in a day and a culture where relational fulfillment is valued over faithfulness to the truth. But if we're going to have a healthy church that makes disciples, we're going to have to defend the truth.

We're going to have to refute tactical deception. We'll have to make that stand for Christ. And what's at stake is being laid out for us, but also how to approach it. It's not that we have only one person in charge of that.

It's not that we have only a few that should be concerned about that, but that everybody in the church should have a desire to discern and recognize and push back against those tactical deceptions that are of a constant concern.

We don't have to be cantankerous and morbid about it, always seeking something to fight about at all. But it is something that we should be aware of, and we should be ready to rise to the occasion, if that makes sense.

Discernment, Hard Choices, and Standing for the Truth

All right, well, let's close by singing the doxology together.

Praise God, from whom all blessings flow. Praise Him, all creatures here below. Praise Him, above ye heavenly host. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.