The Gospel And The Church - [Titus]

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As you know, I love to listen to Sinclair Ferguson because he loves to talk about the
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Lord Jesus. Here's what he said. Clear directives for Christian living are essential for us.
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But, sadly, much of the heavenly programmatic teaching current in evangelicalism places such a premium on external doing and achieving that character development is set at a discount.
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We live in the most pragmatic society on earth. It is painful to discover that the
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Christian life is not rooted in what we can do but in what we need to be done to us.
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Ferguson. Years ago, I had a painful encounter with this mentality. Halfway through a Christian students conference where I was speaking on the assigned theme,
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Knowing Christ, I was summoned to meet with a deputation of staff members who seemed duty -bound to confront me with the inadequacies of my first two expositions.
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So, can you imagine? Come speak for us three times. After two times, you go and confront Sinclair Ferguson. I hope they brought a bodyguard.
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You have addressed us for two hours, they complained, and yet you have not told us once one single thing to do.
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Impatience to be doing hid impatience with the apostolic principle that it is only in knowing
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Christ that we can do anything. And Sinclair said, or so it seemed to me at the time.
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There's nothing wrong with telling people what to do. Are there not commands in Scripture, laws in Scripture, commands in Scripture?
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But they are undergirded by the person and work of the Lord Jesus. So, to remind you of that today, please turn to the book of Titus.
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I have taught Titus before, but we are going to look at the book Titus for a particular reason today.
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And that reason is I want to make sure you realize that when it comes to the local church, whatever we have to do, it has to be undergirded by, supported by, fortified by the person and work of the
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Lord Jesus. In other words, it's one thing to tell somebody to set up elders and run the church well.
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It's another thing to tell them these are the reasons and motivations behind it that all go back to the
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Lord of the church who purchased the church with His own blood. Now, usually we're in the book of Hebrews. I'll try to be back there next week, but just because of health reasons and other reasons,
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I want to make a detour this morning. Forty -six verses in one hour.
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Are you ready? Do you think we could do it? Of course we could do it. I think a couple of weeks ago we went 46 verses with Joshua, did we not?
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I'd like to look at the book of Titus, and here's what I want you to see. In every chapter, every chapter is full of imperatives, things to do in a local church.
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But in every chapter, there are gospel indicatives that give strength and give motivation.
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Why do anything? You know, we have that paradigm, guilt, grace, and what's the follow -up? Gratitude. Why do we do what we do?
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Well, we were guilty in Adam. We are free and forgiven in Christ Jesus, the risen
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Savior, and we want to respond with gratitude. And it's hard to be a person who just obeys duty -bound only without these great indicatives of the gospel, things that Jesus did.
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Friends, Christianity, Jesus himself is not just for pardon, I now stand forgiven, but for power, the ability to live the
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Christian life, the motivation for the Christian life. If I put it this way, maybe it would be more simple.
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Without Jesus, there's no reason to do anything. And with Jesus, there's reason to do everything.
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I'm going to have to write that down. That was pretty good. When you have law, it just commands.
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It doesn't give you a motivation. It just says, you either did it or you didn't. Law is fine and good and right because it reflects
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God's holy nature, but it doesn't motivate. Only the gospel motivates. P .S.,
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I have a little backdrop here. When you have children or even grandchildren, or you're dealing with other children as a
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Sunday school teacher, don't forget, how does God deal with His church? There might be some good principles on how you should deal with your children.
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My default mode is dictator, policeman, watchdog.
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Remember Jesus? He's got to go and He's going to die, and the disciples are all in a fuss and fretting.
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And He said, I'm going to send you another one. Don't worry. I'm going to send you another one. The scolder, the policeman, the dictator, the watchdog.
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No, what He called the Holy Spirit, the comforter, the one that's going to come alongside. And similarly, when we deal with children, if it's look them in the eye.
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I mean, I can remember telling Luke every single time, and Haley, and Gracie, and Maddie, here's how we greet people, and here's what we say, and all these different things.
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Rules, rules, rules. I'm fine with rules, especially doing prop provinces. But they have to be given in the context of love and motivation.
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The higher rules we have, the more love we need to show in terms of, this is what you mean to me. So the way
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God works is this. Law, here's what I expect. But motivated by, undergirded by, fortified by, here's what
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I've done for you, freely. Because I love you, for no other reason except I love you.
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So you'll see it in the church, you should see it in your homes. And by the way, if you like to give your spouse a honey to -do list, and you only give them to -do lists, maybe you should add some other things, like gospel and grace.
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What could we call that, Robert? Just not a to -do list, but a what? A gospel to -do list, can we do that?
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All right. Titus chapter 1. As we look at this book, let me give you seven imperatives undergirded by three gospel truths.
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And by the way, we're going to have all alliteration today just for fun. But before we get there, this is written by Paul, and he's writing to Titus.
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And Titus is on an island called Crete. Martha's Vineyard is about 20 miles long.
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Crete's about 160 miles long, so it's kind of eight times larger than Martha's Vineyard.
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And Paul visited Titus there briefly, and he wants to make sure there's a gospel witness.
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And how do you have a gospel witness? It's not parachurch primarily. It's not a bunch of just evangelists roaming around.
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The ultimate goal is to have a local church of Jesus Christ with elders and functioning deacons and people serving one to another, and then that is what the ultimate goal is, the church wherever it might be, even in a pagan place like Crete.
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There's all kinds of false teachers there, and so how do you combat false teachers? Oh, I know a discernment blog.
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Oh, sorry. No, they're fine, but you combat false teaching with a local church where sound, healthy, hygienic doctrine is taught.
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And Paul is writing to Titus in what we call a pastoral epistle. But what
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I don't want you to forget is in every chapter, there's the person and work of the Lord Jesus. This is a gospel -focused letter.
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Pay careful attention. Paul, the servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, and now he starts off with this gospel salutation.
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Before he says anything else, he begins to make us think about the triune God. Do you notice?
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For the sake of the faith of God's elect. That's justification. And their knowledge of the truth which accords with godliness.
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We could call that sanctification. In the hope of eternal life, we could call that glorification. Which God, who unlike the
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Cretans, who are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons, this testimony is true. This God is not like the
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Cretans. He never lies, and he makes a promise before the ages began. Paul said, here's what
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I'm in this ministry for, Titus. I'm in the ministry for people to get saved, come to faith.
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I'm in ministry so people could grow in Christ, say no to sin, say yes to righteousness, and I'm in ministry so people finally get to heaven glorification.
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Justification, sanctification, glorification. And it's given by God, who never lies, and who he promised before the ages began.
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So before Genesis 1 -1, God makes a promise. Who was there when God made this promise?
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Did he promise angels? Did he promise apostles? There's nobody there. He promised long ages ago, and we all know, do we not, that God is a triune
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God. And he makes a promise within the Trinity, Father to the Son, with the Spirit there as a witness.
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And he says to the Son, I want you to go rescue my bride, and you redeem her, and you cleanse her, and you wash her, and you present her back to me, and the
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Spirit of God will go with you to not only enable you to live the perfect life as the God -man, but he'll also apply your work,
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Son, to the hearts and minds of people, making them alive. This is amazing. Don't you love to think back pre -Genesis 1 when
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God the Father, the Son, and the Spirit existed in perfect harmony and unity and love, and they made a promise to go rescue sinners?
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I love that, don't you? A covenant of redemption, that is amazing. Jesus said on earth in Luke 22,
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I assign to you as my Father assigned to me a kingdom. My Father gave me assignment, and he says go rescue those chosen ones, and that's exactly what
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Jesus did before. The foundation of the world, we use that kind of language. In eternity past, we use that kind of language.
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He chose us from the beginning for salvation, 2 Thessalonians 2. The great plan of God.
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Have you ever thought, dear Christian, that your salvation was not an afterthought? Well, you know, plan
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B. In eternity past, he was going to go rescue sinners. Verse 3, we move from eternity to time.
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And at the proper time manifested in his word, how do we hear about this great plan of God?
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Through preaching, for which I have been entrusted by the command of God our Savior.
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And you'll see that theme, God our Savior, in 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, and Titus, because every good preacher, every good minister, every good person who is in a church needs to be reminded that God saves sinners.
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No gospel ministry without it. Verse 4, to Titus, this is
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Paul to Titus, my true child in a common faith, grace and peace.
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Notice the triune kind of language here, at least with the first person of the Trinity and the second. There's only one
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Savior. The Old Testament makes it clear. But here we have God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.
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Calvin said the Son has brought to us salvation from the Father, and the Father has bestowed it through His Son.
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While you're in Titus 1, would you just flip back to the very final verse?
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Because maybe you're saying to me, well, Pastor, this is for elders and deacons and church leaders. It's not really for me.
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And by the way, my name's not Titus, so how does this apply? Verse 15, isn't this wonderful?
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All who are with me greet you. Greet those who love us in the faith. Grace be with you what?
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All. Every church person is supposed to be reading this letter, not just for leaders, but every church person.
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And grace be with you all. You is plural. He writes to Titus, but he wants everybody to know about this.
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So we've seen this undergirding gospel indicative, and now we see the first command.
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Command number one. We'll have them all start with S. Select. Select. You've got to set up elders.
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You need elders to rule this church, to manage this church, to shepherd this church. This is why
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I left you in Crete. Who's been to Crete, by the way? A couple of us.
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At least we got off the island. This is why I left you in Crete.
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Poor Titus. I just thought he never made it off. I left you in Crete. So that. Here's the purpose.
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And by the way, there's nothing wrong with saying to do. Here's law. Here's an imperative. Here's a command.
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I left you there so that you might put in order what remained and appoint elders in every town as I directed you.
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And then he begins to talk about what elders are like. By the way, they're exactly opposite of what the Cretans are like.
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Show me a Cretan. And then I'll show you the opposite would be an elder. And here's what the elder is like.
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He's above reproach. Obviously, Paul knows how to say something like appoint an elder and make sure he's never sinned in his life.
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Well, there'd be no elders, right? We're not talking about sinlessness, but we're talking about above reproach.
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That if somebody says, you know what? He steals money. They might make the accusation, but they could never prove it.
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He runs around on his spouse. They make the accusation, but they could never prove it. The accusations never stick. That's what above reproach means.
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I've told you the story, I think, several times. Several times I've cleaned John MacArthur's office as a janitor.
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And in the old days when I was like a celebrity hound, probably we'd always volunteer for John's office.
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I get dibs on John's office. Like a kid, you know, I call front seat or something like that.
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I call John's office. And I don't know why I did it, but one day I had these guys all come in and I sat down in the chair and had pictures of John.
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And I turned Patricia's picture behind, you know, so that couldn't be seen because my wife's Kim, not Patricia.
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And I was sitting there in John's office. I just happened to open up his Bible. And it opened to Titus chapter 1.
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And the only thing underlined in all that book was above reproach. And so elders, while not perfect men, there should be no charge that sticks.
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The husband of one wife, you can just imagine the cretins, they're running around like crazy people like at Corinth when it comes to just sexual sin.
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And they don't care about their children either. But these children are to be believers, are faithful, is another way to translate it, and not open to the charge of debauchery or insubordination.
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How are you going to elder and shepherd the flock if your own kids are crazy? You should be spending time with them.
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And so Paul writes, and he says it in verse 7, for an overseer, or a bishop it could be called, or an elder.
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They're all synonyms just focusing on different parts of what they do. An overseer is
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God's steward. It's not his church. Must be above reproach. There it is again. He must not be arrogant or quick -tempered or drunkard or violent for greedy gain.
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But hospitable. A lover of good. Self -controlled. Upright. Holy. And disciplined.
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Exactly opposite of the cretins. He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught.
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Pass abaton. Don't add anything. Don't subtract anything. That he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also rebuke those who contradict it.
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What must an elder do? Teach the right thing? Teach against the wrong thing? In our society today,
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Kim and I talked about this the other day, with kind of feminized men everywhere you go, not just the way they look.
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By the way, we saw a lot of them in California. But also by the way they act. Yes, teach sound doctrine.
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But also say, you know what, that's not going to get taught here. We're going to contradict false doctrine because it's not good for people.
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It upsets families. He says, you know what, I've got news for you,
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Titus. You're at Crete. Here's what I want you to do. I want you to entertain people. I want you to, you know what, perform, amuse.
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No, teach the right thing. Stand up against the wrong thing. Very, very simple. If you take a look at Titus Chapter 1 in this section here, let's see if I see the verse again.
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Able to teach sound doctrine and rebuke those who contradict it. Not just rebuke the doctrine.
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Hey, this doctrine's wrong, but so -and -so by name is teaching the wrong thing.
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Pastors need to know that there's error out there because the truth is going to be attacked by Satan.
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Well, we've gone from select to number two, silence. The purpose of my message today is to remind everyone here, gospel language.
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If I was going to teach you Rosetta Stone gospel language, I think I used to do the German one, Spanish one.
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You guys know Rosetta Stone language? I'm giving you Rosetta Stone gospel language. The way
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Christians talk, yes, no, do, this, yes, but undergirded by the gospel.
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Second one is silence. Verse 10, what must elders do?
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Comes off the heels of confronting false doctrine. They've got to silence these false teachers, for there are many who are insubordinate, empty talkers and deceivers.
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I mean, that is evangelicalism today, is it not? Especially those of the circumcision party. Back in those days, especially the
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Jews were running around saying, you can believe Jesus is God, you can believe that He's the risen Savior, you can believe He lived a perfect life, but you just don't trust in Him with knowledge, assent and trust.
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You also have to be baptized. No, they said, that would be applicable for us.
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You have to be circumcised. What must these people receive?
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The silencing shepherd's voice. They must be given a platform because they draw in a lot of people.
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No, they must be what? Silenced. For the kids here today, you know I regularly do this.
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Set up elders, silence. What's another word that starts with S that is a synonym for silence? Make them shut up, that's right.
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All right, good. Here to serve. Why should they be silenced?
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Because we're mean? They must be silenced. They're upsetting whole families by teaching for shameful gain.
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They're in it for the money. And they're teaching what they ought not to teach. One of the cretins, now we're using a philosopher's quote, but it's true.
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I mean, a broken clock is right twice a day, and even unbelieving philosophers are often right. Cretins are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.
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This testimony is true. Therefore, rebuke them sharply that they may be sound in the faith.
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Not devoting themselves to Jewish myths, commands of the people who turn away from the truth. Probably food laws too are involved with these
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Jewish people. That's most likely verse 15 to the pure. Hey, we're Christians. What do we get to eat?
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Everything, everything's pure. But to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing's pure. Both their minds and their consciences are defiled.
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They profess to know God. Oh, we know God. But by their works, they deny him. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work.
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There are false teachers, and you men better rise up and be men of God. Remember that old hymn?
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Rise up, oh men of God. I think of 1 Corinthians. Be watchful.
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Stay alert or stand guard. And what's the next line? Act like men. Protect the flock.
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One writer said, it was almost impossible to find personal conduct more treacherous than those in Crete.
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Cicero said, moral principles are so divergent that the Cretans consider highway robbery honorable.
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Number three, select silence. And now, this one I had to kind of make up, so hang in there with me.
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School. Ever play basketball in school, somebody? Well, this I mean disciple.
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Educate. School. Verse 1 of chapter 2, but as for you,
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Titus, I mean everybody else is lying, going crazy. Pagan world. By the way, do we live in a pagan world?
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A post -Christian world? How do we change this world for the gospel?
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Answer? Plant churches. Set up churches where they teach the right thing, stand up against the wrong thing, and extol the
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Lord Jesus Christ. Not really a good plan, if you look at the world, but this is
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God's plan. Teach what accords with sound doctrine.
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Verse 2, now you're going to notice, older men and older women.
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Really, the lifeblood of the church, the forgotten part of the church. Older men are to be sober -minded, dignified, self -controlled, sound in love, in faith rather, in love and in steadfastness.
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Older women, do they play a part in the church? A central part of the church. They're to be reverent in their behavior, not slanders or slaves to much wine.
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They're to teach what is good, and to so train the young women. Are you ready? Are you ready?
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This is going to sound really weird, and when this sounds weird, you're going to know you've been affected by the world. Because I know when
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I read it, it sounds weird. I know I've been affected by the world. This gets you banned off Facebook right here, these next parts.
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They're to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self -controlled, pure, working at home, kind, submissive to their own husbands.
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Why? Because the opposite of that behavior reviles God's Word. That the
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Word of God may not be reviled. Likewise, urge the younger men to be self -controlled.
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If I was a young lady here at the church, I'd be thinking, who is a godly lady? Maybe not perfect lady, but a godly lady.
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And I just need to go learn everything I can from that godly lady. That's the idea. What can
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I learn about taking care of a husband, taking care about children? What did you learn the hard way?
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What did you learn the right way by the grace of God? It's the older teaching the younger. And by the way, when the younger get taught by the older, the older also get some benefits.
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Do they not? They get enthusiastic, and they get fired up because they're old and tired, and now they're around young people, and now they're motivating them.
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Just hypothetically speaking. And it's the same thing.
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You're a young man. I've said to many young men here, you know what, you're struggling with this problem, find somebody in the church, and you go, you know what,
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I kind of like the way that guy acts. He's not perfect, but I like the way he acts, and I think God could use him to teach me something even though that man's not perfect.
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That's the way God's church works. Passing the baton. One person to the next.
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Just a quick side note for some of you older folks here today. I know some older people that say, you know what,
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I don't think I can disciple because my life's not really ready yet. I'm not quite there.
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If you talk like that, you're my man. If you say, yes, I know,
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I can't believe I don't have 40 more people asking to be discipled. When I talk to people, and I'll interview them to be an elder, and they're like,
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I just don't think my life really matches up. I'm thinking, that's the kind of guy I want. Versus, you know what, oh yeah, the elder qualifications, no problem.
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But as for you, Titus, here's what you do with older men. Here's what you do with older women.
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Discipleship. Training. Hebrews 13 says of leaders, you want to imitate their faith.
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That's what that is. Number four, show. Select silence, school, and now show.
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Is there anything wrong with law? No. Is there anything wrong with commands? No. It's only wrong if you leave
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Christians with law only. Because law is like a GPS. It tells me, stay on target, or you're deviating, turn around.
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The gospel is what motivates. The gospel is what gives us the engine to give us desires to live for the
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Lord. Show yourself, verse 7, that's where I get show. In all respects, to be a model of good works, and in your teaching, show integrity, dignity, and sound speech that cannot be condemned, so that an opponent may be put to shame having nothing evil to say about us.
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Bond servants are to be submissive to their own masters and everything. They're to be well -pleasing, not argumentative, not pilfering.
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It's a good way, by the way, for us to act as employees too, by showing all good faith, so that in everything they may adorn, walk worthy of, the doctrine of God our
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Savior. Now is that section law or gospel? That section's law.
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That section is a command. That section is not what God has done for us. But now here in chapter 2, here's the undergirding of who
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Jesus is. Remember when I say gospel, I'm saying Jesus and what He's done.
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The good news that Jesus saved sinners. Verse 11, I mean, this is so central.
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For the grace of God has appeared. Doesn't that sound funny? Mercy appears. I mean, it sounds like a
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Getty song. Oh, sorry. I think we sang Getty today, didn't we? You know, the thing is when you do a radio, you can always edit your stuff.
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The grace has appeared. What's he talking about? We're talking about grace incarnate. We're talking about the virgin birth,
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Jesus, human. The grace of God has appeared, Jesus, bringing salvation for all people,
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Jews, Christians, Gentiles, boys, girls. Training us. What does the gospel do?
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It doesn't make you just stay in your sin. I mean, if you've been justified, God will begin to work on your life and make you holy in your life.
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Training us to renounce ungodliness, worldly passions, and to live self -controlled, upright and godly in the present age.
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This pagan age, this Cretan age, this USA age. And while you're living that way, don't forget what's going to happen.
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Here's more gospel truth of what God has done and what He will do. Waiting for our blessed hope.
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The appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. And what does this God do?
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There are rules called laws and there is gospel, what God has done. Here's a great good news verse.
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Who gave Himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession who are zealous for good works.
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Now that is good news. By the way, if somebody knocks at your door and says, I would like to talk to you about spiritual things.
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The first thing I say to them is, do you have a Bible? And they say, yes. And they say, could you please read
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Titus chapter 2, verse 13? And then they read Titus 2, 13, the great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.
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And then I say, what does that mean? And then they say, well, Jesus was a created being and He's subordinate to the
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Father. I said, no, no. What does verse 13 say? That's a good place to go.
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Kim and I were telling this story to someone the other day. Some Jehovah's Witnesses came and I did that.
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And I said, what does Romans 9, 5 say? Went through the hand deal where it's the honors of God and the attributes of God and the names of God and the deeds of God that Jesus has.
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And then I said, I've got a deal for you. This is my house and my property.
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It's personal property. And if you let me preach the good news of Jesus to you so you can be forgiven, you can stay. But if you want to talk, you're going to have to go.
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Whoa, whoa, you don't have to be so upset. I said, you're here trying to sell my family spiritual strychnine and I have good news for you.
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I want you to go to heaven. Well, I said, okay, I guess I'm going to have to have you leave the property.
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And we had the Catholics across the street, Mr. Torres, and I just made sure to yell to Mr. Torres, these people deny that Jesus is the
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God -man. Mr. Torres was like, okay. Vaya con
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Dios. No wonder
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Robert Murray McShane said every time you look to yourself, you should look to the
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Lord Jesus ten times. Self, you've got to be more obedient. You've got to do the right thing.
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You've got to be sexually pure. You've got to do this. You have to love your wife. There's a thousand laws and they're good laws.
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But if there's no reason to do the laws, no power to do the laws, no Jesus in your thought when you do the laws, it's all wrong.
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Gospel language is there's laws undergirded by the gospel. People say, well, Mike, you're on this hobby horse.
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I am on this hobby horse because it's important. There's no way for sustained obedience if I just keep giving you laws.
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The sustained obedience is Jesus is a wonderful Savior. Can you imagine, you're supposed to go to hell.
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I'm supposed to go to hell. I get to go to heaven. I'm forgiven. I'm cleansed.
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I'm washed. I'm justified. And so are you if you're trusting in Jesus. No wonder we say,
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Jesus paid it all. Right? All to Him I what? Oh, I will gladly do it because you did all this.
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So, Paul says to Titus, here's how you set up a church. And here's what you do with discipleship.
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But don't forget why you do it. It's fascinating to me. What a gift.
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Grace incarnate. And then He's coming back. So from the first coming to the second coming, here's what we want you to do.
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Verse 15, Declare these things. Exhort and rebuke with all authority. Let no one disregard you.
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Is there a time to rebuke? Absolutely. But there's a time to exhort too. And by the way, the word exhort means to come alongside.
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The Holy Spirit is called the Comforter. The parakaleo in Greek. That's where we get this word.
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The Comforter. It's not just blasting people, but it's comfort. I've told many people,
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I think I've scolded you for too long, for too many years early on. I know it wasn't only scolding. But there's a reproving and a rebuking and there's an encouragement.
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And that's what Paul said. Number five, how are we doing for time? Well, as far as I'm concerned, it's 1034.
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So we just... Do you know how hard it is to go to a conference all week and not get up and preach the
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Bible? Man, that was so hard. Sometimes I think
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I'm alone. Like we're some kind of odd church just believing these things. And then you go to a conference and you think 3 ,500 other men are here doing the same thing as God is raising up His churches.
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I met a pastor from Maine and he's a bivocational pastor. And he sat in front of me.
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I figured he was at the Shepherds Conference because he was reading this Steve Lawson article. I know that's a stretch.
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Shepherds Conference, flying from LA. And I said, you know what?
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If you ever need pulpit supply, we'd love to send somebody up to preach for you. I said, you probably should listen to one of my sermons first to see if I'm legit, but we'd like to send people up there.
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And he said, I don't think I've had a time. I don't think I've had time off in 20 years. I said, how old are you?
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He said, 61. I said, okay, I'll talk to you like an older brother then because I was going to whack him.
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I said, you need to take some time off, friend. I said, if you were my younger brother,
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I'd say, I'm forcing you to take time off. I don't know if I've hardly taken a week off in 20 years of preaching.
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You know, the Lord has those kind of men with their wives and their children all across the world holding the line, preaching the
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Word, talking about the Lord Jesus. That's how you change the world. Number five, submit.
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Select silent school show. Submit. What do we do with an unreasonable government?
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Well, when they tell us to sin, we say, no, thank you, we won't. But short of that, here's our attitude.
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Verse one, and you've got to be reminded of this because we continue to forget. This is not built into us.
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Remind them to be what? Submissive. I disagree, but I go along anyway.
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That's what it is. With the government, I disagree, but I go along anyway. With wives to their husbands, I disagree, but I go along anyway.
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To be submissive to rulers, authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people.
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Is that how you talk about the government? That's hard to do, isn't it? I need a reminder to talk that way because I know how
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I want to talk. Verse three, here's a good way to remember we should talk appropriately about God's ordained leaders because here's our testimony, at least it was mine.
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For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing on our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another.
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Guess what? Chapter one, there's a lot of imperatives undergirded by who Jesus is and the eternal counsels of God.
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Chapter two, there's a lot of commands, but it's undergirded by grace incarnate who's also going to come back.
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Chapter three, does it surprise you, dear friend, in 46 verses, not just once, not twice, but three times, guess what's coming now?
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Talk about who Jesus is and our triune God. But, when the goodness and loving kindness of, there it is again,
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God our Savior, appeared, He what? He made salvation possible.
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Is that what it says? He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to His own mercy.
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This is all gospel. This is done. This is what God does for us. By the washing of regeneration,
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He makes us born again and the renewal of the Holy Spirit. And now He just, the floodgates are open.
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He just poured it on. It would be enough for me if, you know what? Mike, here's why you should be submissive. Because, you know what?
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You used to be awful as well, but God saved you.
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That'd be enough for me to go, okay, I get it. But, this is kind of like, how could I describe it?
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You ever watch those games? They win the championship and some of the good players, the well -known players, they go get a big jug of something orange and they go dump it on someone.
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What's that called? It's called baptism by Gatorade. Just dumping it.
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Pouring it. Talk about bold judgments. Why is it a bold judgment? Because it just all comes out at once.
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It's all or nothing. Not a judgment here, because the judgment went on Jesus in our place. This is just this dumping the spiritual
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Gatorade out on everybody. So you go, yeah, that's right. I can submit to these leaders because look what
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God has done for us. Just listen to the language. Whom He poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our
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Savior. God our Savior. God our Savior. God our Savior. And now Jesus Christ our Savior. Friends, Jesus is
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God, if you didn't know that. So that being justified, that is declared righteous by the righteous work of Jesus, by His grace we might become...
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Now look at this language. This is not law language. This is motivational gospel language.
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We might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. This saying, or the saying is trustworthy.
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What saying? Verse 5 saying, 6 saying, 7 saying. This is trustworthy.
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And I want you to insist on these things so those who have believed in God, something will happen to them.
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If you believe this about God and He did this for you, and your status before God is now righteous, you will then desire to live a righteous life.
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Justification is followed by sanctification. They are different, but they are inseparable. That you may be careful to devote yourself,
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I'm just changing it from themselves to you BBC, so that you may be careful to devote yourself to good works.
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These things are excellent and profitable for people. While there were some mistakes in that Justin Bieber interview a while ago, he did get it right by saying, essentially,
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I don't do things to earn God's favor, but since God's favor has been given to me, I'd like to now do things.
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Did you hear it? Okay, don't look it up. I was in LA and somebody said, well you know,
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Kanye died in that wreck. I'm like, Kanye died in that wreck? I said, do you mean
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Kobe? Oh yeah, Kobe. Okay. Everybody's dying in wrecks. Do you see what he's doing?
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Here's the point. To learn Titus, yes. To learn how a church should operate, yes.
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But I want you to realize, this is how we operate with one another in the family of God and also your own family.
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There are indicatives. This is what God has done. This is what you mean to me. And there are imperatives.
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In light of that, this is what you should do. Verse 9, but avoid foolish controversies.
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Genealogies, dissensions, quarrels about the law. They're unprofitable, worthless. Don't do that.
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And then number 7. Is that what we're on, number 7? Oh, we're still on 6.
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Okay. The perfect number 7. Remind people to do this and for a person who stirs up division, warning him, we're going to have that for another
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S very shortly. This is a gospel paradigm for us with law gospel so we understand what is the difference.
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How do we act towards these folks? Well, we want to be careful. We were once disobedient like they were so we want to submit in everything until they tell us to disobey
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God. Number 6. Shun. There we go. I just said it.
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I was looking for my notes here. Number 6. Shun. Shun foolish controversies.
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Verse 9. Genealogies for they're unprofitable and worthless.
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What are we to shun? What are we to turn our back on? Well, several things and we'll try to go quickly.
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We have to end. Shun, number 1, foolish controversies. Shun, number 2, genealogies that are all tied to weird things and not biblical genealogies that the
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Jews would like to do. Number 3, shun strife about the law. Shun disputes about the law.
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And then also shun people who are causing problems in the church and divisions. Reject a factious man after the first and second warning knowing that such a man is perverted and is sinning, being self -condemned.
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Jesus wants unity and so those that do the opposite should be shunned.
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And then finally, number 7. Serve. Select, silence, school, show, submit, shun, and serve.
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Verse 12. When I send Artemis or Tychicus to you... By the way, Charlie, what does Tychicus mean? Fortunate.
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Yes, our chance, our lucky. You know, sometimes people have their names changed when they become a Christian. I was once in India and I met a guy and I said,
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Oh, my name is Mike Avendroth. Pleased to meet you. What's your name? And he said, John Knox. Wow!
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I did not know that Scottish man was so dark -complected. It's amazing to me.
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You get a new name when you get saved. I used to have a pagan name and now I get saved, I get a new name. I met lots of Barnabases in India too.
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I think it's funny that this guy is named Lucky and he gets saved and he keeps the name Lucky or Chance just because every time you call him,
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Hey, Lucky, we don't really believe in luck, right? There are curse words and there are curse words and at the top of Avendroth's list is luck.
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Good luck. You know I love you if you say to me good luck and I confront you.
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Because if you're a visitor and you say, Oh, good luck with your surgery. I just smile. But if I love you,
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I say, good what? And they're like, he's now deaf. Good what?
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Oh, and then they correct themselves, auto -correct. Good providence. When I send
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Artemis or Lucky to you, do your best to come to me at Nicopolis for I've decided to spend the winter there.
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Do your best to speed Zenos, the lawyer. There are some good lawyers. And Apollos on their way.
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See that they lack nothing. And here's what we do in light of the gospel. Dear Christian friend, if you didn't have to pay for your sins and you didn't, what do you spend your time doing now?
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Trying to get right with God? No, serving other people. That's the idea.
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God doesn't need your good works. Jesus gave them to the Father in your place. But your neighbor needs your good works.
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So let our people learn to devote themselves to good works. So as to help cases of urgent need and not be unfruitful.
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All who are with me send greetings to you. Greet those who love us in the faith. Grace be with you all. What a great book.
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But I never want you to read it again without thinking. There's all kinds of laws that God has.
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After all, he's the creator. This is his church. But he wants to make sure that we understand those commands in the light of his
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Son, the Lord Jesus. That we know about because of the Holy Spirit. So that we might honor the
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Father. Right? So this week when you talk to your wife or your husband about to -do list.
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Or this week when you talk to your kids about things that they have to get done. Or this week if you're a boss and you tell your employees about what they have to do.
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I want you to think about the paradigm that God uses. And that is the motivation to obey isn't law.
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It can never motivate to obey. It only accuses or excuses. It only condemns or says good job.
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But it never motivates to obey. Lastly, when you get tired serving
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Christian. Some of you are probably really tired. How can you say to yourself, you know what? I need like a reboot.
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I kind of got to get going again to serve. I'm kind of in a valley. And I'm in a doldrums.
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And I'm really struggling with a lot of areas. And I need a reboot. What do you do?
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The answer is found in the person of Jesus Christ. And to study Him.
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We love marriage books. We love communication books. We love how to be better workers books. We love all these pragmatic books.
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A lot of those books, nothing wrong with them. When's the last time you read a book about who Jesus is?
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Let's pray. Thank you father for our time in your word. Would you help us to appreciate the beauty of the work of your son, the
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Lord Jesus Christ. The one that you said, this is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. So that then since our status with you is fine through faith alone.
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We then have time to serve other people. And we have a reason to serve other people. And it's not found in them.
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And it's not found in us. It's found in you. Father, we want to know you better.
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And please help us force down wanting to be busy, running around when we forget.
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There's a difference with our Lord Jesus when He talked to Martha and Mary. And one was the more important thing.
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So guide us please. Thank you for being what the Bible calls the God of all grace. In Jesus name we pray.