In v. 8 when Paul says, this is a trustworthy statement concerning the previous four verses, that is the typical formula to demonstrate a hymn or creedal statement common to the primitive Christian faith.

But the Spirit makes the broken human words become a living Word of God to the hearers. Okay, here's what I'm saying, and it's not just what I'm saying, it's what I think the text is saying, and of course I would issue a caveat of caution.

The title of the sermon today, church, is A Trustworthy Statement. A Trustworthy Statement. So starting in verse three of the letter to Titus, here now, the words of the living and true God. Verse four, but when the kindness of God, our savior and his love for mankind appeared, he saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to his mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ, our savior, so that being justified by his grace, we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

They are circumstances that form the setting for the statement or the idea. And in terms of which it can be fully understood and assessed. I would encourage you, do not leave off halfway understanding a section of scripture.

It says, don't tell jokes in the pulpit. Okay. But something concrete. Here comes the concrete. You can take that out of the tape. It's going so good up to this point. Old Testament, grief, and the Holy Spirit.

And I'm going to make some statements by Brian McLaren, quoted by him, and you tell me what you think of those statements. I'm going to quote from several books, but mainly from a generous orthodoxy. Certainty, the context is the Bible, is overrated.

Back to the statement for now. The statement begins with a preamble that states, Evangelical Christians at the dawn of the 21st century find themselves living in a period of historic transition. As Western culture has become increasingly post -Christian, it has embarked upon a massive revision of what it means to be a human being.

Preach the word. These are words from God, and to give the right sense for them. So now we've got a problem. We're only seven minutes into the sermon, and already we are way off the rails. And if you had listened with an open Bible rather than an open mind, you would have spotted this fellow to be a false teacher immediately, and that's kind of the point.

This reads like a statement of faith, you know? You know, we believe that, yeah, it's unmistakable if you know your creeds. We believe that the general function of the gift of prophecy as it relates to the church has to do with edification, exhortation, and comfort.

The gospel of Jesus Christ is history, a message that must be spoken. Our actions affirm that we truly believe in what we speak. So live a life of godliness. Yes, thank you, Smitty. And that's when we understand the text.

It is a summary statement. Paul gives us a purpose statement. It's a statement that had the power to change and transform the life of this man who is radically opposed to God. It also, this statement informed Paul of his mission, what he had been set out to do, what his calling was.

You kind of gone a little further and I want to come to it. Charlie, do you want to add something quick? That's very important. Excellent. In fact, we'll go back in reverse order here because one of the things that's assumed here is if Jesus said it, it's important but everything else doesn't matter and what Christine just said is we are bringing a biblical theology into the conversation when we say, you know, this is what God says and you may not agree with it but you need to know it and whether it is in Leviticus or whether it is in Romans 1 it's all of God and so after you talk about what they specifically ask what you're doing here is you're giving them the gospel by showing them something that they didn't actually know so you may not be the greatest philosopher to talk about the logical inconsistencies and all that they're doing but you know your word enough to say exactly what Christine said.

Instead of boldly declaring God's truth to a dying, God -rejecting world, we cower and seek to justify ourselves before men. Brothers and sisters, what is the solution to this problem? We find it here in Proverbs chapter 30, verses 1 through 6.

How we need to speak. Helps us to clarify what we're saying. Some of you wonder why I belabor certain points either here on the dividing line or in my sermons or Bible study classes and this is probably why because in interacting with a wide variety of opposition of the Christian faith I try to be accurate and to consider how other people would be hearing what I'm saying and but you cannot I mean you'd Turn into the Amplified Bible if you tried to answer every single objection in every sermon and things like that.

I hope you're conscious of the privilege that you have if you have a pastor and a preacher who loves God, loves the word of God, trusts the Son of God, and speaks the truth concerning him. You need to pray that when he opens his mouth, he may truly teach the word of God, that he wouldn't be a debater, that he wouldn't be a mere theorizer, but that he would be someone who with some sense of that Christ -like authority, a man who knows and is gripped by the truth of God, he brings that to your soul so that you know that it's not the voice of a mere man, but truly the voice of God that you are hearing.

I'll be out of that pulpit so fast because we have a confession which we say summarizes the teaching of Scripture and delimits the power of the minister. I have no right to teach contrary to a confession that I have taken vows to as summarizing what I understand to be the teaching of Scripture on the cardinal points of the faith.

Yeah, right and then Homiletical statement would be how does it apply to us, right?

Eliminate the PowerPoint presentation. Stop passing out the fill in the blank outlines and let the man of God proclaim the truth with genuine, heartfelt fervor, energized by the Spirit's unction. That's exactly right.

The minister is to be committed to preaching exposition through the word of God. Now, if the word of God that he has decided to open up and preach through expositionally speaks on a matter, they are committed.

What an interesting statement, because aren't we justified by faith alone? Well, that's absolutely true. But remember, the words that you say represent what's on the inside. So if your speech is a sweet -smelling aroma desiring to give God glory, well, that speech, you'll be justified by your speech because it represents a heart of faith, right?