Book of Titus - Ch. 2, v. 12

Park Meadows Church

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All righty, good morning everybody Y 'all know where to turn. Let's go to Titus check chapter 2 and We're so close to the end of this chapter

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And yet and yeah It just happens. It just so happens to be some of the best stuff.

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And so we covered Well, we we did a little bit of review and then we covered verses 11 and 12 last week and we're in those same verses this week and so Again, there's so much here

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We can't possibly miss anything. Certainly not some of the bigger stuff. And so Go ahead and go to verse 11 and we'll we'll pick it up right there.

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And of course last week You know, we're talking about the fact that we

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Paul has been talking about the most practical stuff And we're going through it and then all of a sudden you get to verse 11 and it's just like this

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Big reminder of the big picture he's down In the particulars of Christian living and Talking about for every group of people that could possibly be in a local church telling them how to thrive as believers

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Showing them what it looks like to be a thriving believer And so we're super zoomed in we're again in the particulars

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We're in the nitty -gritty of Christian living the sanctification process all these things and then he gets to verse 11 and he just Zooms all the way out for a second and he reminds us by saying the grace of God, but well,

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I left out a word There's a very important word at the beginning of verse 11 for The grace of God that bring us salvation hath appeared to all men and that word for of course links

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Everything we've talked about in this study up to this point to this Phrase to the foundation of Everything we've been talking about the reason why everything

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Paul has said is not only true But also meaningful in other words, not just Paul's Experience not just his wisdom.

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He had all these things, but that's not what he was sharing. He was sharing very Explicit particular details as the

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Holy Spirit was moving him to write these words of What the effects look like of this great thing that he talks about in verse 11 the grace of God that brings salvation and so then we

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Talked about the fact that or we asked the question God has been

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He has been in union that so the the triune god of scripture has been in perfect communion perfect union perfect love

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Perfect grace mercy all of the attributes and character That he's always had for all of eternity including before the universe was even created

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And so we asked the question He's always had this saving power

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He's always had the ability to save creatures that don't deserve it and creatures that are in fact unlovable in their sinful state

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He's always had that and so how on earth is he going to demonstrate it? Well, he's gonna demonstrate it by rescuing them by delivering them

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From their sins we talked about that last week. We talked about the fact that we are in fact a new creature

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And a new creation in christ And so being this new creature Like we said last week a living demonstration of god's saving power

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As we live our lives and we live out all of the instructions And mandates of chapter 2 that we've read up to this point as we live that out

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We are a walking demonstration of what god's saving power looks like Otherwise the world and even the creation would have never known what it looked like the angels are perfect They didn't need to be saved

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They've been in a perfect state since they were created uh, there are plenty of rebel sinners that actively take pleasure in Their rebellion against god and all of these types of things

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And push him away push him away from their consciences until the point where they are seared and all of these

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Things that paul talks about elsewhere, but you have this remnant that was a part of that same fallen race and yet Is peculiar is different is strange and have been in fact saved from their sin

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And that is the demonstration of god's saving power And so again being this new creature a walking demonstration a living demonstration of god's saving power is exactly what he intended

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Us to be all along. It was the purpose Of why we were created. In fact, he made plans to die on the cross

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From the foundation of the earth being laid So before we before the earth that is our habitation was even created.

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He had already made plans to die on the cross For his people so that he could make A people that are holy and transformed

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And that bear much fruit for the world to see For what purpose to demonstrate god's saving power

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And so this salvation came to the world And with it came instructions For how to live now remember verses 1 through 10.

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We we read all of them last week to kind of reset the context a little bit Verses 1 through 10 were precisely about this instructions

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Again it is wisdom, but it is wisdom from above showing us exactly how to live out our lives after we're saved

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Paul has been telling titus how to tell others How to behave themselves in all of these churches on the island of crete

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And as we've said previously After doing this after giving titus all of these instructions telling him how to teach others

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He links all of the preceding passages like we said a moment ago with the word for And then he gives that foundation for all christian living or behavior or conduct

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Paul stops at verse 10 with the instructions He emphasizes god's grace unto salvation in verse 11, which is what we just read a second ago

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And as we're going to see he's going to finish out the chapter As he does that he gets right back into the effects of that saving grace again in verses 12 through 15

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I mean here in a second we'll get into this more but he gets right back into denying and godliness and worldly lusts

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In living soberly and righteously and godly in this present world and he in in 14 He gave himself that he might redeem us from all iniquity purify himself unto a peculiar people zealous for good works

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And so all of the stuff we've talked about leading up to verse 11 comes back into view again after this pause where He lays that foundation as we've said several times in other words

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Again, he pauses the instruction to remind us What the source of the instruction is?

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Where does where do these instructions come from? Where does any of this come from? What is the source?

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And it's god's grace. So he pauses he reminds us of this in verse 11 and then he presses on Now we can look at god's actions

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In many different ways and from many different angles as we study the bible and we get into the new testament and the new testament doctrines we can see

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That salvation isn't a singular Thing it's not a it's not a static thing that just we said this last week

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It's not something that just sits in our past. It was something that happened and it's back there now when we move on It's also not a single stream of anything in particular either salvation is incredibly broad

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And we see this in so many different ways. You can look at it in so many different ways so we can look at god's actions

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With regard to salvation We can start with outside The bounds of time now, that's that's hard for us to grasp because we were specifically created in time and for a good purpose

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And so sometimes we can get a little bit carried away Trying to think of things from god's viewpoint or you could even say from the father's viewpoint

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The problem with that is he's transcendent He's outside of time. He's in a place that we can't even comprehend let alone talk about as if we could just oh

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Yeah, this is how it works. Now. There are flickers of understanding given throughout the scripture.

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There are Passages that are amazing in from the psalms all throughout the old testament all the way into the new testament isaiah talks about Certain aspects of this where we see this decree of god and we see his plan and we see things working together

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The council according to the council of his own will as paul talks about ephesians and then in acts chapter 4 Uh where peter is talking?

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he Summarizes basically what put? Jesus on the cross and he lists all the groups of people from pontius pilate to the jews uh

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To the romans that that actually did the act of crucifixion but then He links it all back to the predetermined plan

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And so we get these flickers of god's plan outside of time It's not the the tone of the bible in general is very much

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How we would perceive things and how we would understand things in time But every now and then we get a picture of god's actions outside of the bounds of time

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Such as we're talking about salvation here. We're talking about his grace Such as with things like his election

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So you could start there and i'm gonna i'm gonna kind of bounce around for a second just to give you all a few examples

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Of these different angles we can look at so in second timothy Chapter 1 verse 9 and you don't have to follow along if you want to jot these down you can because i'm going to go

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Somewhat quick But in second timothy chapter 1 verse 9 he says this Who hath saved us?

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So we're talking about salvation, which is what is in view in our titus chapter or our titus passage

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He has saved us called us with the holy calling Not according to our works now.

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This is interesting because we're specifically talking about works Zealous works in fact in our titus passage

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We'll get back to that more but not according to our works, but according to his own purpose his own purpose and Grace, that's another thing in view in titus, which was given to us in christ before the world began

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How can how does that even work? How could we comprehend such a thing? Well, it's true

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We can take it as truth though we might not be able to as Pastor I admire greatly often says we can't put it up on a whiteboard and do the math

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But we can know that it's true. We can have the first principles of these realities and As moses tells us in deuteronomy chapter 29

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Rest in the fact that while the revealed things are ours, we own them We possess them there are heritage that which is in the word of god and even natural revelation in his creation the secret things belong to god

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And we can we can rest in that we can have faith in that reality We can understand that while we can't do the math on the whiteboard

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He can and he knows it. He knows how it all works So again, we can look at god's actions outside of the bounds of time such as with his election in that passage

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We just read as a good example of that things that happened before the world even began But we can also look at god's action at a point in time

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Such as when we were born again, and when I say actions i'm talking specifically about his grace his actions by grace

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For the point of saving a people so in john chapter 3 and we all know this passage so well um

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But in john chapter 3, this is jesus talking to nicodemus And he tells him truly truly

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I say unto you except a man be born of water and of the spirit He cannot enter the kingdom of god. That's verse 5 and in verse 6

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He says that which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the spirit

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Is spirit and this is all right after he uses this amazingly provocative phrase that totally threw nicodemus for a loop

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And he said unless you're born again You can't see the kingdom of god. What is that? It's the spiritual birth

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It is our regeneration, which is something that is in this book of titus. We'll get to eventually in chapter 3 and so We can look at salvation and god's grace outside of time

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Such as with that passage us being put into christ before the world began We can also think about his actions in his saving grace in time at the moment.

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We were born again Much like we have a physical birthday. It is a punctiliar point in time that just it's just an historic fact

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Just like our birth That is also true for our spiritual birth the moment we were saved when we were born again

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That is god's action in linear space and time stuff happened outside of time, too

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But it happened in time where we can see it and we can understand it We can point back to it and that's what jesus was referring to With regard to this spiritual birth being born again.

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It is an action in time Now we can also look at god's actions Uh Also in time, but more specifically throughout time.

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So what's interesting? Is yes, we're saved spiritually. We are born again spiritually just like Uh, we are physically born once we are spiritually born once But just like we are physically born and then live a life from that point forward

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When we are spiritually born we have a spiritual life from that point forward and in first corinthians chapter one verse 18

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Paul says this for the preaching of the cross Is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved.

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It is the power of god now When you're reading that in the kjv, it's a little bit tough to understand

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It's tough to see exactly what paul is saying because the english the older english doesn't quite Translate the greek because if you look at the term perish and if you look at the term saved in the kjv

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They sound past tense But if you look at the greek, it's actually in the present participle, which means

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Here's how it should be read For the preaching of the cross is to them that are perishing That are perishing foolishness, but unto us which are being saved.

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It is the power of god. He's talking about sanctification We are spiritually born once we are regenerated we are justified at a point in time, but what happens from that point forward

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We are sanctified. We are being sanctified for the rest of our lives and sanctification Is just as much a part of salvation as anything else and Some people forget that we we can't forget it because that is exactly

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What is making us more like god as we live our lives? And so when paul says the preaching of the cross

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Is power for those being saved he's talking about christians actively being

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Just uh, excuse me sanctified in real time And so again, we can look at god's actions outside of time

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We can look at it at a point in time when we are born again We can look at it throughout time and sanctification and we can even look at god's grace in the future

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If you want to look at philippians chapter 3 really quick again if y 'all are either jotting them down or turning there with me one of my favorite passages of all time philippians chapter 3

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Listen to this for our conversation And if you want to if you're if you read a kjv like I do you might put in the margin

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Citizenship what matt did you have a thought? Oh, sorry verse 20 philippians chapter 3 verse 20

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If you had that word conversation, it's old english word it In more modern vernacular, it would be citizenship

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That's what the greek term means so it could be read this way for our citizenship In other words the country

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By which we belong the country we belong to our homeland Our citizenship is in heaven

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It's a beautiful phrase From whence also we look for our savior the lord jesus christ, but look at this

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Who's who shall in the future? Change our vile body that it may be fashioned like into his glorious body

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According to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things into himself Isn't that beautiful?

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So we can look at god's actions with regard to saving grace outside of time

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At a point in time throughout time and in our future at the moment we are glorified it is huge This is a salvation is a massive topic with massive

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Sub Categories that are all equally important. Not a single one of them is any less important than the other.

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It's one big picture And it's all glorious So what is the point?

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Why are we looking at all this? Why are we considering all these different angles? Well, what is paul talking about back to titus chapter 2 verse 11 this grace of god that not only brings salvation

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But remember and when we get to verse 12, that is also our teacher No matter which part of salvation that we look at any of those angles that we just barely scratch the surface on You could pick any one of those and spend weeks upon weeks upon weeks studying them

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It doesn't matter which angle you look at all of it is established Or predicated

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On the same thing and that is the grace of god this grace that he's talking about in verse 11

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It's it's the source of every angle of salvation. We're going to look at our justification our sanctification our glorification

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Regeneration the moment we were born again all of these different things. It's all tied back to the same thing

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Which is the grace of god? Now from the point of salvation onward

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Okay, so remember paul pauses in verse 11 He reminds us what the foundation is for all of the the works

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And christian living in conduct and holy behavior that he's been talking about for the whole book up into this verse

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He pauses he reminds us of the of the of the foundation which of course is salvation by grace

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But from that point onward from the point of salvation onward We are instructed by our infallible teacher, which is who?

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It's the grace of god The grace itself because remember it says for the grace of god that brings salvation hath appeared to all man all men

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Teaching us the teacher is the grace that lives within us. He's with us all the time

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Of course, jesus is grace personified. His spirit lives within us The very his very essence and his attributes are within us

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In his holy spirit all these amazing things This teacher is with us all the time and this teacher

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Is teaching us to deny something so now we're back in verse 12 Teaching us that denying so he's teaching us to deny something.

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What is it ungodliness? and worldly lusts so So Paul Kind of zooms back in for a second.

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He zoomed way out to remind us of this grace He zooms back in and says this grace is going to teach you something

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And in the negative it's going to teach you to deny a couple things ungodliness and worldly lusts now we know elsewhere in some of paul's other writings that we are every one of us and The world at large around us at this moment took

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We in the past took pleasure in those living in the present in a sinless state are taking pleasure in our ungodliness

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And that was the case for us that was our previous state prior to being liberated by this grace

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We just finished talking about in brief So prior to being liberated by this grace

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We were taking pleasure In this ungodliness that he now the grace is now teaching us to totally deny

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We were living in it. We were reveling in it. We were taking pleasure in it Paul talks about this in first thessalonians or second thessalonians

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And yet we've been liberated from it and can now deny it We now have the power and it's god's power and it's through him alone to deny this ungodliness and these worldly lusts

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So now we have old patterns and old habits to break After the point in time when we are saved

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Depending on when you got saved it's different for everybody. But even if you're a little kid We have formed habits and patterns that are now

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Needing to be broken and in fact denied post salvation We have to break these habits and we know that it's not immediate

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We know that the moment that we get saved it doesn't just wholesale break us um

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It doesn't make us perfect in a sinless Sense. Okay. Now paul throughout the new testament.

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We use that phrase perfect talking about believers, but it's not perfect as in sinless perfection If you look at the greek it's talking about being a complete man being a complete man or woman and so We know that at the point of salvation

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When we call upon the name of the lord that it doesn't make us a sinless Saint in that sense at that time

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The reason we know that is because paul wouldn't have said that we are being taught to deny these things in the present tense

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He's talking to christians here. He's talking to titus here He's telling titus how to talk to his members of all these other churches

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And he's saying that this teacher which is grace in the present tense is teaching us how to deny

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Ungodliness and worldly lusts so we are liberated in the sense that we don't have to do these things

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We don't have to partake in these things that are gradually um degrading us degrading our bodies and all these things over time

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Our souls our spirits regardless of what angle you want to look at. We don't have to we have the power to deny them now

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It won't happen wholesale until the moment we are glorified in our future which goes back to that philippians verse We just read a second ago when jesus

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Fashions our vile bodies in the likeness of his glorious body at that moment. We will be sinless.

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We will be perfect But right now in these earthen vessels and these corruptible bodies. We have a fight to we have a fight.

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We have a battle to fight And this is what paul is talking about These are why he's saying all of these things and why he's telling us we do have this power to deny ungodliness uh

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Worldly lusts You know when you're when you're going into a battle It would be good to know that your weapons are effective and he's saying your weapons are effective

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It doesn't mean it's not a hard fight. It doesn't mean it's not a hard battle But what it means is that it's a battle you can win

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Because of this grace that lives within you the term ungodliness in this verse if you look at the greek word, it simply means to have

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If you are ungodly, it means to have a lack of reverence toward god So he's saying deny that deny

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Having a lack of reverence toward god when he says to deny ungodliness and again, this was our previous state

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This is where we were living prior to our salvation experience we were in a state of ungodliness of Having a lack of reverence toward our creator all the time

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And we are to deny this that can still happen in our lives now As christians we can fall into a state of ungodliness.

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We can fall into a state where we lack reverence Toward our creator toward our lord But what's the difference between being a christian in that state?

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Or falling into that state as a christian versus as an unbeliever The difference is the christian has the power to deny it

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He has the power to say i'm not going to be Ungodly, I am not going to lack reverence for my lord

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I'm going to give him what he deserves from me as his slave as his servant So that's the first thing we need to deny is ungodliness that lack of reverence toward god, but we also need to deny worldly lusts

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And this is a terrific translation because that's exactly what the greek term is intending to get across lusts forbidden desires

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Forbidden desires that are characteristic of pagans in a worldly system so believers god's people can even find themselves in a state where the lusts and the forbidden desires they find themselves kind of gravitating toward Are that of of the pagan world that of the enemies of god outside of the camp so to speak?

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But we can find ourselves in that state ourselves. So what do we do? Paul says to deny it.

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How do we deny it? The grace of god that is our teacher teaching us to do it teaching us how to do it and helping us do it

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And then paul gives us the positive side so we're still in verse 12 and you know y 'all keep looking at this as we kind of talk through it because There's a lot of details to cover here, but I don't want to lose the broad scope either so We have grace living within us the same grace that brought initial salvation that justified us

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Is is still with us to this day? It's not in the rearview mirror It's still with us and he is now our teacher grace is now our teacher

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And it's teaching us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts Those are the negative that's the negative side of it, but he also teaches us on the positive side as well.

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And what are these? that uh worldly lusts That we should live soberly

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Righteously and godly And we'll look at that last phrase in a minute in three statements here

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Paul is describing What a transformed life looks like He gives us the negative because he wants us to remember that That still there's still temptations out there.

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There are still plenty of opportunities for us to mess up And then at that point we go to the lord and we confess those sins to him and then it's as if they never happen

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But we we still don't want it to happen in the first place either So paul is warning us that they could gives us the negative and he says

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Deny those things but then he gives us the positive because he wants us to remember What the transformed life looks like and the fact that we are a new cre a new create a new creation new creature

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Either one it's it's said in both ways in different at different places. Remember that verse we ended on last week

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Therefore if any man be in christ, he is a new creature Old things are passed away.

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Behold all things are become new 2 corinthians 5 17 We are this new creature now and he wants us to he wants to remind us that this creature this new creature

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Is a transformed Thing it is a transformed person And in three statements, he describes what that looks like We should live soberly righteously and godly

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Now the greek term for soberly there is one of paul's favorite words to use apparently at least in this epistle you guys will

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Recognize it, uh in a second as we look at some of these verses, but it's it's the greek word. Sofran And it's the same word that we've seen several times in this brief epistle already up to this point

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I think the fourth time he's used this word in a different context We've seen it several times that he uses the the translators use a different english word

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Depending on the on the context in each in each instance, but the meaning is the exact same

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It's the exact same greek word with if you can picture paul talking speaking this out loud or writing it he's using the same word in all of these instances and so You look at chapter one verse eight

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I guess we can look at those together really quick He says but be a lover of hospitality.

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He's talking about elders and the qualifications of pastors a lover of hospitality a lover of good men sober

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Just holy and temperate. So right there same greek word sofran. It means self -control

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So that's the first instance then you look at chapter two verse two He's talking about older men not pastors anymore, but older men in the church and he says that the age men be sober grave

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Temperate sound in the faith in charity and patience now here The greek word is temper the the english word is temperate he uses sober the the reason the translators did this is because The first when you see sober in verse two, he's literally talking about sobriety from alcoholism

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So they didn't use the english word this this time for sofran they used the english word temperate same greek word though What does it mean self -control?

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Then you look at verse five of the same chapter to be now he's talking about women to be discreet

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Chaste keepers at home young women In fact good obedient to their own husbands that the word of god may not be blaspheme the word discreet

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Sofran same greek term, what does it mean self -control and then you get to the fourth use of it in verse 12 one more time

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Teaching us that denying ungodliness worldly lusts. We should live soberly. There's the greek word so paul

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Self -control in the christian life is something that paul has been emphasizing Continuously in this very brief brief epistle and he uses it uses the term in in first timothy as well

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But he's used it four times now in titus alone He wants us to remember that self -control is absolutely paramount in the christian walk

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Now remember in one of jesus's most provocative statements that he ever made he claimed that a person who sins even one time

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Is a slave to sin He says this in john chapter 8 as he is talking to the pharisees and the scribes and the sadducees

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And he is not so subtly letting them know how evil they are And he tells them

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That if you sin You are a slave to sin. So going back to our previous state one more time

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Before that grace of god appeared to us that paul talks about in verse 11 We all served a slave master

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There are people around us today that aren't aware of this and it is a sad thing because they feel like they are

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Liberated they feel like they're free they feel like they are free from the bounds of religion

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Or the bounds of a particular religious Framework whether that be christianity or otherwise

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But the sad thing is that in what they feel is their liberation they are actually enslaved

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In in in the the total sense They are enslaved to a very particular master and it's a very evil master.

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It's a master that wants to kill them It's a it's a master that hates them. In fact and wants the most pain to come upon them, but In usually speaking in in the very slow fashion, so in other words a very slow

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Death and that slave master is their own sin. That's what jesus is talking about If a person sins they are enslaved to that sin

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And then after making this again, very provocative statement. He goes on to say that the son

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Who is that? That's jesus The son abides forever And the son shall make you free

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That famous phrase that we are all aware of later on He kind of restates it in a different fashion and the truth will set you free

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But prior to that he sets the tone by saying it's the son that makes you free Right after telling them that they are enslaved to their own sin.

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So he's saying here's here's the first truth You are a slave to your sin It's an evil slave master that wants to kill you and he wants to to kill you brutally slowly over time

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But here's the second indicative here's the second fact of reality The son can make you free

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So you're enslaved to this evil master, but you can be freed by a loving and good master

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That's the whole point of his teaching in that passage again That's john chapter 8 and verse 34 is the specific verse where he makes this statement.

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You are a slave to sin now Why do I bring this up?

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Again, paul is emphasizing by using this term soberly this greek term sofran.

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He is Emphasizing self -control in christian living. He's done it four times now and we're

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You know just barely halfway through this already very short letter He's emphasizing self -control

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The lost world does not know what self -control is Because you can't exhibit self -control when your slave master is telling you to do the thing

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So you're not going to be able to Have self -control over a particular sin habit

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When that sin habit is actually the slave itself bending your will to do the thing you don't you don't have a lot of self -control there when the master is cracking the whip and You are just again being brutalized by that particular slave master

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So self -control Is something that is unique this the kind of self -control that paul is talking about Is unique to the christian?

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Because it's not until we've been freed by the son, which is the second statement that jesus makes in john chapter 8

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It's not until we've been freed by the son and serve him rather than our own sin

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That we are able to exhibit the self -control to curb our sin proclivities our passions our illicit desires

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Until you have been freed by the son you cannot do those things because those very things that you are now pushing away and denying

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Where are your slave masters if you want to think about it in the plural if you have a number of different sin habits or just is this monolithic thing the sin of man in general

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That is what we were serving prior to being freed by the son And so the self -control when we see this these terms sober discreet um living soberly

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All of these terms he uses being temperate We need to remember the power that is within that term

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We need to remember the power of the fact that we as christians get that we

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We are allowed if I could speak in these terms for a second to have self -control as a means of grace

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Because without being freed by the son We have no self -control. We're simply enslaved and there's no hope

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But when he appears in the form of his grace, which again is he as paul says in verse 11

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That has appeared Then all of a sudden we can be set free We can have the self -control that paul is talking about over those illicit desires and all of those types of things

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It's an amazing thing. And so again self -control has been a running theme throughout this whole epistle And that wasn't by accident on paul's part

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Self -control is in fact a tenet of the christian walk of the christian life

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With Self -control again is an exhibition of the fact that we are saved when we are told to make our calling and election

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Sure. Well, that's kind of a weird phrase if you're thinking about eternal security And of course god is all knowing and he says he won't lose any and he'll raise them all up on the last day

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So what is that phrase all about? Well Everything I just said is true because god is infallible and he has infallible knowledge

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And he knows who his sheep are he knows who his people are. Of course He's going to protect them but the sheep are fallible and the sheep can have doubts

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And the sheep can go through times of concern and worry and wondering what is this thing even all about?

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how how Do I know that i'm living in a pleasing fashion and all of these types of things?

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So what does god do in his grace? He ordains us to live in a in a particular way such as denying ungodliness and worldly lusts

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And living soberly having self -control and righteously and all of these types of things In his grace, he orchestrated godly living in such a way that it proves our salvation

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It proves our calling it proves our election so that we can feel secure about it

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It's not that god needs to be made sure about it is that we need to be made sure about it Sometimes we need that assurance

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And it's living based upon these patterns That we have that Remember in verse 7 of chapter 2 he says in all things showing yourself a pattern of good works

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It's those patterns of good works That come to us by the grace of god alone

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And that we can only do by grace certainly not in and of ourselves But it is in fulfilling these patterns of good works that we have confidence and assurance of our salvation which is an amazing thing and so He then says that this grace is teaching us to live righteously again

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He he says a couple of things three statements to show what the transformed life looks like to live soberly self -control righteously and godly

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In both of those terms are just simply expressing that the believer the christian Is constantly striving to move toward god

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To be conformed to god's standards of living not our own but to god's we're moving toward him

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All the time and though we already discussed this previously. It's worth addressing one more time this salvation

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Because you look at that last phrase of verse 12 and it's amazing this salvation that appeared

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Absolutely saves us from future torment and hell, of course That's typically the thing that people think of when they think okay i'm saved.

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I am now protected from that But it doesn't that's not It totally that's just a part of the picture

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It also delivers us from our sin in this present world. That's that final phrase in verse 12

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It's amazing in this present world right now the present tense. We are saved we are delivered

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From our own sin from the devil from the world and all of the fiery darts that could possibly be thrown at us

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We are saved from all those things, too This is what true liberation looks like not just from a future destination

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But in the present tense as well in the present world No sin habit That we could possibly have

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Has to bear down on us now It doesn't have to it might Because we're still in these corruptible bodies

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As god intended why because every time we do good Based upon his standards every time we live out these patterns of good works.

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The glory goes to him and him alone That is why he ordained it this way That is why it is good for the christian to live through this pilgrimage in this earth incorruptible bodies with Heartache and with pain and with sin and with all of these things

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It's good because the glory of us making it through that Persevering through that ultimately goes to god because he's the only reason we could have gotten through it anyway so No sin habit has to bear down on us now

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Despite how heavy it may feel sometime We have been delivered not just from future hell, but from this present world and that's what he's saying in verse 12 there now

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We have to end there if y 'all have any thoughts or anything feel free to share but i'm very excited to get to verse 13 next week because uh

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There's some really amazing things that we can learn from that single verse So many doctrinal things from that single verse.

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We'll dive into that next week But do y 'all have any thoughts or anything y 'all like to share before we dismiss today? Yes, sir right

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Sure. Well So first of all soberly is fine the reason especially in the older english because to live soberly in there in in the mind of Those living in the 1600s was to live

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In a in like dad just said in a moderate fashion To live in such a way where it's not just alcoholism.

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We're talking about not just sobriety in that sense But to live with a head a good head on your shoulders all the time

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And so soberly is fine. But in our modern context like just us reading through the epistle

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I I would personally put maybe self -control there Because that's what the greek term is really talking about.

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It is it's control over the whole body. Not just a particular area Yes, sir. Yeah. Oh, yeah

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I believe self -control Yeah, well I agree they they're it's certainly the same message but as far as the most potent phrasing

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I think self -control Is great because number one it's the that's the thrust of the greek term if you just want to take it in its most literal

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Sense, which isn't always the best by the way. So again Good translation is usually the way we would talk in our language now and so To live moderately in debt dad's point a second ago would be a fantastic translation

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But as far as just the most potent kind of packs a punch This is what paul is talking about and he wants us to never forget it because this is the fourth time

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He has told us to do this thing have self -control Now remember, where does the self -control come from?

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grace our teacher but We still have to remember. Yes, sir Right.

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Sure Yeah, not just yeah exactly not just self -control over, you know, perhaps alcoholism or drug abuse but also lusts

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Everything it is so it uh food, you know, it is ever it is self -control over the entire person

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That's that's what the term Is really referencing there and so I like self -control

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Um, but certainly a number of good ways you can you could use it in that context anything else?

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Yes They don't necessarily form

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Some of the habits that someone saying later in life may have to break away from right but like sometimes the worldly lusts are just like Your own image of like being known as like the good christian kid or Even just you know, you you'll know people that it's just like it's the same haughtiness

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Of spirit and haughtiness of mine, but it's like about things that are virtuous and I was listening to a child rearing series recently

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Just he brought up like repenting of your virtues not just your

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I can't remember what the other thing is, but not just like okay. Well, I It's something we would just be an angry you're like a naked on the negative side you mean like anger or Well, it's not really that bad because i'm not drunk

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Or i'm not You know, we will have excuses for things that are just as ugly to god, right?

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And just as damaging in other words virtuous sounding band -aids over Sin problems

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And I think there's a temptation uh Like a dangerous area for kids that were saved

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Early on and always grew up In a good environment like we should give our kids that but we have to also help them to be able to see

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Where the actual heart issue is that's something me and my sister talk about all the time, right? I want to address this thing with this kid, but I want them to see the heart issue

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And I want them to know that it's not okay when I do it either like I Get angry

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I get you know I will get exasperated at them because i'm inconvenienced and stuff like that and just Always being aware of the heart issue underlying

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You know the things that are not that bad in our mind we have to be so careful raising kids because We can we can just teach them

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Blind legalism or we can teach them hypocrisy. It's like well when you Fight with your sibling, it's bad, but I can yell at you if it's okay, right?

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I can I don't have to have self -control but you do and i'll spank you if you don't but I will never repent

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When I fly right, you know, well, and I mean that's a it's a good illustration of The you know remembering the environment isn't what saves a person

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The environment is good because it can protect so again, there's nothing in fact it is

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Definitionally good for some person to get saved the earlier the better maddie at four. I was seven

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You know dad was 24 and he always says what's interesting about that is that you kind of feel it more but that doesn't

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You know like you feel the freedom you feel that you have been that liberation Freedom from your past sins when you're older you can feel that more than when you're seven and you know, and then it creeps in Because you don't realize i'm super prideful.

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Exactly. You forget you forget that this this This environment that perhaps the good godly parents are cultivating

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Was meant for your protection not for your salvation and that the and that the heart the heart still

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Uh, the heart still has to be connected with god you still there still has to be a circumcision of the heart as moses puts it

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Um, yeah, dad. Well, i'm thinking this Do you have a child family that is right where the kids get saved early

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There can be a legalism if you don't even see where we're better than the rest of the world

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That's exactly right Is that book right there you should think about that because this is not something very many people think about and It's great.

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Well And one thing you said ash is like you're you know, these worldly lusts

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You use that term and kind of linked it to the the virtuous side quote unquote It's not true virtue, but it's it's people believing they're virtuous

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But really the better term to link to that is the term for ungodliness Which again means a lack of reverence toward god so if you put if you think so highly of yourself that the way you are living is what is what uh makes you worthy

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And what makes you uh Right Well you if you feel worthy

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If you feel worthy because you're checking the boxes In these particular areas in the environment is just right in these particular areas

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That is a lack of reverence toward god because what it's doing is it is saying that I can do it better or that I actually

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You can say it may even be a subconscious thing. But if you and this is the problem with moralism or legalism is that It says that I actually don't need a savior because I can

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Get there this way now Not all of them will recognize it verbalize it that way.

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Sometimes it's just functionally Right, but sometimes I mean sometimes it's flat out. Yes. This is what we believe but most of the time it's just functionally

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This is how we think it works and they'll pay lip service to grace, but then

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This is the environment we have to have and as long as we have it, we're good to go And in doing so you're haughty

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And if you're haughty you're ungodly and there's a lack of reverence toward god, which is what we're supposed to deny so Well, that was a lot of good stuff right there we will pick this up next week and Press on i'll go ahead and dismiss this heavenly father.

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Thank you so much for this wonderful day for giving us the opportunity to Talk about your word to open up the pages of scripture and to be edified by them and to have these infallible glorious Instructions so that we don't have to walk around aimlessly

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Wondering how exactly can we be pleasing to you? You just tell us and of course lord, we know that No part of the actions that we could possibly do

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That are pleasing in your sight can be done Separated from you either and so we just ask lord that with these instructions that you give us in your word

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That are so practical and that we can take and live them out for the entire week In between lord's days and not just in church, but all of the time

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Living our lives and business and family and our hobbies everything we can live these out lord We ask that you are right there with us guiding us giving us wisdom and giving us the strength

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And ability to do it Through your spirit through your grace. That is our teacher