WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.440 Oh, I can't preach up here. Sorry, I just got to move too much. 00:00:08.779 --> 00:00:14.099 What's that? Yeah, it's only a suggestion. That's right. So I don't mind praying back there, but 00:00:14.099 --> 00:00:22.240 I want to open the word up here. So we are looking again at the book of Titus. We've been working 00:00:22.240 --> 00:00:28.539 our way through the book of Titus. And this morning, we're going to look mainly at three 00:00:28.539 --> 00:00:32.159 verses. We're going to read together a little bit longer passage, but we're going to look 00:00:32.159 --> 00:00:40.939 mainly at three verses. But I feel the need to look at what we've covered already to review 00:00:40.939 --> 00:00:46.239 so that when we share the passage this morning, we can link it to what the whole meaning of 00:00:46.239 --> 00:00:51.920 the book is about. So we'll understand what's happening in these three verses that we're 00:00:51.920 --> 00:00:58.100 going to look at together this morning. Let me just ask this. If you've got your Bible, 00:00:58.100 --> 00:01:03.380 I would encourage you to open it because I'm going to be looking at multiple words and 00:01:03.380 --> 00:01:08.540 phrases and we'll be going through this book. It's helpful in my thinking if you've got it 00:01:08.540 --> 00:01:14.180 open before you and you can look at it. And I would ask you even now to look at chapter 00:01:14.180 --> 00:01:19.379 one, verse four and five to understand what the letter is about, to understand what the 00:01:19.379 --> 00:01:26.020 book of Titus is about. What we'll see is this. To Titus, Paul says, to Titus, my true 00:01:26.019 --> 00:01:36.280 child, meaning that Titus came into the kingdom through the ministry of Paul. And Titus would 00:01:36.280 --> 00:01:43.500 view Paul as a spiritual father, one that God used to tell him or share with him the truth. 00:01:43.859 --> 00:01:49.359 And he received that truth to the point at which he became a believer. So his salvation 00:01:49.359 --> 00:01:55.120 happened because of the ministry of Paul. And so therefore, Paul calls Titus his true child. 00:01:56.500 --> 00:02:04.459 And we see something interesting here. As we see in verse five, this is why I left you in Crete. 00:02:05.519 --> 00:02:12.780 So we understand that what's going on is Titus came into the kingdom because of the ministry of Paul. 00:02:12.780 --> 00:02:19.979 Paul and then Titus joined Paul and he spent much time with Paul. And not only was he saved through 00:02:19.979 --> 00:02:27.420 that interaction with Paul, we would believe that he matured. He grew because he was engaged in life, 00:02:27.479 --> 00:02:34.400 doing life on life with Paul. And he was with him in ministry as they traveled around the ancient world, 00:02:35.099 --> 00:02:42.039 sharing the gospel. And it's interesting. This is just an aside that would be pertinent to all of us. 00:02:42.039 --> 00:02:48.859 Isn't it interesting that even in those two little verses, we can understand this truth? 00:02:49.699 --> 00:02:56.939 And that is that salvation happened in the life of Titus and growth happened in the life of Titus 00:02:56.939 --> 00:03:02.979 through the ministry of Paul. And isn't it interesting what Paul does in the life of Titus? He says, 00:03:03.060 --> 00:03:09.599 Titus, you've come to faith because you've heard the word of God and you've believed that Jesus is the 00:03:09.599 --> 00:03:15.500 only way to salvation. You've placed your faith in him and you've been changed. You've been made a new 00:03:15.500 --> 00:03:22.419 creature through the indwelling Holy Spirit that's come to dwell within you. And you've grown. You've 00:03:22.419 --> 00:03:27.699 come to understand God's word. You've come to understand your sinfulness. You've come to understand 00:03:27.699 --> 00:03:35.159 the impact that God's word has. And now, Titus, it's time for me to leave you to lead on your own. 00:03:35.159 --> 00:03:41.939 It's time for you to step into ministry on your own. It's time for you to begin to disciple others. 00:03:42.520 --> 00:03:50.579 It's time for you to shepherd. Do you see it? He's saved. He's matured. And at some point, 00:03:50.939 --> 00:03:56.340 it's time for ministry. Church, do you realize that's the same cycle that's true for each one of us? 00:03:56.340 --> 00:04:05.640 You know, the moment of salvation is not the end of it all. It's not, I've got my ticket. I'm good. I 00:04:05.640 --> 00:04:12.780 can live life any way I want to live. That's not the picture of the gospel. You know what salvation 00:04:12.780 --> 00:04:20.060 does? It changes our desires. We become a new creature according to Romans chapter 6. We've been 00:04:20.060 --> 00:04:25.439 made a new creature and we've been called to walk in newness of life. That means we walk differently 00:04:25.439 --> 00:04:32.540 than we used to walk. We don't live the same way we used to live. Things have changed. 00:04:34.860 --> 00:04:43.560 And Paul is saying to Titus, Titus, it's time. It's time for you to break relationship at least 00:04:43.560 --> 00:04:50.199 day by day by day. But I haven't left you. I'm always here. You're always my child in the faith. 00:04:50.199 --> 00:04:56.099 But I want you to trust in God as you minister, as you give your life away for people. Church, 00:04:57.120 --> 00:05:01.659 is that true for you and me? For those of us this morning that are born again, 00:05:02.740 --> 00:05:07.180 has that maturity taken place? Has that growth, spiritual growth taken place in your life? 00:05:08.259 --> 00:05:13.439 Have you got to the place, have you come to the place where you say to God, God, I'm scared. I don't 00:05:13.439 --> 00:05:18.240 know what it looks like. I don't even really know how I'm gifted. I don't know what you're calling me to do, 00:05:18.240 --> 00:05:24.800 but I'm willing. I'm willing to be a tool in your hand. I'm willing to be used as a minister 00:05:24.800 --> 00:05:28.160 in any way you desire for me to be used. Church, are we there? 00:05:30.699 --> 00:05:37.920 You know that's what God is showing us through this? In this pastoral epistle, 00:05:38.780 --> 00:05:43.300 understand that Paul didn't hand the letter to Titus and say, hey, here's a letter. Here's my 00:05:43.300 --> 00:05:48.060 instructions. You hang out. I'm gone. He didn't do that. You know what he did? 00:05:48.240 --> 00:05:55.000 He prayed with him and he committed him to ministry on the island of Crete. And I just want 00:05:55.000 --> 00:06:03.460 you to remember who these Cretans are. That's a weird sounding word. And actually, some people use 00:06:03.460 --> 00:06:11.180 that as a derogatory term. You're just a Cretan. Well, we see in the text that Cretans didn't really 00:06:11.180 --> 00:06:18.660 live for God, did they? They were widely known for their dishonesty, for their slothfulness, 00:06:19.160 --> 00:06:25.900 for their laziness, for their gluttonous lifestyle, for their pride, for their selfishness. 00:06:26.939 --> 00:06:33.860 And even in the text, it calls them evil beasts. That's not something you really want to be known 00:06:33.860 --> 00:06:43.060 for. I don't think. But isn't it interesting that they still are not someone Paul would push to the 00:06:43.060 --> 00:06:48.680 sideline and say, you know, they don't deserve the gospel. You know what Paul would say? Not only do 00:06:48.680 --> 00:06:56.000 they need the gospel, I'm going to leave my child Titus on this island to lead, even though he's young. 00:06:56.000 --> 00:07:02.019 He's young in years, but he's not young in maturity. God has done a work in his life. He's grown him 00:07:02.019 --> 00:07:09.060 spiritually. Titus, you're ready to minister to the church. And Paul prays for him, and he asks for 00:07:09.060 --> 00:07:14.480 God's blessing in his life. And then Paul leaves to the ministry God's called him to. He leaves Titus 00:07:14.480 --> 00:07:20.819 there to lead the church on the island. And then later, Paul wants to stay connected, but you know they 00:07:20.819 --> 00:07:27.339 didn't have internet back then? I don't know how they stay connected. I guess if you've got a fast 00:07:27.339 --> 00:07:31.819 boat with a Yamaha on the back, you can stay connected a little better. But in that day, they 00:07:31.819 --> 00:07:36.600 used these cloth sails, and it took a little longer to get there, and not many people owned them. 00:07:37.560 --> 00:07:45.199 It was much harder to get words back and forth. But at some point, Paul probably heard some of the 00:07:45.199 --> 00:07:50.899 information that was going on in the ministry of the churches on Crete, and Paul wrote a letter, 00:07:50.979 --> 00:07:56.939 and that's what we're reading. It's this letter that is specifically to one person, Titus, his child 00:07:56.939 --> 00:08:07.819 in the faith. It's a pastoral epistle. And he says to Titus, Titus, I want to encourage you, 00:08:07.819 --> 00:08:15.639 and I want to remind you. I want to encourage you, and I want to remind you. And that's what we'll look 00:08:15.639 --> 00:08:24.360 at here in a minute. But before I pray for our time in the Word, I want to read the text to you. 00:08:24.379 --> 00:08:28.860 This morning, we're going to read a little bigger passage, but we're going to concentrate on verses 00:08:28.860 --> 00:08:35.600 1 through 3 in chapter 3. So if you will read with me, starting at chapter 3, verse 1, we're going down 00:08:35.600 --> 00:08:41.500 through verse 8 this morning. So if you would open your word and read along with me. And the Word of 00:08:41.500 --> 00:08:48.200 God says this, remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, 00:08:48.980 --> 00:08:57.940 to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, 00:08:58.420 --> 00:09:05.120 and to show perfect courtesy towards all people. For we ourselves were once foolish, 00:09:05.600 --> 00:09:12.240 disobedient, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, 00:09:13.100 --> 00:09:20.259 passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. But when the goodness 00:09:20.259 --> 00:09:28.440 and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, He saved us, not because of works done by us in 00:09:28.440 --> 00:09:35.720 righteousness, but according to His own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy 00:09:35.720 --> 00:09:43.300 Spirit, whom He poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by 00:09:43.300 --> 00:09:49.920 His grace, we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. The saying is trustworthy, 00:09:49.919 --> 00:09:56.419 and I want you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed in God may be careful to 00:09:56.419 --> 00:10:04.299 devote themselves to good works. These things are excellent and profitable for people. Let's pray. 00:10:06.799 --> 00:10:13.879 Father, thank you for your word, and as we open your word and we hear this message that Paul gave to 00:10:13.879 --> 00:10:19.620 Titus, this instruction that he gave, this reminder that he gave, Father, I pray that you would remind us. 00:10:21.600 --> 00:10:28.500 Remind us of what you've done on our behalf. Father, what we could not do on our own, we could not get to you. 00:10:31.439 --> 00:10:34.759 But it's what you did for us that you showed mercy on us, God. 00:10:34.759 --> 00:10:43.500 Father, you've blessed us with salvation because of your great love. And you've drawn us into your 00:10:43.500 --> 00:10:51.319 kingdom, called us by your name, made us heirs of the king of all kings. Father, you've given us a hope 00:10:51.319 --> 00:10:59.740 that we'd be with you one day, fully with you one day, apart from the temptation of this world in our 00:10:59.740 --> 00:11:04.700 flesh, apart from the enemy that is the dark kingdom that would come against us, apart from 00:11:04.700 --> 00:11:10.600 all those things. We'll be with you in glory, with you where you are, with you in the very mist, 00:11:10.640 --> 00:11:15.980 and we will see you in all your glory. Father, we long for the day. But until then, God, I pray that 00:11:15.980 --> 00:11:24.040 you would do work in our hearts, that we would desire to present ourselves as it were a living 00:11:24.040 --> 00:11:30.540 sacrifice, not doing what we want to do, but willing and offering ourself to do exactly what you want to 00:11:30.539 --> 00:11:38.500 do through us. And God, I pray that you would cause the spirit to pour forth fruit from our life. 00:11:39.059 --> 00:11:44.519 And I pray that the world would be blessed by what you do in and through us. God, humble us, 00:11:45.480 --> 00:11:54.719 use us, glorify yourself through us. Father, we ask for your blessing and your strength, 00:11:54.720 --> 00:11:56.340 and we pray in your name. Amen. 00:12:00.399 --> 00:12:02.440 We start here in 00:12:02.440 --> 00:12:06.879 verse 1 with this word, remind. 00:12:08.279 --> 00:12:13.759 So you've got this father in the faith, Paul, saying to his son in the faith, Titus, 00:12:14.080 --> 00:12:19.300 remind them, remind them. But you know he uses a lot more words than just this one. Have you noticed 00:12:19.299 --> 00:12:24.979 that as we've been working our way through the book of Titus, he uses many instructional words? 00:12:25.979 --> 00:12:33.299 As a pastor, Paul, saying to a pastor, Titus, brother, remember these things. Let me remind you, 00:12:33.359 --> 00:12:39.839 let me share with you this instruction on how you should lead. And here are some words that he uses. 00:12:39.840 --> 00:12:53.019 Put into order, rebuke, reach, oh, excuse me, sorry, teach. Probably say reach too. Teach. And he uses this 00:12:53.019 --> 00:13:07.139 word urge. And he uses this word show, declare, exhort, rebuke, remind, insist, avoid. Do you hear the 00:13:07.139 --> 00:13:14.639 fatherly influence of Paul? Do you hear him sharing to the shepherd of the church? Do these things. 00:13:15.779 --> 00:13:23.720 Don't neglect these things. Don't forget to rebuke where rebuke is needed. Don't forget to teach his 00:13:23.720 --> 00:13:31.279 word. Don't forget to urge them to be faithful in their walk. Don't forget to show them you be a leader. 00:13:32.120 --> 00:13:36.620 You be a servant leader, and they should see the gospel as you live it out in your own life. 00:13:37.139 --> 00:13:46.799 Declare these things. Don't hold back. Exhort them. This exhortation, come on, brothers. Come on, 00:13:46.840 --> 00:13:53.199 sisters. We need to live for him. We need to live for the king. We need to go chase hard after God. 00:13:53.840 --> 00:14:00.779 Church, isn't that what we want to do? You know, that's what I hope God uses me for here, 00:14:00.779 --> 00:14:07.399 is to just spur us on and say to y'all, come on, let's go. Come on. Let's go hard after him. Let's turn 00:14:07.399 --> 00:14:12.620 away from all these temptations and these idols and stuff, and let's be dedicated to chasing hard 00:14:12.620 --> 00:14:18.299 after God. That God might be glorified and that people might be impacted. You know, that's what we 00:14:18.299 --> 00:14:23.379 need to be about, church. And I hope that we spur each other on to that very thing. 00:14:23.379 --> 00:14:30.500 Well, this morning, we're going to focus on two of those words. This word, remind, and we'll also 00:14:30.500 --> 00:14:38.279 see in verse 8 this word, insist on it. But starting with the word remind, I just want to share with you 00:14:38.279 --> 00:14:45.480 a story that is pertinent, that helps us understand a little more about what is woven into that word. So 00:14:45.480 --> 00:14:55.279 when I grew up as a kid, one of the sports that I played was golf. And I was, from the time I was 10 00:14:55.279 --> 00:14:59.620 on up in through high school, played on the high school team, went to college, played on the college 00:14:59.620 --> 00:15:04.080 team, and got out. And of all my kids, none of them wanted to do golf because they didn't want me 00:15:04.080 --> 00:15:08.779 barking at them and tell them how to do it. But I did have a daughter finally in junior year. 00:15:09.460 --> 00:15:13.840 She came, now it was end of sophomore year. She came and said, Daddy, I want to play golf. Now we 00:15:13.840 --> 00:15:18.259 had hit a par three course and we had done a little bit. And I'm like, oh, praise you Lord. 00:15:18.620 --> 00:15:22.820 I got a reason to go to the golf course. My wife was telling me, honey, can you go to the golf course? 00:15:22.920 --> 00:15:27.580 I mean, it's a great life, right? So I had a daughter and a reason to go. And you talking about 00:15:27.580 --> 00:15:33.100 a good time to spend, a good way to spend time together? Savannah and I spent hours and hours and 00:15:33.100 --> 00:15:38.960 hours and hours together on the golf course playing. And when she started, literally, she couldn't 00:15:38.960 --> 00:15:42.480 break a hundred. And that's understandable. Probably if y'all never played, you couldn't either. 00:15:42.480 --> 00:15:48.680 It's not, it's not an easy game. But as she kept playing, I told her, I said, listen, I will teach 00:15:48.680 --> 00:15:54.639 you everything I know. I will help you. I will tell you the way that I know how to play and I'll do my 00:15:54.639 --> 00:15:58.539 best. And so once you break into the seventies, if you make it to the seventies, I'll get you a real 00:15:58.539 --> 00:16:05.960 coach. But what the, the, what I noticed and what happened in her life and is true for others that, 00:16:05.960 --> 00:16:11.200 that attain a high level of being able to play golf, you know what? She would swing and I'd be like, 00:16:11.200 --> 00:16:15.200 oh no, no, no, no, no, no, don't do that. No, no, no, no. Put your foot here, put that foot here. 00:16:15.400 --> 00:16:21.100 And no, no, no, no, don't do that. And I kept having to remind her, no, don't do it that way. 00:16:21.140 --> 00:16:25.540 You've got to get your hands up here and you've got to keep that knee stiff and you've got to, 00:16:25.740 --> 00:16:32.200 I'm not giving golf lessons by the way. I'm just trying to say that you've got to repeat the same 00:16:32.200 --> 00:16:39.180 thing over and over and over and over and over again. You know, some people say, if you'll hit a thousand 00:16:39.179 --> 00:16:43.819 golf balls, you're good to go. No, I think it's more like a million. And even after you hit a 00:16:43.819 --> 00:16:50.639 million is still hard because it's such a technical game, not to let some movement enter in, but in 00:16:50.639 --> 00:16:56.199 order to be good at golf, in order to hit the ball good, you've got to repeat the same movement every 00:16:56.199 --> 00:17:00.939 time in order to be accurate, in order to be really, really good, in order to be on tour. 00:17:00.940 --> 00:17:08.840 However, so what was fun about it is Savannah, she, she kept, you know, over years, a couple 00:17:08.840 --> 00:17:12.120 of three or four years, two, three, how many was that? I said, one, two, you know what? 00:17:12.180 --> 00:17:15.660 Truth is, it's only two years before she got a new coach because this coach ain't very good. 00:17:16.539 --> 00:17:23.200 And, and she made it and she shot 79. You had never seen a girl so excited. All that work 00:17:23.200 --> 00:17:27.140 to get there. And she got there and I said, all right, I promised you I'd get you a real 00:17:27.140 --> 00:17:30.800 coach. And so I went and talked to my buddy who I played junior golf with. And she got, 00:17:31.040 --> 00:17:38.340 but here's my whole point is that I had to keep reminding her over and over and over and 00:17:38.340 --> 00:17:43.140 over again. Keep your head down. Keep your head down. Hey, hey, keep your head down. No, 00:17:43.200 --> 00:17:47.300 don't move that foot. No, let's do this. I had to remind her because why naturally what we're 00:17:47.300 --> 00:17:52.180 going to do, we're going to venture and stray and stuff, right? You know what Paul does here? 00:17:52.180 --> 00:18:02.840 Good thing I got a tab. Here's what Paul says. Remind them, remind them. They need to be reminded. 00:18:04.019 --> 00:18:09.640 Matter of fact, I wrote this letter to you so I can remind you on the things that you need to do 00:18:09.640 --> 00:18:15.140 as you minister in the lives of people. We need to be reminded, don't we, church? 00:18:15.140 --> 00:18:21.540 church. You know, that's one of the reasons we come on Sunday morning is that we would be reminded 00:18:21.540 --> 00:18:25.960 by the word, not by Treg, not by Jonathan, not by somebody else that might be teaching the class. 00:18:26.200 --> 00:18:33.360 You know what we need reminding of? The truth, the word of God. And we want to be faithful to lift up 00:18:33.360 --> 00:18:39.100 the word of God as a central thing of what we do here, because the word of God is equated with Christ 00:18:39.099 --> 00:18:46.119 and the Father, right? It's the very words of God. And so he says, remind them. And what does he say 00:18:46.119 --> 00:18:54.779 and remind them of? Before we step into that, I want you to see this. I want you to see the ministry 00:18:54.779 --> 00:19:01.219 of Paul to Titus. And it's the same message that Paul had to the Ephesian church. 00:19:01.220 --> 00:19:09.059 And it's this, in verse three and four, it says, we were, Titus, you and me, we were, 00:19:09.880 --> 00:19:15.160 and in verse five says, but God. Have you heard that before? You remember in Ephesians when we did this? 00:19:16.079 --> 00:19:26.079 We were, but God. You know what, Titus? You were just like those people in many ways. 00:19:26.079 --> 00:19:33.439 Selfish, prideful, chasing after your own things, tied into the world. You had idols in your life. 00:19:33.699 --> 00:19:41.939 We were just like that. So don't beat them up. Exhort yes, encourage yes, remind yes. Don't beat 00:19:41.939 --> 00:19:47.519 them up because you and I are just like that. But what happened is God's done a work in our life, 00:19:47.839 --> 00:19:56.059 Titus. We were foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions. You know that 00:19:56.059 --> 00:20:04.659 he's talking about Titus himself? He's saying to Titus, hey, Titus, you remember when you used to 00:20:04.659 --> 00:20:09.919 say foolish stuff? Man, I had to correct you all the time, man. It's hard even to be around you. 00:20:10.839 --> 00:20:14.679 And you kept being disobedient. You know, I told you over and over, this is the way a Christian lives. 00:20:14.919 --> 00:20:21.579 You kept doing your own junk all the time, man. Led astray. I couldn't keep you on the straight path 00:20:21.579 --> 00:20:24.980 if I had to, man. I had a big rope tied around you and I still couldn't keep you in line. 00:20:24.980 --> 00:20:30.720 We were slaves to various passions. Titus, do you remember when you used to chase after that and 00:20:30.720 --> 00:20:33.480 chase after that and chase after that and chase after that? Do you remember, Titus? 00:20:34.839 --> 00:20:41.039 We passed our days in malice. In other words, we were hating people, trying to destroy people, 00:20:41.799 --> 00:20:47.200 trying to lift ourselves up and push everybody else down. Do you remember that, Titus, when you did that? 00:20:47.200 --> 00:20:54.440 And we envied people. We were hated. Do you remember, Titus? We didn't have all that many friends. 00:20:55.480 --> 00:20:59.019 We didn't have all that many people fought much of us. They were trying to trick us like we were 00:20:59.019 --> 00:21:04.600 trying to trick them. Do you remember when we lived like that, Titus? Hey, I was the worst of all, Titus. 00:21:05.400 --> 00:21:11.480 Man, I was persecuting the church. I laughed and ridiculed when Stephen was stoned to death and I 00:21:11.480 --> 00:21:18.500 raised up my fist. That's who I was, but God's done a work in my life. Church, is that true for you? 00:21:19.839 --> 00:21:22.259 Have you come to the point where you realize that's you? 00:21:24.200 --> 00:21:30.799 Every single one of us, that speaks to each one of us, is that all of us are sinners. 00:21:30.799 --> 00:21:38.299 sinners. Now, some might be more openly sinful, more outwardly sinful, but let me say, if you've got 00:21:38.299 --> 00:21:46.559 pride in an attitude, guess what? That's just as sinful as the open stuff. I don't know that we see 00:21:46.559 --> 00:21:51.819 sin for what it really is. We just think the big things are sin and the little things are white lies 00:21:51.819 --> 00:21:55.639 and we don't have to worry about those small things. It's really big things we've got to get 00:21:55.639 --> 00:22:00.619 under control. You realize that all of them are an offense to God? Do you realize that's who we were? 00:22:00.799 --> 00:22:03.720 But God. 00:22:06.599 --> 00:22:11.519 Brother and sister, are you in the kingdom? Are you born again? Are you a believer? 00:22:13.559 --> 00:22:20.259 You know what? If but God's not there, if the work of God is not in your life, you know where you are. 00:22:20.339 --> 00:22:25.579 You're right there where it says, just like Titus and Paul, they once were like that. That's exactly 00:22:25.579 --> 00:22:30.720 where you still are. If but God hadn't happened in your life. Has God touched your heart? 00:22:31.659 --> 00:22:38.419 Has God opened your heart to see your sin? Has God moved in your heart to make you uneasy about 00:22:38.419 --> 00:22:42.720 your sin? Have you gotten to the place where you recognize that apart from the repentance, 00:22:43.639 --> 00:22:48.359 apart from the gift of God, apart from the forgiveness of God, there's no way you'll ever 00:22:48.359 --> 00:22:52.359 be in heaven with him. There's no way you'll be accepted by him. And you're not a believer. 00:22:54.759 --> 00:22:59.740 You know what? Everyone in this room who has come to be born again used to be not born again. 00:23:01.939 --> 00:23:05.979 Sean shared this morning that by the grace of God, when he's seven years old, 00:23:05.980 --> 00:23:13.360 because he was in among the truth, the truth was all over his household and his friendships 00:23:13.360 --> 00:23:19.480 and his neighborhood and his church. And what a blessing of God, Sean, that you didn't have to go 00:23:19.480 --> 00:23:24.819 experience the ways of the world that, you know what? It makes it so much harder to unwind from those 00:23:24.819 --> 00:23:32.640 things. By the grace of God, he blessed you because of the faithfulness of your parents. Man, I celebrate that. 00:23:32.640 --> 00:23:39.940 But you know, unless we have this in our life, but God, then we're not in the kingdom. 00:23:40.740 --> 00:23:45.759 Has God come to you, brother and sister? Has he come to you and says, listen, if you will bow your 00:23:45.759 --> 00:23:53.620 knee in acknowledgement of your sin, and you will confess your sins before me, and you will understand 00:23:53.620 --> 00:24:00.759 that I'm willing to forgive you and provide for you a payment, because you know our sins yield death, 00:24:00.759 --> 00:24:08.240 eternal separation. And unless those sins are paid for, we will be judged, eternally judged. 00:24:08.900 --> 00:24:13.339 But God has provided his son. He sent his son to live a perfect life and die on a cross. 00:24:15.119 --> 00:24:19.700 And when he died on that cross, he shed his blood, a perfect man, a perfect Messiah, 00:24:19.960 --> 00:24:26.579 shed his blood so that if you would trust in the perfect pure blood of Jesus to be substituted in 00:24:26.579 --> 00:24:32.159 your place, to cover you in a sense with this cleanness, it's, you know what the blood represents? 00:24:32.259 --> 00:24:37.240 It represents the life of Christ. And if you will recognize that God has provided a way that is 00:24:37.240 --> 00:24:42.579 the way that Christ lived perfectly will be substituted for the way that you live sinfully. 00:24:43.299 --> 00:24:48.139 Jesus will take on your sins as he hangs on the cross, and he'll give you his righteousness so that 00:24:48.139 --> 00:24:53.279 you can be born again. Oh, it's my prayer today that everyone in here is born again. 00:24:53.279 --> 00:25:02.960 It's my prayer. And Paul is saying to Titus, remind them, Titus, that those characteristics 00:25:02.960 --> 00:25:07.940 are characteristics of the world. That's the way the world lives. But Titus, I want you to remind 00:25:07.940 --> 00:25:14.519 them that's not the way Christians live. That's not the way we're supposed to live. And so we look back 00:25:14.519 --> 00:25:21.240 at verse 1, and it says this, remind them what? What does he say in remind them? And who is them? 00:25:21.240 --> 00:25:28.859 Christians. Remind the Christians, remind the church in Crete, remind them of this, to be submissive 00:25:28.859 --> 00:25:36.559 to rulers and authorities. To be submissive. To be submitted, to live this submitted life. 00:25:36.980 --> 00:25:43.500 You know what? That's an attitude, isn't it? I recognize that I have an authority over me. 00:25:44.200 --> 00:25:48.920 You know, if we think about it from a worldly way, I've got a dad. And while I'm under his 00:25:48.920 --> 00:25:55.640 authority, I'm in his house, I should be submitted to my dad. And I've got an employer. And truthfully, 00:25:55.700 --> 00:25:59.460 I've chosen to be employed there. I should be submitted, and I should live in a righteous 00:25:59.460 --> 00:26:06.700 way under my employer. But you know what? Those are all earthly. The greater authority is God 00:26:06.700 --> 00:26:11.620 himself, that we are under the authority of God. Therefore, we should have the attitude of being 00:26:11.619 --> 00:26:18.339 submitted. We should say, yes, Lord. We should have the heart to say, whatever you say, yes, Lord's 00:26:18.339 --> 00:26:25.519 answer. And he goes on to say this, remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, and to be 00:26:25.519 --> 00:26:33.759 obedient. What does obedience look like? It looks like the next phrase, to be obedient, to be ready for 00:26:33.759 --> 00:26:40.220 every good work. And I'm going to camp here for a couple minutes. To be obedient. Let me just say 00:26:40.220 --> 00:26:48.240 this. The decisions we make, would we classify those as obedient to the Lord? You notice I use that word 00:26:48.240 --> 00:26:55.660 Lord very specifically. You know what Lord means? That means he's an authority. And if he really is Lord, 00:26:55.759 --> 00:27:01.900 how could we ever say no? Those moments where we say, where the Lord says, I want you to live this way, 00:27:01.900 --> 00:27:06.259 and we say, no, no, no, no. I'm not living like that. What are you talking about? You know he's not 00:27:06.259 --> 00:27:12.980 your Lord. Now he might be your savior, and you might be in the kingdom, and you might have the 00:27:12.980 --> 00:27:17.740 hope of heaven, and you might be a new creature. But when you say no to the Lord as he leads you, 00:27:17.780 --> 00:27:25.100 he's not your Lord. By definition, he's not your Lord. You know, it's to our advantage for him to be 00:27:25.100 --> 00:27:30.080 our Lord. It's to our advantage to say, yes, Lord, in every single way, in every single aspect. You know 00:27:30.079 --> 00:27:36.299 what it's called? It's called dependence. He says, listen, child, if you will depend on me, and you will 00:27:36.299 --> 00:27:42.019 place me as your Lord, and you will say yes to me, I'm not saying life's going to be easy for you. But I will 00:27:42.019 --> 00:27:51.139 say this, you'll be full of peace. You'll be full of contentment. You'll be full of me. 00:27:51.140 --> 00:28:02.940 You'll be full of joy. You know what? We seek for joy in all kinds of places, don't we? But he says, 00:28:03.080 --> 00:28:10.060 if you will be obedient to me, if you will be ready. He didn't say create. Notice the good works. 00:28:10.680 --> 00:28:15.680 Good works is a phrase that I'm afraid the church doesn't define very well. And what I'm going to do 00:28:15.680 --> 00:28:19.000 is take a couple of minutes and define it. But I want you to notice what it says about good works. 00:28:19.000 --> 00:28:30.180 Be ready for good works. Be ready to say, yes, Lord. And it does not say, I want you to create 00:28:30.180 --> 00:28:34.900 something that's good and then turn back to God and say, hey, God, look what I did for you. It's 00:28:34.900 --> 00:28:41.400 good, man. Can you bless it? That's not the way we live. Unfortunately, that's the way the church thinks 00:28:41.400 --> 00:28:47.339 is that we're going to create some good thing. And because it's good, God's going to be happy with us. 00:28:47.339 --> 00:28:50.639 And God's going to bless it. And God's going to do great and amazing things through the good thing 00:28:50.639 --> 00:28:58.039 that we created. Let me just talk about the word good real quick so that we understand what good 00:28:58.039 --> 00:29:05.519 works are. Church, this is so important because it's incredibly subtle. And it affects the way we live 00:29:05.519 --> 00:29:10.359 moment by moment, day by day, if we don't understand what this concept is of good works. 00:29:10.359 --> 00:29:19.199 So listen, the natural man, according to Corinthians, is not capable of good. Romans 3 says it this way. 00:29:21.299 --> 00:29:27.659 No one is righteous, no, not one. And some translations put the word good there. No one's 00:29:27.659 --> 00:29:33.859 good, no, not one. Because biblically speaking, the word good is righteousness. No one's righteous, 00:29:34.019 --> 00:29:37.919 no, not one. No one understands. No one seeks for God in their natural state. 00:29:37.920 --> 00:29:44.620 All have turned aside. Together they have become worthless. That means without any value. 00:29:46.460 --> 00:29:53.720 No one does good, not even one. So biblically speaking, this concept of a good work, 00:29:54.320 --> 00:30:01.400 it can't happen in the lives of a non-believer, can it? From the eyes of the world, we look at somebody 00:30:01.400 --> 00:30:05.680 helping a lady across the street and carrying her groceries for them. We say, man, that is good. 00:30:05.680 --> 00:30:13.380 Look at that kind, good act. And yes, that's possible to do from the eyes of men something good. 00:30:14.000 --> 00:30:17.900 But from the eyes of scripture, he's talking about righteousness. 00:30:19.620 --> 00:30:26.640 And our motivation for helping the lady across the road can be self-focused. I want people to think 00:30:26.640 --> 00:30:31.120 good of me. I want her to think good of me. I want to feel good about myself. I want to present 00:30:31.119 --> 00:30:38.659 all these things that I've done to God and say, look how good I am, God. It's sinful if it's driven by self. 00:30:43.339 --> 00:30:50.819 The flesh is not capable of anything good. Can I get amen? Do you all agree with that? 00:30:50.819 --> 00:30:59.039 The flesh is not capable of anything good. How can I make that statement? Well, the word of God makes it. 00:31:00.099 --> 00:31:06.819 In Romans 7, it says this, for I know, Paul speaking, that nothing good dwells in me that is in my flesh. 00:31:07.019 --> 00:31:12.799 Nothing good dwells in my flesh. And Christian, this is speaking to Christians, what I'm about to read. 00:31:12.799 --> 00:31:18.559 Christian, do you realize you can walk by your flesh and you can make decisions by your flesh? 00:31:19.399 --> 00:31:24.940 And that none of those are good? Not one of them? Because the word of God says it this way, 00:31:25.440 --> 00:31:31.440 the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile toward God. Do you realize that every decision we make 00:31:31.440 --> 00:31:37.819 that's driven by the flesh is hostile to God? There's no way to do a good work if it's flesh driven. 00:31:37.819 --> 00:31:43.919 Now, if we take that out and extrapolate it, understand that touches everything. 00:31:45.500 --> 00:31:52.539 So if in my flesh, for selfish reasons, I come up with this creative way to do a good work, 00:31:53.359 --> 00:31:57.859 do you realize that's sinful? Do you realize this hostility toward God because it's not yielded 00:31:57.859 --> 00:32:04.139 or led by him, it's led by you for whatever purpose you're doing it? And I'll go a little further. 00:32:04.140 --> 00:32:12.360 Father, God is the source of all good things. Do you all believe it? Yeah. Turn to James 1 and you'll 00:32:12.360 --> 00:32:17.400 see it. God is the source of everything good. There's nothing good apart from God. Think about 00:32:17.400 --> 00:32:23.720 that. Apart from God, you can't do a good thing. You can't do a good act. You can't. From the eyes of 00:32:23.720 --> 00:32:30.320 the world, you can. But from the eyes of scripture, it's not possible to do a good work. I want us to 00:32:30.319 --> 00:32:35.419 understand what Paul is saying to Titus. And I want us to understand what Titus is going to relay to 00:32:35.419 --> 00:32:41.039 his church is that Christian, this is the way you ought to live. Not by self-effort, not by fleshly 00:32:41.039 --> 00:32:45.939 dreams that you make up and you create yourself. That's not what you need to instruct them to do 00:32:45.939 --> 00:32:52.720 because the flesh never does anything that honors God. Never does anything good by the biblical 00:32:52.720 --> 00:32:58.339 definition. Righteous. And so I ask this question, can a Christian do good apart from God? 00:33:00.500 --> 00:33:07.360 I'll ask it again. Can a Christian, a born again believer do anything good apart from God? 00:33:08.539 --> 00:33:11.940 It's not possible. But you know, many of us are trying. 00:33:11.940 --> 00:33:23.259 The word of God says it this way. In the context of spiritual fruit, in the passage of the vine and 00:33:23.259 --> 00:33:29.759 the branches, there's a statement made, or there's this verse that says, abide in me and I in you as 00:33:29.759 --> 00:33:35.320 the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine. Neither can you unless you abide 00:33:35.319 --> 00:33:43.740 in me. I'm the vine, you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much 00:33:43.740 --> 00:33:49.599 fruit. Do you think spiritual fruit is good? What's the only means for spiritual fruit? 00:33:51.139 --> 00:33:56.000 And all of scripture is only one way to do it. There's only one way that spiritual fruit is going 00:33:56.000 --> 00:34:00.799 to come out of your life. There's only one way that things good are going to happen in your life. 00:34:00.799 --> 00:34:07.500 It's called abide. And when we abide, we're not influenced by outside sources. We're not 00:34:07.500 --> 00:34:12.119 influenced by the flesh. We're not influenced by Satan. We're influenced only by the Holy Spirit. 00:34:12.219 --> 00:34:22.659 That's why it's called abide. Apart from me, you can do nothing. Apart from me, you cannot produce any 00:34:22.659 --> 00:34:33.139 good fruit. You cannot produce any good work. It's not possible. You feel like I'm beating you up? 00:34:34.699 --> 00:34:40.679 I'm not. You know what I'm doing? I'm trying to reveal the depth of this passage and how incredibly 00:34:40.679 --> 00:34:46.779 important it is for us to understand it. Church, we're not called by God to go out and create good 00:34:46.779 --> 00:34:52.619 works. You know what we're called to God to do? Be faithful. How are you faithful when God says, 00:34:52.899 --> 00:34:56.960 Trey, I want you to go down that road. And when you get to the end of the road, I want you to go that 00:34:56.960 --> 00:35:03.219 way. And I say, no, God, it's a shortcut if I go this way. He said, I didn't instruct you to take 00:35:03.219 --> 00:35:07.819 the shortcut. I said, I want you to go down this road and I want you to take that road. You know what 00:35:07.819 --> 00:35:12.219 he wants us to do? He wants to do exactly what he told us to do because all along the way, there's 00:35:12.219 --> 00:35:17.139 things that he's using me for. He wants to spill his fruit out of my life because I'm willing to be 00:35:17.139 --> 00:35:20.980 obedient. And then when I turn the corner and go the other way, guess what? He's still spilling fruit out of my 00:35:20.980 --> 00:35:24.820 life because I'm choosing to be obedient. I'm choosing to walk by his leadership. 00:35:26.420 --> 00:35:32.519 I'm choosing to be led. It's an attitude. So I read the passage again and I want you to hear, 00:35:32.659 --> 00:35:38.780 church, what we need to be reminded of as a church, as individual believers, as born again ones. 00:35:38.900 --> 00:35:44.340 Listen to what we need to be reminded of. Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities. 00:35:44.340 --> 00:35:52.500 Are you submitted to God? Are you ready to obey? Is your attitude truly there? Are you kicking and 00:35:52.500 --> 00:36:00.600 screaming against what God wants to lead you to do? And then he says, and be obedient. When God says go, 00:36:01.260 --> 00:36:09.440 don't, don't say no. He says, be obedient to be ready for every good work. And I just want one more 00:36:09.440 --> 00:36:15.340 thing about good works. If y'all ever notice in Ephesians 2 10, this incredible little phrase 00:36:15.340 --> 00:36:24.740 that talks about good works. Listen, listen to this. And I think it adds a little gravity to what I'm 00:36:24.740 --> 00:36:31.260 saying here. So in first eight, nine, and 10 is 10 that I'm pointing to, but I want to read eight, 00:36:31.320 --> 00:36:37.700 nine, and 10, because it's the same reminder that Paul gave to Titus. It's for by grace, you've been 00:36:37.699 --> 00:36:42.199 saved, Titus. It doesn't say Titus here. Okay. I'm reading in Ephesians, but I'm inserting his name 00:36:42.199 --> 00:36:48.199 as if he's talking to him. For by grace, you've been saved through faith. And this is not your own 00:36:48.199 --> 00:36:54.960 doing. It's the gift of God. Did we hear that in Titus? Yes. Not a result of works, Titus, so that no 00:36:54.960 --> 00:37:01.039 one may boast, including you. For we are his workmanship, Titus. We have been transformed by him. 00:37:01.139 --> 00:37:06.219 He did it all. We didn't do any of it. By the grace of God, we're his workmanship. And listen, 00:37:06.219 --> 00:37:12.639 this beautiful phrase, created in Christ Jesus for what? For good works. Do you realize we were 00:37:12.639 --> 00:37:19.500 created for good works, church? I'll say that again. We are created for good works. 00:37:21.599 --> 00:37:28.799 But I want you to listen to the next phrase because it really shows us how that process can possibly 00:37:28.799 --> 00:37:35.279 take place. Listen at it. Good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. 00:37:36.219 --> 00:37:42.639 It's almost like God said, I've got this road out here and I'm going to roll out the carpet and it is 00:37:42.639 --> 00:37:47.519 the good work. And all I want you to do is go walk in that way. If you'll walk that way and obey, guess 00:37:47.519 --> 00:37:52.019 what? The good work is going to happen. I've already prepared it. I've already rolled it out. I've already 00:37:52.019 --> 00:37:58.239 planned it. All I need you to do is be obedient. All I need you to do is say yes. And you know what? 00:37:58.239 --> 00:38:01.659 I'll make it happen. Listen at this phrase again. 00:38:04.519 --> 00:38:09.479 We were created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand. You know that we 00:38:09.479 --> 00:38:15.039 didn't prepare them and we didn't create them and we didn't make them up and we didn't conceive of them 00:38:15.039 --> 00:38:20.599 and we didn't get other people to be involved. You know what? If that all that is true, then it's 00:38:20.599 --> 00:38:27.420 flesh is sin. The good works he's talking about are things that he already has planned in his master 00:38:27.420 --> 00:38:32.699 plan. You realize God's got a master plan and the sovereign God's master plan will not be thwarted. 00:38:32.799 --> 00:38:38.079 Satan can't do a thing to thwart God's master plan. And you know what his master plan is? He's got his 00:38:38.079 --> 00:38:42.599 thread of history and you know what he's doing to me? He's saying, Trey, come on, come on. I want you to 00:38:42.599 --> 00:38:46.500 experience my plan. I want you to walk in my plan. And when you walk in my plan, you're going to 00:38:46.500 --> 00:38:50.980 experience the living water flowing through you. And it's going to, there's going to be an electricity 00:38:50.980 --> 00:38:55.699 of relationship between you and me. And it's going to cause you to experience my glory. And it's going 00:38:55.699 --> 00:39:01.159 to cause you to bow your knee and worship. And it's when you worship from the heart that you know me. 00:39:04.079 --> 00:39:11.760 Church, I'm taking some extra time here because this is powerful. My words aren't powerful. If my words 00:39:11.760 --> 00:39:16.360 come out, I hope they'll just fizzle away. But if the word of God comes through and it's truth, 00:39:16.360 --> 00:39:23.880 I hope it'll cement itself in your heart. To walk in good works is to obey. It's called to abide. 00:39:24.640 --> 00:39:29.019 It's called to say, yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. 00:39:30.039 --> 00:39:34.559 And so we check ourselves. When's the last time you heard yourself say, no, Lord, I'm scared. 00:39:35.700 --> 00:39:42.460 No, Lord, I don't have that gift. No, Lord, I don't think they like me. No, Lord, I don't cook good. 00:39:43.360 --> 00:39:48.880 No, Lord. You know how practical this thing is? It's right down to the very simplest and smallest 00:39:48.880 --> 00:39:52.699 things of life. You know what God says? I want you to bring everything to me in prayer. 00:39:54.619 --> 00:39:59.860 Everything. I want you to talk to me about the smallest of things. It doesn't have to be this 00:39:59.860 --> 00:40:04.119 grand decision about whether I leave my work or not. I want you to just talk to me about you getting 00:40:04.119 --> 00:40:08.960 ready to step in a door to a customer. Why don't you talk to me before you go in? Why don't you ask me to 00:40:08.960 --> 00:40:16.079 do something through your life when you interact with that guy? And why don't you be open to me 00:40:16.079 --> 00:40:19.579 putting my words in your mouth and you just be bold enough to say what I put in your mouth? 00:40:20.320 --> 00:40:25.079 I mean, it's the day-to-day, moment-by-moment, small things. He says, I want you to depend on me 00:40:25.079 --> 00:40:31.300 for everything. I want to tell you, church, it is the most peace-filled place you'll ever be. 00:40:31.539 --> 00:40:33.559 You know how much you have to control if you depend on him? 00:40:33.559 --> 00:40:44.139 Nothing. Zero. And our flesh screams, wait a minute, that's stupid. What do you mean? I don't 00:40:44.139 --> 00:40:49.940 know. I can't just be irresponsible. It isn't anything about being irresponsible. It's about 00:40:49.940 --> 00:40:55.360 being dependent. It's about committing every little thing to him and being led in every little thing. 00:40:55.360 --> 00:41:02.680 It's called abiding. You want to know what in John 15, that passage I just read about the vine and the 00:41:02.680 --> 00:41:08.460 branches and the fruit and abiding, you know what the end of that passage says? Verse 11, it says, 00:41:08.820 --> 00:41:18.240 these things I've told you in order that you might have life or have joy and have it to the full. 00:41:18.680 --> 00:41:24.700 You want to know where this bubbling joy comes from that we've tasted on and off here and there, 00:41:24.699 --> 00:41:31.239 that bubbling joy comes through abiding. It's the only way. There's no true joy apart from abiding. 00:41:31.519 --> 00:41:44.339 Let's pray. Father, I'm sharing your word. I hear the call to abide. God, I've heard it for years now. 00:41:44.340 --> 00:41:53.680 God, I've heard it for years now. And the paradox of it, God, is that I found that I can't do it. 00:41:55.340 --> 00:42:00.680 I try to abide and I try to abide and I try to abide in my own effort and I just crash and burn. 00:42:02.100 --> 00:42:10.340 God, and I'm sure it's true for all of us. It's such a high goal. It's such a high and lofty call to abide. 00:42:10.340 --> 00:42:20.920 God, yet Father, you say I've given you everything you need for life and godliness to rely on me and not on yourself. 00:42:21.840 --> 00:42:30.220 It's the power that is at work within you that's going to give us, God, the ability. I hear it, God. I hear it. 00:42:30.219 --> 00:42:37.539 It's not our strength and it's so hard to beat down my flesh and tell it no and crucify it like Paul said. 00:42:37.839 --> 00:42:40.859 God, I just confess that this humanity is difficult. 00:42:42.039 --> 00:42:46.319 I hear your high call, the high call of God in Christ Jesus. I hear it. 00:42:47.739 --> 00:42:51.539 And God, I desire to abide and I think it's true for many of us here 00:42:51.539 --> 00:42:56.039 that we've gotten to the place in our walk where we desire to abide. 00:42:56.039 --> 00:42:59.340 And God, we confess that left to ourselves, we can't do it. 00:42:59.519 --> 00:43:04.480 So we ask for your power in a way that maybe we've never known before 00:43:04.480 --> 00:43:08.400 to take us to this place of abiding, that you might be glorified 00:43:08.400 --> 00:43:11.300 and we might know you fully. And I pray in your name. Amen.